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www.GOlfOklAhOmA.OrG

Contentsjune/july 2015 Vol. 5 Issue 3

Support junior golf by contributing to the OGA foundationCall 405-848-0042 for more information

features

24 Tulsa First Tee loses co-founder

30 U.S. Girls Junior comes to TCC

32 WOGA celebrates 100 years

34 Oaks CC restored

38 Prep, collegiate roundups

41 Sparkling renovation at Sequoyah

44 A look at Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame inductees Perry Maxwell and Bill Spiller

54 Only lefties need show up for this event

Departments

10 Letter from the publisher

12 OGA

13 Rules, Gene Mortensen

14 The Goods

18 Equipment

20 Chip Shots: A May drenching, Patriot Cup, Lincoln Park clubhouse, Topgolf opens, more . . .

36 Junior Profile: Yujeong Son

42 Destinations: Los Cabos

52 Pro Profile: Jimmy Walker

53 Amateur Profile: Dave Davenport

56 Fitness

58 Industry Profile: Tripp Davis

60 Superintendent’s Perspective

61 Results

On the cover

Ardmore architect Perry Maxwell designed many of the best courses in Oklahoma, including Southern Hills. The picture is of the green complex on the par-5 13th hole.20

Folds of Honor scholarship recipient Ashlie Lissett sings the national anthem at the 2015 Patriot Cup.


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Volume 5, Number 3

Golf Oklahoma Officessouthern Hills Plaza

6218 s. Lewis Ave., ste. 200tulsa, oK 74136918-280-0787

Oklahoma City Office405-640-9996

PublisherKen MacLeod

[email protected]

COO/marketing DirectorA.G. Meyers

[email protected]

Art & Technology DirectorChris Swafford

[email protected]

Subscriptions to Golf Oklahoma are $15 for one year (five issues) or $25 for

two years (10 issues). Call 918-280-0787 or go to www.golfoklahoma.org.

Contributing photographersRip Stell, Bill Powell

Golf Oklahoma PGA Instructional StaffJim Woodward

Teaching Professional, Oak Tree [email protected], 405-348-2004

Jim YoungTeaching Professional, River Oaks CC

405-630-8183

Pat McTigueManager, GolfTec Tulsa [email protected]

Steve BallOwner, Ball Golf Center, Oklahoma City

www.ballgolf.com, 405-842-2626

Pat BatesDirector of Instruction, Gaillardia Country Club

[email protected], 405-509-3611

Tracy PhillipsDirector of Instruction, Buddy Phillips Learning

Center at Cedar [email protected], 918-352-1089

Jerry CozbyPGA Professional

[email protected], 918-914-1784

Michael Boyd, PGA ProfessionalIndian Springs Country Club

918-455-9515

Oklahoma Golf Association2800 Coltrane Place, Suite 2

Edmond, OK 73034405-848-0042

Executive DirectorMark Felder

[email protected]

Director of handicapping and Course ratingJay Doudican

[email protected]

Director of Junior GolfMorri Rose

[email protected]

Copyright 2015 by Golf Oklahoma Magazine. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted or otherwise re-

produced without written permission from Golf Oklahoma. Golf Oklahoma is published by South Central Golf, Inc.

The two-hour Memorial

Day special on Fox Sports 1 broad-cast live from The Patriot in Owasso was probably a bit confusing to many golfers.

Not one shot was shown from The Patriot Cup Invita-tional, the star-stud-ded event going on live that day from The Patriot, which is also where the broadcast initiated. Yes, rain shortened The Patriot Cup to a short par-3 shoot-out, but there were no plans for coverage even if the event had gone on as planned.

Instead, the broadcast focused on The Pa-triot Golf Championship, the new brainchild of Major Dan Rooney in which golfers across the country can play a round against a PGA Tour golfer by going online and posting their score. They also pay a $21 donation, which goes to the Folds of Honor Foundation.

The brilliance of the concept is that anyone in the world can play with a few keystrokes. The problem is that while there was a massive effort to get big names such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and 16 other pros to sign up and designate one of their rounds as the “Patriot Round,” there was not a similar movement to get the word out to the average golfer about the event. It’s highly likely that nine of 10 golfers watching the two-hour special about The Patriot Golf Championship had no idea beforehand what it was.

Rooney, as is his nature, is undeterred. Although only about 250 participants signed up the first year, he said it is a three-year plan and the goal is to have a million participants by year three.

“Our biggest goal this year was to get all the feathers put into this bird and get it air-

borne,” Rooney said. “Going forward ev-erybody was happy and committed to continuing it.”

The Patriot Cup on Memorial Day weekend may serve next year as the kickoff rather than the conclusion of the Patriot Golf Championship. It would then run through Indepen-dence Day, a time of year when more golfers are likely to be playing than in a rainy May like we just experienced.

Only Rooney and those who have worked closely with him on this project know whether it will be worth it in the long run. Golf Oklahoma has been a strong backer of every one of Rooney’s efforts, from the building of the course to the creation of the FOH, creation of Patriot Golf Day and the Patriot Cup. This one, put us down as ambivalent.

The issue is whether there is any fun-damental appeal to the concept. If I have a handicap of 10 and go out and shoot a 77, then go online and post it against Tiger Woods and he shoots 74, I win big. But there is no real sense of accomplishment. I still know that Tiger, playing the same tees and same course, would beat me by 20 shots. It lacks something intangible to make golfers feel more compelled to participate. I would rather just make a $25 donation on Patriot Golf Day.

In the end, it’s all about the scholar-ships for our servicemen or women and their families. Anyway anyone wants to contribute is great. I just would weigh care-fully the cost of a national media aware-ness campaign about this event against the potential return.

– Ken MacLeod

Patriot Golf Championship due analysis on appeal versus publicity cost

The Budweiser Clydesdales didn’t let the rain keep them away from The Patriot Cup.

June / July 2015letter from the publisher


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Union High School’s Grace Shin and Chickasha’s Cody Burrows are the Okla-homa Golf Associa-tion Foundation’s first scholarship award winners.

The Foundation was created in 2009 and since 2011 has given out more than

$200,000 in grants and scholarships to courses, associations, and others that work with young golfers in an effort to support and grow the game in Okla-homa.

Shin won the Bill Barrett Memo-rial Scholarship. She will attend the University of Central Oklahoma. Bur-rows won the Roy Oxford Memorial

Scholarship. He plans to attend Oral Roberts University. Both scholarships are $5,000.

Ardmore’s Elizabeth Hargis (plans to attend Redlands), Deer Creek’s Alexan-dra Couch (Oklahoma State or Okla-homa Baptist), Broken Arrow’s Shan-nen Stewart (OBU), Sapulpa’s Hudson Hoover (OSU or OBU) and Edmond North’s Anderson Harris (UCO) all were awarded $2,500 scholarships.

The OGA feels very fortunate to be able to help these students and would like to thank all the individuals and businesses who have supported the foundation through generous dona-tions.

Because the foundation uses the same staff as the OGA, 100 percent of the donations go to scholarships or grants with no administrative costs. To

make a donation or for more informa-tion, go to www.okgolf.org or call 405-848-0042.

The OGA sympathizes with every golf course owner, operator, superin-tendent and employee that has been affected by the abnormally wet spring, and is looking forward to conditions drying out for the upcoming featured events.

The Senior State Amateur is June 15-18 at the renovated Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville. The OGA Mid-Amateur State Championship is June 29-30 at The Club at Indian Springs in Broken Arrow. The Senior Stroke Play Championship is July 13-14 at Quail Creek Country Club in Oklahoma City. And the State Amateur Cham-pionship is July 20-22 at Oak Tree National in Edmond.

From the Executive Director

OGA Foundation names scholarship recipients

mArk fElDEr

oGAExecutive Director

Alexandra CouchCody Burrows Elizabeth HargisGrace Shin Hudson Hoover Anderson HarrisShannen Stewart

Oklahoma’s best source for golf news

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Even though we are experiencing one of the wettest springs in quite some time, the TGA managed to avoid having any tourna-ments rained out until the end of May, when the Stroke Play Championship at Battle Creek became a victim of the constant downpours and was moved to June 27-28. Also the PLAYERS SERIES 3-man SHAMBLE at the Golf club of Oklahoma will be rescheduled.

Coming up next on our 2015 schedule is a new event many people are excited about; the Two-Man Challenge at the LaFor-tune Park par-3 course to be played on June 23 at 7 p.m. The front nine will be a scramble and the back nine will be a best ball of the team.

We hope to see everyone out for these fun events coming up. For more information, go to www.tulsagolfassociation.com.• June 11, 2015 - Players Series 3-Man Shamble at Forest Ridge GC• July 7, 2015 – Players Series 3-Man Shamble at the newly reno-

vated Oaks CC• July 25-26, 2015 – Four-Ball Stroke Play at Forest Ridge GC• August 8-9, Two-Man Challenge II at LaFortune Park GC• August 18, 2015 – Players Series 3-Man Shamble re-scheduled

at Golf Club of Oklahoma – TGA Executive Director George Glenn

Tulsa Golf Associationoff to strong, if rainy, start


There is one Rule that applies every time you make a stroke from anywhere on the course. Since the ap-plication is continual, I believe it is the Rule that is most often violated. We are talk-ing about Rule 13 and

we’ll discuss the high points so you can avoid the dreaded two-stroke penalty that comes with any violation.

You must not improve the position or lie of your ball; the place where you will take your stance; the space you will occupy to make the stroke; and, the path you wish your ball to take as a result of the stroke. The term, “improve” in the context means to change or even allevi-ate a condition for the better, so that the player gains an advantage in playing the next stroke.

Prohibited acts of improvement include pressing a club on the ground; bending or breaking anything that is growing; creating or eliminating ir-

regularities of the surface; and, remov-ing or pressing down sand, loose soil or replaced divots.

There are situations in which the penalty is avoided if the “improvement” occurs while fairly taking your stance or completing your stroke. It is absolutely imperative that you take a stance and swing your club to play the game so it would be grossly unfair to penalize you in doing so. Also, there is no penalty in grounding your club lightly in address-ing your ball.

You may not touch the ground in a bunker or water in a water hazard with your hand or a club when your ball is in that hazard. You are also not permit-ted to move loose impediments in those areas. There was a recent change in the Rule to permit you to smooth the sand in a bunker prior to your shot provid-ing that nothing is done to improve the position of the lie of your ball. If there is doubt as to the result of smoothing the sand, wait until after the stroke has been made.

Rules officials watch for the player

who is stepping on the pitch mark he just created. I have also seen players step down with enthusiasm directly behind their ball in the rough. And, when your drive comes to rest behind a dandelion, don’t touch it.

The most basic concept of the Rules is, “Play the course as you find it and your ball as it lies.” I can almost guarantee you that if you heed this advice you will never place yourself into a position to incur a penalty.

Don’t touch that dandelion!

Oklahoma Golf Association News

Gene mortensenoGA Rules

Director

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breaking news


GoodstheSome things we like to do before and after the round

by tom bedell

Sit by yourself in a restaurant, start doodling on the paper tablecloth, and you never know where it might take you.

Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bam-berger wound up all over the road in the United States visiting the men and women whose names he had idly jotted down on that tablecloth. Eighteen of them, naturally, nine representing those he considered Liv-ing Legends of the game and nine he called Secret Legends.

The first nine were fairly obvious choices — Arnold Palmer, Jack Nick-laus, Ken Venturi, Tom Watson and the like. The others were those who served the game in other roles — ex-ecutive, teacher, writer, caddie — folks like Sandy Tatum, Jamie Diaz, Billy Harmon.

Another in the latter group was a player who almost, but not quite, won the U.S. Open in 1990, Mike Donald. Still tied with Hale Irwin after an 18-hole playoff, Donald watched Irwin sink a winning birdie putt on the first sudden-death hole.

A keenly analytical student of the game, nicknamed Stats, Donald joins Bamberger for most of the pilgrimages to the other leg-ends, which becomes a fascinating journey into the soul of the game and its real-life effects on those involved with it as their livelihood.

Clearly inspired by Roger Kahn’s classic “The Boys of Summer,” Bamberger’s “Men in Green” (Simon & Schuster, $27), casts a similar, compelling spell as the stories pour forth, often reflecting one upon another, the past, the nature of time, life itself. It’s an episodic journey, but it flows like a stream. Only read one golf book a year? Make it this one.

ThE SECrET Of GOlfBut if you read more, there are further

dividends to be found in “The Secret of Golf: The Story of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus” (Simon & Schuster, $27) by Joe Posnanski.

Now a national columnist for NBC Sports, Posnanski also put in a stint at Sports Illustrated. But before any of that he wrote for the Kansas City Star — Watson territory. So he was already well-versed in

Watson lore when he came up with the notion for this project — an in-depth look at the rivalry between the two golfing greats as it evolved through the years and turned into a great friendship.

Ten years apart in age, the two first met at a 1967 exhibition match when Watson was in high school and Nicklaus was already considered the greatest golfer in the world. But over the next two decades the pair were destined to go head-to-head in some of the most legendary matches

ever scripted in major championship play.

Indeed, though there’s some time-shifting through-out, the book essentially begins with the 1977 Open Champion-ship at Turnberry and the two play-ers’ brilliant “Duel in the Sun.” It returns to the same course for the 2009 Open when the 59-year-old Watson waged his valiant war against aging, falling heart-breakingly short.

These are familiar stories, but thanks to scores of interviews with both players and many others, Posnanski has managed to in-

vest the material with lively and fresh insights spread over 18 “Holes” rather than chapters. The seeming bonus is the walk between the holes, brief medita-tions on aspects of playing the game — all part of the so-called “Secret.” Which, as Nicklaus aptly puts it, is a contradictory no-tion to begin with: “There isn’t a secret to golf, of course. But no real player believes that.”

ThE A SwINGHope may be a universal golfing trait.

One always hopes to become better. Some even strive to become better. David Lead-better has spent much of his life trying to help the strivers.

I was at a dinner with Leadbetter early in 2014 at the Concession Golf Club in Bra-denton, Florida. He was there to help promote the course and its upcoming Concession Cup, a new Ryder Cup-like amateur tournament with teams from the United States and Great Britain/Ireland.

But, Leadbetter being Lead-better, it wasn’t long before we were all letting him watch our swings while dessert melted. Leadbetter would then go hands-on with us to let us feel the differences in a traditional

swing and the new approach he was then working on.

Now anyone can give it a go with “The A Swing: The Alternative Approach to Great Golf,” that Leadbetter has produced with the assistance of Ron Kaspriske (St. Martin’s Press, $27.99).

The BookshelfGood old days, brand new swing


In about 200 magazine-sized pages, Leadbet-ter describes, illustrates and suggests drills for the new swing which is difficult to summarize here but is aimed at a simplified backswing that will produce more consistent results with less effort and conscious thought on the part of the player, once ingrained. (Although I suspect it will take ample effort and study to reach that point.)

Leadbetter does not peg this the “Secret” but he does succumb on occasion to calling the new swing “revolutionary.” But he also writes, “It is a different way of swinging the club — but it’s not that different.”

It may also not be for those perfectly content with their swings. But how many of us can say that?

TO ThE NINESI’ve played golf with Anthony Pioppi,

a senior writer for Superintendent maga-zine, but never at a nine-hole course. This is a situation that clearly needs to change, as the new edition of Pioppi’s “To the Nines” (Taylor Trade Publishing, $16.95) proves.

His first flailings in golf were taken at age 5, when he went around the nine-hole Donald Ross-designed Cohasse Country Club in Southbridge, Massa-

chusetts, with his grandmother. That was pretty much enough to light the fuse that has led to a life in golf as writer, caddy and occasional designer in his own right. And it also created a lifelong affinity for nine-hole courses.

When the first edition of the book ap-peared in 2006, roughly 4,700 of the 17,000 golf courses in the United States were nine-holers. The numbers have since contracted, according to the National Golf Foundation: 15,405 active golf facilities, 3,236 of them nine-holes.

Troubling? Somewhat, but Pioppi points

out some positive signs in terms of the 2014 USGA Play 9 initiative, and a new nine-hole facility like Sweetens Cove in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, so stunning that it has summoned a new chapter in this second edition.

Otherwise, Pioppi presents a panorama of 14 great nine-hole courses throughout the United States, and in a guest chapter from the late Bob Labbance, a selection from Maine. A New Englander, Pioppi front-loads his early chapters with North-east classics before fanning out over the rest of the country, winding up on the North-wood Golf Course in Monte Rio, Califor-nia, an Alister MacKenzie trek through the Redwoods.

Some of the black and white photos are too dark and murky to be of much value, but this is a quibble. The overall effect of the book will have you grabbing your sticks and heading out, because there’s always time for nine.

Tom Bedell has been using an alternative swing for years.

ONLINE: Get the latest news on Oklahoma golf at

golfoklahoma.org

Call 580.475.0075 for membership or real estate information or visit www.territorygolf.com The Territory is located 5 miles west of Duncan on Beech Ave.

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Volkswagen Golf, loaded and funby greg horton

Driving the Volkswagen Golf makes it easy to understand why it is nearly ev-eryone’s car of the year in its class for the 2015 model. It’s just fun to drive. A combi-nation of acceleration, speed, comfort and handling makes it a car you want to drive, and the price makes it easy to love.

The base model starts at approximately $18,000, but it’s worth the additional $1,300 to get the better package for the Golf 2-door 1.8T S. The latter comes with standard transmission, but automatic is available. Some of the fun is lost for car lovers who like the feel and responsive-ness of standard transmissions, but it was easier to drive in the city without constant shifting.

Both models come with built-in Blue-tooth and touch-screen sound systems, and both have a large cabin that seats four comfortably — a nice and unexpected touch in a two-door coupe. For music junkies, Sirius/XM is built in, and while a

free three-month subscription is available on purchase, the service requires ongoing subscrip-tion. Since technology is be-coming far less expensive, both models have built-in iPod cable jacks, so a subscription is not really necessary.

