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Story by WP Ryan | Minnesota Golf Association

The IAGA will honor longtime Golf Ontario Executive Director Dave Mills with its Distinguished Service Award, to be presented on November 6^th at the 2018 IAGA Annual Conference at the Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort.

Mills, 71, of Belleville, Ontario, served as Executive Director of Golf Ontario for 17 years, from 1997 until 2014. He first joined the Ontario Golf Association, as Golf Ontario was known at the time, as a club representative for the Bay of Quinte Golf & Country Club in Belleville in 1986, where Mills’s skills at organizing and growing junior golf led to his election to the board and the provincial chair of the OGA’s Junior Development Committee.

Mills accepted the executive director position with the OGA in 1997 after concluding a 27-year career with Ontario Hydro. During his early tenure as executive director, Mills steered the association out of significant financial issues and eventually put it on solid financial and administrative footing.

Within a few short years, he led the association through an amalgamation with the Ontario Ladies’ Golf Association in 2001 to form the Golf Association of Ontario, one of the largest amateur golf associations in North America. Calling it his most satisfying career accomplishment, the amalgamation led to recognition by the Ontario Ministry of Sport of the GAO as the official Sport Body for golf in Ontario.

Highlights during his tenure include establishing an annual scholarship program, launching the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame, creating a partnership with the Ontario Golf Magazine, initiating numerous player development programs including Golf in Schools, participation in Canadian and Ontario Summer Games, and working with numerous young golfers and their families as they pursued golf scholarships at universities in the U.S., and careers as golf professionals.

Prior to his Golf Ontario tenure, Mills worked for Ontario Hydro, one of the largest electricity corporations in North America. He attended the University of Toronto graduating in 1970 with a BASc in chemical engineering and later attended the Banff School of Advanced Management.

Today Mills remains actively involved with Golf Ontario as a tournament volunteer and with the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame as a member of its selection committee. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, most notably for his efforts in reorganizing the OGA as well as for his leadership during the OGA/OLGA amalgamation. Without the former, the latter would not have been possible; it is the amalgamation which is generally acknowledged to have created unprecedented growth and recognition for golf in Ontario, including participation in the Ontario and Canada Summer Games and for access to funding of new programs, such as the creation of a world-class player development program.

The IAGA Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize individuals or groups whose actions have fostered the IAGA objectives as stated in its bylaws: “To promote and conserve the best interests and the true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions.” It is the organization’s highest honor. The selection criteria includes the demonstration of superior or innovative administrative abilities, excellence in information exchange and dialogue between golf administrators and golf organizations.

Adam Helmer, 37, of Ottawa, Ontario, has been at the heart of Golf Canada’s rules and competitions for more than 10 years. From mid-June to late August, you’ll find him inside the ropes for Golf Canada’s major competitions and a few of the game’s majors, including the Canadian Amateurs, the RBC Canadian Open, and the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

All told, Golf Canada – what was once known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association – conducts 30 or more championships and qualifiers each year for golfers in Canada’s ten provinces.

As GC’s director of rules, competitions and amateur status, high on Helmer’s list of challenges is pace of play.

“A high percentage of what we deal with as tournament administrators and referees is pace of play.”

There are variables-a-plenty affecting pace of play, including course setup, weather, size of the field, tee-time intervals, etc., but Helmer believes getting players engaged in the solution to the problem is the key.

He cites the PGA and LPGA’s efforts at proactively engaging players in improving pace through their player advisory councils. After the LPGA Tour adopted 11-minute tee-time intervals and implemented a new time par policy that focused on the lead group, the tour shaved 14 minutes off the average time and 22 minutes from the longest time.

“We’re big proponents of eleven-minute intervals,” says Helmer, adding, “It makes all the difference in the world.”

Whereas limiting the field size is also an option, it’s not a practical or ideal solution given the need to grow player participation, he concedes.

For certain, advances in golf ball and driver technology are credited with most influencing the game inside the ropes, yet Helmer sees the biggest change and opportunity for golf administrators is in the form of new technology, both hardware and software, and the impact it has on communication. He points to hand-held devices such as smart phones and tablets that allow referees to monitor pace of play and collect data from walking scorers in real time.

