Freddy's Fairway Thoughts

The Jacksonville Area Golf Association elected its 2022 officers at its annual meeting at Deerwood. The new officers are (from left) Vincent Celestino, secretary, Marsh Creek Country Club; Billy Walker, treasurer, Cimarrone Golf Club; Jay Johnstone, Sawgrass Country Club, co-VP Tournaments; John Tancredi, Marsh Landing Country Club, VP Administration; and Jeff Adams, TPC Sawgrass, president. Not pictured is Gregg Deiboldt, Sawgrass, co-VP Tournaments.

Northeast Florida’s annual awards are presented by the Jacksonville Area GA and recognize those who have made a difference in our golf community. The 2020 award winners were announced last month and were (from left) Chester Stokes of Marsh Landing, Long-Time Service Award; Shannon Wheeler of Plantation Country Club, Superintendent of the Year; Richard Blackston and Dr. Justine Wheeler of the Moore-Myers Children’s Fund, Community Service Award; Billy Walker of Cimarrone Golf Club, JAGA Director of the Year; Melanie Bevill of Hyde Park Golf Club, Club Executive of the Year; and Mike Broderick of Deerwood Country Club, Professional of the Year.

the JAGA Family Championship at Jax Beach Golf Club last month with 172 players. He’s with John Monahan, father of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, and Santa Claus.

He’s the golf coach at the University of North Florida; she’s the Florida girls champ and the second-ranked player nationally in the class that will enter college in 2023.

The feral pig problem isn’t limited to the well-publicized challenges in East Texas. While the porkers haven’t attacked Florida courses to a great extent, they’re here and they aren’t going away without a fight.

Several courses in the Northeast part of the state report problems with the pigs tearing up the grass at night. If there’s a bright spot here, it’s that they don’t seem to care to root up greens.

Getting rid of them is difficult. They’re big, they come out at night, and they’re fast. It’s also against the law to shoot them in most populated areas. Poison isn’t a solution, either, as that might affect other (and more friendly) animals.

The Texas farmers have a weapon though it’s a lot of trouble and doesn’t get rid of a whole lot of the critters.

It’s a circular fence that’s suspended on poles. The farmer puts corn in the middle, sets up a night score and waits until the herd find the corn. Then the circular fence is dropped remotely, trapping the pigs. It then becomes a shooting gallery.

Can’t imagine a golf course doing this. But, who thought that pigs would be a problem?

The big publicity has been the PGA Tour vs. the Arabs, but be advised that it’s not the only competition coming from the

Middle East. The “Arabs” are actually two entities and we tend to merge them into one.

That’s a big mistake.

Arab nations like to challenge the world but they also like to argue with each other. You know about the Emirates: that’s the Abu Dahbi/Dubai group that’s lured some PGA Tour big names with a big purse and big appearance payouts, and who own what once was the European Tour and now is the DP World Tour. (Note: “DP” stands for Dubai Ports.”)

Also, there are the Saudis: that’s the Riyadh bunch that bought the Asian Tour with the goal of first beating the European Tour and then going after the PGA Tour.

If the PGA Tour plays it smart (and the best bet is that they will), they’ll lay back and let the Arab nations go at it. A good prediction is that it will end up like most Arab vs. Arab conflicts: no one wins.

It is difficult to get a new tournament going. Schedules are crowded, courses are hard to get and there’s no guarantee anyone will enter.

Here’s one that made it. It’s called the First Coast Amateur and it’s played each January. The date is crucial: it’s the Martin Luther King weekend, when universities are on holiday and teams are looking for a place to go.

It was started by the local golf association and a guy named Joel Lamp, who ran the sports office in Jacksonville’s City Hall. He was looking for a sports event that would bring people to the area and got $2,500 seed money.

That was five years ago and a last-minute surge by Northern colleges got the entry up to 80 players.

Fast forward: last year was an easy sellout and this year’s is almost overwhelming. With a three weeks to go (this was written for the December 30 magazine deadline), there was a waiting list of over 100.

Duke Butler’s tournament management career has been a success starting with turning around the Houston Open to handling the PGA Tour’s schedule to coming out of sort-of retirement to put on a off-season gem called the Frys.com Open.

He’s now really retired but he can’t stay away from competition. He volunteered to resurrect the Jacksonville Family Championship and it has grown into the area’s biggest tournament. Last month, there were 172 players on a double shotgun. On a public course.

The Donald Ross Society has had its ups and downs through the years and it’s on an upswing now. President Brad Brecken of Chapel Hill, N.C., has his committees working and they plan a slew of trips for 2022, starting with a Florida swing in mid-January at Belleair CC near Clearwater and Sara Bay CC in Sarasota.

These are big years for the society as many of the Rossdesigned clubs are having their 100th anniversary. Ross had a long career and his prime time was the years around 1920. That’s when most of his Florida work was done, for instance.

The Society is open to anyone with an interest in preserving Ross’s legacy. Check out rossssociety.org.