The four-door model is only slightly more expensive, and the interior specs are identical. The cabin is obviously larger, but the level of comfort is comparable. Unlike the hatchback on the two-door, the four-door has a very large standard trunk, one of the features most often cited by critics. The amount of luggage space is impressive for a small sedan — roughly 53 cubic feet.

City and highway mileage are identical for two-door and four-door: approximate-ly 25/37, which is comparable to other ve-hicles in its class. The four-door does have an optional 6-speed automatic transmis-sion with Tiptronic mode shifting. The base four-door starts about $21,000, and

optional upgrades like premium sound system, rearview camera, rain-sensing wipers, and sunroof max out at about $25,000.

Volkswagen’s safety ratings are among the best in the automotive industry. The two- and four-door models come with 3-year/36,000 mile limited and roadside assistance warranties. The powertrain falls under a 5-year/60,000 mile warranty.

Color and fabric options improve with price, as is most often the case, such that the base model has four color options, and the best model has seven. A Diesel model is also available, the Golf 4-Door TDI, a clean diesel vehicle. The mileage is better on the diesel model, which is to be expected, and models run as high as about $28,500.

The goods

2015 Volkswagen GTI SE


Golf is a game of skill, luck and patience. The lucky part is, no matter what skill level of golfer you are, everyone can still enjoy the same luxury of a fine cigar.

Erik Espinosa with Espinosa Cigars has crafted the perfect cigar for any round of golf. Erik’s newest blend is the Laranja Reserva, a beautifully hand rolled Brazilian wrapped Nicaraguan filled cigar with a full body and strength.

At first light, this cigar has notes of spice, pepper, nuts and citrus. During the second third of the cigar the spiciness and pepper start to fade with a smooth transition into a more profound citrus, cocoa and a naturally sweet taste followed by an aroma of orange peel. As the end approaches you find the ci-gar finishes on a wonderful oaky citrus taste.

This cigar is hands down one of the best cigars I have smoked from Erik’s collection.

The Laranja Reserva comes in three differ-ent sizes: Corona Gorda (5.6x46), Robusto Extra (5.5x54) and Toro (6x52).

Before you head out to the golf course stop by ZT Cigars and pick up a few sticks.

Proudly serving Oklahoma with a fine selection of cigars and related products.

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EQUIPMENT

by ed travis

For 15 years, Titleist’s Pro V1 has had a firm grip on the top spot in golf ball sales and that position was strengthened when stable-mate Pro V1x hit the fairways in 2003.

The two aren’t readily distinguishable visu-ally other than the number on the Pro V1x is in red, and in black on the Pro V1 and if you really look closely, there are 24 more dimples on the Pro V1. This lack of visual difference though doesn’t mean they perform the same.

The Pro V1 has a three-piece construction, feels softer and given the same swing condi-tions launches lower than the Pro V1x, which is a four-piece ball. With the same hypotheti-cal swing, the Pro V1x carries farther while the Pro V1 rolls out more.

Choosing the right ball for your game is all about taking advantage of these differences. If for example, your swing typically produces too much height, the lower launching Pro V1 might be good for you. But if your distance and control seem to be compromised by the ball starting out too low, then Pro V1x should

help. By the way, the name Pro V1 wasn’t meant

to be. It was only the tag engineers came up with at the last minute when Titleist sent their new and as yet unnamed ball to the USGA for approval. Pro stood for Profession-al because it had a urethane cover as did the then top-selling Titleist Professional model, V for veneer referring to the casing layer around the ball’s core and 1 as the first of its type.

Bill Morgan, head of Titleist R & D, has said he never thought the name would stick -- it would be changed when full production started. What happened was much different.

The name never changed and within months of its introduction the Pro V1 became the most played on the Tour and remains so today plus, along with the Pro V1x, the choice of millions of amateurs around the world.

This chart busting success raises a ques-tion, “Which one should I play.”

The answer is straight forward and we thought it would be interesting to ask some average golfers to evaluate both to find which

worked best for them. Players with handi-caps of 4, 6, 14 and 17 were given a three-ball sleeve of each and asked to compare them for as long as they wanted. One of the players, the 4-handicap, was already a Pro V1x user, but the other three played balls from other manufacturers, or in the case of our 17-handi-cap, “whatever I happen to find.”

We didn’t make our players adhere to any specific test program other than “go play” and report back.

All four players did not pick their favorite solely on driver distance or any other single factor, but that’s not to say distance off the tee didn’t play a big part in their decision. The 14-handicapper reported the Pro V1x gave him longer drives and that it “did just fine on the green” though “it seems to roll out better.”

Our 6-handicap reported the Pro V1 was

Pro V1 or Pro V1x?


EQUIPMENT

by ken macleod

Steve Carson has been a head golf profes-sional in Oklahoma City since 1976, includ-ing the past 25 years at Lincoln Park Golf Course. Some of the most enjoyable days he’s had in that 40-year span have come in the last few weeks.

That is the time span since Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett helped dedicate the new $9.5 million clubhouse at Lincoln Park. Carson says the 32,000-square foot building is simply the finest pro shop at a municipal course in the country.

“For a golf course in the public sector, this is as good as there is,” Carson said. “It’s absolutely wonderful and everyone seems to love it. Our bookings are good, tourna-ment activities are strong. The players like to come out and spend some time, watch television, have something to eat and drink. Creating that social aspect as something we were hoping for.”

“We’ve set a standard of doing things right in Oklahoma City and we have to keep raising the bar,” Cornett said. “That’s what I tell our people who serve on our

boards and com-missions. We have to keep raising the bar.

“This clubhouse gives off a sense of energy and hope-fully will help gen-erate new golfers. It will also help keep our retirees around. When they go to price golf in some other part of the country and com-pare it to what we have here, they will realize they better just stay here.”

The roomy pro shop is 2,500 square feet, there is a banquet room which seats 180, an upstairs terrace bar with a balcony to sip drinks with a scenic view of the course below. The restrooms are huge,

Lincoln Park an example for alldefinitely for him the best with the driver. “I averaged several yards longer with the Pro V1 over the V1x” and “the Pro V1 also has better spin control over the Pro V1x.”

With a 4-handicap, the third player con-firmed his original view that the Pro V1x best suited his game for length and control.

The perspective of the 17-handicapper was less emphatic…he wrote, “Honestly, I believe both balls were longer with my driver than what I’m using and putting I really liked the feel.” He concluded, “I can’t pick one over the other because they played the same as far as I could see.”

The bottom line was all felt the Pro V1 or the Pro V1x helped their games, both distance and feel.

However, what is also interesting, after the trials what are they playing?

As expected the 4-handicap has stuck with the Pro V1x, the 6 tells me he will buy Pro V1s at least part of the time and the 14 has given up his previous brand saying he was sold on the Pro V1x. Our 17-handicap tester notes he is going to stick with his present “previously loved” golf balls but when he really gets serious about improving his game he’ll be buying Pro V1s.

2015 Golf Pass is BIGGEr AND BETTEr! Visit scspgagolfpass.com to order yours today!

Steve Carson on his stair-way to heaven at Lincoln Park Golf Course.

See LINCOLN PARK page 24


Chip shots

justicegolf.com

Oklahoma City (405) 634-0571Tulsa (918) 663-0571

Toll Free (800) 276-0571

News from around the state Sponsored by

The drought is over!Oklahoma courses recover from May delugeby ken macleod

The good news for every Oklahoma golf course in May was that the water bill should have been $0. Every irrigation pond in the state should be full. Rivers and streams are running at capacity. The drought is over for the majority of the state.

On the other side of the coin, the record rainfall that fell throughout the state stunted play, slowed pro shop sales and in many instances resulted in costly clean up of debris or repair bills to fix bridges or other structures damaged by floodwaters.

Also, veteran superintendents like Mike Wooten, in charge of Cedar Ridge Coun-try Club in Broken Arrow since 1985, cau-tion that the cool, wet spring with limited sunlight has resulted in less Bermuda cov-erage than normal and in bent grass greens that have not undergone any stress or been forced to grow root depth in preparation for the summer heat to come.

“They’re just sitting there fat and hap-py,” Wooten said. “It’s like if a 300-pound fat guy sits on a sofa then gets up and tries to run a marathon.”

Wooten had a dam break in his largest lake on the Cedar Ridge property during

the May 23 five-inch rain overnight, low-ering the lake to just a few feet. He said floodwaters from Haikey Creek running through the property were higher than any he’s seen, topping a rock wall by the third green and covering the green on the par-3 second hole for a time.

Besides repairing the dam, Wooten said the main issue has been daily rebuilding of washed out bunkers. He has been mowing fairways that would normally require daily cutting, only once per week due to the wet conditions and slow growth.

A few miles further south, The Golf Club of Oklahoma was forced to close its back nine for days after Lake Ka-dashan, a stormwater deten-tion lake built by the Corps of Engineers, overflowed, cover-ing the lower 18th green, the 15th green and many cart trails. Superintendent Gary Hallett said no permanent damage was done, but lots of clean up of debris and reworking of bunkers was ahead.

Tulsa Country Parks Director Richard Bales oversees the maintenance side of operations at the county-owned South Lakes and LaFortune Park golf courses. He said in his 35 years with the county he’s never experienced a month to compare

with May. By May 27, LaFortune Park had received just over 14 inches of rain and South Lakes nearly as much, or nearly ½ inch of rain per day.

Yet, that was a desert compared to parts of the state. McAlester had recorded 20.77 inches, shattering all records for any

month. In Duncan, where The Territory Golf Club has suffered from drought virtu-ally since its opening in 2003, 15.57 inches fell in the first 27 days of the month. In the previous 12 months, Duncan received 29.83 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Norman.

Norman had 22.43 inches with more expected by May 27. The previous high for any month was 16.5 inches in October 1983. Floods affected play to some degree Flood waters at Oklahoma City G&CC.

All superintendents grew tired of seeing bunker lakes.

The Club at Indian Springs, where rushing water took out a bridge as well.


ONLINE: Get the latest news on Oklahoma golf at

golfoklahoma.org

by art stricklin

DALLAS -- The record heavy rains, which have pounded Texas much of the spring and especially in the month of May, have dealt a harsh blow to golf courses statewide with professionals and tour operators looking for help anywhere they can find it.

Areas in north Texas had already ex-ceeded 13 inches of rain – the second most for any May in history – with a week left in the month. Some areas finished the month in excess of 20 inches.

“Since the first of the year, we’ve lost 1,500 rounds to rain,” said Paul Earnest, Director of Golf at the TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas and the President of the Northern Texas PGA.

“Texans don’t mind heat, but we don’t want this non-stop rain. It’s not good to have zeros on the tee sheet .”

The situation isn’t any better in the

Houston area where heavy floods stranded thousands of motorists on the cities inter-states, not that they were headed to the golf courses anyway.

“We’ve been shut down for almost a week,” said Carlton Woods Director of Golf Mark Steinbauer. “We hope to get in golf soon, but nobody here in The Woodlands has played lately. It’s a mess.”

Chip Gist, CEO of Austin-San Antonio Golf Trail, said he has groups booked from

Texas courses look for help

All superintendents grew tired of seeing bunker lakes.

The drenched practice area at The Colonial.

at Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Course, The Trails Golf Club and par-ticularly at Belmar Golf Club, which was forced to close temporarily to clean up the debris and mud.

Belmar lost a small section of its No. 14 green and suffered erosion damage to a creek wall which will need to be repaired. A 200-yard section of a six-foot-tall wrought iron fence was knocked down by floodwater and debris and had to be repaired.

Considerably more rain fell before the end of the month in all these locations.

In Broken Arrow, floodwaters snapped a bridge at The Club at Indian Springs, forc-ing it to postpone an open-to-the-public fun day and fund raiser called Hole It On The River. The event was moved to Sept. 26.

While most courses can hope for a quick turnaround with more stable weather in June, courses such as Chickasaw Pointe on Lake Texoma, which depend on lake traf-fic around holidays such as Memorial Day weekend, were dealt a more severe blow.


all over the country and they have arrived to battle the Texas rain and enjoy the Texas fun.

“We lost one afternoon last week to rain, but what the players find out in Central Texas is the storms will come through for a couple of hours, but then it’s done and they can get back to playing,” Gist said. “With the soil we have down here, the rain will run off pretty fast.”

Mark Harrision, executive director of the Northern Texas PGA, said most of the damage in the Dallas area was around Lake Lewisville which affected golf courses such as Lake Park in Lewisville, the highly-rated Old American Golf Club, and The Tribute.

Another high profile course affected in Dallas is the still under construction Trin-ity Forest layout south of downtown. It’s designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore and slated to be the site of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Byron Nelson Championship, start-ing in 2018 if not sooner.

But for now the course, which had hoped to open later this fall or early next year, hardly represents a championship layout.

“It’s a mud pit with all the rain we’ve had,” said Tour player Harrison Frazar,

who has been involved in the project since the beginning. “We had hoped to lay down turf and sod right now, but that just hasn’t been possible. We may be open by next spring.”

The heavy rain has not only slowed the amateur weekend warriors, but the world’s best players visiting the North Texas area with the Colonial and Byron Nelson tournaments the final two weeks of May.

At Colonial, it rained every day during the tournament and forced tournament of-ficials to implement lift, clean and place for balls in the fairways and even in the rough for the final round.

At the Byron Nelson, held at the Four Season Resort Course, officials made the par 4 14th hole into a par 3 for the Wednesday pro-am because of all the water in the fairway. Defending champion Brendon Todd called it the wettest course he had ever seen, adding he couldn’t find a single dry spot to drop his ball.

“We just need a little dry weather now. We can’t take any more rain,” Harrison added.

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Since almost all campgrounds and mari-nas were closed and the lake was high, dangerous and full of debris, director of golf Ryan Chapman was expecting a slow holiday weekend regardless. The fact that more than five inches of additional rainfall fell only made it worse.

Chickasaw Point is trying to open four new holes that were built last fall, but the weather has pushed that opening back to late July, Chapman said.

“Mother Nature has dealt us a lot over the years,” said Steve Carson of Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City, where 19 inches of rain fell. “The only thing you can do is make the best of it and go on. We all needed the rain. We had been under water restrictions for the past three years.”

At Earlywine Golf Course in OKC, assistant pro Rito Palacios said his course had five new ponds for a few days in places where there are not supposed to be ponds.

“And we drain the best of any course in the city,” he said. “We’ll be fine in a few days. The only problem is going to be the mosquitoes. They already look like birds.”

The 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship will be held July 20-25 at Tulsa Country Club. Admission is free, and spectators will have an incredible chance to walk the course with a highly competitive field ripe with future LPGA stars. If you would like an up close and personal experience, volunteer with the Tulsa Country Club.

For more information or to volunteer, go to www.tulsacountryclub.com or call 918.345.4985.

TULSA COUNTRY CLUB HOSTS U.S. GIRLS’ JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP


Chip shots

by ken macleod

John Johnson Jr. generally deflected all praise, but more than 40,000 young golfers have benefitted from his dedication and love for the game.

A highly successful partner in a promi-nent Tulsa law firm with a full schedule of civic and church duties, he made time for the game that was his passion since his boyhood in Oklahoma City.

Johnson, who passed away in May at age 81, was a co-founder and president of the hugely successful First Tee of Tulsa, a program that has become a na-tional model for the way it has mentored students at its head-quarters at Mohawk Park as well as its vast outreach program into local schools and youth groups.

His death was felt keenly by Southern Hills General Manager and COO Nick Sidor-akis, who worked closely with Johnson to found the First Tee of Tulsa in 1999 and to set up a Southern Hills foundation as its permanent beneficiary. And equally by First Tee of Tulsa Director Janice Gibson, who has been on the front line of bringing golf to thousands who would otherwise never have been exposed to its benefits.

“His love for the game and vision allowed us to get this off the ground,” Sidorakis said. “He was instrumental in accomplishing everything that we did. It was a great feat when you look back. He got into doors that we otherwise wouldn’t have gotten into and spearhead-ed the funding effort. He did it because he had a love for the kids and for the program itself.”

First Tee national CEO Joe Louis Barrow paid tribute to Johnson on a recent Tulsa visit.

“I really appreciate his vision for the First Tee of Tulsa,” Barrow said. “Without that, we wouldn’t be sitting here today. He will be missed by all of us.”

By early this year more than 40,000 chil-dren have been taught golf by Gibson and her staff including 15,576 and counting at the headquarters at Mohawk Park, with the

rest at outreach schools and other facilities. A satellite program will open this summer at Page Belcher Golf Course in West Tulsa.

At Johnson’s insistence, the children served by The First Tee of Tulsa pay no fees for lessons or clubs.

“John is going to be greatly missed around here,” Gibson said. “He was such an inspiration to us all. He was absolutely de-

voted to having a qual-ity program and was always working behind the scenes to meet the needs of the kids and expand our programs. Every time you turned around they were doing something to improve the program. I can’t imagine a better man.”

Johnson loved the game since he was a boy playing with his father at Twin Hills Country Club in Oklahoma City. He quickly became highly proficient, winning junior events around the state and country. A frequent traveling companion when his father was driving them to events was Orville

Moody, who finished second to Johnson in the 1951 state championship and went on to win the 1969 U.S. Open.

“Dad said Orville back then didn’t have a nickel to his name and my grandfather took him under his wing,” said Johnson’s son Bryan Johnson, a Financial Advisor at UBS Financial Services. “Orville was a good player but he never beat dad back then.”

That was the case in the Oklahoma boys high school championship in 1951, where Johnson, playing for Classen High School, repeated as state champion and Moody fin-ished third to Ab Justice, founder of Justice Golf Car. With Johnson having moved on to the University of Oklahoma where he was a four-year letterman, Moody edged Justice for the title in 1952.

Johnson lost in the 36-hole final of the 1952 Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship 2 and 1 to future professional and Oak Tree and Landmark Land co-founder Joe Walser Jr. He set then course records of 65 at both Twin Hills and the Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Golf Course. He was certainly good enough to turn professional, but elected to pursue

a law degree from OU, then an L.L. M. de-gree from Harvard Law School. He served three years in the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) and began practic-ing law in Tulsa in 1961.

