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GEORGIAPGA.COM GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM MARCH 2009

New golf company debuts in Atlanta

Innovative Sports Events enters tournament management field
By Mike Blum

tarting a company in the current

S climate of challenging economic

times requires a significant leap of
faith, but John Couey is prepared
to make that jump.
Couey, who has a long history of
working behind the scenes in the Atlanta
golf market, has created Innovative
Sports Events, which will assist non-
profits, charitable organizations and
corporate entities in conducting fund-
raisers, primarily golf events.
Innovative Sports Events (ISE) will
manage the event “from beginning to
end,” Couey says. “We’ll do more than just
the golf. We’re a full service management
company.”
There are currently existing companies
that work in the same field, but Couey
believes ISE has something that will sepa-
Barco B-10 Mobile LED Message Display
rate his company from those already
operating – a Barco B-10 mobile LED
display, also known as an electronic leader
board or score board. tournament, for youth baseball or a 5K stint outside golf, returned as Southeastern Waterfall Country Club, Kingwood Golf
A key for any fund-raising event is to run. But for us, it’s mainly about golf Region Tournament Sales Director for Club & Resort, Durham Lakes Country
secure sponsorship, and Couey feels having tournaments.” American Golf in the late 1980s. Club and Eagle’s Brooke Country Club.
the LED display on site will benefit organ- Couey has more than 30 years experience Couey joined Killearn, Inc., in 1996 as During his years with Killearn, Couey
izations in that respect, as well as ensuring in the golf business, working in several dif- the Director of Sales and Marketing for says he has built “a very good following. I
that the sponsors receive sufficient bang ferent aspects of the industry. He spent Eagle’s Landing, one of the metro area’s have a large data base of loyal customers.”
for their bucks. most of the 1970s as a manager and golf outstanding private clubs. Killearn has Because of the economy, there may not
“It’s great for sponsors and it goes professional at one of Atlanta’s busiest facil- developed and owns a number of great
beyond golf. It can be used at a soccer ities – North Fulton Golf Club, and after a Georgia golf facilities, among them [ See Innovative Sports, page 6 ]
GSGA
STEVE DINBERG

Georgia Golf Business

Georgia
INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Golf Course
Owners
Association
w w w . g g c o a . c o m
Tiger Woods among Bartram Trail part of Harris English part of
Masters questions 8 Augusta golf scene 12 strong Georgia team 18 770-235-0735
 wel com e t o t h e dr iving ra ng e.
(golf optional)

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2 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 3
 Instruction Fore You
You Can Have More
Power and Consistency
By Tom Losinger while there may be some truth
PGA Director of Instruction to that, I would argue that if
Bridge Mill Athletic Club you master the following con-
cept, you can have it all! The
Quite often you hear or read concept is to learn to swing
that if you want to hit the ball wide to narrow.
further you will have to give
up consistency or if you want What do I mean? The big pic-
more consistency you have to ture idea is that you want your
give up some distance. Well, downswing arc to be a smaller
half circle than your backswing arc.
If you traced them, the two arcs
will create kind of a crescent moon
shape. Almost every single
player on tour achieves this action
(Sergio Garcia would be this
idea on steroids) in their swings
whereas the average player rarely
achieves this.
In fact the average player, many
times has the opposite action, with
the downswing being wider than
Backswing Keys
the backswing. This is a major con-
tributor to power loss as well as
 At the 9:00 position of the left arm,
inconsistent contact with the ball.
the club head should be short of 12:00. Please look at the pictures and I
Preferably in the 10:30 to 11:00 range. will try to give you some keys to
help you achieve this and I will also
 Two things to pay attention to: The left give you one big warning.
wrist will have minimal hinge and the right
Downswing Keys
elbow will have minimum bend to it. Also,
notice how the right arm is slightly above

the left arm at this point. Near the top of the swing
when your weight transfers subtly
 The benefit of this is that the backswing
and smoothly to the front foot, the
will have less speed and more width which left wrist will increase its hinge
will help immensely in the transition from (Right wrist can bend back slightly)
backswing (wide) to the downswing and the right elbow will begin to
(narrow). increase its bend. (Many people
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Questions surround Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 College golf preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Forecast
Cink may be lone Georgia hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Golf FORE women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Golf in Augusta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Golf FORE juniors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Georgia PGA 2009 preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Course reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
PGA pro-file: Bill Robinson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30067
770-933-04GA (Office)
770-953-6638 (Fax)
golfforegeorgia.com
foregeorgia@bellsouth.net
PUBLISHER
Golf Media, Inc.
John Barrett
EDITOR Mike Blum
say this feels like a slight loop. Also,
CONTRIBUTORS
sensing that the right arm is now working
Tom Losinger
under the left arm can be a pretty good
Jackie Cannizzo, Women’s Golf Editor
feel. You decide.) Warning: Do not
Steve Dinberg
increase the bend (Cupping) in the left
Lake-Finlay Image Group
wrist. You will hate golf forever if you do
Joseph Field
this! The ball will go high, right and short.
Georgia Golf Course Owners Association
Zero fun!
Cindy Acree, Executive Director
 The benefits of this move are that the MARKETING & ADVERTISING
shaft gets on plane easier and the right J.R. Ross, Sales Representative
arm and the club head get closer to the Rick Holt, Corporate Sales
body which is the beginning of creating
“dynamic lag.” This is the narrow part. This ART DIRECTOR
“narrowing” will continue until the left Lori Montgomery
arm is at about 9:00. Notice how the club lorimontgomery@mindspring.com
head is now pointed at about 1:00 and
the right arm has mostly disappeared GEORGIA SECTION, PGA OF AMERICA
behind the left arm. PRESIDENT
Jim Arendt, Chicopee Woods Golf Course
This helps create speed without even
trying as a smaller radius will move much VICE-PRESIDENT
faster than a long one at this point. It will Patrick Richardson, Wilmington Island Club
now be much easier for your power to be
stored up until the moment of truth. If SECRETARY
you work on this move, then your impact Brian Stubbs, Country Club of Columbus
should start to look like the picture on the
right. Distance and consistency! HONORARY PRESIDENT
Danny Elkins, Georgia Golf Center
Tom Losinger is a PGA Master Professional
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
and the 2001 Georgia PGA Teacher of the
Year. He can be reached at 770-345-5557 Bud Robison, West Point, Ga
or at losgolf@gmail.com. Marten Olsson, The Club at River Forest
Steve Godley, Jekyll Island Golf Club
Bob Elmore, Bacon Park GC
Ted Fort, Marietta Golf Center
Richard Hatcher, Ansley GC
Jeff Dunovant, First Tee of East Lake
Scott Mahr, Barnsley Gardens Resort
Clark Spratlin, Blue Ridge Golf & River Club
Dan Mullins, Classic Golf Management
Michael Raymond, Reynolds Landing
John Crumbley, Mystery Valley Golf Club
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mike Paull
ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/
JUNIOR GOLF DIRECTOR Scott Gordon
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Pat Day
OPERATIONS MANAGER Jeff Ashby
SECTION ASSISTANT Traci Waters
FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Media, Inc.
Copyright ©2008 with all rights reserved.
Reproduction or use, without permission,
of editorial or graphic content is prohibited.
Georgia PGA web site: www.georgiapga.com
FA L L 2 0 0 8
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Waterfall Country Club
running. His variety of experiences in
the golf industry has prepared him for
multiple roles required to conduct charity
tournaments.
In his lengthy career with three major golf
companies, Couey has organized and man-
aged over 1,000 golf events which have
raised in excess of $3 million in charitable
donations.

