Winds of Change at the AGA

Of the 100 years of Arizona Golf Association history, 1985-1999 was epic for its flurry of game-changing, dramatic developments

WORDS BY JOE PASSOV

By 1985, Arizona’s reputation as a collection of dusty, slowpaced Western towns was giving way to a new moniker: a bustling metropolis capable of accommodating rapid growth. The state’s population was booming and had just crossed the 3 million mark for the first time ever. Attempts were underway to add the Valley to the National Football League’s map; a franchise was just a couple years away from relocating to Phoenix. And Proposition 300 was passed to start a transportation infrastructure project which would eventually result in the Loop 101, Loop 202, Loop 303 and State Route 51 freeways helping to connect a rapidly growing state.

All signs pointed toward Arizona being the right place at the right time for many, and the Arizona Golf Association was no exception. That May, Ed Gowan started his job as the AGA’s executive director – a role he would occupy for an astounding 37 years. Golf in the Grand Canyon State would never be the same.

Handicapping

After consulting with Colorado officials, who had tested the GHIN system in 1982-’83, Gowan brought it to the AGA in 1985. “Prior to my time in Arizona, handicaps were handled by the Continental Bank,” recalled Gowan. “The bank simply created scoring averages. The USGA handicap system (now the World Handicap System as of 2020) estimates your best play. Many were upset because their handicaps went down. Our system was not based on the rules and was not efficient. There was no database. It took us two months to implement the GHIN system.”

When Gowan began his tenure as AGA executive director, membership was small — 23,000 by one estimation, 33,000 by another — and funds were hard to come by. That was about to change.

“We were in the right place at the right time,” remembered Gowan. “The USGA course rating system [Slope] was just being unveiled, along with the GHIN system — a national handicap system, as opposed to everybody making their own local arrangements. Most associations were private clubs-only at the time, with handicapping services available only to private club players. What the new system allowed us to do was to reach out to all of the

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public men’s clubs — the Papago Men’s Club, the Encanto Men’s Club, the Randolph Men’s Club were the leaders — and bring them into the handicap system. That fostered a growth profile that continues to this day. And that’s been the heart blood of the Association, that Arizona is for all golfers.”

Course Ratings

As the Slope concept took hold, which accounted for a course’s obstacles and other challenges beyond simply overall yardage to arrive at a course rating, the AGA crisscrossed the state, re-rating all of its courses in the mid-1980s. Bob Warren, past AGA president from 1963-1967, did 75% of those ratings, in 1985, according to Gowan. After Warren, volunteer Al Potts became the course ratings guru. For the better part of six or seven years, he devoted 50 to 60 hours of his time and was involved in virtually every course rating. One of Potts’ good friends, Robert “Doc” Graves, joined the effort and expended similar energies, in what amounted to a 30-year course ratings run. With courses requiring a reevaluation every ten years, these volunteers were invaluable to the AGA. When the AGA initiated its Volunteer of the Year Award in 1991, Potts was the first recipient and Graves followed in 1992.

Key Contributors

While Gowan’s administrative experience and progressive thinking paved the road ahead, he was quick to credit the team in place that played large roles in the transition of the AGA into the modern era. Tim Kloenne was AGA president from 1984-1986. Al Birmingham, the region’s Titleist rep from 1968-2002 was also an influential board member, serving as president in 1987-‘88. Tucson attorney Fred Hickle, AGA President in 1989, was another who served with distinction on the board during this dynamic period. Kloenne not only oversaw the executive director transition from John Riggle to Ed Gowan, but was instrumental in the creation of the The Karsten Turfgrass Research

Facility at the University of Arizona. As his Arizona Golf Hall of Fame bio states, he championed the “Lakes Bill” and property tax reform in the mid-‘80s, which to this day provides golf courses with a stable basis for survival. For tax purposes, the AGA filed to become a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. More sophisticated accounting was required to get IRS approval, so CPA Jim Raftery was brought in to facilitate. All of those actions were fostered by Lewis and Roca attorney Gerry Smith, who remained counsel for the Association for another 25 years.

Water Works And Money Woes

In the mid-1980s, the proposed Lakes Bill appeared before the state legislature. According to Gowan, if passed, it could have had the effect of eliminating lakes on golf courses due to perceived water shortages. Along with that, there was a legislative effort to essentially tax golf courses out of business through real estate property taxes. After a few years of rising AGA revenues through GHIN handicap signups, the association’s war chest grew to around $400,000.

“We were told by the golf courses that if the AGA could help them fight and win the battle, they would pay us back,” recalled Gowan. “We won, but we didn’t end up getting their financial support. It took the Association’s treasury down to zero. The person behind rebuilding our coffers was primarily Bill Rodie [AGA President from 1990-’91], who also helped re-write the Association’s bylaws. And Fred Hickle gave up a year of his presidency [in 1990] to drive this forward.

Fred, Gerry, Tim, Bill and another Director, Phil Edlund, all worked on the water law [Rodie served on the Groundwater Users Advisory Council of the AZ Dept. of Water Resources from 1995-2001]. That took us to the early ‘90s where we rebuilt the treasury to a reasonable amount.”

Eventually, the AGA adopted a strategy of illuminating the legislature on research done by the University of Arizona, financed in part by the Karsten Solheim family, that showed golf’s economic contribution to the state. “We showed them that golf was economically viable, important to the future of tourism in the state. The research showed that golf courses didn’t mis-use water, and that they were such an economic driver in the community that taxing them out of business made no sense,” Gowan said.

The legislature agreed. So long as lakes were limited to three acres worth of water and that golf courses could only irrigate 90 acres of turf, golf could continue in Arizona.

