2022 IAGA Annual Conference: Virtual Attendee Information
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IAGA Annual Conference
IAGA Annual Conference Sponsored Golf Golf Genius | Speaker Announcements
Joining us at this year’s conference will be Golf Space Collective, a digital marketing agency exclusively focused on golf. GSC currently works with the Texas Golf Association, Southern California Golf Association, and The Francis Ouimet Fund. Meet the three of the members that will be joining us this November.
Micah Griffo
Micah has spent much of his career as a Marketing & Sales Executive with a proven track record in building and developing brand identities, marketing strategies, communication plans, and developing growth strategies. Over his career, he has assembled award-winning marketing departments. Produced multi-million dollar sales pipelines. Consulted with Fortune 500 companies on how to build and sustain employee and customer experience models.
Prior to GSC, Micah was co-founder of Griffo Collective, a golf-focused marketing agency that worked with some of the biggest names in the sport.
Bryan Ford
Over his career, he has done a little bit of everything – from reality television production to launching major tech for Fortune 500 companies. More recently, he has helped run creative and logistics efforts to shape brands all across the golf industry. Backgrounds in both media production and tech project management have afforded Bryan the experience to give clients the 360-degree perspective that is crucial for success – a degenerate devotion to golf provides the key ingredient.
Veronica Ryan
Veronica has worked with various teams, executives, ambassadors, and stakeholders to help brands break through and share culture-worthy stories. She’s a creative marketing and communications leader who kick-started her career with the #1 ball in golf (aka Titleist), where she innovated and enhanced brand communications. Before joining the GSC team, she served as Chief Marketing Officer at Five Iron Golf, building the single-location indoor golf spot into a disruptor brand with fifteen (and counting) global locations.
Check out the group’s video message below (click on the image), highlighting more information on this session.
Please visit the link below for more information on this year’s conference.
IAGA Conference Site: Click HERE
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Kraig Kann Announced as Keynote Speaker for the IAGA Annual Conference Sponsored by Golf Genius
Kraig Kann, founder and Managing Director of Kann Advisory Group, will be the keynote speaker for this year’s IAGA Annual Conference sponsored by Golf Genius scheduled for November 6-9 in Point Clear, Alabama. Kann began Kann Advisory Group in 2016 after a 25-year television career including 17 years with the Golf Channel.
Kann was an original on-air personality at Golf Channel serving eventually as a studio host. He interviewed hundreds of athletes, politicians and corporate executives which positioned him to become the Chief Communications Officer for the LPGA, a role in which he served from 2011-2016.
In his keynote address, Kann will focus on how to bring attention to stories and brands to better position organizations and groups in the public eye. He will also conduct a breakout session entitled ‘A Brand New You: Elevating Presence, Amplifying Performance.’
“I’m fortunate to speak to many organizations,” said Kann. “The chance to reach audiences within the golf industry is something that really gets me excited! I’m ready for the trip to Alabama to share my message about the importance of communicating a message and a story that gets people’s attention, building greater awareness and elevating people in the process. This won’t be a “talk.” Get ready for an interactive and empowering experience that builds a brand new you.”
A sought after motivational speaker, Kann’s keynotes and popular “Elevate Workshop” have drawn rave reviews from the likes of Accenture, Transamerica, Titleist, SAP, KPMG, Zurich, Gallagher, Diamond Resorts, PGA of America, CoSIDA and others.
Kann’s platform has widened significantly with roles as the weekly show host of Connected with Kraig Kann on SiriusXM, his growing podcast Tracks To Success, and the January 2021 release of his book Can You Get Our Attention? which quickly reached Top 20 status on the Amazon Best Seller List and was recognized as a finalist at the 2021 International Book Awards while winning top honors at the 2021 San Francisco Book Festival and New York Book Festival and earning the silver medal from Reader’s’ Favorite as “Best New Book 2021 – Marketing”.