Innovative
Couey and his company are not alone in
the Atlanta market, but he believes the com-

Sports Events
[ Continued from the cover ]
be as many first new charity and corporate
outings as in the past, but ISE is positioned
to assist those who do conduct an event
for the first time. ISE will
concentrate on “tournaments with history
as community events. They’ll continue.
The golf tourna-
ment business will
maintain, at least at
some level.”
From his personal
experience and his knowledge of the
industry, Couey says “2008 was not that
bad a year,” and is hopeful that the down-
turn in the economy will not have a major
impact on the outing industry.
That’s where the Barco B-10 mobile
LED display comes in.
“Every tournament tries to attract a
major title sponsor,” Couey points out.
“But at a lot of tournaments, the sponsor is
Eagle's Brooke Country Club
not getting a bang for his buck.
“Having the ability to offer such a great
marketing tool enhances the effectiveness
of golf tournament groups to attract both
title and major sponsors by giving the
sponsors what they seek most – high
CAPTION and a great return on their
visibility
sponsorship invest-
ment. The Barco
B-10 mobile LED
display works just
as well for other
sports tournaments and events.”
Couey recognizes that for tournaments
to be successful on an ongoing basis, the
participating individuals must have an
enjoyable experience that will encourage
them to return to the event. The use of per-
sonalized gifts helps create that atmosphere,
and ISE will work in concert with vendors
to provide products at substantial savings
off retail.
Attention to detail and the personaliza-
tion of the tournament experience are key
elements in the success or failure of chari-
table golf events, and Couey has a long
track record of involvement with tourna-
ment operations, as well as working in the
management and marketing end of
Killearn’s two golf-connected hotels.
During his time with Killearn, Couey
worked as Director of Sales and interim
General Manager of the Inn at Eagle’s
Landing, which housed many of the LPGA
players who were competing in the
Chick-fil-A Charity Championship. Couey
worked directly with the LPGA in housing
the players, including many of the tour’s
most prominent names.
After his lengthy stint with Killearn,
Couey spent a year at Callaway Gardens,
booking golf groups and tournaments before
returning to Killearn to help get the new
Eagle’s Brooke Country Club up and
bination of his experience and the appeal of
the Barco B-10 mobile LED display will set
Innovative Sports Events apart from the
competition.
“It adds so much of a different flavor,” he
says. Banners alone don’t have much impact,
but the LED displays provide a forum for
some “wonderful graphics. It’s key to
attracting a title sponsor.
“Innovative Sports Events has assembled
a small but very effective and experienced
team of associates who excel in hosting and
organizing golf tournaments. ISE has
experience in the marketing of other athletic
events not related to golf. We also have a
special events associate who can help with
the marketing of business openings, radio
and television events and any other public or
private happening.”
Couey can be contacted at 678-833-1616
(office) or 770-380-0949 (cell), or
at jcouey@innovativesportsevents.com.
The company’s web site
www.innovativesportsevents.com is expected
to be operational by mid-March, and Couey
says it will be “x-treme and memorable.”