At Golf Canada, we’ve streamlined the player experience, explains Helmer, adding that their tournament software (provided by Bluegolf) features the convenience of a single username-password login for all GC and provincial competitions, and more seamless communications before, during and after competitions. The GC tournament app also allows competitors to check in to a championship, much like an airline flight, call for a referee, view hole locations and provide access to interactive GPS distances on course. As a nod to environmental considerations, Helmer adds, GC has also replaced all of its traditional printed leaderboards with television monitors and radically reduced the amount of other printed materials.

Helmer and Golf Canada’s Rules and Amateur Status Committee Chair, Diane Barabe, worked four Opens together this summer: the CP Women’s Open, the Canadian Open, the U.S. Open and The (British) Open, a feat which they jokingly refer to as “the Triple Crown of Refereeing.”

Helmer also worked the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games, a precursor to golf’s Olympic Games debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and has recently officiated at the Players Championship and the WGC-Dell Match Play.

What’s most important at a major championship in his view is how well the course is covered by referees. The Masters uses referees who are assigned to specific holes allowing them to become intimately acquainted with the problem spots unique to their hole (TIOs, GUR, water hazards and the like), while the USGA has recently turned to “pods,” or small groups of referees who are led by a pod captain, and who rotate among one or two assigned holes and work either morning or afternoon shifts. The R&A assigns walking referees to specific groups at The Open facilitating better rapport between players and their referees, while Golf Canada, together with the PGA Tour, uses a group of roving referees at the RBC Canadian Open who cover the entire golf course.

Whether it’s pods, stationary or roving referees, prior to officiating at a championship Helmer likes to “take a lap through the Rules book” to refresh his knowledge, visit the facility to acquaint himself with the golf course’s specific trouble spots and quirks, review the Local Rules, and meet with other referees to discuss potential issues on-course.

In Helmer’s experience, there is no substitution for careful planning and preparation prior to a refereeing a golf championship.

As most of you know, one of IAGA’s premier partnerships is with Affinity Travel Benefits.  Fun fact: Affinity has forged relationships with nearly 50 golf associations, molding their offering specifically to serve your members.

With Affinity’s travel and entertainment platform, Allied Golf Association members are enjoying up to 70% discounts on hotel rooms and greatly reduced pricing on a robust supply of tickets to sporting events, concerts, theme parks, and movies.  Golf associations are benefitting from enhanced member loyalty by associating their brand with a valuable and highly utilized benefit.  In fact, according to Affinity, AGA members are averaging $120 in savings per booking.

“We work in a wide variety of industries but the culture in golf is unlike any other,” said Affinity’s President, Stephen Boyd, “When travel is promoted by email, social media or the eRevision newsletter, we see registrations converting north of 20% consistently. Golfers love to read about their sport, and they clearly value and trust in the content and products provided by their allied golf associations. It is a special relationship and the results are immediate and palpable.”

Affinity launched its first golfer-dedicated travel site in February 2016. Twenty golf sites were active by mid-summer, and Affinity soon learned from its partners of a growing need to support lodging for tournaments.  “We challenged our technology team to create sites that geo-locate the golf venue and then sort hotels by proximity.” said Stephen.

“We’ve benefitted from using Affinity’s travel platform both internally and externally,” said Matt Vanderpool, Georgia State Golf Association’s executive director. “We’ve significantly reduced staff and volunteer time and travel costs and provided tournament players with flexibility to secure savings while maintaining hotel brand alligences, if necessary.

Affinity has expanded its travel services to include host hotels for golf events.  Affinity reaches out to all the qualified hotels near tournament venues, obtains discounted pricing, and whenever possible negotiates amenities like complimentary parking, breakfast and wifi.

Bruce Jones, Affinity’s vice president of sales, said “This is an exciting part of our business. We discuss needs with our golf partners, negotiate the rates and details with hotels for their events, and present the information back to them in a highly organized, simple format for a final decision; then we set up a branded, booking webpage for competitors and add it to the travel site. Turnkey and simple is the goal.  And if there are enough bookings, we get comped rooms for staff.”