After not playing for 12 years while establishing his career and family, Johnson joined Southern Hills in 1970. Over time he became heavily involved with the club, serving as president in 2002 and on numer-ous committees. He still played to a 14 handicap at the age of 81.

“Anytime dad signed on to help an organization, it was not a ceremonial deal,” Bryan said. “He rolled up his sleeves and gave them his best effort.”

Johnson began a tradition more than 40 years ago of gathering his friends and having them pick teams for a small wager on golf’s major championships. He was an avid participant in a fantasy golf league. A big fan of Tiger Woods through most of his career, it pained him earlier this year to drop Woods from his roster after it became apparent he wasn’t going to play often or well. But because Johnson insisted on his team taking Jordan Spieth in the first round, it is winning the league handily.

The Oklahoman named Johnson as an honorable mention in its All Century Golf Team in 2000. He was named to the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2008.

More than any accolades, Johnson allowed many young golfers to become hooked on the same game that enthralled him for a lifetime.

John B. Johnson Jr.

large screen televisions are everywhere and the huge windows and high vaulted ceilings keep the interior light and airy.

“People ask why the building bends and turns,” said Craig Foster, the principal with LWPB Architecture, which designed the building. “We studied all the sight lines and wanted to provide the best views possible from every angle.”

It was the first clubhouse for the firm which had previously designed the Brick-town Fire Station and the Northwest Library among its municipal projects. The reaction from the golfers, city officials, pros and oth-ers in attendance Friday was that the firm had drove the green on a par-five.

The clubhouse was financed through $2 million in general obligation bonds and $7.5 million will come from the golfers at the Oklahoma City public courses paying a $3.50 assessment as part of every green fee for the next 25 years or so.

Lincoln Park, continued from 19First Tee of Tulsa co-founder remembered for compassion, dedication, love of golf


Enjoy the native beautyof Central Oklahoma

Contact us today for memberships, tournaments, golf outings or special events.

www.belmargolfclub.net (405) 364-0111

1025 East Indian Hills Road Norman, Ok 73071


Rain may have shortened the golf, but it didn’t dampen the spirit of patriotism permeating the Patriot Cup Invitational on Memorial Day at The Patriot Golf Club in Owasso.

Bo Van Pelt, a participant in every Patriot Cup and someone who worked closely with Patriot Cup founder Dan Rooney in helping promote the new Patriot Golf Championship and on the mostly pre-packaged Fox 1 live telecast from the event, said he is constantly amazed by the Folds of Honor Foundation.

“To have started this from scratch and have given out more than 5,000 scholar-

ships in this short amount of time is truly amaz-ing,” Van Pelt said during this year’s opening ceremo-nies.

Robert Trent Jones II, whose design at The Patriot is cel-ebrated each year, was walking with

extra spring in his step at this year’s event. He was looking ahead to the U.S. Open being played June 18-21 on Chambers Bay, his links-style project on Puget Sound.

Jones likes to point out that he will be the first living architect to have a U.S. Open played on his course since his father Robert Trent Jones was alive for the 1970 U.S. Open on his new design, Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.

“I was there for him that year,” Jones II said. “And on Father’s Day, June 21, he’ll be there for me.”

Jones II said the state-ments by the USGA’s Mike Davis that the pro-fessionals should get in a few early practice rounds if they expect to be able to win at Chambers Bay are accurate.

“We saw in the U.S. Amateur there that the more the golfers play the course the more success-ful they’ll be. It has a few trap-door surprises, a few bumps in the

road. The more you play it, the more you’ll be able to solve its mysteries,” Jones II said.

“The aerial game is one way to play it. But I think the winners and those who make the cut will embrace the shotmaking, the skills and the imagina-tion of the ground game. The course has very hard, firm fescue turf which is like landing a ball on the street. It doesn’t have water or trees, so the slopes and the firm turf are its natu-ral defenses. The complexity of the green complexes and the firmness of the fescue will cause some players to be frustrated.

“The other aspect is it’s a seven-mile hike where you go up and down 200 feet of elevation change three times. The players

will need to be in shape. Everyone will sleep well all week.”

Timely Ace!Oklahoma

Supreme Court Justice Doug Combs volunteers his time each spring to work The Masters at Augusta National.

Although he enjoys giving his time and at-tending the year’s first major championship, he also loves returning for the Volunteer Day, when those who give their time get to play Augusta.

This year was extra special. Combs, 63, registered the first hole-in-one of his life

when his 8-iron on the famed 16th hole took one hop and went straight in the cup.

Brad Bowen, CEO of Golf USA’s Oklahoma stores, also volunteers and has returned to play Augusta seven times. He was thrilled for Combs.

“It’s just a great day,” Bowen said. “The greens are still scary fast, though not as fast as they are for The Masters. What a great experience to have your first hole-in-one at Augusta.”

Jenks opens practice centerRibbon cutting was held May 21 for

a new practice center for the Jenks High School golf teams.

The building houses locker rooms for the boys and girls golf teams, coaches’ offices,

a 2,000-square foot putting and chipping green with slopes built in, three hitting bays, an instruction room outfitted with the latest in launch monitors and swing video, and another room with golf simulators on which golfers can test themselves on courses from around the world.

Jenks Director of Golf Bill Roller was one of the driving forces behind the facility, which was funded through a $600,000 bond issue.

Original plans to build the facility next to the team’s home course at South Lakes were nixed by the Federal Aviation Ad-ministration, which controls access to the nearby Riverside Jones Airport, so the site is just east of Jenks High School and about two miles from the golf course.

The practice facility was designed by GH2 Architects of Tulsa and Manhattan Construction was the primary builder.

Name change at Willow CreekWillow Creek Country Club in south

Oklahoma City has changed its name to Hidden Trails Country Club.

Chip shots

David Feherty, Dan Rooney and Roger Clemons.

Robert Trent Jones II

RTJ II looks forward to Chambers Bay reaction

Doug Combs on 16 at Augusta National.

Jenks coach Brent Wilcoxen left, his father Steve right and a friend check out the new video room.

Untitled-1 1 1/25/15 5:05 PM


Untitled-1 1 1/25/15 5:05 PM


A new ownership group led by Oklahoma City businessman Lloyd White selected the name to reflect a new direction at the club, according to head professional Wade Walker.

Plans are for updates both in the club-house and on the course. The new group plans to aggressively market memberships, which had declined over time.

Gene O’Bryant is the new superinten-dent, having previously worked for the late Duffy Martin at Cedar Valley.

Emerald Falls files Chapter 11Emerald Falls LLC, owner of Emerald Falls

Golf Course in Wagoner County and sur-rounding land on which it hoped to build a resort, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The filing came after a state court action filed by Fidelity Bank, which received a judg-ment in Wagner Country District Court for $3.2 million against Emerald Falls. A receiver was appointed by the court and given au-thority to sell the property to two potential buyers. When closed, the sale would have resulted in less than the $3.2 million judg-ment, according to court documents.

Stopping the bank sale at least temporar-ily allows Emerald Falls LLC an opportunity

to continue seeking investors for the resort, plans for which were announced more than 15 months ago when the golf course was closed.

David Oberle, whose wife Lucia Carballo is the daughter of the project’s original own-er Bernie Carballo, has been the spokesman for the resort since plans were announced. He recently emailed Golf Oklahoma to say that developments in recent weeks have been very positive. He did not return a phone call for further comment.

Emerald Falls, designed by Jerry Slack, opened in 2007 on land that was formerly part of the 36-hole Deer Run Golf Course. The course was part of a planned residential development but only a limited number of homes have been built. The development experienced poor timing with the recession of 2007-08 that depressed housing, and also was limited by a fairly remote location and problems with the course, including drain-age issues and greens that suffered heat-stress related damage several times.

The $122 million resort was announced in February of 2014 but work to line up investors and financing for the project has proceeded slowly.

Chip shots

Topgolf in Oklahoma City opens its doors to the public on June 19. Jonathan Buckley, the PGA Director of Operations, was fleshing out his staff at the end of May, including hiring a director of instruction.

Buckley said other Topgolf facilities give extensive lessons despite the chain’s repu-tation as more of a social gathering place.

“We get a lot of beginners but also a lot of scratch golfers,” Buckley said. “We have the video analysis and the Go Pro cam-eras with either face-on or down-the-line angles. We’ll also do corporate events.”

In addition to its Oklahoma City loca-tion, Topgolf International announced it is looking to expand in the state. Topgolf is analyzing a couple of site locations in the Tulsa market with the hope of opening within the next 12-18 months.

If that happens, it will likely have a com-petitor already open nearby in Jenks. The Muscogee Creek Nation in 2014 announced it was funding and has begun construction on a three-story driving range and enter-tainment complex called FlyingTee.

Topgolf to open in OKC, eyes Tulsa facility

WHERE CRIMSON AND CREAM MEETS LUSH AND GREEN.

Minutes from campus, but miles from ordinary, come experience The OU Golf Club — consistently rated as one of the top two golf destinations you can play in the Sooner State.

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JAOUGC_GolfOklahomaApr2015.indd 1 3/31/15 7:59 AM

Buffalo Ridge Golf Course Arnie’s Barn at Top of the RockFalls Lodge at Big Cedar

Nestled in the heart of the Missouri Ozark Mountains, Big Cedar Lodge is the perfect place to play and stay. This 800-acre premier wilderness resort is home to lodges, private cabins, a world-class spa, a 100-slip marina, and numerous unique dining venues. Located just minutes away are two extraordinary property extensions – Top of the Rock and Buffalo Ridge – both home to the Bass Pro Shops Legends at Big Cedar Lodge, a PGA Champions TOUR event. Top of the Rock boasts a Jack Nicklaus designed par 3 course, an Arnold Palmer designed driving range, and a Tom Watson putting green. Buffalo Ridge, designed by Johnny Morris and Tom Fazio, is an 18-hole golf course that allows you to catch a glimpse of what the Ozarks would have been like for early settlers. Native prairie grasses frame the course and American Bison roam the ridge above. Join us at Big Cedar Lodge for a play and stay experience you’ll never forget!

GOK615


Buffalo Ridge Golf Course Arnie’s Barn at Top of the RockFalls Lodge at Big Cedar

Nestled in the heart of the Missouri Ozark Mountains, Big Cedar Lodge is the perfect place to play and stay. This 800-acre premier wilderness resort is home to lodges, private cabins, a world-class spa, a 100-slip marina, and numerous unique dining venues. Located just minutes away are two extraordinary property extensions – Top of the Rock and Buffalo Ridge – both home to the Bass Pro Shops Legends at Big Cedar Lodge, a PGA Champions TOUR event. Top of the Rock boasts a Jack Nicklaus designed par 3 course, an Arnold Palmer designed driving range, and a Tom Watson putting green. Buffalo Ridge, designed by Johnny Morris and Tom Fazio, is an 18-hole golf course that allows you to catch a glimpse of what the Ozarks would have been like for early settlers. Native prairie grasses frame the course and American Bison roam the ridge above. Join us at Big Cedar Lodge for a play and stay experience you’ll never forget!

GOK615


by ken macleod

The United States Golf Association will hold its 22st championship in Oklahoma when the U.S. Girls Junior Championship is contested July 20-25 at Tulsa Country Club.

The collection of talent on display in this free-to-the-public event will be breathtaking. One has to look no further than the LPGA Tour, where Lydia Ko has won seven times by age 17, to see that the girls playing TCC will be winning college and professional events in the near future.

One former U.S. Girls Junior champion who would advise the participants not to be in too big of a rush to chase their dreams is University of Tulsa women’s golf coach Emilee Klein-Gille.

As Emily Klein, a 17-year-old on her way to Arizona State, Klein-Gille cruised through the 1991 event at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, winning the finals match 3 and 2 over Kimberly Marshall.

“By the time I won, I already had a college scholarship and was the No. 1 player in the country,” Klein-Gille said. “I won most every-thing I played that summer, was medalist in the qualifying and came in expecting to win. I think my longest match went to the 15th hole.

“But for three years before that I played and didn’t win. Winning a USGA event is something I wanted more than anything. It’s very prestigious and important to all the girls.”

While some want to skip right from junior golf to professional golf, Klein-Gille would advise otherwise even though that option was open to her. She went to Arizona State, earned first-team All-America honors in 1993 and 1994, while leading ASU to the NCAA title in both seasons and capturing the NCAA individual crown in ’94. Klein-Gille was named the 1994 Golf Digest Women’s Amateur Player of the Year.

At that point, she was more than ready

to turn professional, as shown by her being named the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1995. She won three LPGA events in her career, including a seven-shot romp in the 1996 Women’s British Open at 21.

The U.S. Girls Junior Championship features 36 holes of qualifying followed by a 64-player field for match play. Although match play adds some element of chance – a hot player can defeat someone she might

Klein-Gille remembers runto Junior Girls title in 1991

2015 U.S. Junior Girls Championship at TCCpresented by

Emily Klein-Gille was unstoppable en route to 1991 Junior Girls Championship.


have little chance against in 72 holes of stroke play – the tournament has still produced tremendous champions, including Mickey Wright, JoAnne Gunderson (Carner), Hol-lis Stacy (three times), Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott, Heather Farr and In-Bee Park, to name a few.

Former TU star Cathy Mockett won in 1984. Melissa McNamara, the former TU NCAA champion and later coach, was medalist in 1983.

Stacy Prammanasudh, who recently celebrated the birth of her second child since retir-ing from the LPGA Tour three years ago, dominated junior golf in Oklahoma, winning the Women’s Oklahoma Golf As-sociation Junior Championship five times. She competed in four U.S. Girls Junior Champion-ships, advancing to the round of 16 in her first try. She always made the match play field but never again got past the first round.

“Match play was just not something we played much of and it was always a tough adjustment,” Prammanasudh said at Media Day for the event. “It was a great learning experience every time.”

Stacy P, as she was known to all during an outstanding college career at the University of Tulsa and again on the LPGA Tour, learned a crucial lesson in her round of 16 match as a 13-year-old with current Arkansas coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. She moved her mark and forgot to move it back before making a crucial putt to halve a hole. Estes asked her about it after her putt. It left an indelible les-

son for the youngster from Enid.“Learned the hard way,”

Prammanasudh said. “Ended up losing what was a heated match because I couldn’t get that one small mistake out of my head.”

Tulsa Country Club, recently renovated by Rees Jones, should provide a wonderful venue for both the stroke and match play portions. It is also one of the more spectator friendly courses one could find. TCC will be

hosting its third USGA event, including the 1960 U.S. Women’s Amateur won by Gunderson and the 2008 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur won by Diane Lang.

“It’s just going to be a great venue,” Klein-Gille said. “It’s a great traditional course where you have to hit it straight -- a tremen-dous test of all facets of your game.”

Event director Tracy Parsons with the USGA said the par-70 course will be set up at 6,076 yards for stroke play, with some interesting alternatives for match play. The par-4 13th hole will play 327 yards in stroke play, but be moved up to a driveable 257 yards the first day of match play and 237 yards the final day.

“Tulsa Country Club will be a great test,” Parsons said. “The key will be good golf course management. The players who best map out a course of action and manage their games will be at the top of the leaderboard.”

More than 200 NCAA coaches will be in Tulsa that week for annual meetings and to get a look at upcoming talent.

There will be a local qualifier on June 22 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater. In 2014, 11 countries were represented in the final field of 156 golfers.

Notes: Parking for the stroke play portion and the first round of match play will be at the nearby OSU-Tulsa campus with shuttle service to the course. Parking for the remain-der of match play will be available at TCC.

Volunteers are needed for walking scorers and other tasks. Volunteer online at tul-sacountryclub.com or email [email protected]. There is no cost and volunteers receive a hat, shirt and food.

2015 U.S. Junior Girls Championship at TCC

Stacy Prammanasudh

Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association

1902

1915

1915

1946

1950’s-1970’s

1920’s-1930’s

1918

1930’sLate

1943

1950

1994

First woman in Oklahoma to play the game

Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association established

No State Amateur Championship due to WWI

WOGA disbanded because of World War II

WOGAReorganizes

1977

Fore State Team Championship begins with Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. Ryder Cup Style Format

1970’sCollege golf programs emerge for women, many WOGA Juniors awarded college golf scholarships

2001

Patty Coatneywins record 9th Women’s Oklahoma State AmateurChampionship 2011

WOGA Starts the WOGA Cup Club Team Tournament

2014

Yujeong Son becomes youngest winner of Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Champion-ship at age of 13

WOGA Starts Women’s Oklahoma Stroke Play Championship and combines existing Mid-Amateur Championship

Elite women golfers emerge such as Susie Maxwell Berning, Betsy Cullen, Dale McNamara andBeth Stone

WOGA startsOklahoma Junior Girls’ State Championship led by Mabel Hotz

WOGA Starts Oklahoma Senior Women’s State Championship

1996

WOGA Starts Partnership Tournament

1995

2003

WOGA starts Oklahoma Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship

2013WOGA becomes a 501c3 Public CharityWOGA starts scholarship and grants programs

2015WOGA starts LPGA USGA girls golf chapter of Tulsa

2015Centennial Celebration July 26, 2015 Oklahoma City Golf & CC

New Star emerges Captain Pat Grant

Big Four emerge of Patti Blanton, Lucy Beeler, Mrs. Hulbert Clark, Estelle Drennan

First Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Championship Oklahoma City Golf & CC

32 •••••• www.golfoklahoma.org Pat Grant

Mabel Hotz

The Women’s Oklahoma Golf Associa-tion Centennial celebration is July 26 at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, where the first WOGA State Amateur Championship was held in 1915.

In the century between that event and the 2015 return to the Perry Maxwell lay-out in Nicholls Hills, the women’s game has evolved considerably.

Instead of a mostly social event con-tested between women in restrictive dress, you will see young athletes like 14-year-old defending champion Yujeong Son of Norman ripping drives 260 yards down the center of the fairway and fearlessly attacking pins.