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MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 7
Lots of questions surround Masters
Can event regain drama after 3 years of no roars?
By Mike Blum
Q uestions, questions, questions.
With the 2009 Masters
approaching, there is a great deal
of uncertainty pertaining to the
first of golf’s four major cham-
pionships, most of it having to do with some
of the players expecting to contend for a
green jacket, but some regarding the tourna-
ment itself.
Is Tiger Woods fully recovered from knee
surgery that sidelined him for the second
half of 2008 and the early stages of the ’09
season? And if so, can he solve the mysteries
of the more Tiger-resistant Augusta
National, which has limited him to one
Masters title the last six years?
Can Phil Mickelson shake off his nonde-
script performances in the majors since his
STEVE DINBERG
Phil Mickelson
disastrous effort on the 72nd hole at Winged
Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open? Mickelson,
who would have won a third straight major
with a par on that hole, has not seriously
contended for a fourth major title since, and
got off to a rare stumbling start this year on
the West Coast before winning in LA. Does
he still have what it takes to play at the level
required for a major triumph?
Is Vijay Singh capable of becoming the
second 46-year-old to win in Augusta? Singh
closed out the ‘08 season with four victories
against star-studded fields, but had to take a
few weeks off early this season for minor sur-
gery and has been hobbling since his return.
Can Padraig Harrington translate his
success last year in the British Open and
PGA Championship into a third straight
major victory in Augusta? Harrington has
back-to-back top 10 finishes in the Masters,
and has more than proven his ability to raise
the level of his game in the most
8 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
pressure-filled situations. But can he do it at
Augusta National?
Are any of the game’s rising young stars –
Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, Camilo
Villegas, Adam Scott – ready to claim a first
major championship?
Since Augusta National was significantly
lengthened in 2002, three players not
known for their power games have won the
Masters, including each of the last two years.
Who is the next player in the Mike
Weir/Zach Johnson/Trevor Immelman
mold capable of scoring a victory on a
course that is supposed to favor those who
bomb it off the tee?
And for those who have access to Masters
tickets or just watch on television, can the
tournament produce the Sunday heroics
that has been noticeably absent in recent
years? The past three Masters, all conducted
after Augusta National was extended to its
current length of almost 7,450 yards, have
been devoid of serious suspense as the
leaders made their way down the stretch, a
situation totally out of character with the
tournament’s dramatic history.
From 1990-2002, the winning score of
Augusta never ventured above 280, and only
once in that span was it higher than 279.
Since 2003, only three golfers have finished
with scores in the 270s —Mickelson in
2004 and Woods and Chris DiMarco in
’05, with the latter two producing the last
pulsating Masters finish.
There has been considerable carping by
many of the game’s top players regarding the
recent changes to Augusta National’s storied
layout. There has been a general agreement
that Masters officials needed to do some-
thing to counter the improvements in
equipment that have rendered many classic
courses too short for modern tour players,
but the question often posed is whether the
renovations have gone too far.
Along with adding more than 500 yards
in length in the past decade, Augusta
National officials have tightened the course
with the addition of trees on several holes,
have introduced a “second cut” (thin layer of
rough) to increase the difficulty of holding
the already demanding greens, and have
continued to keep the putting surfaces as
slick as agronomy will allow, while placing
pin positions in treacherous locations.
In addition to the absence of major drama
on Sunday the last three years, there has
been a noticeable paucity of the low scores
that helped fuel the traditionally thrilling
Masters finishes that produced so many
roars over the years on Augusta National’s
memorable back nine.
Art Wall’s 66 in 1959. Bob Goalby’s 66
in 1968. Gary Player’s 64 in 1978. Jack
Nicklaus’ 65 in 1986. Nick Faldo’s 65 in
1989 and his relentlessly efficient 67 in
1996. All relics of a Masters past that may
never be re-visited.
Mickelson shot 69 on Sunday both times
he won, including his back nine surge that
could be the last of its kind in 2006.
Johnson also closed with a 69 when he won
the next year with a 289 total, the highest
winning score in Augusta in a half-century.
Last year’s Masters ranks with the least
exciting in tournament history, as
Immelman went wire to wire for his victory.
There were fewer than 25 scores in the 60s
in last year’s tournament (only one below
68) and Immelman recorded three of them
the first three days.
With his three closest pursuers after 54
holes shooting 77, 78 and 79 the final
round, Immelman’s 75 was sufficient to
produce a victory that was never in doubt on
Sunday, something that had not happened
in the tournament since Woods annihilated
the field in his 12-stroke runaway in 1997.
Shortly after Woods broke the 72-hole
tournament record with an 18-under 270
total, the first wave of changes to Augusta
National began, with several holes length-
ened a modest amount.
The changes had little effect on scoring,
with Woods challenging his tournament
record in 2002. David Duval was two
strokes back of Woods at 274, the lowest
runner-up score in Masters history and the
fifth lowest total ever at Augusta National.
When the Masters participants arrived for
the 2003 tournament, the course had been
lengthened by some 300 yards. Pre-
tournament speculation ventured that the
power players like Woods, Singh, Mickelson
and Ernie Els would benefit the most from
the added yardage, but that proved not to be
the case.
Mike Weir and Len Mattiace tied at 281,
the highest winning score since 1989, with
neither player remotely fitting into the
bomber mold. The unlikely duo produced
some Sunday drama down the stretch –
Mattiace shot 65 —before Weir emerged the
champion after a sloppily-played playoff.
The next two Masters featured a pair of
memorable late Sunday afternoon duels,
with Mickelson blistering the back nine to
overtake Els in 2004 and Woods holding off
the outgunned but not outmatched
DiMarco the next year.
However, the birdie by Woods on the first
playoff hole was about the last moment of
real Masters-style drama. Mickelson did not
need a Sunday charge to score his second
Masters victory the next year, turning in
perhaps the most controlled effort of his
career to win by a deceptively narrow two-
stroke margin.
Braving cold and windy conditions that
sent scores soaring most of the week,
Johnson put together an efficient final round
69 to win by two in ’07 over a stuck-in-neu-
tral Woods and South Africans Retief
Goosen and Rory Sabbatini. That made it
six runner-up finishes for South African
golfers since 2000 in the Masters, with
Immelman following countryman Gary
Player into the winner’s circle last year.
After three straight years of victories by
Mickelson and Woods, Johnson and
Immelman re-established the parity that has
existed between power players and those
who rely more on finesse to take home a
coveted green jacket.
Despite the long-held belief that Augusta
National is a layout that strongly favors the
powerful, history sheds some doubt on that
proposition. Woods, Mickelson and Singh
have won seven of the last 12 Masters, but
the other five champions during that stretch
are all at the opposite end of the power hitter
spectrum.
Prior to Woods’ emergence as the
dominant player in the game, the Masters
went through a lengthy stretch when short-
to-medium hitters ruled the lush fairways
and treacherous greens at Augusta National.
Between 1984 and 1996, Nick Faldo won
three Masters, Ben Crenshaw and
Bernhard Langer won two each and Jose
Maria Olazabal scored the first of his two
Masters titles. Augusta native Larry Mize,
who likewise relies more on precise iron play
and a deft touch with the putter than length
off the tee, also won during that stretch.
With only six Masters having been played
since Augusta National was significantly
lengthened after 2001, the jury is still out on
how the changes have impacted the tourna-
ment. But after three straight years of little
drama, tournament officials may be
reconsidering how they set the course up,
particularly on Sunday if the conditions are
expected to be on the difficult side.
Among the attributes that set the Masters
apart from the other three majors was the
possibility that players could do deep into
red figures if they got on a roll, and the
likelihood that heroics were going to be
required on the back nine the final day to
take home the green jacket.
The past few years, the Masters has
become more like the other majors, with its
most recent champions grinding their way
to victory. That may be the way you win a
U.S. Open (2008 being an exception), but
traditionally that’s not how it has been
done in Augusta.
We’ll find out pretty soon whether tour-
nament officials want to continue down
that path, or if they miss the Sunday roars
that have been such a huge part of the
Masters for decades.
MARCH 2009
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Cink may be lone Georgia Masters hope
Coming off best ever showing in Augusta
By Mike Blum
n recent years, the Masters field has
I typically included a healthy number
of players with strong ties to the tour-
nament’s home state, including
multiple natives of Augusta.
With a little over one month remaining
before the 2009 Masters, only two
Georgians were among the 90-plus players
to have qualified for the tournament, with
former Masters champion Larry Mize –
now a Champions Tour member – one of
the two.
Duluth resident and former Georgia
Tech standout Stewart Cink is the lone
Georgian among the PGA Tour players
who is currently eligible tee it up in
Augusta. Sea Island’s Davis Love is in posi-
tion to move into the top 50 in the World
Rankings, which would earn him a spot in
the field. But the remaining Georgians
have just a handful of events left in which
to score a victory and claim a late invitation
10 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
into the first of golf ’s four major
championships.
With a late 2008 victory in the Disney
Classic and a tie for second in the season-
opening Mercedes Championship, Love
has moved into the top 60 in the rankings.
One or two more strong showings will
enable him to return to Augusta after
missing the tournament last year for the
first time since 1990.
Love’s Masters resume includes a pair of
runner-up finishes in 1995 and ’99 and six
top 10s in 18 starts. In 1995, Love was on
the verge of missing the Masters when he
Stewart Cink
STEVE DINBERG
won in New Orleans the day before
Masters week began in Augusta. It took a
courageous effort by Ben Crenshaw to
hold off a determined charge by Love, who
closed with a 66 to finish one stroke off the
lead. Love’s 72-hole total of 275 was the
lowest score ever at the time for a Masters
runner-up, and now ranks second behind
David Duval’s 274 in 2001.
The two players with the perhaps the
strongest desire to qualify for the Masters
are Augusta natives Charles Howell and
Vaughn Taylor, both of whom will need a
tournament victory a la Love in ’95 to earn
an invitation. Howell has fallen well out-
side the top 100 in the World Rankings
and Taylor is no longer in the top 200, as
both are coming off disappointing seasons
in 2008.
Howell has played in each of the last
seven Masters, but his streak may be about
to end. He squandered an opportunity to
pick up a win in the 2008 Fall Series at the
Turning Stone Resort and opened ’09 with
a strong showing in Hawaii, but did not
play well in California, where he has a his-
tory of success. After tying for 13th in the
2004 Masters, Howell missed the cut three
of the last four years.
Taylor was in danger of losing his exempt
status on the PGA Tour before a tie for
second in the next-to-last tournament of
’08. He managed just one other top 10 the
entire season as he slipped to 90th on the
money list, his poorest showing in his five
seasons on tour. Taylor has played in the
last three Masters, tying for 10th in 2007,
when he briefly held the tournament lead
late in the third round.
Cink has missed the Masters just once
since 1997, his rookie season on the PGA
Tour. He did not qualify in 2003, the only
time since 1998 he has not been in the field
for a major championship.
To that point, Cink had never finished
higher than 23rd in six starts in Augusta,
but in his five starts since, has never fin-
ished lower than 20th. Last year, Cink
posted his best ever finish in the Masters,
placing third behind champion Trevor
Immelman and runner-up Tiger Woods,
Cink’s playing partner in the final round.
“Playing with Tiger Woods on Sunday at
the Masters is about the pinnacle of
professional golf,” Cink said after his third
place finish.
Cink began the final round in sixth
place, seven strokes behind Immelman.
With birdies on the first two holes, Cink
quickly cut his deficit to four, but consecu-
tive bogeys at holes 9, 10 and 11 ended his
faint hopes of a victory.
“It was exciting out there and I got
started really well. Starting off like that –
birdie, birdie – when everyone in the crowd
was thinking that the guy I was playing
with was going to go birdie, birdie; that was
kind of fun.”
Prior to the three straight bogeys that
knocked him out of contention, Cink was
unable to cash in on birdie opportunities at
7 and 8, which stalled what little
momentum he still had entering one of the
toughest stretch of holes on the course.
“I let the last three par-fives go, and three
bogeys in a row on the three toughest holes.
So I played basically the way a lot of guys
played today. I made some bogeys, I made
some birdies. I had fun, but it wasn’t
quite enough.”
Actually, Cink played better than just
about everyone else who teed it up on a
difficult day to play golf on one of the
world’s most demanding courses. Of the 22
players who began the final round at even
par or better, Cink’s 72 matched the lowest
score. The only other players in that group
to shoot 72 the final day were Woods,
Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson.
With three of the four players who
started the day between Cink and the
leader shooting scores of 77 or higher, Cink
found himself in a battle for second place
after a pair of birdies at 14 and 16.
Cink, Woods and Brandt Snedeker,
who was playing in the final group with
Immelman, were tied for second coming
down the stretch, with Woods taking
second outright with a birdie on the
72nd hole.
“He clipped me on the last hole,” Cink
said of his playing partner. “I had a couple
choice words for him walking off the green,
but what can you say. He’s Tiger Woods.”
Cink has gradually played better over the
years at Augusta National, which he feels
is simply a matter of feeling more
comfortable on a course with many subtle
challenges.
“I don’t find as many surprises here as I
used to. I always used to be surprised once
or twice a day by pin placements and by the
way shots played. Now, I’ve got memories
or notes written in my yardage book. So
I’ve got something to remind me of what a
certain shot may play like. And I guess that
all falls under the category of experience.”
Cink may also have benefited from a
change in the PGA Tour schedule, which
moved the now-defunct Atlanta tourna-
ment from the week before the Masters to
mid-May each of the last two years. Cink’s
home is located in the Sugarloaf subdivi-
sion, which made that week a particularly
hectic one for him every year.
Over the years, Cink’s play in the
BellSouth Classic began to slip, and his
efforts in Augusta did not improve
appreciably, at least until last year. With
the chance to focus more on the Masters
prior to the tournament, Cink produced
his best showing ever in Augusta last year,
and will be looking to match or surpass it
next month.
MARCH 2009
MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 11
Golf in Augusta offers varied options
Quality public,
private courses
not seen on TV
By Mike Blum
hanks to the Masters, Augusta
T adopted the title of “Golf
Capitol of the World.” But that
designation only applies one
week out of the year.
The other 51 weeks, Augusta is a mostly
unnoticed city on Georgia’s eastern border,
known mostly for its medical facilities and
military base.
But during that one week in early April
each year, the eyes of the sports world focus
on Augusta and the first of golf ’s four major
championships. In addition to the 90-plus
players who comprise the Masters field,
golfers from all over bring their clubs with
them that week to tee it up at one of the
local courses, enabling them to tell their
buddies back home that they played
Augusta.
Just not Augusta National.
For a city with perhaps the most famous
dateline in all of golf, Augusta is not exactly
a hotbed of golf the other 51 weeks of the
year. Most of the prominent local courses
Bartram Trail
12 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
other then Augusta National are located
outside Augusta/Richmond County, either
in suburban Columbia County to the
west or just across the Savannah River in
South Carolina.
Three of the area’s top daily fee courses –
Jones Creek and Bartram Trail in Columbia
County and the River Club in North
Augusta, S.C. – are just outside the
city/county line, as are a number of out-
standing private clubs – West Lake and
Champions Retreat in Columbia County
and Mt. Vintage Plantation and Sage Creek
in South Carolina.
Other than Augusta National, the only
courses in the city are Augusta Country
Club, a venerable private club that borders
its more famous neighbor behind the
National’s 12th green, and a handful of
daily fee facilities, one of which is located
on a military base (Fort Gordon).
Augusta’s most prominent daily fee club
is Jones Creek, which is currently focusing
more on rebuilding its membership base
than attracting outside play. The semi-
private facility opened in the mid-1980s
and was the first solo design project by
acclaimed golf course architect Rees Jones.
After a successful early run, during which
the course achieved the reputation as one of
the strongest layouts in the state at a daily
fee facility, Jones Creek has undergone a
succession of ownership changes, most of
which did not advance the club’s standing.
The club went private for a while, was
renovated by Tom Fazio and spent some
time in bankruptcy before recently being
acquired by a local ownership group, which
has given the club local ownership and
management for the first time.
Gregg Hemann and Ray Mundy, who
have both served as head professionals at the
course and have 25 years combined at Jones
Creek, are part of the local operation, and
are helping restore the club’s slightly
tarnished image.
“We’re working hard to upgrade the
facility in every way,” says Hemann. “When
we got here, this was a somewhat fractured
facility.”
The course was renovated in 2003, with
the greens changing from bent grass to a
more heat tolerant Bermuda. There were
Jones Creek Golf Club
also some changes made to the greens com-
plexes to make them a little friendlier for
players of modest ability, along with some
alterations to a few holes.
The new ownership is working mostly on
restoring some aspects of the course lost to
neglect, including the planting of trees for
both strategic and ornamental purposes to
replace some lost over the years.
“We’ve provided some stability that will
help long term and we see this as an oppor-
tunity to prove to people what Jones Creek
can be,” Hemann says.
Jones Creek is not a particularly lengthy
layout (around 6,900 yards from the tips
and 6,400 from the member tees) but the
slope rating 139/133 is more indicative of
the challenge it poses. Relatively tight tree
lines, several meandering creeks and the
still-challenging greens complexes make the
course a worthy test, with an interesting mix
of holes displaying the architectural acumen
of Rees Jones, even at the early stages of his
design career.
Bartram Trail, also located in Evans, is
the newest of the Augusta area courses,
opening in 2005. The course is a public
facility and a member of the
Audubon Wildlife Society, and
has been a strong supporter of
junior golf, hosting a Georgia
PGA Junior Tour event
among others.
The course, designed by
North Carolina-based archi-
tect Rick Robbins, is a par 72
layout with five par 5s and five
par 3s, and is the only area
daily fee facility with bent
grass greens. The layout
includes several elevation
changes and includes a
number of marshes and wet-
lands that require some forced
carries, but is not an especially demanding
course, with mostly generous landing areas
and fairly tame greens complexes.
Apart from the par 3s, most of the trouble
is off the tee, and the five par 5s provide
some scoring opportunities, provided you
keep it in play. The course measures just
6,700 yards from the back tees and a little
over 6,200 from the blues, but the number
of hazards in play account for the
respectable slope numbers (137/129)
despite the absence of serious length.
Augusta’s two long time daily fee courses
are Forest Hills and Augusta Golf Course,
the city’s municipal course known to the
locals as the “Cabbage Patch.”
Forest Hills is owned and operated by
Augusta State University, and is a Donald
Ross design from the 1920s with a long and
varied history. The course was requisitioned
by the military for World War II, with the
college assuming operations in the 1970s.
The course has undergone two renovations
since, once to replace holes converted to use
MARCH 2009