So what’s next for Affinity? “Marketing support, surveys and enhancements to the user-experience,” said Lee Thomas, Affinity’s chief operating officer.  “We currently offer turnkey advertising plans and collateral in our marketing asset library and our partners are building great loyalty programs with sustained marketing campaigns. Beyond this, we intend to use data and surveys to enhance our sites and organically grow sales for our partners. We want all partners to be successful in equal measure – from the smallest partner with limited staffing to the largest partner with every success tool at their disposal.  This is how we’ll define success in the future.”

Affinity, which recently signed a five-year extension with the IAGA, offers IAGA Members free travel websites and host hotels services, and a revenue share on member purchases.  Contact Affinity to learn more at hello@affinitytravelbenefits.com or 844-MYTRAVL (844-698-7285)

The IAGA is happy to welcome Shaun Boyle to our team to serve as our intern for 2018.  Shaun is a recent graduate of the Fox School of Business at Temple University where he earned a degree in Business Administration. Throughout his time at Temple, Shaun worked for the men’s basketball program as the head student manager and a recruiting intern. His work with as a student manager at Temple led opportunities working for Under Armour and High Major Sports where he assisted with the operations of AAU basketball tournaments across the country.  Additionally, Shaun spent time with the Philadelphia Phillies as a member of their Community Outreach staff.  His duties included fundraising and charity work.

Shaun is passionate about sports and in particular golf.  As with most members of the IAGA community, Shaun began his golf administration career at a local golf course.  In his case, Wyoming Valley Country Club in Wilkes-Barre, PA served as his introduction to the game. When asked about this opportunity with the IAGA, Shaun stated the following “I am very appreciative of the opportunity to work for an organization like the IAGA, and I am excited about my future in golf administration.”

Welcome to the second issue of Golf Leaders Insider, the IAGA’s new bi-monthly newsletter for sharing updates on key activities, highlighting people, job opportunities and best practices as well as promoting new or expanding partnerships. Please share your feedback and story ideas with me at bwalker@iaga.org.

Thank you! Is a simple yet appropriate message that I have to deliver in this article. Over the first few months of 2018, the IAGA has reached out to our members to provide much-needed input to assist our committees in developing plans to accomplish our goals as outlined in our the IAGA Strategic Plan. Our committees are now in the midst of finalizing initiatives which will hopefully move the IAGA forward as well as provide our members with increased benefits. Below is a snapshot of some efforts that are in the works.

Education Committee: Focus on the following. Delivering four webinars based on our educational assessment survey results. These webinars will focus on the top four responses which were leadership, financial management, technology and association branding. Also, the IAGA is seeking out potential partners to help provide content and delivery of these webinars.

Marketing and Communications Committee: Established our first event newsletter with “Golf Leaders Insider.” Begin works on re-branding exercise for IAGA with input from the membership. Partnership/Sponsorship development also falls into this category. As you will notice in this newsletter, you will find the addition of new sponsors such as Underpar.com. The IAGA will focus on developing partnership relations with companies that can directly benefit our IAGA members.

Technology Committee: The recent technology survey completed by IAGA members will be instrumental in the IAGA seeking out technology partnerships and potential discounting for our members.

Program Committee: Based on IAGA member feedback our committee is developing what should be a robust and diverse list of speakers and topics for our conference at Innisbrook this November.

Membership Committee: Engaging with numerous affiliate organizations to potentially become IAGA members.

These initiatives are moving forward due to your input.  For the IAGA to move forward as an organization, we will need your increased feedback and engagement.

By Craig Kessler – Southern California Golf Association

Under the umbrella of “We are Golf” more than 60 of the nation’s golf organizations descended on Washington D.C. April 24-25 for the 11th rendition of “National Golf Day.”

The “Day” was April 25, but the annual event has grown so large an additional day of events has been added in recent years, the highlight of which is the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) “Community Service Initiative,” a demonstration on the Capitol Mall of the agronomic tools the golf industry routinely uses that are also applicable to the duties performed by the National Park Service at the nation’s parks and monuments.

The overarching theme of this year’s “Day,” as with the previous 10 National Golf Days, was the game’s economic, environmental and community impact – $84.1 billion overall economic impact, $4 billion in charitable donations, 2 million plus direct jobs, and billions in national, state and local taxes.