The IAGA Annual Conference will be held at The Grand Golf Resort and Spa. Registration is available on the website at www.iaga.org
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GAP Celebrates 125th Anniversary
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Southern California Golf Association Launches Bradford Plays
Evan Belfi and the membership team at the SCGA launched an innovative new project last week that we wanted to highlight. The project is a YouTube series called Bradford Plays, and it spotlights the uniqueness of golf in the Southern California area while also telling some incredible member stories from within the organization.
SCGA has seen tens of thousands of new member sign ups in the past 5+ years thanks largely in part to the team’s investment into the Club side of the AGA world. The Bradford Plays series partners with a popular SoCal influencer in Bradford Wilson who goes out to different clubs having events to learn more about the origin of the club and how it is bringing in new people to the SCGA.
This series is a great example of how investing into high-quality storytelling can directly impact your association’s bottom line and membership growth goals.
At the end of the day, most people want to connect with people, not brands. The SCGA partnering with an influencer to tell human-interest stories is a great way to let SoCal golfers connect with its brand in a genuine and personalized way.
Check out the first episode of the series here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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IAGA Introduces New Logo, Font, and Color Scheme
Over the past few months, the team at the IAGA has been working on a logo refresh for the first time in nearly 20 years. The new logo keeps the Tee/Pencil element of the old logo but brings in a more modern color scheme and font.
To assist us with this project, the IAGA contracted with Seth McWhorter of McWhorter Creative. This new logo will allow us to continue to carve out our niche within the golf industry and create better storytelling around our member associations. To everyone that helped us throughout the process, thank you!
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Best Practices
By Preston McClellan, IAGA Consultant
I’ve spent a ton of time the last 6 weeks producing short-form, 9:16 content primarily for Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook (yes, Facebook). Here are my 3 biggest takeaways. 
Initial hooks are important, but the editing after the initial hook seems to play a key factor in getting people to stick around.Our best performing videos are either one sequence shots less than :07 seconds OR longer videos with jump style cuts every 2-3 seconds.
It seems like all of our attention spans are now so short that there needs to be a slight change on screen every few seconds to get us to stick around.
For example, even a talking head video should feature noticeable jump cuts every few seconds.
Lots of brands are missing out on the Facebook Reels opportunity.You have to upload natively within the FB mobile app vs. it being auto shared from IG.
I’ve had multiple Facebook Reels reach an audience 5X the size of the page that posted it.
YouTube shorts are coming. If your brand has deprioritized YouTube, it’s time to pivot and refocus.YouTube is the ONLY social platform currently growing in both long and short form video.
It’s also the only social platform used universally despite your age.
Do my parents use Tik Tok? Absolutely not.
Do they use YouTube? Yes.
Teens and older Gen Z’s today also still use YouTube frequently. With the growth of Shorts, wouldn’t be surprising for YouTube to have some massive growth numbers in Q3/Q4.
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Partner Spotlight: Players 1st for Collecting Feedback
There is a lot to do in putting on a first-class tournament and collecting post-event feedback may seem like an optional step. However, neglecting to find out how your event was received by your participants could mean repeating the same mistakes again, year after year.
That’s why collecting robust feedback from your tournament participants is an essential part of an effective management process and shouldn’t be left to a random sample of anecdotal comments from the (usually) vocal minority.
Understanding the entire event experience through the player’s eyes – from registration to the closing ceremony – will give you a detailed understanding of what went well and where you have opportunities for improvement next year.
You willl be able to make those critical decisions, secure in the knowledge that your event analytics will provide a data-driven perspective and drive continual improvement.
Sounds great right? But that’s not all.
There are many other advantages to implementing a tournament experience solution and we’ve summarized them in this concise eBook.
Download a copy and see how you can leverage this strategy to elevate your season’s tournament slate.
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Metropolitan Golf Foundation Acquires Historic Normandie Golf Club
This week, we wanted to spotlight a unique story from the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association in St. Louis. Special thanks to Curt Rohe, their executive director for providing answers to the questions below.