for college dorms and once to add a consid-
erable amount of length from the back tees.
The course can now be stretched to over
7,200 yards, but with five sets of tees, it
remains playable for its members and daily
fee visitors. From the white tees (6,335) it
remains an enjoyable test, although the
once traditional Ross design has been
obscured over the years.
Augusta GC has also undergone some
changes over the years to accommodate a
new practice facility and clubhouse, both of
which resulted in significant alterations to a
few of the holes. The course is short (around
6,000 yards from the back tees) and quite
narrow in spots, with some tiny greens that
require precision on approach shots and a
creative short game.
Goshen Plantation, Pointe South and
Gordon Lakes, a military course open to the
public, are located on Augusta’s south side.
Goshen Plantation began as a private club
and was designed by the same architect
responsible for West Lake (Ellis Maples), but
has been semi-private for most of its exis-
tence. With the addition of a number of new
back tees several years ago, Goshen is now
listed at more than 7,400 yards, with shorter
well-spaced tees providing friendlier options.
Apart from the additional length, Goshen
remains a first rate, parkland style design
that places demands on both accuracy and
power (for those tackling it from the tips)
and includes an excellent group of par 3s,
MARCH 2009
including one of the best and potentially
most fearsome in the state, depending on
which tees you play from.
Pointe South is a much shorter (6,500
yards) and less demanding layout, although
the tight tree lines and some sharp doglegs
require well-positioned tee shots to take
advantage of the absence of length. The
layout features more undulation from tee to
green than most of its area counterparts, but
overall it’s a player friendly track with equally
friendly rates.
Gordon Lakes is a well-regarded layout
designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., opening
for play in the mid-1970s. The Ault-Clark
design group added a new nine in 2001 and
the original nines have both been renovated.
The facility will host an annual Hooters
Tour event that has been played at three
other area courses over the years.
One of the best daily fee courses in the
Augusta area is located in South Carolina,
although it’s the closest to the city’s down-
town district, just across the Savannah River
on a site that was swampland not that
long ago.
The River Club is an interesting Jim
Fazio design and is unlike anything else in
the area, bearing more resemblance to
courses in Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach.
The layout is as flat as any Florida course,
with plenty of water in play but not many
trees, and offers some nice views from the
13th Street Bridge above it and of the
New golf facility in Duluth
A unique, family oriented golf facility is about to open in Duluth. The Georgia Trail at
Sugarloaf, will feature a 9-hole, par-31 course, 18 holes of mini-golf, and a driving
range with a short game practice area and an expansize putting green, as well as a
clubhouse with a pro shop, restaurant and meeting facilities.
PGA instructor Ernie Boshers is part of the ownership group for the facility, which is
located on Satellite Boulevard. Information: 770-497-4653; www.gatrail.com.
modest downtown Augusta skyline. drawing a host of celebrities.
Augusta’s two established private clubs In recent years, the Augusta area has
other than Augusta National – Augusta added some high profile private clubs,
Country Club and West Lake – have both among them Champions Retreat in
hosted the Georgia Amateur, along with Columbia County and Mt. Vintage
other state and regional events. Plantation and Sage Valley in South
The Country Club had its original Carolina.
Donald Ross design extensively renovated Champions Retreat, with 27 holes
several years ago, and borders Augusta designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer
National behind the National’s 12th and Gary Player, hosted the 2007 Georgia
green/13th tee. The club produced PGA Open and received very positive reviews
Tour star Charles Howell (Vaughn Taylor for everything except the August weather
grew up at Goshen) among several future in Augusta.
tour players. Mt. Vintage Plantation enjoyed a short
West Lake has been around for four run as the host of a recent LPGA
decades, and its classic Ellis Maples design tournament, and is a first class layout and
includes one of the state’s most interesting facility, with Sage Creek an exclusive and
set of greens complexes, which keeps both decidedly upscale addition to the Augusta
its members and tournament visitors on golf scene, modeling itself after the city’s
their toes. Like the Country Club, West most famous club.
Lake is a hotbed of activity Masters week,
GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 13
 Georgia PGA schedule includes familiar sites
By Mike Blum
T
he 2009 Georgia PGA schedule
includes a number of familiar
sites for the Section’s tourna-
ments, with one new venue for a
prominent event and a change of dates
for another.
The new course is Heron Bay, which will
host the Yamaha Atlanta Open June 8-9. It
will be the second straight year the tourna-
ment has ventured from its traditional home
in the metro area’s northern suburbs, fol-
lowing 2008 host Newnan Country Club.
Heron Bay is among the newest
Canongate courses, opening in 2004. The
Jeff Burton designed layout has ample
length from the back tees, plenty of hazards
in play and large greens that are well pro-
tected by both water and sand. It is likely the
strongest of the 20 Canongate courses in
metro Atlanta and should prove to be a
worthy test for the state’s top club
professionals and amateurs.
The past few years, the Atlanta Open has
been the first significant Section event on
the schedule, with most of the tournaments
in a five-month span from June to October.
The Yamaha Match Play Championship,
which has been a late-season tournament for
14 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
most of the last three decades, will now
be the season opener, scheduled for March
23-25.
The tournament returns to Callaway
Gardens, the former host of the PGA Tour
Southern Open from 1991-2002, for the
third straight year. Country Club of the
South instructor Shawn Koch will be
looking to become the first player to win the
tournament back-to-back since Clark
Spratlin won the second of his three Match
Play titles in 2002.
Also moving to an earlier date is the
Griffin Classic, which was played in early
October last year. The tournament, a fixture
on the Georgia PGA schedule since 1992,
has typically been played in mid-July, and
returns to its Summer dates this year (July
13-14). Koch scored his second Section win
in a two-week stretch last Fall in Griffin.
For the second straight year, Barnsley
Gardens will be the site of the Your
Community PhoneBook Georgia Open
Aug. 6-9. Bryant Odom, a mini-tour player
with experience on the Nationwide Tour and
a former assistant at Sea Island GC, won last
year’s tournament by five strokes.
The E-Z-GO Georgia PGA
Championship remains at Sea Island GC,
with this year’s event scheduled for
Matt Peterson
Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at the Retreat Course,
which will be the tournament site for the
third time in six years. Spratlin, the head
pro at the yet-to-open Blue Ridge River &
Golf Club, won last year on the Seaside
layout, one of three Sea Island GC courses
that have hosted the championship.
The Georgia PGA Professional
Championship, the Section’s qualifier for
the PGA Professional National
Championship, continues its journey
around the state, moving this year to
Achasta GC in Dahlonega. The tourna-
ment will be played Sept. 21-22. Jeff Hull,
an instructor at the University Course in
Athens, won last year at Crystal Lake in
Hampton.
Hull will lead a group of 10 Georgia
PGA members into the 2009 PGA PNC,
which will be played June 28-July 1 in New
Mexico. The top 20 finishers from that
event qualify for the PGA Championship,
with Georgia PGA members Sonny
Skinner and Tim Weinhart both making it
into the field last year for one of golf ’s four
major championships.
The newest event on the Georgia PGA
schedule is the Chicopee Woods Players
Championship, which will be played for
third time June 23-24. The tournament is
played over all three nines at the Gainesville
course, with 27 holes played both days of
competition. Hull won last year in sudden
death against Cherokee CC instructor Russ
Davis.
One day events include the Pro-Pro
Scramble at Berkeley Hills March 9; the
Section qualifier for the Nationwide Tour
event in Athens at Jennings Mill March 31;
and the Pro-Assistant at Champions
Retreat May 26. The Section qualifier for
the Nationwide Tour event in Valdosta will
be played April 7 at Orchard Hills.
The biennial Billy Peters Cup match
against the GSGA is back at Capital City
Club’s Crabapple Course Oct. 18-19, with
the Georgia PGA’s season concluding Dec.
7-8 with the Pro-Pro Championship at
Jekyll Island GC.
Callaway Gardens will again be the site
of two Georgia PGA events this year, as the
nationally known resort will also host the
Yamaha Georgia Senior Open May 18-
19. The tournament was also played at
Callaway Gardens last year, with David
Nell becoming the second straight amateur
to win the tournament.
The E-Z-GO Georgia PGA Senior
Championship will be played Oct. 5-6 at
Cartersville CC, with the event doubling as
the Section’s qualifier for the PGA Senior
PNC later this year in south Florida. Davis
was the 2008 winner.
The state’s senior club professionals have
a busy late-season schedule, with the
Junior-Senior Championship Nov. 16-17
at Ocmulgee State Park’s Wallace Adams
course, the annual Senior Challenge Cup
against top Georgia amateurs Nov. 30-Dec.
1 at Barnsley Gardens and the Senior Pro-
Pro Championship, held concurrently
with the Pro-Pro at Jekyll Island GC.
The Section’s Senior Division has been
conducting tournaments since 2001, with
Georgia PGA members competing against
the state’s top amateurs in those events. A
total of 13 tournaments are on the 2009
Senior Division schedule, played at courses
in every corner of the state, as well as six in
the metro Atlanta area.
The Yamaha Georgia Women’s Open
will again be played at SummerGrove in
Newnan, the third time in the last five years
the course has hosted the tournament. This
year’s dates are July 8-9 with amateur
Margaret Shirley looking to win for the
third time in four years. Shirley won at
Canongate-on-White Oak in 2006, and
claimed her second title last year at
SummerGrove.
MARCH 2009
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MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 15