Son’s ascension is an extreme example of the way youth dominate the state amateur scene for both men and women.

The women, however, have retained the flavor of the state amateur as the gathering and social hub of the season by offering numerous handicap flights in which many of the great champions of the past still compete.

Some of the luminaries who won mul-tiple state amateurs include Patti Blanton, Pat Grant, Betsy Cullen, Dale Fleming (McNamara), Patty McGraw (Coatney), Lee Ann Hammack and Sheila Dills, the current president who has been working hard to make the centennial celebration a huge success.

For more information on the Centennial or to attend, go to www.woga.us.

100 Years of WOGA

1915 picture of founding members.

Lucy BeelerPatti Blanton

Jackie Riggs Hutchinson

Susie Maxwell Berning

Betsy Cullen Dale McNamara

Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association

1902

1915

1915

1946

1950’s-1970’s

1920’s-1930’s

1918

1930’sLate

1943

1950

1994

First woman in Oklahoma to play the game

Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association established

No State Amateur Championship due to WWI

WOGA disbanded because of World War II

WOGAReorganizes

1977

Fore State Team Championship begins with Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. Ryder Cup Style Format

1970’sCollege golf programs emerge for women, many WOGA Juniors awarded college golf scholarships

2001

Patty Coatneywins record 9th Women’s Oklahoma State AmateurChampionship 2011

WOGA Starts the WOGA Cup Club Team Tournament

2014

Yujeong Son becomes youngest winner of Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Champion-ship at age of 13

WOGA Starts Women’s Oklahoma Stroke Play Championship and combines existing Mid-Amateur Championship

Elite women golfers emerge such as Susie Maxwell Berning, Betsy Cullen, Dale McNamara andBeth Stone

WOGA startsOklahoma Junior Girls’ State Championship led by Mabel Hotz

WOGA Starts Oklahoma Senior Women’s State Championship

1996

WOGA Starts Partnership Tournament

1995

2003

WOGA starts Oklahoma Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship

2013WOGA becomes a 501c3 Public CharityWOGA starts scholarship and grants programs

2015WOGA starts LPGA USGA girls golf chapter of Tulsa

2015Centennial Celebration July 26, 2015 Oklahoma City Golf & CC

New Star emerges Captain Pat Grant

Big Four emerge of Patti Blanton, Lucy Beeler, Mrs. Hulbert Clark, Estelle Drennan

First Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Championship Oklahoma City Golf & CC


Patty Coatney

HALL OF FAME WOGA WOMEN

INDUCTEES WOGAWOMEN’S OKLAHOM A GOLF ASSOCIATION

Celebrating 100 Years

1915-2015

Yujeong Son

Jarita AskinsMabel HotzJackie Riggs HutchinsonSusie Maxwell BerningPatty McGraw CoatneyCarol Belcher CollinsPatti BlantonDena Dills NowotnyDale Fleming McNamaraLinda Melton MorseAnn Pitts Turner

Betsy CullenBeth StoneJoan BlumenthalJanice Burba GibsonPat GrantLucy BeelerLeeAnn Hammack FairlieJeannie Thompson Rogers

Sheila DillsPresidentWoGA


by ken macleod

Golfers at The Oaks Country Club in Tulsa are having to be even more patient than they anticipated.

The course has been closed since last summer for a renovation by architect Bill Bergin of Atlanta that included 18 new green complexes, irrigation improvements, considerable movement of tee boxes and cart paths, lengthening of certain holes and an overall sprucing up of the 1924 A. W. Tillinghast design.

Nearly 20 inches of rain in May pushed the planned reopening of the course from May 16 back until at least early June.

“Our members are antsy and ready to go,” said Director of Golf Rick Reed. “But it’s been too wet. We have two catch basins that have been washed out twice now.”

Other than the rain, Reed said the course is looking great and expects his membership will be thrilled with the extensive changes.

“The golf course is just going to be out-standing,” he said. “Every hole is prettier. We still have our old 1920s Tillinghast footprint, but now it’s updated and ready for the future.”

The new greens boast 007 bent grass and are similar in size and contour to the previous greens.

The Oklahoma Golf Association team has already been out to rate the course and it jumped considerably in both course rat-ing and slope rating. The new rating from the back tees is 75.2 with a slope of 138, compared to 71.9 and 120 previously. From the white tees, the new numbers are 71.5 and 135 compared to 70.1 and 118.

“I think the course was probably rated a little low before and a little high now,” Reed said. “We will see how it plays. We have to get 400 to 500 rounds registered before we can redo the hole ratings.”

Bergin anticipated the rise in course ratings when he added length, plus created more shot options through angles of at-tack for the better players.

He said on a recent visit that he was surprised the white tee rating increased, as he actually expects the increased options for ground entry to the greeens to make the course easier for high handicappers while the added length will make it more difficult for those who play the back tees.

“I like to allow the members to re-ally navigate their way around the golf course,” Bergin said. “The bet-ter players sometimes don’t do that, they just point and shoot. What we’ve done out here is offset bunkers and eliminate some bunkers to give a safer side and a more challenging side to the course.”

The project had a price tag of close to $2.9 million. Reed said the club already has more members than when it began and expects even more on the scenic hillside course once word gets around about the renovation.

Upgrade at The WoodsThe Woods Golf Course

in Coweta has resumed an improvement project that was stalled during the recession of 2007-08.

The course ownership has changed hands in the meantime, but Jackey Yocham, whose family formerly owned the course, is still the superintendent. He confirmed the course is adding five new holes built by Jones Plan of Tulsa.

Yocham said the five holes are basi-cally a smaller version of the renovation originally envisioned but could lead to more work.

“Hopefully these five holes provide some momentum and drive some lot sales,” he said. “We get the home sales moving again and that should help do more on the course.”

It has not been determined yet which holes will be removed from play, but the new holes should be an upgrade regardless.

Worth the wait at Oaks CCCourse reopens in early June after successful renovation

Where we play

The par-5 seventh hole has been pushed back to the edge of the hillside, providing dramatic views and peril in equal measure.

The uphill par-4 13th, with cart path removed from play, a new rock creek and bold bunkering.

“GETAWAYS”W O R T H T H E D R I V EWhether you choose the challenging canyons and mesas of Roman Nose or the signature lakeside views of Sequoyah, away from it all is closer than you think with a Stay and Play package at one of Oklahoma’s premiere state park golf courses.

Package rates start at $65* per person and are available at Roman Nose, Sequoyah, Lake Murray and Beavers Bend Lakeview Lodge. Visit TravelOK.com for package details.

Spring/Summer packages valid Sundays through Thursdays, May 16th, 2015 – September 15th, 2015. *Double occupancy required.

“GETAWAYS”W O R T H T H E D R I V EWhether you choose the challenging canyons and mesas of Roman Nose or the signature lakeside views of Sequoyah, away from it all is closer than you think with a Stay and Play package at one of Oklahoma’s premiere state park golf courses.

Package rates start at $65* per person and are available at Roman Nose, Sequoyah, Lake Murray and Beavers Bend Lakeview Lodge. Visit TravelOK.com for package details.

Spring/Summer packages valid Sundays through Thursdays, May 16th, 2015 – September 15th, 2015. *Double occupancy required.


by scott wright

Yujeong Son has been gaining local and national attention for a few years now, dating

back to 2012, when she was named U.S. Kids National Player of the Year as an 11-year-old. In 2013, she quali-fied for the USGA Women’s Public Links Champion-ship, which was held at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in her hometown of Norman.

Last summer at 13, she became the youngest player ever to win the Women’s Oklahoma Golf

Association’s State Amateur Championship. Now 14, Son has kept the momentum going, including a pair of victories over high-school age

girls on the inaugural Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour Spring Series.

As she heads into the summer prior to her freshman year at Norman High School, Son has big plans for her schedule on the state level and in national events.

Do you feel like you were able to build some momentum from your play last year to get off to a strong start this spring?

Yes, I ended great last year and I feel like I’ve got a lot of momentum going into this season. I know I can do good if I just trust my game. I know I’m playing good. My driver and my full-swing shots have been good so far, despite the winter and the fact that I couldn’t practice as much. My put-ting is still there. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be after the winter.

What big events do you have planned for the summer?

I have a few OJGT events I’ll be playing in. I don’t know which ones yet. I’ll have the U.S. Women’s Open qualifying, the U.S. Girls Junior qualifying and the U.S.

Women’s Amateur qualifying. Then I have four or five AJGA tournaments that I might go to. And since I won them last year, I’ll go back to the WOGA Girls Junior Championship and the WOGA State Am, so that I can try to defend my title.

The U.S. Girls Junior will be held July 20-25 at Tulsa Country Club, but the qualifying is at Karsten Creek in Still-water on June 21. Have you ever played Karsten?

I’ve never played it. Everyone has been telling me it’s a great course and it’s hard, so I’m looking forward to it.

Is it exciting to have such a big tourna-ment close to home?

Yeah, it really is, because I understand playing in Oklahoma. So I feel like I’ll have a little bit of a home-state advantage. Of course, I’ve got to get through the qualifying at Karsten first, but I’m really excited about it.

As you head into some of these big tour-naments, which aspect of your game would you like to improve the most?

Son has eye on U.S. Junior prize

VOLKSWAGEN OF EDMOND JUNIOR PROFILE


I would say I need to im-prove my putting. I went to the LPGA North Texas Shootout, and I was really impressed by their putting. I know I have to be better with my putting for me to have a chance to get to that level, or even just to be as successful as I want to be at the tournaments I’m playing now. It was really cool following those players around, and their putting was incredible, so it re-ally showed me what I need to work on.

Are your competitors still sur-prised to see you playing the way you do at such a young age?

Yeah, people always ask me what high school I go to and things like that. Some of them are shocked, but I take pride in that. I take pride in being able to play with older girls and it’s fun, because they don’t treat me like I’m a kid, so I feel like I’m their equal.

VOLKSWAGEN OF EDMOND JUNIOR PROFILE

Yujeong Son at the 2014 WOGA State Amateur.

2328 E. 13th St. • Tulsa, OK 74104t 918.832.5544; 918.832.7721 fax

www.jonesplan.com

Recent ProjectsThe Blessings Golf Club

Fayetteville, AR • Driving Range TeeWichita Country Club

Wichita, KS • Grading/sodding Green SurroundsThe Woods Golf Club

Coweta • 5-hole new constructionSouthern Hills Country Club

Tulsa • Wet well/Intake Flume InstallationCedar Ridge Country Club

Broken Arrow • Creek Bank Improvements• #17 Fairway Renovation

Gaillardia Golf & Country ClubOklahoma City • Bunker Improvements

Firelake Golf CourseShawnee • Cart Path Improvements

• Irrigation ImprovementsThe Patriot Golf Club

Owasso • Cart Path Improvements Tulsa Country Club

Tulsa • Cart PathsSouthern Hills Country Club

Tulsa • Cart Path Improvements Battle Creek Golf Club

Broken Arrow • Cart Path Improvements • Bunker Renovation

Hardscrabble Country ClubFort Smith, AR • Tee Improvements

Karsten Creek Golf ClubStillwater • Practice Green Construction

Recent Projects

Builder Member

Cedar Ridge Country Club • Broken Arrow, OK • Cart Path Improvements

The Patriot Golf Club • Owasso, OK • Cart Path Improvements

Silverhorn Golf Club • Edmond, OK • Creek Crossing Repairs and Gabion Wall

Cedar Creek Golf Course • Broken Bow, OK • 18 Hole Irrigation Installation

Forest Ridge Golf Club • Broken Arrow, OK • 18 Hole Bunker and Green Renovation

Bailey Ranch Golf Club • Owasso, OK • Resurfacing of 3 Greens

The Golf Club at Frisco Lakes • Frisco, TX • Cart Path Improvements

Eastern Hills Country Club • Garland, TX • Cart Path Improvements

Golf Course Construction

JONESPLAN2328 E. 13th StreetTulsa, OK 74104t 918.832.5544

[email protected]

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by scott wright

The Oklahoma high school state tourna-ments were completed in May. Here’s a look at some of the major story lines from those tournaments:

Class 6A boysTeam champion: OwassoIndividual champion:

Jacob Prentice, Edmond Memorial

The story: It’s no exag-geration to call Prentice a darkhorse champion. The No. 2 bag for Edmond Memorial, he was able to grind his way to the title with consistent play, post-ing rounds of 74-73-75 for a 6-over-par 222 total at Karsten Creek in Stillwa-ter. But as big a surprise as Prentice’s title was, Owasso’s championship topped it. Edmond North came into the tournament looking for its 11th consecutive 6A crown, but was turned away by Owasso’s three-round total of 930. Broken Arrow was second with a 941 and Edmond North third at 942. Marc Kepka’s final-round 73 helped the Rams pull away from Edmond North, and jumped Kepka into a runner-up finish individually.

Class 6A girlsTeam champion: UnionIndividual champion: Trudy Allen, UnionThe story: Allen led by one entering the

final round and pulled away to win by four at The Club at Indian Springs in Broken

Arrow. Allen held off Norman North sophomore Kaitlin Mil-ligan, who made a charge into second place after a rough open-ing round. Union’s fifth consecu-tive team title wasn’t won so easily. Trailing Broken Arrow by three heading into the final round, Union posted a 322, the low team round of the tourna-ment, to win by four.

Class 5A boysTeam champion: ShawneeIndividual champion: Garrett

McDaniel, ShawneeThe story: The Wolves made

the home-course advantage count, winning the team title by 59 strokes and sweeping the top three individual spots at Shawnee Country Club. McDaniel’s 210 total edged teammate Braden Ricks by one shot.

Class 5A girlsTeam champion: DuncanIndividual champion: Sydney Young-

blood, DurantThe story: The state

has only ever seen two four-time individual state champions — Lacey Jones of Idabel in 4A from 2001-04 and Altus’ Megan Blonien in 5A from 2009-12 — and Youngblood has positioned herself to become the third. If this year’s scores are any indication, someone will have to do some-thing special to keep Youngblood’s four-peat from happening. The junior shot 67-72 at Claremore’s Scissortail Golf Course to win by 17 shots.

Class 4A boysTeam champion: Heritage Hall

Individual champi-on: Quade Cummins, Weatherford

The story: Heritage Hall won its second straight title, and Cummins won his second individual crown, but not con-secutively. He was the 4A champion as a sophomore, and capped his career in

style. A par on the final hole would have been good enough for the win, but Cum-

Owasso ends North reign, Union keeps streak alive

HIGH SCHOOL STATE TOURNAMENTS

The victorious Owasso Rams, left to right Coach Corey Burd, junior Mike Biata, senior Marc Kepka, sophomore Noah Russell, freshman Austin Enzbrenner, senior Clark Killion, manager Blake Hamar.

6A champ Trudy Allen

Quade Cummins

Sydney Youngblood

mins, an Oklahoma signee, eagled No. 18 at Lake Hefner’s North Course in Oklahoma City for a 67 and a three-shot victory.

Class 4A girlsTeam champion: HilldaleIndividual champion: Katie Kirkhart,

HilldaleThe story: Kirkhart opened with a 75,

the low round of the tournament, and was able to finish off a three-stroke victory over Newcastle’s Chloe Black at Lake Hefner South in Oklahoma City. Only 13 strokes separated fourth from first in the team race, but Hilldale came out on top for the third straight year with a 696.

Class 3A boysTeam champion:

PlainviewIndividual cham-

pion: Mason Over-street, Kingfisher

The story: The numbers tell the story for Overstreet, who shot 11-under-par 202 (67-68-67) at Lincoln

Park’s West Course to win by 13 strokes. Com-mitted to Arkansas, Over-street won nine of the 10 tournaments he played in his junior season.

Class 3A girlsTeam champion:

PurcellIndividual champion:

ShaeBug Scarberry, Pur-cell

The story: After the first 18 holes, the ques-tion wasn’t whether Purcell was going to win the title on its home course, Brent Bruehl Memorial, but which of the Dragons’ top three players would come away with medalist hon-ors. Scarberry, Ashton Nemecek and Peighton Walker were tied for first at 74 after the first day, and Scar-berry, a freshman, sealed the top spot with a closing-round 75.

Class 2A boysTeam champion: Moore-

landIndividual champion:

Blake Murray, MoorelandThe story: Murray bird-

ied the first playoff hole to defeat Mangum’s Hunter Laughlin at Oakwood Country Club in Enid. The two had tied with a 54-hole total of even-par 213.

Class 2A girlsTeam champion: LattaIndividual champion:

Kate Goodwin, Riverfield Country Day

The story: When Trosper Park in Oklahoma City was hit with flooding rains following the first round, the tournament had to be shortened from 36 to 18

holes, leaving Goodwin — the tournament favorite from the start — with a four-stroke victory. The Oklahoma Christian signee shot even-par 70.


HIGH SCHOOL STATE TOURNAMENTS

Individual 6A champion Jacob Prentice of Edmond Memorial.

Mason Overstreet


COLLEGE ROUNDUP

For Oklahoma colleges the golf season had some outstanding highlights, but no one put together a memorable run during the national championships.

At the Division I level, only the Okla-homa State and Oklahoma men’s teams earned a spot in the NCAA Champion-ships. Tulsa and Oral Roberts were not in-vited to regionals on the men’s or women’s side and the OSU and OU women did not advance past regional action.

The Sooners finished in a tie for 28th out of 30 teams at the NCAA Champion-ship at Concession Golf Club, while the Cowboys faded in the final round into a tie for 19th, missing the 15-team field for the final round and a chance to advance to match play. It was a disappointing end for a team that returned three starters from a national runner-up finish in 2014.

The Cowboys return all five starters, several talented backups and redshirts and welcome a pair of recruits including Edmond North’s Tyson Reeder, but will need to play with much more consistency in 2015-16 to restore OSU to its lofty

expectations. The Sooners, who won three events

including the San Antonio Regional, say goodbye to seniors Michael Gellerman and Charlie Saxon, but welcome in a talented class including locals Brad Dalke, Quade Cummins and Thomas Johnson and that program should continue to rise.