New Tournaments

Amid the backdrop of so many changes for the AGA, Gowan returned to the primary objective that prompted his hiring: Creating new events for the membership. The first of those took place that same year, 1985, when the four-round Arizona Stroke Play Championship debuted — and followed up a year later with an instant classic.

“In 1986 it was played at Pinnacle Peak Country Club and Billy Mayfair won,” reflected Gowan. “That’s why we have our Mayfair Award [created in 1993], which is for low stroke average for the year. Billy and ex-Tour player Joe Porter were tied in the last round. Joe made the comment to a sportswriter, ‘This little college kid can’t beat an ex-Tour player.’ They got to the 18th green and Billy makes about a 40-footer to win. I don’t think Joe ever got over it.”

Among the other new state championships introduced by the AGA in that era were the Publinks, the Mid-Amateur, the Four-Ball, the Senior Amateur and the Divisional Stroke Play, all of which debuted between 1985 and 1991.

Junior Golf

In 1986, the AGA formed the Junior Golf Association of Arizona. 14-year-old Shiloh Hagey put down five dollars and became the first member. A Junior Clinic at the Phoenix Open was its kickoff event; subsequently, there were yearround activities such as free weekly instructional clinics in the spring and weekly tournaments in the summer. Membership was free and open to kids aged 6-17, later changed to 3-18. In its first year, the organization enjoyed a membership of 200 juniors. By the end of 1993, that number had grown to 2,100. “I give Tom Cunningham and Tim Greenwell, who started it all the credit, by bringing other people in: Karsten, the Thunderbirds, putting together volunteer groups and outreach,” said Gowan.

Great Players

Outstanding winners populate the AGA championship trophies from 1985 through 1999 — with many more names than ever before, thanks to the proliferation of new events in the 1980s and early 1990s. Three names stand out, however: Mark Sollenberger, Billy Mayfair and Ken Kellaney. Sollenberger, who played at Arizona State and had a short stint on the PGA TOUR before regaining his amateur status, won his first three State Amateurs in 1974, 1982 and 1985. In 1988, he won his fourth title in emphatic fashion, crushing Ed Grant 11 & 10 at Desert Forest Golf Club. In so doing, he equaled Dr. Ed Updegraff’s record of four State Amateur crowns. Sollenberger would go on to capture the

Stroke Play in 1989, the Four-Ball (with Dennis Saunders) in 1990 and the Mid-Amateur in 1991.

Mayfair dominated the junior ranks in his native Phoenix, earning him the cover of Boys’ Life magazine in 1981 as “Golf’s junior hotshot.” A standout at Arizona State, he won the Haskins Award in 1987 as the nation’s top collegiate golfer, the same year he triumphed at the U.S. Amateur Championship. Because he turned professional in 1988, his career in Arizona’s most prestigious adult amateur tournaments was relegated to only a few years, but he made the most of them, winning the Stroke Play in 1985 and 1986 and Men’s Player of the Year in 1987.

The breakout star of the 1990s was Ken Kellaney. In 1993, the Phoenix banker accomplished what no player had done before or since, when he grabbed his third consecutive State Amateur. Competing at Troon Country Club, Kellaney downed 57-year-old sentimental favorite Frank Boydston, 5 & 4 in the final.

Kellaney wouldn’t win the Match Play again for another nine years, but he did corral the Stroke Play title in 1997 and 1999 plus three shared triumphs in the Four-Ball. He twice finished runner-up in the Match Play, losing the finale in 1996 and 1999. The former, at Legend Trail in Scottsdale, was considered the upset of the decade, when he was defeated by 47-year-old mailman Terry Beels, 3 & 2.

Honors And Awards

In 1990, the AGA established what would immediately be considered its most prestigious honor — the Updegraff Award. Given in recognition of those, who, by their actions, exemplify the Spirit of the Game, the award is named after Dr. Edgar Rice Updegraff of Tucson, honoring his lifetime contributions and dedication to amateur golf in Arizona.

Winners from 1990 through 1999 were Trev Anderson, Bill Dickey, Dick Rolls, William and Dot Straw, GM “Solly” Sollenberger, Bob Kirkendall, Al Potts, Jim Ronstadt and

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Robert “Doc” Graves. No award was given in 1995. Special recognition took other forms as well during this period. The Men’s Player of the Year was established in 1987, the Volunteer of the Year in 1991 and the Mayfair Award in 1993. Most welcome, in 1998, was the resumption of the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame. Created in 1968 to preserve the state’s golf history, its goal was to honor those, living or deceased, who by achievement have produced lasting contributions to the sport of golf in Arizona. No new members had been elected since 1975 and the AGA decided it was time to give the old shrine a kick-start. After a solid year of deliberations, a new class of ten individuals was elected in 2000.

Aga Foundation

In December 1995, Gowan and AGA President Steve Richards created the Arizona Golf Foundation (AGF), a 501(c) (3) public charity affiliated with the AGA. The Foundation assists numerous organizations throughout the state of Arizona that either promote the game of golf or use golf as an opportunity to enrich the lives of their beneficiaries. “We were doing charitable things through the Association, but as a (c)(4), we couldn’t do fundraising,” said Gowan. “This led to the creation of the Patriot All-America tournament.”

A Look Back And A Look Ahead

As the year 2000 dawned, the Arizona Golf Association had every reason to reflect with pride on its accomplishments of the previous 15 years. Massive change was the norm during the era, yet the AGA handled the new direction nimbly and skillfully. It had morphed from the equivalent of a men’s golf group at a country club to the most respected and influential advocate for golf and golfers in the state. The Association now numbered more than 65,000 individual members, double the figure from 1985. It was running 23 annual tournaments and seven USGA qualifying events with a volunteer force of 150. In reality, the AGA had only started to realize its potential. From 2000 to the present, the AGA would find another gear and soar to unprecedented heights.