 Robinson makes big move to Augusta club
Ex-Highland pro
now at Forest Hills
By Mike Blum
T
he club professional business
can frequently be a transitory
one, but it is not unusual to
find PGA members who spend
lengthy stints at one club.
Bill Robinson was one of those.
PGA Pro-file
GEORGIA
For 19 years, Robinson was
the head professional at
Highland Country Club in
LaGrange. Last year, however,
Robinson felt it was time for as
change and moved across the
state, taking the vacant General
Manager/head professional posi-
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tion at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta.
“It’s a big change,” says Robinson, who
started at Forest Hills last summer. “I loved
Highland. The members were like family.
But I needed something different. I think
maybe I got a little stale there.”
In moving from Highland to Forest Hills,
Robinson went from one side of the state
to the other, and from a private club to a
semi-private facility which is owned and
operated by Augusta State University.
Robinson’s job responsibilities have also
changed. At Forest Hills, he is
more of a General Manager,
making decisions that impact
the club as opposed to prima-
rily relating to the operation of
the golf shop.
Things are also moving at
a faster pace than Robinson
had become accustomed to in
LaGrange. Highland did only
around 15,000 rounds of golf
GOLF
Equipment • Training • Confidence
week
per year, while the numbers at Forest Hills
are more than double that.
“We do a lot of public play here and a lot
more outings.”
Forest Hills also serves as the host of an
annual college tournament played the week
before the Masters. After a few years at
Champions Retreat, a private club in neigh-
boring Columbia County, the tournament is
returning to Forest Hills in early April, which
will represent Robinson’s first experience at
life in Augusta during Masters week.
“I’ve enjoyed being over here in Augusta.
It’s the mecca of the world as far as golf and
I’ve got some great people working for me.”
Robinson is not entirely unfamiliar with
the experience of being around a major
championship. He was an assistant at Atlanta
Athletic Club when it hosted the 1981 PGA
Championship, and spent some time as a
club professional in Austin, Tex., Asheville,
N.C., and St. Augustine, Fla., before
deciding to come back to his roots.
A native of Cedartown, Robinson returned
to the state as head professional at Highland,
and spent almost two decades there before
taking the job at Forest Hills.
During his time in LaGrange, Robinson
was a big part of life at Highland Country
Club, taking part in the addition of a new
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clubhouse in the late 1990s and helping get a
pro-am for a local hospice up and running.
The pro-am drew some top players to
Highland, with the event raising around
$750,000 in 11 years.
Before arthritis in his hands and tendonitis
in his elbow made golf a much less enjoyable
experience, Robinson was among the better
players in the Georgia PGA Section.
Robinson won the Section Championship
in 1991, and was part of winning teams in
the Pro-Pro Championship and Senior-
Junior Championship. He qualified for
several tour events in the state, competing in
PGA Tour events at Atlanta Country Club
and Callaway Gardens, as well as a Nike Tour
event in Macon. He also made three starts in
the PGA Club Professional Championship,
making a strong run one year at earning a
spot in the field for the PGA Championship.
“I had an opportunity to get there and I
know it would have been a really great expe-
rience but it didn’t quite happen.”
At one point, Robinson thought he might
spend the rest of his professional life at
Highland, but that also didn’t quite happen.
After his early experiences at Forest Hills, he
now hopes this will be his last stop.
“I enjoy doing what I’m doing and that’s
a big part of it. That makes it easy.”
Dreams Built
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Pavers
Waterfalls
Playgrounds
MARCH 2009
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MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 17