To that end “We are Golf” scheduled close to 200 separate Congressional meetings for the diverse array of golf industry leaders who traveled to the Capitol from virtually every state and region. Included among this year’s array for the first time were municipal golf managers – an effort to remind the American national legislature that a substantial portion of the country’s golf courses are owned and managed by governments.

The meetings have evolved from the meet, greet and introduce sessions that characterized the first couple of National Golf Days to an effort to leave Congress with a coordinated message from the national golf community about some of the industry’s core legislative priorities.

With respect to labor issues, the delegations conveyed the game’s concerns about the H-2B Nonimmigrant Temporary Visa program’s provision of too few workers for golf and other seasonal industries and asked the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor to move with dispatch to issue the maximum number of additional visas authorized by Congress this year. Where golf is not seasonal, e.g., Florida and the Southwest, this issue is of scant concern, and the delegations conveyed only the industry’s support for bipartisan immigration reform.

The delegations also conveyed support for H.R. 3956, a bill to create one definition of seasonal employment under the Affordable Healthcare Act, and for the development of an Overtime Pay Rule that sets the exempt employee income thresholds higher than the $23,000 figure it has been stuck on for far too long but lower than the $47,000 figure that was proposed by the Obama Administration. The latter is a moot point in many of the nation’s large urban states such as California, where separate state law pretty much establishes a standard in sync with the higher figure.

With respect to environmental issues, the delegations emphasized the fact that turf is the 4th largest crop in the United States and as such is recognized by the US Department of Agriculture as an eligible recipient of government grants and other forms of public largesse. The 2018 Farm Bill contains explicit language to that effect. The delegations, at least those delegations where such a message would not run afoul of their state’s political center, reiterated a passion of the GCSAA that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) play a subordinate role to the Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in permitting chemical spraying activities – a negation of what GCSAA calls a duplicative NPDES permit per the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The delegations also lobbied for the bipartisan “Personal Health Investment Today Act” (PHIT), a piece of tax legislation that would give Americans the option of using pre-tax medical funds to help pay for physical activities that directly benefit health. It would accomplish this by expanding the IRS definition of a medical expense to include physical activity as a form of prevention. There are currently 125 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, 69 Democrats and 56 Republicans.

GCSAA and their Superintendent members continue to dominate the delegations, not surprising given that organization’s commitment to advocacy at the national, state and local levels. In the persons of Chava McKeel, Bob Helland and Mike Lee, GCSAA has three national staffers dedicated exclusively to government affairs. In the form of a national Governmental Affairs Committee, a form duplicated by most of the GCSAA Chapters in the nation, the Superintendents have created a culture that places a high priority on advocacy, which explains why in so many corners of the nation it is the Superintendents who lead the game in state capitols, city halls, and special districts. It also explains why so much of golf’s energy re legislation, regulation and public policy emanates from the sector that maintains the nation’s golf courses.

Other sectors are ramping up. The first Tee is a regular participant and always manages to send leaders from its local chapters. The USGA Green Section has been cited in recent years and has even begun to dip its toes in the previously uncharted waters of Congressional meetings. The Club Managers of America (CMAA) lends its staffers and encourages its members to participate, as does the PGA of America, albeit in both cases participation is nowhere near the level of the Superintendents. As mentioned earlier, some of the nation’s municipal managers have begun to participate. IAGA Executive Director Bill Walker is a attendee, as are a couple of representatives of the nation’s state/regional golf associations, although as a member of that class I am embarrassed at how paltry our ranks are in this national demonstration of golf’s virtues. The state/regional golf associations represent more actual rank and file golfers than the rest; their presence would add considerably to National Golf Day’s impact.

Presence matters in politics. Organized presence matters more. Strategic presence matters most. Here’s hoping the nation’s state and regional golf associations begin lending some of their substantial presence in 2019. And here’s hoping that this year’s National Golf Day attendees return to their locales and demonstrate the same presence and focus for the next 364 days they just exhibited in Washington D.C. Persistence matters just as much if not more.