It was the rare year when no Oklahoma schools at the NAIA or NCAA Division II levels actually made a run at a title, although there were some top-10 finishes.

Powerhouse Oklahoma City Univer-sity had five players receive All-America honors but finished tied for eighth in the NAIA national championship at the LPGA International Hills Course in Daytona Beach, Fla. Anthony Marchesani and Jamie Warman were named to the first team while Matthew Cheung and Gar-rison Mendoza took second-team acco-lades, and Sam Russell snagged third-team honors. Marchesani became a three-time all-American, while Cheung and Mendoza were named all-Americans for the second consecutive year.

The OCU women were defending na-tional champions, but finished sixth this year at Savannah Quarters Country Club. Four players were named All-Americans, including first-teammer Emma Allen, second-teamers Anna Mikish and Katie-Lee Wilson and honorable mention honors to Kailey Campbell.

At the Division II level, the Univer-sity of Central Oklahoma women were in contention through three rounds but dipped to seventh in the final round at the Meadows Golf Course in Allendale, Mich. Marla Souvannasing of Tulsa, who placed in the top 10 in 11 of 13 events, was named a second-team All-American. Northeastern State University sophomore Baylee Price made the field as an individu-al and finished 15th.

On the men’s side, Russ Purcer had a top-10 finish but the Bronchos finished 11th in the championship at Conover, N.C. Southern Nazarene’s Michael Hearne, playing as an individual, finished fourth and was named to the first team of the Ping All-America Team.

State collegians look ahead after so-so finishes


by ken macleod

Talk about an eye-opener. The first time Keli Clark with the State of Oklahoma Tourism Department walked in the reno-vated lodge at Sequoyah State Park, she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm.

“I just yelled ‘Oh My God,’ “ Clark said. “And it’s been that kind of reaction from everyone who has seen it.”

The 101-room Sequoyah Lodge was closed from last August 4 through Jan. 30, 2015, for what can only be described as a gutting.

“We tore everything out,” said Michael Cooley, the food and beverage manager. “All the old flooring, carpet, blinds, cur-tains, wall coverings, every piece of furni-ture, it was all in a big pile in the parking lot. We took out the drywall because in the old days there used to be smoking in the lodge. We are now completely smoke and vapor free.”

The new rooms are all completely redone with new furnishings including all new beds, chairs, furnishings, flat screen televisions and all new bathroom fixtures. The lodge was closed the year before for five months to install all new heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) as well as electrical. Between the two renovations, the state spent nearly $8.5 million bringing Sequoyah up to a new standard.

The new décor is mid-century modern, designed to reflect the times of the original construction. Not only are the rooms and suites comfortable and tasteful, but the full impact can be felt in the open areas and meeting rooms.

The huge Sequoyah meeting room can now be portioned off with soundproof dividers, making it possible to serve lunch in one half while keeping the meetings going in the second half, if everyone is not distracted by the view of the sun setting over Fort Gibson Lake, or haven’t already snuck out for golf , boating, hiking, tennis, horseshoes or one of the many other activities available.

The dining rooms are bright and airy with views out to the pool and courtyard. The kitchen has been completely retrofitted as well. Thanks to a relationship with the Cherokee Nation, all new historical artwork lines the hallways and a brochure is available for those who want to take a self-interpretive tour.

The lodge has nine meeting rooms overall and room for 900 guests. Besides rooms and suites at the lodge, the facility has 45 cabins, a house and a bunkhouse for rent. It has two differ-ent golf packages available. For more information, go to oktravel.com.

Sequoyah draws ravesRenovated lodge offers golf packages

Meeting space with a view.

Mid-century modern decor.

Artwork, furnishings add class to renovated rooms.


by art stricklin

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Since nailing a list of Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major championships victories to his bedroom wall as a kid, Tiger Woods has been linked to him.

The competition extended to the golf course design arena as well as they each recently opened up new limited public access golf courses in this most scenic Southwest tip of Mexico.

For Woods, it was his first-ever course opening at Diamante El Cardonal, after a couple false starts in North Carolina and the Middle East. Nicklaus, Cabo’s most prolific course designer known locally as

the Golden Amigo instead of the Golden Bear, opened up his sixth course in the area at Quivira.

The courses are within miles of each other and because of the elevation changes can be easily viewed from the opposite course. Both succeed, but in dramatically different ways.

Nicklaus, who first came to San Jose de Cabo to design the Palmilla course nearly two decades ago, crafted a classic resort, seaside course at Quivira Golf Club. The par-72 layout, which opened in December, plays along the dramatic Sea of Cortez cliffs with spectacular views from several holes on both nines.

It’s extremely difficult, make that

impossible, land to walk and required workers to dig some irrigation by hand or with two-wheel golf carts due to the steep conditions, according to chief develop-ment officer Jose Luis Mogollon. But it turned out to be an 18-hole thrill ride with over-the-top service, including two full meals during the round.

Quivira certainly won’t please many golf purists as there are a number of blind shots, split fairways, contrived layouts and holes hard to figure out on your first trip, but it you want fun oceanside golf, this is your place.

“With the land that we had and the dunes on the property we decided we would make the best course we could

Pick your flavorNicklaus, Woods square off with course designs in Los Cabos Tiger Woods’ Diamonte El Cardonal.

DESTINATIONS


and Jack Nicklaus certainly did that,” said Mogollon.

The fun begins as the cart path to the first tee runs right along the ocean sand and after four fairly tame holes, the fun and the scenery really kicks in. The path from the fourth green to the fifth tee is more than a half-mile long and virtually straight uphill, winding up the side of a large mountain.

When you finally reach the top there is an elaborate comfort station with fresh chicken tacos and ceviche waiting. The par-4 fifth hole, with the ocean thunder-ing hundreds of feet below you, offers a back tee location which requires a 290-yard carry straight down while the for-ward tees offer a bit more safety to a very narrow fairway. The green is perched on a cliff just above the waters making your approach shot fraught with danger.

The back nine has more twists and turns until you reach the ocean again on holes 13 and 14. Nicklaus added another dramatic par-3 and par-4 on the coast with the massive waves crashing against the equally massive rocks.

Other than a membership or homesite,

Quivira can be ac-cessed by staying in the modern Pacifica hotel, just minutes from the property. Pacifica, which is adults only and been open for a decade, only has 154 rooms, all facing the ocean, but offers a full spa, swim-up bar, dining on the beach and multiple fire pits to toast another good day of cabo adventure.

Diamante El Cardonal is the second of two courses built on the property, both open to timeshare guests on site. Davis Love III did the Dunes course in 2010 and certainly took the most scenic oceanside property, but considering this is his first effort as an architect, Woods’ El Cardonal course is very solid.

Working with former Tom Fazio associ-ate Beau Welling, Woods’ layout includes claw-shaped bunkers which enrich the course design and the toughness from the fairways and around the greens.

Several of the bunkers, starting at the par-5 first hole, are actually false fronts with room between the bunkers and the putting surfaces.

Another feature not common to many, if any in the golf-rich Cabo area, is the extensive use of chipping areas around several of the greens, giving players many ways to play approach shots and allows them to play the same hole differently, depending on the conditions.

“El Cardonal is going to remind people of old-style California courses,” said Woods, a native of Cypress, California. “It’s the type of course I enjoy playing the best.”

Dramatic doesn’t describe Quivira by Jack Nicklaus.


OKLAHOMA GOLF HALL OF FAME

Perry Maxwell is one of the greatest golfing figures in the history of Oklahoma. What would surprise so many is that he was not a native Sooner, but a transplant from Kentucky.

Maxwell was born and raised near the town of Princeton in southwestern Kentucky. After graduation from high school, he moved to find a better locale to help with his afflictions of eczema and

consumption. Maxwell toured the south-

ern United States and decided that Ardmore, Oklahoma, was the place for him and his wife, Ray Woods. He soon found employment with the Ard-more National Bank. Maxwell quickly rose up the ladder and began to network with those who became the first group of oil tycoons.

The Maxwells became a cen-terpiece of the Ardmore social scene with their four children, Perry’s place of prominence at the bank, and their involvement in community activities. He was also a prominent tennis player and state champion. His wife eventually asked that he undertake an activity that was less stressful on the body and recommended golf, the sport that was beginning to sweep the nation with popularity from Francis Ouimet’s victory in the U.S. Open. It was shortly after this that Maxwell purchased an old dairy farm north of town.

Maxwell’s affinity for golf took hold but he lacked any nearby courses to play. With so much land at his use, he decided to build his own private four-hole golf course. After the course was completed, other investors asked Maxwell to add holes and in 1914 he began what would become the Dornick Hills Country Club.

Soon after taking up his newfound hob-by, Maxwell decided that he should

learn how to build a golf course. He thought no finer teacher could be found than Charles Blair Macdonald, the builder of the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, New York.

Maxwell first became aware of Macdonald while reading an article about the course in Scribner’s Magazine. Upon visiting with him, Maxwell quickly took to the template designed golf course that was based on classic holes found in Scotland and England. The concept would stick with Maxwell as he would come back and build several renditions of these holes on his home course in Ardmore.

Another lesson that Maxwell took from Macdonald was to find a man that could help put his ideas into the ground. Macdonald relied on an engineer named Seth Raynor. Maxwell would lean on someone within his family. Brother-in-law Dean Woods was a civil engineer who moved from the copper mines of Arizona to help Maxwell start his own golf course

Perry MaxwellGenius architect, lasting legacyby chris clouser

2015 Inductee

Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club

Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville



construction business.Early in his career, Maxwell determined

that he needed to find the perfect grass to use at Dornick Hills and scoured the southern United States. He settled on a strain of Bermuda that was heat resistant. Maxwell would become the foremost expert on the use of the grass and would sit on the USGA Green Section.

While touring courses across the United States, Maxwell was obviously influenced by other designers, primarily Donald Ross of Pinehurst, North Carolina. Maxwell soon adopted a couple of traits from Ross designs, primarily using high points of golf courses as often as possible for tee and green locations.

In the early 1920s, Maxwell enhanced his knowledge by going to England and Scotland to study the great links courses such as St. Andrews, Hoylake, and North Berwick. He took his lessons on how those great courses used the lay of the land to shape the holes.

While on this trip, Maxwell also made the acquaintance of Dr. Alister Mackenzie, a meeting that would prove fruitful just a

Perry maxwell Oklahoma Courses

The famous eighth hole at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan.

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CL ASSEN CURVE : 5860 N . CL ASSEN CURVE | EDMOND: 1205 N .W. 178TH S T.

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OKLAHOMA COURSES

• Dornick Hills Golf & CC, Ardmore, 1913–23• Twin Hills Golf & CC, Oklahoma City, 1920–23• Duncan Golf & CC, Duncan, 1921• Buffalo Hills GC, Pawhuska, 1922• Shawnee CC, Shawnee, 1923• Bristow GC, Bristow, 1923• Indian Hills CC, Catoosa, 1924• Muskogee CC (redesign), Muskogee, 1924• Kennedy Golf Course (NLE), Tulsa, 1925• Highland Park GC (NLE), Tulsa, 1925• Edgemere GC, Oklahoma City, 1925• Riverside CC, Tishomingo, 1925• Hillcrest CC, Bartlesville, 1926• Lincoln Park Golf Course (East course), Oklahoma City, 1926• Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, Oklahoma City, 1927

• Cushing CC, Cushing, 1929• Ponca City CC (redesign), Ponca City, 1929• Brookside Golf Course, Oklahoma City, 1934• Mohawk Park (Woodbine) Golf Course, Tulsa, 1934• Oak Hills Golf & CC, Ada, 1935• Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, 1935–36• Blackwell Municipal Golf Course, Blackwell, 1939• Oakwood Country Club, Enid, 1947–48• Lawton CC, Lawton, 1948• University of Oklahoma Golf Course, Norman, 1950• Lake Hefner (North) Golf Course, Oklahoma City, 1951



few years later. Once Maxwell returned, he incorporated the knowledge he had gained from Macdonald, Ross, Mackenzie and other designers and began building courses that incorporated specific traits that are acutely Maxwellian in nature.

Perhaps the best known traits of Max-well’s golf courses were his green designs. He became famous for undulating surfaces that had humps within them. These were mockingly referred to as “Maxwell Rolls”, a play on words with the names of two well-known automobile manufacturers. But his putting surfaces had more than rolls. They featured slope and spines, angles and strategy, and other facets that made them enjoyable with every round. Maxwell became known for this feature and was hired by several clubs to redesign greens for their course over his career.

But Maxwell was most prominent in Oklahoma. He built 40 courses across the state. His first effort at Dornick Hill took nearly 10 years to complete and featured the state’s first grass greens. The course was immediately labeled as Oklahoma’s best and began hosting regional and state tournaments. It was a stop on the national golf tour for a brief time in the 1950s and has since hosted many prominent colle-giate events, including the annual Max-well tournament that drew several of the NCAA’s top teams.

Soon after Dornick Hills’ completion, Maxwell took on his next major contract for the course that would become Twin Hills in Oklahoma City. Twin Hills was an ambitious project over some rough terrain. Maxwell completed what some feel was his best routing of a golf course. The course was immediately hailed as a success and was awarded the 1935 PGA Championship that was won by Johnny Revolta. Twin Hills, a true departure from

Dornick, featured many attributes that Maxwell had learned from his study of the golf courses in the southern United States and during his study tour of British links courses and avoided the template style that he used at Dornick.

After Twin Hills, Maxwell formed a partnership with Mackenzie. The two men worked on several courses, includ-ing the University of Michigan Golf Course and the Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort, Michigan. Another of their combined efforts was the Nichols Hills Country Club, now known as the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club (OCGCC). This project was intended to be a 36-hole layout.

Maxwell secured the contract and laid out nearly the entire complex. Mackenzie visited the course a couple of times and provided his input. OCGCC received instant recognition. It has been reduced to 18 holes, but has hosted several regional events and the 1951 U.S. Amateur. The course lacks the elevation changes of Twin Hills and Dornick, but it features some of the best use of land movement in Max-well’s career.

These three courses would have been a great trio for any designer to hang their hat on, but Maxwell topped them all with the completion of Southern Hills in Tulsa in the mid-1930s. The course has hosted many important events including seven major championships. It has become the face of Oklahoma golf for the world. The routing and design of the course is considered the pinnacle of Maxwell’s designs by many. The design and mainte-nance of the course have shaped much of what is considered great across the state of Oklahoma.

Maxwell’s courses span across the state and include other great efforts such as the

Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville, the Muskogee Country Club, and Oakwood in Enid. All of them share in the great legacy of one of the most undervalued golf personalities in golf’s history. But Max-well has begun to receive his due in some circles during the past decade.

Maxwell’s career was undervalued due to a lack of understanding about his impact. Many people assumed that he had designed a small number of courses and was an understudy to Mackenzie for his entire career. Most are shocked to hear that he worked on 82 original designs and dozens of renovation projects throughout his career with only a handful of those involving Mackenzie.

Others also failed to recognize that Maxwell’s philosophy of being a minimal-ist was not only about less movement of dirt, but also about budgets for the design and lower maintenance costs once the course was completed. That philosophy speaks louder today than at any other time as courses look for ways to squeeze every penny in a highly competitive market-place.

All of this is accompanied by a recent rise in understanding about his work as nationally known architects such as Tripp Davis or Keith Foster or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restore or touch up some of the classic Maxwell designs, including the Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, or Hillcrest, or even bring back some of that beauty at Southern Hills. The golf world is finally realizing that the impact of Perry Maxwell extended beyond just his movement of the 10th green at Augusta National.

Chris Clouser is the author of The Midwest Associate, The Life and Work of Perry Duke Maxwell.

One of Perry Maxwell’s best courses is Crystal Downs CC in Frankfort, Mich.



M� e golf � an you can shake a 9-iron at.

ROAD TRIP No. 18

When it comes to championship public golf, there’s no better destination than Alabama, where we’re proud to claim three of America’s 50 Toughest Courses as selected by Golf Digest. For

starters, there are the 468 holes along the world-renowned Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Stretching from the mountains in the north to the Gulf Coast in the south, these 26 courses will test your golfi ng skills as well as your intestinal fortitude. Then there are the many other impressive courses scattered across the state, designed by the likes of Arnold Palmer and Jerry Pate. Each with its own set of challenges, each with its own set of rewards. And each along an epic road trip to the state of Alabama.

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by al barkow

There is a theory of history that says one individual’s actions can alter its course.

A good example is Oklahoma-born Bill Spiller, who single-handedly began the effort to eliminate discrimination against African-Americans in U.S. professional tournament golf.

Another view of history has it that only the winners write it. Bill Spiller figures in this equation, too, in a sense. He was not in any way a loser, in that his crusade to abolish golf’s racial barriers was ulti-mately successful, but his contribution has never received the level of recognition it deserves.

Spiller was born in Tishomingo in 1913, and spent his grammar and high school years in Tulsa. After taking a degree in education from Wiley College, an all-black school in Texas, the only position he could get was as a teacher at $60 a month. He moved to Los Angeles and took a job as a redcap in Los Angeles’ Union Station, where the money was much better and a co-worker introduced him to golf.

A good athlete -- he ran track and played on the basketball team at Wiley -- Spiller found he had knack for golf. Despite a late start in a game favoring early starters -- he was 29 -- in only three or so years he was able to contend against the likes of Ted Rhodes, How-ard Wheeler, Zeke Harts-field, and all the other top black golfers of the time -- the 1940s. At 35, after working a night shift schlepping bag-gage, Spiller qualified for the 1948 Los An-geles Open, one of the two Tour events at the time that gave blacks entry to compete against whites. He shot an opening-round

68 to tie for second with no less than Ben Hogan.