 Bulldogs shooting for third national title
Ranked No. 1 with talented, veteran squad
By Mike Blum
T
he Georgia men’s golf team has
claimed two NCAA
Championships over the past
decade, and given the talent on
the current squad, a third title is a
definitely possibility.
On paper, the 2008-09 Georgia team is
stronger top to bottom than the 1998-99
squad, and has more depth than the
2004-05 team. All five starters return from
the 2007-08 team that finished third or
better in 8 of its 10 tournaments before a
disappointing eighth place finish in the
NCAA Championship.
The Bulldogs won their last two events
of the Fall season and begin the Spring as
the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
When asked if his team is as good as
the two that brought NCAA titles back
to Athens, Georgia coach Chris
Haack responded, “They’ve got the poten-
tial to be.
“They are all veteran players. It boils
down to how they play. They have the
College
PREVIEW
GSGA
18 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
chance to be one of the best teams I’ve
ever had.”
Like the previous two championship
teams, the ’09 Bulldogs have a pair of
talented sophomores to go along with a
strong group of juniors and seniors. The
’99 squad was led by sophomore Ryuji
Imada, a top 15 player on the 2008 PGA
Tour, while the sophomore duo of Chris
Kirk and Brendon Todd keyed the ’05
title team.
Harris English and Russell Henley
broke in with outstanding freshman
seasons, with English winning individual
titles in two of his first three starts for the
Bulldogs and Henley earning second team
All-America honors. Henley finished
strong with a win in the NCAA East
Regional and added a second title in the
Isleworth Invitational last Fall.
Senior Brian Harman slipped a bit last
season after making second team All-
America as both a freshman and
sophomore. Harman posted several strong
showings in tournaments in the state, but
did not play nearly as well outside Georgia.
Junior Adam Mitchell and senior
Hudson Swafford joined Henley as
second team All-Americans last year,
but Mitchell struggled in the Fall.
Russell Henley
Fortunately for Haack, he has some talent
behind his five starters, with Georgia’s
depth providing plenty of competition to
determine who makes the traveling team.
Freshman Patrick Reed, who reached
the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Amateur
(as did Mitchell) to almost qualify for the
’09 Masters, made three starts in Georgia’s
four Fall tournaments. Senior Michael
Green has also worked his way into the
lineup during his previous three seasons on
the squad, but his playing time has
decreased each year.
“We’ve got two or three guys who can
consistently push our starting group,”
Haack says. “They can’t just sit around.
They’ve got to get after it and we saw that
this Fall. We finally got our main group
together at Isleworth, and they played
pretty well.”
Georgia won the event for the fourth
time in five years, dominating a strong field
to finish 17 strokes ahead of its closest
competitor. Off the strength of that victory
and one in the Bulldogs’ previous tourna-
ment in Macon, they ended the Fall as the
top-ranked team in the country.
“That gives us a little more incentive,”
Haack says. “But we were in the same posi-
tion last year going into the season and
finished eighth at nationals.”
Haack has enjoyed considerable success
as Georgia’s head coach since taking over
the program in 1996, keeping the Bulldogs
a consistent championship contender
without having to recruit very much out-
side the region.
Georgia’s 1999 championship consisted
of three players from metro Atlanta and
two from Florida. The ’05 squad had two
Georgians, two from the Carolinas and a
Canadian, one of a very few Bulldogs in
recent memory not from Georgia or a
neighboring state.
This year’s starting five consists of three
Georgians – Harman (Savannah), Henley
(Macon) and English (Thomasville) — and
two from just across the state border.
Mitchell came to Athens from
Chattanooga, with Swafford a Tallahassee
resident. Reed and Green are both Augusta
residents, with Reed moving to the state
after graduating from high school in
Louisiana.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve
been able to do this with kids from our
region,” Haack says. “There are enough
good players here in the Southeast that I
haven’t had to recruit much nationally or
go the overseas route.”
The Bulldogs’ three home grown starters
have one strong connection, having won
three of the last four GSGA
Championships. Harman (2005) and
English (2007) both won the Georgia
Amateur just prior to beginning their
freshman seasons in Athens, with Henley
taking the title last year in between his
freshman and sophomore seasons.
Both Henley and English were major
contributors last season as freshman, and
much will be expected of them this
season and for the remainder of their
college careers.
Harman made an immediate splash as a
Bulldog, winning the individual title of the
NCAA Preview in his first college start. He
entered Georgia as one of its highest profile
recruits ever, compiling an exceptional
junior resume and competing on the 2005
Walker Cup just before arriving on campus.
While Harman has enjoyed a successful
career thus far with the Bulldogs, the level
of his play has not quite reached the heights
some would have anticipated.
“I’d love nothing more than to see him
go out on a high note.” Haack says of
Harman. “He’s been a steady player. He’s
never missed a tournament. If he can catch
a little of that swagger and confidence, he
can be as good as anyone in the country.”
After opening its schedule in late
February in Puerto Rico, Georgia begins a
busy stretch of tournaments March 15 in
Las Vegas. The Bulldogs will host the
annual Linger Longer Invitational at
Reynolds Landing on Lake Oconee March
22-24, and plays at Golf Club of Georgia in
Alpharetta April 5-7. Georgia will again be
the host team for the SEC Championship
at Sea Island GC April 17-19.
Georgia won in Puerto Rico by 12
strokes with a 38-under 826 total. Swafford
shared medalist honors at 204, with Henley
and Harman tying for third at 206 and
English 12th at 211.
Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets missed the NCAA
Championship last year for the first time in
more than a decade, and followed an unex-
ceptional Spring season with an
up-and-down showing in the Fall. Tech was
runner-up to Georgia in the Brickyard
Collegiate in Macon and was also second in
the Match Play Championship, but the
Jackets did not finish better than sixth in
their other three starts.
Senior Cameron Tringale wraps up an
outstanding career this Spring, and is
coming off a Fall season that included his
third career win in the Brickyard Collegiate
and a team-low score in each event. Other
than poor showings in the first and last
starts of his junior season, Tringale has been
a consistently successful performer since his
first event as a freshman and has played in
every tournament the past 3 ½ seasons.
After playing sparingly his first two sea-
sons, David Dragoo broke into lineup full
time last season, and notched his first career
top 10 in the Fall in Tech’s Carpet Capital
Collegiate at The Farm.
MARCH 2009