By WP Ryan – Minnesota Golf Association

There is a weird feeling of being inside the ropes at a major tournament and very close to the action, yet not knowing what’s really happening on the golf course. That’s how it was for Colorado’s Ed Mate, one of the Masters Rules Committee stationary rules officials, who was positioned near the landing zone at Holly, Augusta’s famous 18th hole, an uphill dogleg right par-4 465 yards long during Sunday’s final round.

Since there’s no technology on the golf course, Mate was essentially in the dark when Jordan Spieth’s drive at the closing hole clipped a loblolly pine and ended up in the pine straw. Spieth, who started his round nine shots behind the leader Patrick Reed, had reached 9-under par for the day only to see his epic charge fizzle with a bogey at 18. Reed eventually finished at 15-under par, one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and two better than Spieth.

“I was relieved that Spieth’s ball didn’t go into a TIO,” deadpanned Mate. If it had, he would have had to put his limited experience of TIO relief to a test. TIOs – temporary immovable obstructions – are the bane of the professional tours and major golf, where temporary structures throughout the golf course are common, such as TV towers, grandstands and restroom facilities.

While TIOs, which also include tents, signage and portable scoreboards, are less common at the state and regional level, Mate took the opportunity of an impromptu “TIO rules seminar” given by Tom Carpus, a tournament official with the PGA Tour who has worked the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship.

Nevertheless, at the Masters wayward golf balls often find their way into or on TIOs, abnormal ground conditions, obstructions and sometimes even spectator beer cups.

Mate, a former Evans Scholar, has served with the Colorado Golf Association for more than two decades, including as its executive director since 2000. For the last two years during a particularly dynamic period of change, he has sat on the USGA’s Rules of Golf Committee as a representative of the IAGA. It is by virtue of his committee assignment that he, as one of more than 70 rules officials, has made the trip to Augusta National for The Masters Tournament – one of the game’s highest profile and prestigious men’s major championships.

This year, Mate was assigned to holes three and 13 on Thursday and Friday, and holes 15 and 18 on Saturday and Sunday. During the first round at Augusta’s third hole, Flowering Peach, a classic short par-4 at 350 yards, Charl Scwhartzel noticed his 8-iron was bent. Mate had to convey to the Masters’ champ from South Africa the less-than-favorable news that the club was considered fit for play and could be repaired during the round, but not replaced, per Rule 4-3a.
On Sunday at 18, Mate watched as Zach Johnson’s ball came to rest in a muddy, heavily trodden area with deep heel imprints. “The lie was absolutely abnormal.” Mate knew Rule 25-1 was in play, yet, per Masters’ policy, he called in roving official John Paramour of the European Tour, to make the ruling.

“As a group, the professional rules officials are confident, friendly, polite and they all wear white hats – there’s not a single ‘gotcha guy’ amongst them,” explains Mate.

While rules expertise is required, an agreeable bedside manner is even more crucial. “You’re trained to stay back and not insert yourself into the situation. There’s a lot at stake. If I’m not 100 percent comfortable with the ruling, I will call for back up.”

If the player balks at an unwelcome turn of events, Mate delivers the news adroitly. “There’s nothing I can do for you under the Rules,” he says.

Mate calls the Masters the best run tournament bar none. “They are a well-oiled machine, no detail is spared, and the Committee is always striving to make the tournament better.”
But, perfection is illusive.

Like competitions everywhere the Masters struggles with pace of play, especially during the early rounds when players go out in threesomes. Mate discussed pace with Ken Tackett, a former executive director of the West Virginia Golf Association, who has several Masters tournaments under his belt as a PGA Tour rules official.

“Wind, a testing golf course and the incredibly difficult putting greens all conspire to slow play,” says Tackett.

Notwithstanding Augusta National’s topographical challenges, pace of play is a problem that the perfectionists at the Masters have yet to solve. And, there’s one new twist rules officials must master (pardon the pun) come next spring: being the first men’s major championship conducted under the new modernized Rules of Golf.

With all new, completely reorganized and rewritten rules, which go into effect January 2019, players and officials alike should expect a few surprises. Mate advises fair warning to tournament rules officials and Committee members everywhere: “There may be unanticipated consequences, so fasten on your seatbelt.”