Spiller couldn’t keep that level of golf going, but he (and Rhodes) finished in the top 60, and that was the kindling that Spiller used to ignite his fiery battle against the golf establishment. A rule on the Tour at the time said that the top 60 finishers in a tour-nament were auto-matically qualified for the next official event. Based on their LA Open showings, Spiller (T29) and Rhodes (T22), quali-fied to be in the starting field at the Richmond Open. However, they didn’t start. After playing a practice round at the Richmond CC, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Bay area, Spiller and Rhodes

were informed that because they were not members of the PGA of America, they could not play. They were not members, because the association had a clause in its constitu-tion that limited mem-

bership to Caucasian men; which is to say, whites. Or, non-blacks.

Aware of and deeply rankled by that clause, in this time when Jackie Robin-son had just broken the color barrier in

major-league baseball, Spiller was inspired to do something about it. He found a Bay Area lawyer, Jonathan Rowell, who had handled discrimination cases. Rowell filed a suit in the name of Spiller, Ted Rhodes and Madison Gunter, a local amateur who had made it through a qualifying round, against the PGA of America for $315,000; $5,000 per man against the Richmond CC, and $100,000 each against the PGA of America, Spiller’s main target. The Richmond club’s manager, Pat Markov-ich, had no problem with black players participating, but his hands were tied by a standard contract with the PGA of America in which it was stipulated that the association had an absolute mandate on the makeup of the competitive field in tournaments it sanctioned.

Bill Spiller did not wait his turn.

Pioneer forced PGAto change its ways

Bill Spiller

“We all know it’s coming,” said Spiller. “We’re going to play in the tournaments.

2015 Inductee



It was the first time anyone challenged the PGA on this issue, and the associa-tion got cute in its response. The PGA’s attorney, perhaps accidentally, met Rowell on the train to Los Angeles, where the suit was to be heard. He told Rowell that if the action was dropped, the PGA would no longer discriminate against blacks in Open events. Rowell took him at his word, and dropped the suit. The PGA then suggested to tournament sponsors that they desig-nate their events as Open Invitationals. In-vitationals was the operative word. Except for the LA Open, and the Tam O’Shanter Open and World tournaments in Chicago, no other sponsors invited blacks. The Tam O’Shanter events were the first to invite blacks to qualify and play (beginning in 1943), and because the purse money was so attractive, the white tour pros played whether it was sanctioned or not; same with the LA Open.

Spiller was stopped, for a time. Lacking funds -- Rowell had asked only for expens-es but was no longer available -- Spiller spent the next four years starting a family, playing on the slap-dash black tour for small purses (and in which whites could

play), teaching occasion-ally at driving ranges, caddying, and, to keep his hand in the dispute with the PGA was a lone picket protester at a tournament in Long Beach, California.

Then came another opportunity that would bring intense focus on the question, and the first move forward. Spiller and Eural Clark, a black amateur, were invited to qualify for the inaugural San Diego Open in 1952. Spiller qualified, Clark did not. There was a vital add-on, however. The San Diego sponsors, anxious for publicity, also invited Joe Louis, the great former heavyweight boxing cham-pion, to play as an amateur without qualifying. Louis, an avid golfer with a high-single-digit handicap, accepted the offer. But again, as in Richmond, the PGA

stepped in, dictating that Spiller and Louis could not play.

Spiller had warned Louis this might happen, and Louis took action. He con-tacted Walter Winchell, a popular nation-ally syndicated newspaper columnist

Spiller observes the putting of Joe Louis, his frequent companion.

Bill Spiller did not wait his turn.


and radio journalist, who broadcast on the Sunday

before tournament week that the iconic boxing great, who served his country in the Army during World War II, was barred from playing in a golf tournament because of his race.

This prompted Horton Smith, presi-dent of the PGA, to hold a meeting in San Diego in an effort to ameliorate the negative publicity. It was attended by PGA players on the tournament commit-tee, Jack Burke, Jr. and Leland Gibson, and Louis and Clark. Spiller was not invited, because Smith wanted to avoid his sharp tongue. He didn’t. With the meeting just getting under way, Jimmy Demaret spotted Spiller in the hallway outside the meeting room and said he should be in there. Spiller entered the room and was recognized by Smith, who asked him if he had anything to say.

“We all know it’s coming,” said Spiller. “We’re going to play in the tournaments. So if you like golf the way you say you do, and I do, we should make an agreement so we can play without all this publicity. And take that Caucasians-only clause

out so we can get jobs as pros at clubs.” Then Spiller asked why he wasn’t in the first-round pairings. He got the answer he knew was coming, and responded: “That’s not good enough. I’ll see you in court.”

As he left the room Burke and Dodson

approached Spiller and asked him to give them a chance to work things out. Spiller said he would hold off for a time, but added, “You ran over me the last time, and aren’t going to this time.”

Spiller never brought the suit, because


Leonard Reed, Bill Spiller, Teddy Rhodes and Joe Louis.

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things did more or less work out. Joe Louis was allowed to play, Spiller was not and to express his anger over this he stood in protest in the middle of the first tee the morning of the first round. Only after Louis talked him into moving did the tourna-ment begin. However, that same week the PGA announced that black golfers could play as “Approved Entries” wherever they were invited. This time some sponsors did offer, and a week later Ted Rhodes, Joe Louis, a young Charlie Sifford, and two black ama-teurs were invited to play in the Phoenix Open.

It was a breakthrough, to be sure, but a certain generosity was missing. All the blacks were paired together and sent off first for round one. Human feces were found in the cup on the first hole and they were asked not to use the clubhouse facilities. A defiant Spiller went in to take a shower, raising serious physical danger signs, and at the behest of Louis he relented and showered elsewhere.

In the end, Spiller played in 10 tournaments on the 1952 Tour, all on the coasts. Demaret and others who were on their side told the blacks to avoid the southern tournaments. They did, until Sifford began playing through the region three years later. By this time Spiller, now in his early 40s, was past his prime as a player and entered only a few events in the ‘50s. However, he was not through with the situation. While caddying for Harry Braverman, a member of the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles, Braver-man asked why Spiller wasn’t out playing or at least teaching golf.

Spiller explained the limited access blacks had to the Tour and virtually impossible opportunities to get jobs at golf clubs because of the Caucasians-only clause. Braverman suggested Spiller tell this to Stanley Mosk, California’s attorney general. Spiller found a receptive ear. Mosk informed the PGA that if it did not amend its Caucasians-only clause it could not hold tournaments on the state’s public courses, at which most of the tour was still being played. The PGA said it would then use private courses. Mosk said he would put a stop to that, too, including the 1962 PGA Champi-onship, to be played at Hillcrest. The event was switched to Aron-imink CC in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, Mosk contacted State’s Attorneys around the country and asked that they follow his lead. Almost all did, and in November 1961 the egregious “Clause” was expunged.

Spiller was 48 and simply could not keep up as a tournament player. His best finish ever on the PGA Tour was 14th in a Labatt Open in Canada. Ironically, one might even say tragically, over the next 27 years (he died in 1988 at 75) he never became a mem-ber of the PGA of America because he couldn’t fulfill the five-year apprenticeship requirement as an assistant pro; no one would hire him, even the Los Angeles public courses, because he was deemed too troublesome.

Sifford would become the Jackie Robinson of American tour golf if only because he was in the right place at the right time. He was young enough, and good enough, to go full time on the tour and make a dent in the competition.

Sifford is certainly to be commended, especially in light of the vicious abuse he took along the way in the early days. But it must be said that if not for Spiller, Sifford might also have been past his prime by the time the game, and the country, did some growing up.

Al Barkow, one-time editor-in-chief of Golf and Golf Illustrated maga-zines, is a noted historian of American golf. He interviewed Bill Spiller at great length for his book, Gettin’ to the Dance Floor, An Oral History of American Golf, winner of the USGA International Golf Book of the Year Award, in 1986.


Jimmy Walker Oklahoma City native Jimmy

Walker has worked more than a decade on the PGA Tour to become an overnight success.

After playing on the PGA Tour since 2005 and turning profes-sional in 2001, Walker has become one of golf’s hottest players over the last two seasons. He’s won five PGA Tour events, including the 2015 Texas Open and Sony Open in Hawaii, plus $8 million in prize money.

But Walker, who never had a formal lesson or teacher until his sophomore year at Baylor University where he was a two-time all-Big 12 performer, has taken a long path to stardom.

His 2013 switch to Butch Harmon as his teacher has paid dividends and increased his ranking as one of the top putters on the PGA Tour. But Walker, who is married to Erin, a nationally ranked com-petitive showjumper, is determined not to forget his Oklahoma roots. On the eve of the Colonial in Fort Worth, Walker talked about his long path to stardom.

Growing up in Oklahoma City, did you play in a lot of ju-nior events there?

No, I really didn’t. I just played with my dad (Jim, a flooring contractor) at Surrey Hills in Yukon where we had a membership. I never had a coach, I just played with Dad. He was my hero. We just played a bunch.

What was it like having your dad as your teacher?

It was great. He was a scratch player, really good. I saw him shoot a 60 one time. I was 15 years old when I finally beat him. I played with my dad and his buddies and guys who were a lot older and hit it farther than me.

Did you know you wanted to be a pro golfer growing up?

My family moved to San An-tonio when I was 11 and I didn’t

start thinking about becoming a professional golfer until I was 13 or 14. I was too young to remember the Oak Tree gang or anything. I was involved in a lot of the sports in Oklahoma.

What else did you do?In Little League, I once struck

out 14 batters in a six-inning game, and we won the state championship.

Do you still have family there? Do you return a lot?

I have a lot of family in Oklahoma, but we don’t get to return that much for the holidays. What we usually do is use the Byron Nelson tourna-ment in Irving as our reunion because it’s easy to get there from Oklahoma.

Have you been able to play most of the great courses in Oklahoma?

I played in the U.S. Open at Southern Hills for my pro debut and played at Karsten Creek for an NCAA regional, but I never got to play the big course at Oak Tree. I never was in an event there. I don’t play golf on vacation and don’t take golf trips so I haven’t played that many courses back home.

What’s it like living at Cor-dillera Ranch outside of San Antonio and winning the Texas Open there this year?

MAHOGANY’S PRO PROFILE

See WALKER page 57


CHARLESTON’S AMATEUR PROFILE

See DAVENPORT page 59

Dave Davenport

Oklahoma City businessman Dave Davenport, long-time chair-man of the board of Quail Creek Bank, may not be as well known to the golfing public as Oak Tree founders Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser, or even as his long-time business partner Jerry Barton.

Yet behind the scenes, Daven-port has played a key role as a facilitator not only as a founding partner of Landmark Land Co., which supplied the capital for the development of Oak Tree National in Edmond, but as a mover and shaker behind the development of two clubs in Palm Springs, Califor-nia, as well as a club in Ireland.

Davenport, a founding member of Quail Creek Bank in 1974, bought control of the bank in 1983, helped refinance it and has been chairman of the board since. The successful bank celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014.

On the course, Davenport has been equally successful. A very good amateur player, he has won club championships in each of the last six decades, including most recently the Super Senior Club Championship at La Quinta Country Club, one of nine country clubs at which he has a member-ship. Even more remarkably, after playing for 20 years without making a hole-in-one, he has since poured in 18 more for a total of 19 aces.

So what’s up with all the hole-in-ones?

I was playing with actor Dale Robertson in 1976 in the inaugural Nutcracker and made my first on the 13th at Oak Tree National. He couldn’t believe it was my first and told me I would make at least 10 more. But in 20 years, I had never come close.

Since then, I have had 18 more, six of them on No. 13 at Oak Tree, where Seve Ball-esteros made a 9 in the 1988 PGA Championship. The other nine were on different holes. In 1996 I made three, all on the

13th hole of different Pete Dye courses – Oak Tree, the Moun-tain Course at LaQuinta and the Citrus Course at LaQuinta.

Can you describe the begin-nings of your relationship with Jerry Barton, who was the land and real estate specialist with Landmark while Joe Walser Jr. and Ernie Vossler were the golf experts?

Jerry Barton and I have been partners since 1972 in several companies that we developed and later sold. In 1973, we started a company called Pub-lic Employee Benefit Service Corp, or PEBSCO. We got early IRS and Congressional approval to set up what today would be called a 401k plan, defined contribution retirement plans for government workers. We became the largest third-party holder of these plans and in 1987 we were bought out by Nationwide, which today manages over $100 billion in retirement assets as Nation-wide Retirement Services Corp.

How about on the golf side?Jerry Barton called me one

day and said he had two guys (Walser and Vossler) who were trying to get him to put money into a golf deal. He asked me to go out and play the course, as they had nine holes built already.


TOURNAMENT

Calling all lefties for annual tournamentby scott wright

MIDWEST CITY — It’s called the Okla-homa State Left-Handers Golf Tournament.

Sometimes that last word scares players away, but the Left-Handers Tournament isn’t your typical state championship event.

Yes, there’s a trophy to be won, and several players in the field take it seriously. But the 20-plus handicapper is as welcome as anyone, as long as you’re a lefty.

“You don’t have to be a scratch golfer to play in it,” said Josh Evans, who has played in the tournament for nearly 15 years. “This event is more about the camaraderie. There’s a competition element involved, but afterward, you can have a cold bever-age, reminisce, tell stories — all the reasons people play golf.”

The tournament began in the 1950s and grew to its peak in the mid-1990s, with nearly 100 players entering what was then a three-day tournament divided into six flights for the final round.

Over the years, it has been held at

Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City, Westbury Country Club in Yukon, Shawnee Country Club, and at its current home, John Conrad Golf Club in Midwest City, with this year’s event scheduled for August 1-2.

Numbers have slowly declined over the last 25 years, down to about 30 players per year in the last few tournaments.

That has become the challenge for Doug Wal-lace and the other event organizers.

“The biggest challenge is getting more players and younger players,” Wallace said. “High school and col-lege golfers have so many tournaments to play in dur-ing the course of a summer, they just pick and choose.

“But it seems every state tournament,

and even the national tournament, have seen their numbers dwindle in the past

several years. The national tournament was in St. Louis last year and there were around 100 players. In previous years, there were 250-plus players when the tournament was held in Las Vegas and Myrtle Beach.”

Bringing younger players into the field has been a major focus, as the core group of players from the tournament’s heyday are graduating to the senior division.

“We need to cultivate some new, younger people who want to play,” Evans said. “Age doesn’t matter. If you’re 80 and want to come play, we’ve got a spot

for you. But our challenge is enticing some younger people to come and play.”

Phil Mickelson


TOURNAMENT

One of Oklahoma’s most historic public golf courses is also now one of its most versatile.

Whether you swing with your arms or your legs, Mohawk Park has a game for you. Foot Golf, the exciting new golf/soccer combo game, has been set up on nine holes on the Pecan Val-ley course, the same nine used by the wildly popular First Tee of Tulsa program.

Meanwhile, 27 other great holes of golf await all levels of golfers on the Woodbine Course and the second nine of Pecan Valley. Now with fully mature Champion Bermuda greens, Mohawk Park offers golfers a traditional golf experience on winding terrain lined by massive trees and interspersed with streams with no encroaching housing, only the wild animals you may hear calling from the nearby Tulsa Zoo.

The best way to enjoy the courses at both Mohawk Park and the classic Olde Page and Stone Creek layouts at Page

Belcher on Tulsa’s west side is through the return of the popular Advantage Card program.

The card is $59 and just $39 for se-niors age 55 and above. With the card, you’ll enjoy special rates on weekdays and weekends, as well as rewards points for each round leading to free green fees and other spe-cial offers.

This offer includes a free round of golf with cart the day you sign up.

Non seniors also receive a range card and special weekday pricing. The card is valid at Stone Creek and Olde Page at Page Belcher and Pecan Valley and Woodbine Park at Mohawk Park.

Best value in town still validTulsa golfers, you can still order your

Advantage cards for 2015 and experience tremendous savings and a great weekly value. For more information, call 918-446-1529 or go to www.tulsagolf.org.

Mohawk Park, Page Belcherremain best values in Tulsa area

For more complete details on the program or to have your questions answered, check out the website at www.tulsagolf.org or call 918-446-1529 for Page Belcher or 918-425-6871 for Mohawk Park.

Advertorial

When numbers started to fall in the early 2000s, the organizers started making chang-es to attract players. They reduced it from a three-day tournament to two days, cutting the Friday round, when some people might not be able to get off work.

They cut out the lunch and cart fees that were previously a mandatory part of the entry cost, to reduce expenses for the play-ers. Now, the entry fee is $100, which isn’t much more than a typical green fee for two rounds at many courses.

Jon Flowers ran the Oklahoma tourna-ment for several years, following in Charlie West’s footsteps. West and Flowers ran the event during its booming days in the 1980s and ‘90s. West was retired at the time, and devoted countless hours to growing the tournament.

Flowers is just a few years short of five decades as a competitor in the tournament, beginning while he was a golfer at East Central University in Ada.

“My first tournament was at Lincoln Park West in 1969 and I have played in each of them since,” he said. “Charlie West was the chairman of the association then, and continued in that position until I took over

in 1981. “I’ve served on the board of the National

Association of Left-Handed Golfers since 2002 and have been Chairman of the na-tional association since 2007, and still serve in that capacity.”

The Oklahoma Left-Handed Golfers Association maintains strong ties with its Texas peers. A few Texans come up to play in the Oklahoma tournament every year, and some Oklahomans go down to play the Texas tournament each July.

In September of even-numbered years, the top players from each state get together for a two-day Ryder Cup-style competition called the Stewart Cup, alternating between Oklahoma and Texas courses.

“Saturday is a four-ball competition and Sunday is the singles competition,” Wallace said. “We’ve held the Stewart Cup for prob-ably 20-plus years. In 2014, we defeated Texas at Grapevine Golf Club.”

A few Oklahomans make the trip to the national tournament as well. Jeff Richter, a two-time Oklahoma champion in 2012-13, won the national tournament last summer in St. Louis.

Still, when the Oklahoma tournament

tees off on the first weekend of August, only a select few players in the field will be able to contend for the title. That’s not the primary purpose of the event.

“This tournament’s for any left-hander who wants to play,” Evans said. “If you’re a senior, you’ll play with other seniors. If you shoot 85, you’ll play with people who shoot 85.