Fellow senior Taylor Hall of LaGrange
led Tech with a fifth place finish in last
year’s ACC Championship and was
unbeaten in the Match Play event, but
made only one other start in the Fall
and was not among the six players who
competed in Tech’s Spring season opener
in Hawaii.
Junior Chessonn Hedley has been a
major contributor since his freshman
season, but did not play especially well in
the Fall and struggled in Hawaii last
month. In one stretch spanning his
freshman and sophomore seasons, Hadley
notched eight straight top-10 finishes for
Tech, including a tie for fourth in the
NCAA Championship as a freshman and a
win in the Carpet Capital Collegiate in the
Fall of ’07, but has been outside the top 10
in his last nine starts
Sophomore John-Tyler Griffin made his
first impact for the Jackets in the Fall with
a tie for third in the Brickyard Collegiate,
and was in the starting lineup when Tech
opened its Spring schedule. Tech was ninth
out of 17 teams in Hawaii, with Tringale
tying for 10th and Dragoo one shot back
in 12th.
Freshman James White of Acworth was
also a starter in Hawaii after making the
lineup twice in the Fall, and will be one of
several Tech golfers who will battle for a
spot in the lineup throughout the Spring.
Eight different Tech players cracked the
starting five in the Fall, Chinese freshman
Minghao Wang among them.
Since 1998, the Jackets have finished
eighth or better seven times in the NCAA
Championship, including three runner-up
showings, but the chances of a seventh
top-5 finish in that span this year appears
to be a long shot.
Augusta State (43), Georgia State (47)
and Georgia Southern (50) all begin the
Spring ranked just inside the top 50 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
Only three of Augusta’s top 10 players
are American, with three of Georgians
competing for playing time against the
Jaguars’ international recruits. Redshirt
freshman Brendan Gillins of Savannah
tied for eighth in Chattanooga, where
Augusta scored one of its two runner-up
finishes in the Fall. Sophomore Carter
Newman of Evans and freshman Taylor
Floyd of Macon are also battling for spots
in the lineup, with both seeing action
during the Fall.
The Jaguars have six tournaments on
their Spring schedule, including the
Administaff ASU Invitational April 4-5 at
Forest Hills GC.
Georgia State’s top three players are
European, but the other six players on the
roster are from Georgia and all are vying for
the 4 and 5 slots in the starting lineup.
Sophomore Alan Fowler of Gainesville
finished the Fall schedule with three
straight solid showings, including a tie for
ninth in the Rees Jones Intercollegiate at
Daufuskie Island, S.C., where the Panthers
placed second.
Sophomore Alex Castro of Alpharetta
made two starts in the Fall, with sopho-
more Brent Paul of Columbus, redshirt
freshman Jared Cagle of Gainesville and
senior Tim Freund of Greensboro making
one appearance each for the Panthers, who
also took third in a rain-shortened event in
Hartford, Conn.
Georgia State, which is coached by former
PGA and Champions Tour player Joe
Inman, has three home state tournaments
on its Spring schedule, playing in Augusta,
the Schenkel E-Z-GO in Statesboro, and
will host its conference tournament April
17-19 at Callaway Gardens.
Georgia Southern won twice in the Fall
in Florence, S.C., and the Mizuno
Intercollegiate at Savannah Quarters CC.
Senior Jordan Johnstun, who played his
high school golf in LaGrange and now lives
in Evans, was third for the Eagles in their
win in Florence and turned in a strong final
round showing in Savannah to finish tied for
20th and help lift the Eagles to victory.
Sophomore Logan Blondell was the indi-
vidual medalist in Savannah.
The Eagles will host the annual Schenkel
E-Z-GO Invitational at Forest Heights CC
March 20-22 and will also appear in the
Augusta State tournament.
Georgia Women
The Georgia women’s team is still looking
to get back to its former national status
after a coaching change and a revolving
roster the past few seasons.
Georgia opened its Spring season with a
solid showing in Puerto Rico, tying for
third after being in second place after 36
holes. The Georgia women are competing
with only five scholarship players,
including freshman Tess Fordham of
Metter and Athens’ Leigh Crosby, who
transferred from Central Florida.
Senior Mallory Hetzel and junior
Carolina Andrade are the team’s only two
veteran players, and begin the ’09 season by
placing 12th and 16th respectively in
Puerto Rico. Talented freshman Marta
Silva Zamora, who like Andrade came to
Athens from Spain, was fourth in Georgia’s
season opener, just two strokes behind the
individual champion.
Georgia tied for 10th in last year’s
NCAA Championship, but lost one starter
to graduation and two of the team’s
international contingent have since left
the squad.
The team’s Spring schedule includes the
annual Liz Murphey Classic, which will be
played at the University Course in Athens
March 27-29.

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MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 19

Golf FORE Women
Women the ones to watch in 2009
By Jackie Cannizzo
Women’s Editor
PGA Professional
Country Club of Roswell
The world of women’s golf is
growing in Georgia as well as
all across the United States.
Although the economy is
tough for the world of golf and
it remains to be seen if we will
see the game of golf grow,
shrink or stay the same,
women’s golf is still on the rise.
According to the National
Golf Foundation, women
golfers were the only category that actually
had double digit growth in 2008, about 19
%. The PGA, USGA and LPGA are firmly
behind the push to keep women happy
and wanting to learn the game. In Georgia,
there are several associations dedicated
solely to women.
Also there are many opportunities for
women to participate and learn the game
throughout the year in Georgia and we will
try to list them and feature them as we go.
If you have a women’s event of any sort that
you wish to be listed please email me at
Jacgolf32@aol.com.
In addition to the growth in the women’s
game at the amateur level, the hottest
rookies and players this year on the LPGA
are American born and will be taking
center stage when the tour cranks up this
year. Michelle Wie, Stacey Lewis and Vicki
Hurst are the star rookies on tour, and in
the opening event we saw Wie contend for
her first title and Lewis and Hurst finished in
the top 20. Although the best player to
have played the game (Annika
Sorenstam) has retired, other young stars
like Lorena Ochoa and Paula Creamer are
20 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM
poised to lead women’s golf to what may
be one of its best seasons.
Creamer has made it her personal mis-
sion to promote the game and carry
American golf on her shoulders. Creamer
has spearheaded a program
called “adopt a player.” This
program is in conjunction
with the 2009 Women’s Open
at Saucon Valley CC in
Pennsylvania in July. Players
who volunteer are adopted by
area 3rd and 4th graders and
will communicate throughout
the year by email.
This program is designed to
promote golf to kids, but also keeping in
mind the value of their school curriculum.
At the Women’s Open, the school children
will wear color coded t-shirts to correspond
with their adopted player.
“This is an opportunity for us LPGA
players to give back and also to connect
with fans in a whole new way. I am very
excited that so many of my fellow profes-
sionals are with me on this” says Creamer.
Hottest Equipment
for Women
Equipment companies are also taking
notice that women need to be catered to
and that their equipment needs are dif-
ferent than men. Women need equipment
that is tailored to their game. For example,
there are few women on the LPGA tour that
hit 3 or 4 irons, so women need hybrids or
lofted fairway woods. Because of that, many
manufacturers are selling iron sets that start
at 5 or 6 irons, or sometimes it’s a combo
club in that position. Then adding a hybrid
and spacing out the lofts to accommodate
the needs of women.
It is important that women have equip-
ment that really enhances their game, not
hinders it. So ladies, if you are still using your
husband’s old clubs, or an old set from the
1970’s or 1980’s, it’s time to upgrade. If you
are taking instruction, hopefully your
instructor is paying attention. If you go to
one of the off course retailers, ask them to
show you some of the following brands and
sets that will probably be much better than
what you are using now:
Cleveland Hi Bore Bloom starts with a
high lofted driver, 5 wood, hybrid and 5
irons. You can also get a putter just right for
you as well. Clubs may be bought sepa-
rately or as a set. They also have several
options on the driver loft depending you’re
swing speed and ability.
Ping Rhapsody is the women’s version of
the rapture series by Ping. This is a set with
lightweight options, combo irons, lofted
drivers, hybrids and fairway woods. Ping
doesn’t sell sets. They promote fitting more
than any company and they allow you to
really get the clubs you need.
Cobra Transitions combine 4 and 5 utility
woods with 6 and 7 hybirds with wide soled
irons 8 – pw. The clubs come with a high
launch lightweight shaft to allow women to
hit the ball high and far. There is also a LDM
high lofted driver designed for maximum
distance.
Taylor Made Burner products have been
one of the hottest selling in the past two
years, with a whole line dedicated just to
women. The lightweight heads and shafts
are designed for women to be able to max-
imize power. There are drives with different
lofts, fairway woods, hybrids and irons for all
types of players.
Callaway Gems is designed for beginning
golfers with draw bias irons, high lofted
woods and of course the famous two ball
putter. It is purchased as a set and is a great
way for women to get started.
EWGA kicks off season
The Atlanta Chapter of the EWGA will kick
off its 2009 season at River Pines in
Alpharetta with a unique event that will
feature a “Big Break” type format. The event
is March 7 at 10 a.m. on the Par 3 course and
each hole will have a special skill on it that
the foursome will be challenged to. Adams
Golf will also be on site presenting a demo
day on the range for all EWGA members
and guests. For more information go to:
www.EWGAtlanta.com.
Georgia Women’s Golf Association is a 36
hole tournament consisting of two GWGA
members with a USGA handicap of 23 or
less. This year’s event will again be held at
Jekyll Island Club on April 28th & 29th. Go
to www.gwga.org.
Women’s Events
UPCOMING
March 24
Atlanta Women’s Golf Association:
Opening Day and Luncheon at
Dunwoody CC
March 31
The Landings Women’s Golf
Association: Cancer Tournament
April 15–17
GSGA Women’s Match Play:
Sunset Hills CC in Carrollton
April 28-29
GWGA Four Ball:
Jekyll Island Golf Club
MARCH 2009