Q: Can you provide us with some history and background on Normandie Golf Club?
A: Normandie Golf Club was built in 1901 and is the oldest Public golf course still in operation in its original location, west of the Mississippi River. Designed in St. Louis by Robert Foulis, a disciple of Old Tom Morris of St. Andrews, Scotland fame. The course sits in what is known as Greendale, Mo, and is in a depressed part of the area north of St. Louis County. The University of Missouri System purchased the course several years ago, and it has been operated by Walters Golf Management for almost 20 years. It started as a private club until the early 1980’s. It was where many of the best players in the St. Louis area called home and played. This project began almost six years ago when a couple of guys came to Tom O’Toole, Jr. to talk to him about restoring the course; however, they wanted to do it in a for-profit model, which he said would never work in that area.When they decided to do the not-for-profit route, they came back to Tom to inquire about establishing a 501(c)3 entity. The Metropolitan Golf Foundation (MGF) became involved as it was already established. MGF partnered with Beyond Housing (BH) to operate the golf course, and ultimately it was purchased by the MGF this past May from the University of Missouri System. I encourage you to visit the Normandie Renovation Project page on our website where we have a four-page brochure about The Vision and a video that truly brings that vision to life.The project really came to life when Jack Nicklaus agreed to partner with us in restoring the golf course; it will become a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course. Jack and Nicklaus Design have waived their fee in restoring the course.
The beauty of this project is that it will remain a public golf course and at the current greens fee structure it currently operates under.
Q: Why is this course and this project of importance to the Metropolitan Golf Foundation?
A: The importance of revitalizing the property is to maintain a community asset! Chris Krehmeyer, CEO of our partner Beyond Housing, said it best, “the asset will never be replaced if you lose it.” You will hear and see it many times in the materials: it is about so much more than restoring a golf course. This is about breaking new ground by transforming an under-utilized community asset into a world-class Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, to become a catalyst for progress and social change.
Q: What programs and initiatives do you see being available with the future of this facility?
A: We have partnered with Youth on Course and the Western Golf Association (WGA). We are having ongoing discussions with First Tee of Greater St. Louis, Gateway PGA Reach and many others to be a piece of the project in the future. The WGA have committed to have a caddie program at Normandie, like they are doing at Jackson Park in Chicago, where golfers can take a caddie at no charge and are only expected to tip the caddie. Caddies and a caddie master will be paid by the WGA.
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Trammell and Lathrop Announced as IAGA Distinguished Service Award Recipients
The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) announced today they are honoring Barb Trammell and Happ Lathrop as recipients of the IAGA Distinguished Service Award. The presentation of this award will take place on Tuesday, November 8, during the IAGA Annual Conference Sponsored by Golf Genius at The Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa in Point Clear, AL.
“The IAGA is thrilled to recognize Happ and Barb for their tremendous contributions and impact to their organizations, the IAGA community and the golf industry. This is the first time the IAGA has identified two award recipients during a given year. Our committee reviewed several excellent nominees and felt the time was right to expand and recognize two individuals in 2022,” said Jesse Menachem, the Immediate Past President of the IAGA and Executive Director/CEO of Mass Golf, who led the Nominating Committee.
Barb Trammell 
Barb Trammell served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Oregon Golf Association (OGA) from 2007 until her recent retirement this July. Under her leadership, the OGA has grown from an organization with declining annual membership to one that has gained membership for four consecutive years with more than 45,000 unique members and more than 300 clubs in 2021.
In addition to OGA championships flourishing under Trammell’s guidance, the organization made great strides in developing additional playing opportunities designed to target under-served audiences. That includes the OGA Tour, a series of casual, one-day individual and partner competitions played throughout the state by men and women of all skill levels and abilities, and Women’s Interclub Play, a team match-play format for women representing their clubs.
Trammell was also instrumental in forming the Golf Alliance of Oregon, a consortium of key regional golf industry partners to serve as the voice of advocacy for golf. Through its collaborative efforts, the Golf Alliance co-funded three separate Economic Impact Studies, helping educate state legislators on the positive benefits of the business of golf. The consortium proved vital in the golf industry’s regional efforts to weather the pandemic.