“Is it a tournament? Yes. Do you have to count all your strokes? Yes. But we all put the ball on the ground and hit it, and go have a good time.”

For players interested in entering the Oklahoma State Left-Handers Tournament, email Doug Wallace at [email protected] for more information.

Oklahoma’s 2014 NALG Winner Jeff Richter.


GOLF FITNESS

Have you ever wondered how major winners such as Jim Furyk or John Daly have won with their unusual swings?

It has been very difficult historically to analyze golf swings other than with the naked eye. But fortunately we now have the ability to analyze golf swings at a fundamental level due to new technology from 3D motion capture systems.

Researchers have discovered that while all players at the highest level have different swing patterns, they all swing efficiently. This means they maximize the amount of energy transfer from their body through the club and ultimately to the ball. That’s the common denominator with the best players in the world. All of their swings do not look alike, but they all possess maximum efficiency.

To measure efficiency in a player’s swing, PGA professionals look at what is called the kinematic sequence. This is now considered one of the most impor-tant pieces of information for many of the best teachers in the world. 3D motion technology systems, such as the K-Vest, provide data on how a player generates speed throughout their body and how it is transferred to the club head (see Figure 1

for an example -- courtesy TPI). The interesting thing is that all great

ball strikers have the same sequence of generating speed and transferring it throughout their body. To put it simply, there isn’t a lot of wasted energy in the transfer of power on the downswing. Ef-ficient players begin by generating speed from the lower body and transferring it through the torso, into the arms, and ultimately into the club. Believe it or not, it’s hard to show a difference in the kine-matic sequence of Ernie Els and Jim Furyk even though their swings are completely different.

Here are a few key points to the kine-matic sequence:

• All great ball strikers have the same kinematic sequence. The movement sequence is first the lower body, next the torso, followed by the arms and ultimately the club. As an example, amateurs com-monly will move their arms before the lower body in the downswing leading to an inefficient, over-the-top swing pattern.

• Imagine snapping a whip. That is what an efficient golf swing looks like at impact. Power is generated from the previ-ous area, increasing speed up the chain.

• Don’t get caught up in what your swing looks like. Get focused on improv-ing the efficiency of your swing. Unortho-dox swings have little if any effect on the ability to generate a good sequence.

So what are the primary things that lead to an inefficient golf swing?

• Improper Swing Mechanics• We encourage you to work with your

local PGA professional to identify the current inefficiencies in your golf swing and determine the most efficient swing

for you. More and more teachers are beginning to provide kinematic sequence testing at their facility. When possible, we recommend getting your kinematic sequence tested.

• Physical Limitations• An inability to move properly will

definitely lead to poor sequencing in the golf swing. This could be due to stiffness, weakness or poor coordination. We rec-ommend you get tested by a Titleist Per-formance Institute certified professional to determine your physical deficiencies and put together a plan to correct these.

• Improperly Fit Golf Equipment• Many players are using clubs that are

too heavy, too long, or too stiff for their playing ability and movement patterns. Rather than looking for the best deal on clubs at the local golf store, make the investment and work with a PGA pro-fessional to get properly fitted for your equipment.

Technology continues to rapidly evolve in golf instruction and human perfor-mance training. Take advantage of this by shifting your focus away from how your swing looks and more towards improv-ing the efficiency of your swing to enjoy better ball striking and ultimately better scores.

SwingFit specializes in golf specific fitness, performance, and training services for golfers of all ages. Founded by Titleist Performance Institute Certified Medical Professionals, Ryan Smith, PT and Sean Riley, DC, SwingFit gives players access to the same proprietary testing and training systems used by the best players in the world. The SwingFit system identifies the least amount of physical changes required in your body to produce the greatest results in

your golf swing. The result is better prac-tice with your swing coach and more enjoyment on the course. To schedule your SwingFit Golf Assessment and receive a comprehen-sive physical training program designed to unlock your full potential, contact SwingFit at (918) 743-3737 or visit us on the web at www.swingfittulsa.com.

The Kinematic Sequence: A key to better ball striking

ryan SmithswingFit

Sean rileyswingFit


GOLF FITNESS

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I love living there. Cordillera Ranch is a great spot with awesome views, a tremen-dous course, great practice area and bud-dies to play golf with. The tournament I look forward to the most outside of the pro golf, is the Cordillera Cup where the developer and the land owner of the club choose up sides and we play a Ryder Cup style competi-tion. After eight years, I was finally on the winning side this year and it was great. Getting to drive home this year with the Texas Open trophy was also pretty awesome.

How about having your wife as a com-petitive horse showjumper?

She has her sport and I have mine and we’ve both been able to be successful. It’s great that we both have something we are passionate about.

Walker, continued from 52

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QUAIL CREEK BANK’S INDUSTRY PROFILE

With the focus in this issue on golf architect Perry Maxwell of Ardmore, one of the initial class to be inducted this fall into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, we went to Norman-based architect Tripp Davis for some perspective on Maxwell.

Davis has worked on many projects of Max-well’s, including rede-signs of Cherokee Hills Golf Course in Catoosa, Muskogee Country Club and most recently Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville.

What separated or was unique about Perry Maxwell as a course architect?

The thing that stands out in his best work is how naturally he laid courses on the ground. His routings just flow with the landscape and he often worked over very

good land. I would also say that his greens were often unique in that they were by no means flat. “Maxwell Rolls” - a play on a famous car back in his era, was a term given

to his greens for good reason.

How important was his relationship with Alistar McKenzie?

I think it was important in that it introduced Perry to a more creative, artful, approach to design. He was exposed to doing greens and bunkers with more flair, instead of be-ing simply utilitarian. I also think it exposed

him to certain people in the world of golf he may not have otherwise met. Perry’s relationship with Augusta National was certainly a direct result of his relationship with Mackenzie.

You mentioned that his restoration work was among his best. Why and what are some examples?

I think the reason it is some of his best is because it came later in his career after he had learned the craft, and I also think it is in part owing to the fact that he was working with clients that really knew the game and let him have a little more of a creative approach. His work at Augusta was really more redesign, in that he moved some greens, tees and bunkers, but it was profound and it is still an important part of the golf course. His subtle work at National Golf Links, Pine Valley, and Saucon Valley, are still integral parts of those courses.

You have worked on restoring several Maxwell courses including HIllcrest CC, Muskogee CC and what was left at Cher-okee HIlls. Were there a lot of common themes between the three or all completely different?

The routings that Perry did really worked with the land in a way that enhanced the feel of each course. At all three his place-ment of greens and how the land flowed

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Tripp Davis on the renovated greens at Hillcrest Country Club.


QUAIL CREEK BANK’S INDUSTRY PROFILE

I came over Portland and May Avenue and all I saw the rest of the way were cows, pastures, oil wells and real bad roads. With the idea being to start an all-men’s club, I didn’t think that in a small market like Oklahoma City was at the time that there would be enough men to come out that far to a place where their wives and children couldn’t play.

So I played and thought the course was great, but I’ve got to admit I was on the side early that did not think it would work financially. If you look back now, it was struggling in the mid-1970s, but then the Arab oil embargo hit and as oil prices went up, OKC prospered. There was a lot of newfound wealth and that’s what put the wind behind the sails of Oak Tree.

And you were involved as well when Landmark went to California and began to develop PGA West, Mission Hills and other properties.

Jerry Barton has never swung a golf

club in his life, but what he contributed not just at Oak Tree but nationally is a great story. What he did for golf courses and golf course living is like what Tiger Woods did for professional golf. When those guys got to La Quinta, there were not 2,000 people within 10 miles. Today the population is 150,000 and there are 130 courses in the Coachella Valley. It is the mecca of golf.

You are responsible for several of those Palm Springs courses?

When Landmark Land went under dur-ing its long battle with the government in the early 1990s, I got involved in a couple of other courses. The Plantation and The Hideaway, which started out as Country Club of the Desert in 1989 and reopened in 2000 and is now one of the best courses in the area. I was an early partner that brought in people or companies that had the money or interest to support the projects. I was never involved in day-to-day operations, but was involved in putting people together.

Talk about some of your favorite per-sonal experiences playing the game.

In 60 years of playing, I think the greatest thing to me is all the friends I’ve made in the game. Many of the friends I’ve had, and thankfully most of them are still alive, were made through business and golf.

As a fan, I lived in Washington D.C. and Virginia and I was at Congressional the day that Ken Venturi won the U.S. Open in 1964. The heat was incredible, but I was a young man then and walked all 36 holes with him.

As a golfer I was fortunate enough to

win club championships in every decade since the 60s. I never was good enough to win at Oak Tree. I think I finished second to Ab Justice about five times. But if I have a highlight, it would be that in 1998 I came over to Tulsa and played in the qualifier for the U.S. Senior Amateur against great players like Bill Heldmar and Bob Fouke. I was medalist and got to play in the 1998 U.S. Senior Amateur at Skokie (Ill.) CC. I made the 36-hole cut and got into match play. And that got me invited to the British Amateur for the next three years. I never made the cut there – those guys were just so much better than me – but that was still my greatest accomplishment.

Where would you play if you had one round left?

I love links golf. If I had one hole of golf left, I would go play the ninth hole at Royal County Down outside of Belfast.

You mentioned a special day with Ar-nold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Tell us about that?

In 2012, Arnie and Jack both flew in Jack’s jet from their homes in Florida to PGA West for a special tribute to their long-time friend, Ernie Vossler, where they hosted a dinner. The next day there was a special round of golf with several old friends of Ernie’s, including many with Oklahoma ties such as Don Mathis, Milt McKenzie and myself. I joined Jack on the front nine of the great Jack Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West and joined Palmer on the back nine of the Palmer Course. I shot my age -77, Jack shot his with a 73 and Arnie shot his with an 81! It was a fun day for all!

Davenport, continued from 53

Dave Davenport with Arnold Palmer at PGA West in LaQuinta, Calif.

to those greens was great. At all three a common theme was greens placed on ridge lines, with the fairways flowing along or across that ridge or a complementary ridge.

When restoring a Maxwell green, is it a fine line between making them too severe for the average player with today’s green speeds versus taking out the character?

It is very much so. I have pushed it a lit-tle too far with a couple of the greens I have done on Maxwell courses, but you have to walk that fine line in order for the work to be reflective of his design philosophy. In some cases, a green can be characterized as too severe, but when you study it closer, you realize that it is strategically rational – it just takes time to learn. I have personally moved away from severity in that I have tried to keep to Maxwell’s strategic approach to having constant movement in the green, but with softer transitions. That is what I have learned is that in his day with the green speeds, his seemingly bold transitions in the greens did not really play that way.

What do you think is his finest work and is his legacy only improving with time?

Southern Hills and the nine holes he did Prairie Dunes are probably his best work, but most everything he did is not very far behind. His work was just so classic, which is why I think his legacy is improv-ing with time.


by dan robinson

Golf course construction is a very excit-ing and stressful time.

If you go back to any project’s infancy stages, it usually begins with a golf super-intendent, the golf professional, and/or very active and concerned members. Typi-cally at the forefront of a renovation are agronomic challenges -- the greens are full of undesirable grasses (Poa Annua), the soil profile is clogged with organic matter; perhaps the sand traps don’t drain, etc.

So once the decision is made to ap-proach club officials about the problems and how to correct them, typically a golf course architect is hired to help the club determine what the club needs. And then with that also come opportunities for improvement regarding design, difficulty and aesthetics. This is where projects grow.

Now regarding agronomics -- this is at the forefront of every golf superinten-dent’s agenda during a renovation. Having perfect greens mix under the grass allows them to make good decisions and provide the playing conditions that everybody wants. Good drainage in the bunkers ensures playability after rain. After all, golfers don’t want us out there pumping out water in traps for two days no more than the staff wants to do it, either. Tee boxes properly leveled allow water to roll off quickly so we can get back to our mowing routines as soon as possible. French drains and catch basins permit the same for fairways. Now tell me who likes the carts to be on the paths for days and days after every rain?

Once a quality architect has been engaged, items are identified that can be improved upon that do not necessar-ily have agronomic benefits at all. These areas, however, add tremendous value to your property. Things such as yard-age distribution (making your course fun and/or challenging for everybody), cart path routing, tree planting and removal, bunker design, adding water features, and other things like that can really help sell a project. People can see and touch these improvements. Agronomic factors are typically under-ground and not noticed by

most golfers. Agronomics and design do not neces-

sarily always agree with one another. If you strive for agronomic perfection, you will be limiting the design capabilities of your architect. But an architect must be very careful of what he is trying to create and leave the golf course maintenance staff with something they can maintain. It is important for both parties to have an open mind when renovating.

It is also important for both to stand their ground when feeling strongly about something. This can lead to some friction at times. But ultimately you (superinten-dent) are left with the finished product and when the contractor and architect are gone, the course is yours. It is important to protect the property for both golfers and maintenance staff.

When a project starts there is an un-quantifiable amount of excitement from your staff and membership. This is short-lived. Reality sets in quickly when the contractor arrives. When the bulldozer blade hits the ground they can peel up in a matter of minutes what you have spent years growing, nurturing and repair-ing. Memories of those Saturday night irrigation repairs come flooding back. Course areas that you struggled with for years and years (that you finally got established) are gone in a flash. You are full of mixed emotions -- happy because you know you don’t have to worry about

this or that; somewhat sad as you watch your blood, sweat and tears disappear in an instant.

As the project continues on, members become very interested. Questions are answered daily. Although members are genuinely interested in the project, they are doing the math as to when they hope to get their golf course back. They do not ask that question directly at first, but believe me at the end they do and under-standably so.

When nearing the project’s end, you have two thoughts rolling through your mind. The first is, “I cannot wait for these folks to get out of here so I can get back to normal maintenance.” The second is, “I don’t want these guys to get out of here too fast and leave something properly un-attended to.” You cannot have it both ways. By now the members are asking daily when the course will be open. You are very tired of this construction process and ready to return to normal golf main-tenance. Even the very best of contractors cannot get everything perfect. You know there are things you are going to have to “clean up” after they are gone and you are very willing to do so just to get the course open.

With proper communication, respect for one another, and a lot of hard work; an architect, a contractor and your golf superintendent can create something for the entire membership to enjoy for a long time. This should have been the mission at the very beginning. Believe me, all golf course superintendents enjoy seeing smil-ing faces on the golf course. That is why we do what we do.

Reworking The Oaks CCPatience required by all sides

SUPERINTENDENT’S PERSPECTIVE presented by

Extensive renovation work performed at The Oaks CC in west Tulsa.

superintendent, oaks country club


SCHEDULES & RESULTS

COllEGEmEN

NCAA ChAmPIONShIPXX

NCAA DIVISION IIAT rOCk BArN GC, CONOVEr, N.C. (PAr-71)

mAy 18-20Team leaders (20): 1, Lynn 283-290-280 – 853; 2, nova southeastern 279-291-285 – 855; 3 (tie), Central Missouri 287-286-285 – 858 and saint Leo 290-278-290 – 858; 5, simon Fraser 289-285-285 – 859; 6, south Carolina-Aiken 284-283-300 – 867; 7. Chico State 289-291-290 – 870; 8, Florida Southern 296-294-282 – 872; 9, CSU-Monterey Bay 300-289-286 – 875; 10, Barry 293-286-297 – 876; 11, Central oklahoma 287-294-296 – 877; 18, southwestern oklahoma state 307-303-304 – 914.Individual leaders: 1, Sam Migdal (CM) 66-71-68 –205; 2,Mateo Gomez (Lynn) 70-7-67 – 208; 3, Ryan Gendron (St. Leo) 70-67-72 – 209; 4 (tie), Michael Hearne (S. Nazarene) 71-69-70 – 210, Forrest Knight (N. Ala.) 71-69-70 – 210, John Coultas (Fla. Sou.) 70-71-69 – 210 and Joey Savoie (St. Leo) 71-70-69 – 210.Other scores: Russ Purser (UCO) 71-73-68 – 212; Eric Kline (UCO) 73-73-76 – 222, Logan Gray (UCO) 70-73-79 – 222, Eli Armstrong (UCO) 73-75-75 – 223, Jake Duvall (Southwestern) 73-75-77 – 225, Cody Troutman (UCO) 75-75-77 – 227, Manuel Aruzaga (Southwestern) 81-74-74 – 229, Marques Gomez (Southwestern) 76-75-79 – 230, Stefan Idstam (Southwestern) 77-79-74 – 230, Seth Overstreet (Southwestern) 81-81-86 – 248.

BIG 12 ChAmPIONShIPAT SOuThErN hIllS CC, TulSA (PAr-70)

APrIl 27-29Team scores: 1, texas 287-280-282-281 – 1,130; 2, Texas Tech 292-293-284-285 – 1,154; 3, TCU 292-298-287-290 – 1,167; 4, Iowa State 298-285-

297-291 – 1,171; 5, oklahoma state 301-293-292-286 – 1,172; 6, oklahoma 297-291-295-295 – 1,178; 7, Baylor 297-300-298-288 – 1,183; 8, Kansas 298-302-297-294 – 1,191; 9, Kansas state 305-299-309-296 – 1,209.Individual leaders: 1, Scottie Scheffler (Texas) 72-67-68-73 – 280; 2, Gavin Hall (Texas) 65-71-74-72 – 282; 3 (tie), Michael Gellerman (OU) 71-70-74-72 – 287 and Clement Sordet (TT) 71-70-73-73 – 287; 5 (tie), Jordan Niebrugge (OSU) 76-73-70-69 – 288 , Kramer Hickok (Texas) 76-73-73-66 – 288 and Kyle Jones (Baylor) 75-75-68-70 – 288; 8 (tie), Beau Hossler (Texas) 74-72-73-70 – 289 and Guillermo Pereira (TT) 76-74-71-68 – 289.Other scores: Zachary Olsen (OSU) 75-71-73-74 – 293, Beau Titsworth (OU) 78-73-73-72 – 296, Brendon Jelley (OSU) 77-73-76-72 – 298, Grant Hirschman (OU) 75-74-73-76 – 298, Charlie Saxon (OU) 78-74-75-75 – 302, Kristoffer Ven-tura (OSU) 82-76-73-71 – 302, Tanner Kesterson (OSU) 73-79-76-76 – 304, Luke Kwon (OU) 73-81-78-80 – 312.

wOmENNCAA ChAmPIONShIP

XXX

NAIA ChAmPIONShIPAT SAVANNAh QuArTErS GC, POOlEr,

GA.(PAr-72)mAy 12-15

Team leaders (27 teams): 1, Northwood 308-301-306-296 – 1,211; 2 (tie), Dalton State 309-303-304-317 – 1,233, William Woods 305-307-316-305 – 1,233 and SCAD-Savannah 308-308-311-306 – 1,233; 5, Cumberlands 312-298-305-319 – 1,234; 6, oklahoma City 307-315-303-312 – 1,237; 7, Bellevue 300-319-313-321 – 1,253; 8, Wayland Baptist 311-318-308-317 – 1,254; 9 (tie), Texas Wesleyan 318-309-313-324 – 1,264 and South Carolina Beaufort 317-306-321-320 – 1,264.