Watson, Bruckner,
Kim among winners
The Georgia PGA Junior Tour began its
2009 schedule last month in Statesboro,
with the lowest scores in both the boys
and girls divisions turned in
by golfers from the youngest
age groups.
Elizabeth Kim of Martinez,
competing in the 11-14 age
division, was the overall girls
winner with a 171 total, three
strokes ahead of 15-18 champion Dona
Golf FORE Juniors
playoff. Parker Brown of Marietta was
third in the age division at 161, followed by
Aden Faddis of Cartersville at 162.
Aaron George of Dahlonega shot 158 to
take first in the 14-15 age group, with
Sanders Park of Alpharetta
second at 164.
The Georgia PGA Junior Tour’s
next tournament is March
14-15 at the Brickyard at
Riverside in Macon. Cateechee
in Hartwell will host a Georgia
PGA Junior Tour event March 28-29.

Pisciotta, Collura
Kioseff of Valdosta. Diane Lim of Norcross

win SJGT event

was second in the 11-14 division at 175,

Paul Bruckner Elizabeth Kim

with Katarina Hodge of Dublin the 15-18
runner-up at 177.
Will Watson of Evans was the boys 11-13
winner with scores of 77-78--155, seven
strokes ahead of age group runner-up
Caitlin Pisciotta of Alpharetta and David
Collura of Athens were the girls and boys 12-13 division at 160, with Jack Gibbs of a 133 total. Blaine Woodruff of Acworth
winners in a recent Southeastern Junior Evans second in the 14-15 age group at and Ollie Schniederjans of Power Springs
GSGA

James Clark of Columbus. Because the
players in the youngest age group play
from shorter tees, they are not eligible for
the overall boys title.
Paul Bruckner of Alpharetta and
Walker Hill of Statesboro tied for first in
the 16-18 division at 156, with Bruckner
taking the age group and overall title in a
Tour event at Daniel Island, S.C.
Pisciotta shot 76-76—152 to finish five
strokes ahead of her closest competitor,
and Collura came from six strokes back
after the first round to win with a 147 total.
Will Evans of McDonough was second at
148 after opening with a 69.
Russell Sabol of Martinez won the boys
154. Emily Kurey of Alpharetta was second
in girls 12-14 at 169.
Two Georgia teams won SJGT 4-Ball titles
at the Robert Trent Jones Trail Grand
National Lake course in Opelika, Ala.
Emilie Burger of Hoschton and William
Meason of Alpharetta won the mixed
team division by a whopping 13 shots with
shot 132 and won the boys division in a
playoff.
The SJGT tournament at Callaway
Gardens was postponed due to inclement
weather and has been re-scheduled for
Nov. 7-8. Upcoming SJGT events will be
played at Dublin CC March 27-28 and Jekyll
Island April 4-5.

MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 21

 Course Reviews

Highland Golf Club (Semi-Private)

2271 Flat Shoals Rd., Conyers
770-483-4235; www.highlandgolf.com

STAFF: Jody Stephens is the PGA golf professional; Leroy Reed is the Superintendent
PAR/YARDAGE: Highland GC is a par 72 with 4 sets of tees: Gold (6,817 yards); Blue (6,362);
White (5,915) and Red (5,383).
COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 72.9/129 (Gold); 71.0/125 (Blue); 68.6/121 (White); 71.0/123 (Red).

ABOUT THE COURSE: Among the metro Atlanta area’s most time-tested layouts, opening
for play in 1961. A long time area favorite, Highland offers a quality layout with excellent
course conditions considering the affordable fees. Its mostly level, compact nature makes
it an easy course to walk, and you will not find many facilities in all of Atlanta that provide
more value for the cost. With only a handful of holes where length is much of a factor,
Highland is a comfortable layout for players of modest ability, but it is far from a pushover.
The tree-lined, straightforward front nine offers little in the way of serious trouble, at least
until you reach the short but potentially perilous par-5 ninth, which includes one of only
two hazards in play on the outgoing nine. The par-3 10th comes back to the clubhouse,
with the nature of the course changing markedly once you tee it up on 11. The back nine
includes a number of challenging and distinctive holes, with the 11th one of the metro
area’s stouter par 4s, owing to a pond that protects the front left of a sizeable green with
multiple levels and some devilish pin positions. Coming in, you will encounter a well-placed
tree in the fairway (13), one of Atlanta’s finest and most appealing over-water par 3s (15), a
lengthier par 5 with water in play (17) and a true road hole (16), where the tee shots have
to take into account traffic coming to and from the clubhouse parking lot. The excellent
putting surfaces are on the small side and mostly open in nature, and require some
precision from the fairway and a deft short game touch to produce a score you would
expect from a course with neither significant length nor an abundance of trouble. An enjoy-
able, modestly challenging layout that is well worth the trip out 1-20 for those who don’t
live in Conyers.

Golf Club of Georgia, Lakeside (Private)

One Golf Club Drive, Alpahretta
770-664-8644; www.golfclubofgeorgia.com

STAFF: Jeff Paton is the PGA Director of Golf; Randy Waldron is the Superintendent
PAR/YARDAGE: Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course is a par 72 with four sets of tees:
Gold (7,017) yards; Blue (6,657); White (6,043) and Red (5,109).
COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 74.6/144 (Gold); 72.7/138 (Blue); 69/8/131 (White); 70.3/130 (Red).

ABOUT THE COURSE: One of the state’s premier golf facilities, Golf Club of Georgia is an
absolutely first rate operation with two disparate Arthur Hills designs – the more traditional
Lakeside layout and the more modern, target-oriented Creekside course. Lakeside is the
better known of two, serving as host for a former Senior PGA Tour event, as well as the
Georgia Amateur, Atlanta Open and the club’s two upcoming events – the Georgia Cup and
U.S. Collegiate Championship. Lakeside features a wonderful collection of holes in immac-
ulate shape, and is highlighted by some superbly-crafted greens complexes that are as
demanding as almost any you will encounter. Slopes, ridges and multiple tiers are found on
a majority of the holes, and when the greens are rolling at their quickest, there are some
spots you simply do not want to be putting from. With an exception or two, Hills has pro-
vided ample room to drive the ball, and length is only a serious concern on a handful of
holes, with just one par 4 longer than 432 yards from the back tees. Lakeside features an
exceptional quartet of par 3s, three of which have to carry water. The scenic but intimi-
dating fifth is 200 yards from the blues with a lake lurking menacingly just off the left edge
of the green. The gorgeous 13th is all carry with a sloping green that is a 3-putt waiting to
happen if you venture too far from the hole. Water is also very much in play on three of the
outstanding group of par 5s, and a hook off the first tee makes it four with hazards. The 607-
yard 11th is one of the state’s most beautiful holes, but shorter hitters may not appreciate
the view when taking a rip from long range with Lake Windward inches off the edge of the
green and the hole cut perilously close to it. The somewhat understated group of par 4s
includes a splendid quartet that average under 340 from the blues, with the well protected
greens necessitating strong iron play to avoid putts and short game shots that require more
skill than you likely possess.

22 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM MARCH 2009

MARCH 2009 GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM 23
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