“There is no question that the OGA is in a better place today than where it was in 2007, and we are incredibly thankful for what Barb has done in her tenure,” Jeff Allen, president of the OGA Executive Committee. “She leaves big shoes to fill after taking the helm of an organization with significant challenges and setting it on a much steadier course. Her expertise, energy, and passion for the game are unparalleled. She will be missed, but the OGA will continue to thrive thanks largely to her leadership.”
Before joining the OGA, Trammell was the founder and president of VisionFore Solutions, an independent global golf consulting company specializing in event management, competition expertise, and rules education. Before launching her own company, Trammell served as Senior Vice President of Operations for the LPGA Tour. Trammell started her 19-year tenure at the LPGA Tour as a rules official.
Widely regarded as an expert on the Rules of Golf, she was among the first women to be invited to officiate The Masters, The Open Championship, U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship. She also served on the USGA’s Rules of Golf Committee for 15 years and was a member of the more recent Rules Modernization Committee, the group that formalized the 2019 changes to the Rules of Golf. Trammell served as President of the IAGA in 2017 and was instrumental in the creation of the organization’s strategic plan which ultimately led to the IAGA hiring its first ever Executive Director. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Trammell is a Class A member of the PGA of America and has also held roles as a PGA club professional and Division I college golf coach.
Happ Lathrop
Regarded by many as “Mr. Golf” in South Carolina, Happ Lathrop has presided over the game as executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association (SCGA) across four decades. In 1976, he became the first full-time South Carolina Golf Association employee when membership involved 99 clubs (about 11,500 golfers), and assets stood at $50,000. When he retired 42 years later, the association commanded more than $ 1 million in assets and represented the interests of more than 70,000 golfers across nearly 300 clubs.
A fine player in his own right, Lathrop won the state amateur championship in 1968 as an 18-year-old, becoming the youngest to do so at that time. He was South Carolina Inter-Collegiate Champion in the same year. Yet it is his service as an administrator that he is best known for in the South Carolina golf community.
Lathrop also helped create one of the country’s most successful and respected junior development programs through the South Carolina Junior Golf Association (1990) and the South Carolina Junior Golf Foundation (1995). In addition to producing numerous PGA Tour players, those organizations have fostered strong and healthy competition for juniors, awarded more than $1,000,000 in education scholarships and well over $200,000 to organizations for minority and disadvantaged youth.
For all of the events and organizations Lathrop has had a hand in creating or running, his efforts in brokering relationships, sponsorships, and general goodwill for golf in the state are just as far-reaching. He was inducted into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame in 1997 and has also been recognized as Father-of-the-Year by the National Father and Son Team Classic tournament in Myrtle Beach.
About the IAGA Distinguished Service Award
The ideal candidate will have made a positive impact on their golf community locally, regionally and/or nationally and will exemplify true professionalism through possessing many of the following characteristics including, but not limited to:
- Leadership, illustrated by their organization or communities they have served having benefited directly from their contributions
- Innovation and creativity, as demonstrated by bringing formative change to their association or community
- Mentorship, by having provided influential guidance to others through their work
- Sharing and promoting an exchange of information through selfless actions leading to proven results that have been impactful and have led to the advancement of an initiative or program
- Collaborative excellence working with allied organizations for the betterment of the game through relationship building
- Exemplary communication skills helping bring communities together for a common goal
- Dedicated service to the industry which exceeded expectations
Click HERE To view past recipients of the IAGA Distinguished Service Award
About the IAGA
The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA), formed in 1968, serves as the industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the game of golf and serve those who play it by representing and developing those who lead it. The organization is comprised of over 80 golf associations who represent nearly 800 industry professionals as well as nearly 3M plus golfers across North America. The IAGA provides educational and networking opportunities and business resources to further its member organizations.
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