Individual leaders: 1, Julia McQuilken (Dalton St.) 74-70-71-77 – 292; 2, Elsa Westin (Northwood) 76-75-74-72 – 297; 3 (tie), Sofia Molinaro (SCAD) 74-77-71-76 – 298 and Alazne Urizar (SCAD) 78-71-75-74 – 298; 5, Katie Warren (WW) 77-73-75-75 – 300.OCu scores: Katie-Lee Wilson 77-77-77-76 – 307, emma Allen 72082-74-81 – 309, Anna Mik-ish 81-79-77-77 – 314, Caroline Goodin 87-77-75-78 – 317, Kailey Campbell 77-91-81-81 – 330.

NCAA DIVISION II AT ThE mEADOwS GC, AllENDAlE, mICh.

(PAr-72)mAy 13-16

Team scores: 1, Indianapolis 305-299-309-299 – 1,212; 2, Rollins 306-314-304-293 – 1,217; 3, Lynn 321-304-300-300 – 1,225; 4,tarleton state 320-305-310-310 – 1,245; 5, nova southeast-ern 317-309-316-304 -- 1,246; 6, St. Edwards 319-313-310-305 – 1,247; 7, Central oklahoma 312-308-314-315 – 1,249; 8, Findlay 328-317-311-315 – 1,271; 9, Ashland 324-315-324-314 – 1,277; 10, Arkansas Tech 325-326-328-307 – 1,286; 11, Augustana (SD) 334-321-317-318 – 1,290; 12, sonoma state 327-336-315-318 – 1,96.Individual leaders; 1, Brenna Moore (Midwestern) 74-73-74-76 – 297; 2, Madison Lellyo (Rollins) 70-78-78-73 – 299; 3, Samantha Smolen (Lynn) 77-74-73-76 – 300; 4, Haley Haught (St. Edwards) 74-78-76-73 – 301; 5 (tie), Chanice Young (Indy) 76-74-75-77 – 302 and Mailen Domec Chantry (Nova) 76-77-77-72 – 302.UCO scores: Katie Bensch 76-77-78-77 – 308, Beth-any Darrough 81-75-76-76 – 308, Marla souvannas-ing 76-77-80-79 – 312, Daniela Martinez 79-79-80-84 – 322, Lindsey Bensch 81-82-89-83 – 335.

OklAhOmA GOlf ASSOCIATIONSPrING fOur-BAll

AT OAkS CC, TulSA (PAr-70)mAy 19-20


1, Sam Humphreys/Draegen Majiors 65-67 – 132; 2, Ben Blundell/Jordan Cook 65-68 – 133; 3,Jeff Coffman/Brian Birchell 66-68 – 134; 4 (tie), Tripp Davis/Rick Bell 67-68 – 135 and Heath Myers/Mason Overstreet 67-68 – 135; 6, Neil Metz/Blake Gibson 66-72 – 138; 7, Max Showalter/Ryan Munson 69-72 – 141; 8, Charles Paul/Casey Paul 68-74 – 142.Seniors: 1, John Stansbury/Tim McFarland 63-67 – 130;2 Michael Hughett/Kirk Wright 64-70 – 134; 3, Richard Koenig/David Wing 68-67 – 135; 4, (tie), Dan Griffin/Bob Hall 69-67 – 136 and Bill Brafford/Michael Koljack 68-68 – 136.

wOmEN’S OklA. GOlf ASSOCIATIONwOGA CuP

AT hIllCrEST CC, BArTlESVIllEmAy 19-20

1, The Oak Tree Annie Oaklies (Louise Churchill, Alec Gossen, Jayne Underwood, La Donna Zeiders) 12; 2 (tie), Indian Springs Rat Tails (Becky Bauer, Paula Culver, Becky Duvall, Lynn Luebke) and Over the Ridge Girls (Sally Bailey, Nancy Hammons, Julie Jobe, Reba Wickberg) 11; 4, Indian Springs Birdie Girls (Laurie Camp-bell, teresa DeLarzelere, Connie Kelsey, Margo Malveira) 9; 5, Early Birdies Wine Later (Melanie Green, Bobbie Langford, Elizabeth Langford, Cindy Johnson) 8.5; 6, Southern Hills Chicks With Sticks (Gayle Allen, Connie Cope, Leigh Ann Forte, Janet Nelson) 8.

TulSA GOlf ASSOCIATIONfOur-BAll mATCh PlAyAT lAfOrTuNE PArk GC

mAy 16-17fINAlS

Championship flight: Conor Cummings/Jack Kasting def. Tate Williamson/Ted Williamson 1-up (19)A flight: Cameron Hamilton/Matt Willingham def. Terry Collier/Richard Hunt 1-up.B flight: Brad Goodman/Jeff Enkelmann def. Mark Boyd/David Buck 6 and 5.

TwO-mAN ChAllENGEAT SOuTh lAkES GC

APrIl 18-19A flight: 1, Austin Hannah/Tyler Sullivan 63-98 – 161; 2, Ryan Grimm/Curt Howard 66-99 – 165; 3, Chris Karlovich/Matt Woolslayer 67-102 – 169; 4, Lloy Gilliam/Dave Wing 65-105 – 170; 5 (tie), Lee Inmann/Kevin Ramsey 65-107 – 172 and Brad Goodman/Jeff Enkelmann 67-105 – 172.B flight: 1, Matt Edison/Jason Smith 68-102 – 170; 2 Ken Kee/Richard Koenig 68-107 – 175; 3, Ed Cohlmia/Mitch Cohlmia 70-107 – 177.

OSSAA hIGh SChOOlSBOyS

mAy 11-12ClASS 6A

At Karsten Creek GC, Stillwater (par-72)Team scores: 1, owasso 316-304-310 – 930; 2, Broken Arrow 322-307-312 – 941; 3, Edmond North 310-312-320 – 942; 4, Edmond Memorial 319-313-311 – 943; 5, Jenks 326-319-316 – 961; 6, southmoore 318-328-337 – 983; 7, norman 328-329-330 – 987; 8 (tie), Edmond Santa Fe 326-328-334 – 988 and Moore 329-319-340 – 988; 10, Bixby 364-329-339 – 1,032; 11, Stillwater 345-355-336 – 1,039; 12, norman north 360-345-334 – 1,039.Individual leaders: 1, Jacob Prentice (EM) 74-73-75 – 222; 2, Marc Kepka (Owasso) 77-74-73 --- 224; 3, Navid Majidi (Union) 74-82-69 – 225; 4 (tie), Austin Eckroat (EN) 77-76-74 – 227 and McCain Schellhardt (EM) 82-74-71 – 227; 6 (tie), Brett Tyndall (Jenks) 79-74-75 – 228 and Lane Wallace (Yukon) 76-75-77 – 228; 8, Turner Howe (Norman) 71-78-80 – 229; 9, Harrison Gearhart (Broken Arrow) 83-73-74 – 230 (won playoff); 10, Clark Killian (Owasso) 78-76-76 – 230 (won playoff).

ClASS 5AAt Shawnee CC (par-71)Team leaders (12 teams): 1, shawnee 286-286-290 – 862; 2, tahlequah 309-311-301 – 921; 3, Guymon 307-313-310 – 930; 4, Lawton eisen-hower 317-305-310 – 932; 5, Duncan 322-320-

303 – 945; 6, Altus 325-316-305 – 946; 7, Deer Creek 322-318-318 – 968; 8, skiatook 343-325-325 – 993.Individual leaders: 1, Garrett McDaniel (Shaw-nee) 68-72-70 – 210; 2, Braden Ricks (Shawnee) 69-70-72 – 211; 3, Ryan Epperly (Shawnee) 73-71-75 – 219; 4, Mason LeGrange (Guymon) 73-75-72 – 220; 5 (tie), Mason Keller (Edison) 72-77-72 – 221, Bentley Bross (LE) 76-72-73 – 221 and Dustin Hasley (Piedmont) 73-75-73 – 221.

ClASS 4AAt Lake Hefner GC (North), Okla. City (par-72)Team leaders (13): 1, Heritage Hall 293-289-294 – 876; 2, Cascia Hall 306-293-286 – 885; 3, Sallisaw 302-300-295 – 897; 4, Poteau 328-306-306 – 940; 5, Weatherford 317-311-316 – 944.Individual leaders: 1, Quade Cummins (Weath-erford) 70-70-67 – 207; 2 (tie), Logan Gore (Elk City) 70-70-70 – 210, Cody Burrows (Chickasha) 71-69-70 – 210 and Dalton Daniel (Newcastle) 74-72-64 – 210; 5, Nick Pierce (Sallisaw) 72-69-70 – 211.

ClASS 3AAt Lincoln Park GC (West), Okla. City (par-71)Team leaders (12): 1, Plainview 291-296-296 – 883; 2, Rejoice Christian 302-299-294 – 895; 3, Kingfisher 308-294-318 – 920; 4, Okla. Christian 322-302-309 – 933; 5, Marlow 331-312-312 – 955.Individual leaders: 1, Mason Overstreet (Kingfish-er) 67-68-67 – 202; 2, Cooper Little (Plainview) 71-70-74 – 215; 3 (tie), Brandon Strathe (Rejoice) 73-72-72 – 217 and Jared Strathe (Rejoice) 75-69-73 – 217; 5, Ethan Smith (OC) 71-74-73 – 218.

ClASS 2AAt Oakwood CC, Enid (par-71)Team leaders (12): 1, Mooreland 317-306-324 – 947; 2, Christian Heritage 326-331-305 – 962; 3, Pawnee 329-323-322 – 974; 4, Haworth 335-326-323 – 984; 5, Laverne 336-330-333 – 999.Individual leaders: 1, Blake Murray (Mooreland) 71-72-70 – 213 (won playoff); 2, Hunter Laughlin (Mangum) 77-70-70 – 213; 3, Zac Owens (Moore-land) 73-72-71 – 216; 4, Kason Cook (Hydro-Eakly) 75-71-72 – 218.

GIrlSmAy 6-7

ClASS 6AAt Indian Springs CC, Broken Arrow(par-72)Team scores: 1, Union 333-322 – 655; 2, Broken Arrow 330-329 – 659; 3, owasso 340-340 – 680; 4, Bixby 356-332 – 688; 5, Edmond North 353-339 – 692; 6, stillwater 349-356 – 705; 7 (tie), Booker T. Washington 352-355 – 707 and Muskogee 361-346 – 707; 9, Westmoore 350-364 – 714; 10, (tie) Edmond Santa Fe 366-376 – 742 and Mustang 386-356 – 742; 11, Norman 387-370 – 757.Individual leaders: 1, Trudy Allen (Union) 74-73 – 147; 2, Kaitlin Milligan (NN) 80-71 – 151; 3 (tie), Taylor Dobson (BA) 75-78 – 153 and Regan Mc-Quaid (Jenks) 78-75 – 153; 5, JT Neuzil (Bixby) 78-76 – 154; 6, JoBi Heath (Edmond Santa Fe) 75-80 – 155; 7, Sam Dennison (Stillwater) 78-78 – 156; 8, Natalie Gough (Bixby) 84-74 – 158.

ClASS 5AAt Scissortail GC, Claremore (par-72)Team leaders (12): 1, Duncan 332-337 – 669; 2, Deer Creek 338-355 – 693; 3, Ardmore 349-369 – 718; 4, Durant 366-360 – 726; 5, Collinsville 371-368 – 739; 6, Carl Albert 381-370 – 751; 7, Lawton MacArthur 369-385 – 754; 8, Claremore 401-390 – 791.Individual leaders: 1, Sydney Youngblood (Durant) 69-72 – 141; 2 (tie), Elizabeth Hargis (Ardmore) 79-79 – 158 and Bayleigh Johnson (LM) 78-80 – 158; 4, Nina Lee (Collinsville) 82-77 – 159; 5, Kayla Witt (Duncan) 82-78 – 160 (won playoff); 6, Whitney Hall (Duncan) 78-82 – 160.

ClASS 4AAt Lake Hefner GC, Okla, City (par-72)Team leaders (12): 1, Hilldale 348-348 – 696; 2, Fort Gibson 349-351 – 700; 3, seminole 348-357 – 705; 4, Cache 355-354 – 709; 5, Elk City 382-375 – 757.Individual leaders: 1, Katie Kirkhart (Hilldale) 75-77 – 152; 2, Chloe Black (Newcastle) 79-76

– 155; 3, Emilee Rigsby (FG) 75-84 – 159; 4, Mi-chaela Earle (Muldrow) 78-82 – 160; 5 (tie), Tori Plumleuy) 80-81 – 161 and Hallie Ward (Tuttle) 82-79—161.

ClASS 3AAt Brent Bruehl GC, Purcell (par-71)Team leaders (12): 1, Purcell 307-319 – 626; 2, Eu-faula 345-330 – 675; 3, Chandler 367-359 – 726; 4, Plainview 382-374 – 756; 5, Marlow 378-392 – 770.Individual leaders: 1, ShaeBug Scarberry (Pur-cell) 74-75 – 149; 2, Ashton Nemecek (Purcell) 74-76 – 150; 3, Melissa Eldrdge (Eufaula) 77-74 – 151; 4, Peighton Walker (Purcell) 74-81 – 155; 5, Heidi Stafford (Eufaula) 84-79 – 163.

ClASS 2AAt Trosper Park GC, Okla, City (par-70)Rain-shortened to 18 holesTeam leaders (12): 1, Latta 342; 2, Mooreland 349; 3, turner 371; 4, Pioneer 380; 5, Hinton 391.Individual leaders: 1, Katie Goodwin (Riverfield) 70; 2, Brooklyn Bartling (Velma-Alma) 74; 3, Rylie Eller (Mooreland) 76; 4 (tie), Tracy McGill (Turner) and Sierra Holden 77.

GOlf ChANNEl AmATEur TOurCOwBOy ClASSIC

AT lAkESIDE GC, STIllwATEr (PAr-70)mAy 8

1 (tie), Cory Montgomery and Bill Clark 72; 3, Kevin Wright 74; 4 (tie), Devon Devon Sauzek, Caleb Bron and Clayton Badger 75.

DOrNICk hIllS ClASSICAT DOrNICk hIllS G&CC, ArDmOrE

(PAr-70)mAy 1

1, Cory Montgomery 70; 2, James Sheppeard 79; 3 (tie), Sean Fenton, Richard Cordis and Ryan Cummings 80.

fOrEST rIDGE ClASSICAT fOrEST rIDGE GC, BrOkEN ArrOw

(PAr-72)APrIl 25

1, Devon sauzek 74; 2, Cory Montgomery 77; 3, Clayton Badger 80; 4, Rick Guptil 81; 5, Ryan Cummings 82.

OklAhOmA JuNIOr GOlf TOurAT ShAwNEE CC

mAy 24-25Team scores: West 19.5, east 7.5Alternate shot: Brandon Strathe/Freddie Wil-son, East, d. Logan McCallister/Said Powers 5 & 4; Dalton DanielZac Owens, West, d. Carson Griggs/Parker Moe 2 & 1;Lance Gregory/Mc-Cain Schellhardt, West, d. Noah Russell/Chan-dler Wasson, 4 & 3; Cody Burrows/Andrew McDonald, West, d. Matthew Braley/Justin Moore 6 & 5; Austin Enzbrenner/Nick Pierce, East, d. Carson Seals/Lane Wallace 3 & 1; Aus-tin Eckroat/Laken Hinton, West, d. Sajan Patel/Tyler Shelnutt, 2 & 1; Yujeong Son/Shaebug Scarberry, West, d. Mackenzie Medders/Kate Goodwin 6 & 5; Brinn Fariss/Elizabeth Free-man, West, d. Grace Shin/Taylor Towers 1 up; Natalie Gough/Trudy Allen, East, d. 3 and 2.Singles: Said Powers, West, d. Austin Enz-brenner, 2 up; Cody Burrows, West, d. Nick Pierce 2 up; Dalton Daniel, West, d. Chandler Wasson, 5 & 4; Aajan Patel, East, all square vs. Lance Gregory; Andrew McDonald, West, d. Parker Moe 3 & 1; Freddie Wilson, East, d. Zac Owens 3 & 1; Logan McCallister, West, d. Brandon Strathe 6 & 5; Lane Wallace, West, d. Matthew Braley 4 & 3; Carson Seals, West, d. Tyler Shelnutt 2 & 1; McCain Schellhardt, West, d. Noah Russell 2 up; Austin Eckroat, West, d. Carson Griggs 6 & 5; Taylor Towers, East, d. Ashton Nemecek 4 & 2; Kate Goodwin, East, d. Alyssa Wilson 4 & 2; Yujeng Son, West, d. Trudy Allen 3 & 1; Shaebug Scarberry, West, d. Natalie Gough, 4 & 2; Grace Shin, East, d. Elizabeth Freeman, 1 up; Brinn Fariss, West, d. Mackenzie Medders 6 & 5.

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