2024 Golf Oklahoma Apr/May

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2024 APRIL/MAY TABLE OF CONTENTS

Austin Eckroat of Edmond celebrates his first PGA Tour victory

The Bookshelf takes on Hughes Norton's The Rainmaker

Equipment: Ed Travis' take on best new drivers for 2024

Golden Bear to grace Compliance Solutions Championship

Jay Johnson ready to lead at Southern Hills CC

Our annual top 10 junior boys and girls, talent everywhere

Municipal golf champion Warren Lehr

The first PGA Tour victory by a black golfer celebrated

Spectacular: Rose Creek, The Coves show off new clubhouses

Hard Rock hotel to spur long-awaited development at Pointe Vista

Warren Lehr, recently retired as city manager of Owasso, has never wavered in support for the importance of public golf in his community.

A

Off the road again

David Thompson is taking his rule book, putting it deep in the golf bag and taking the advice of Kenny Rogers. At age 80, he doesn’t want to be remembered as one of the rules officials who overstayed his time.

That’s actually a frequent danger with a career that often starts after a full working career. Thompson retired from WilTel Communications in Tulsa in 2006 and by 2007 was off on a second 18-year career that led him to visit destinations and meet people across the country and the world.

Inspired to get into rules officiating by former OGA rules expert Gene Mortensen as both were members at Tulsa Country Club, Thompson started helping with Oklahoma Golf Association and other local events. By 2010, he passed the USGA criteria of answering at least 92 of 100 questions correctly on its rules of golf test and was then able to start officiating USGA championships as well as NCAA Championships.

their balls wind up touching in a sandfilled divot at the bottom of the 11th fairway. After advising one player to mark and the other to play away, the player who marked then faced replacing her ball in the divot which had just been increased in size and depth.

Thompson advised the second player she could move her ball as long as she played from the same conditions and found another sand-filled divot just behind and advised her to drop there.

“She said, ‘okay, cool.’ “ Thompson said. “She was really just happy to get relief and understand her options.”

In the years since, he’s worked at 57 NCAA events including most of the championships held, 99 USGA tournaments and 73 OGA events for a total of 605 days of rules officiating for just those three organizations. His final event will be the 2024 NCAA Championships in early June at Omni LaCosta Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. He will also work a few what he calls one-off events this summer, such as the Talor Gooch Foundation AJGA event at Gaillardia CC and the South Central PGA Section Championship.

Unlike his mentor, who delighted in the burned hand teaches best theory and would hand out penalty shots like gummies at a Cheech and Chong show, Thompson tried to help golfers avoid penalties whenever possible. One unusual instance he remembers best. Two players in the Women’s SEC Championship at The Blessings in northwest Arkansas had

Thompson recently helped OGA Executive Director Kevin Stanton along with rules experts Bob Phelps, Dane Williams and Robert O Smith with a rules workshop to help fill the critical need of more rules experts willing to volunteer their time to help tournaments at all levels, from high schools, colleges, amateur and OGA events.

There were 40 attendees and the hope is a few of them make it to active duty.

“It’s vitally important,” Thompson said. “The hope is to get them to volunteer and at least ride around in a cart with a rules official and see if it is something they would be interested in.”

Thompson has long been a great friend to Golf Oklahoma, contributing a column from a local USGA perspective and frequently calling in from the road at great events involving Oklahomans, such as NCAA Championships and USGA championships, to let us know the latest on what he was seeing at ground level. We wish him the best in his second retirement, where he can concentrate on shooting his age with regularity and just keep the guys in his group in line. Golfers across the state and the country owe you and hopefully many will offer their thanks for all you did for the game.

Golf Oklahoma Offices

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Subscriptions to Golf Oklahoma are $20 for one year (five issues) or $35 for two years (10 issues). Call 918-280-0787 or go to www.golfoklahoma.org

Contributing photographers

Rip Stell, Bill Powell, Chad Hamilton

Golf Oklahoma PGA Instructional Staff

Jim Young Teaching Professional, River Oaks CC 405-630-8183

Ryan Rody Director of Instruction

Southern Hills Country Club rrody@southernhilscc.org

Pat McTigue Director of Instruction, Meadowbrook CC pmtigue277@gmail.com

Maggie Roller Director of Instruction, Cedar Ridge CC maggie.roller@sbcglobal.net, 918-261-1441

Oklahoma Golf Association 2800 Coltrane Place, Suite 2 Edmond, OK 73034 405-848-0042

Executive Director

Kevin Stanfield kstanfield@okgolf.org

Director of Handicapping and Course Rating

Jay Doudican jdoudican@okgolf.org

Director of Junior Golf

Kyle Flinton kflinton@okgolf.org

Director of Rules

Bob Phelps bphelps@okgolf.org

David Thompson with a few of the credentials from his travels

Award-winning dining, a booming craft beer scene, luxurious resorts, and exceptional year-round golf on courses along the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail await you in Alabama. Plus, with Jerry Pate’s Kiva Dunes and Arnold Palmer’s Craft Farms in Gulf Shores, from the Mountain Lakes to the Gulf Coast, you can take it all in.

With all INTERSTATE travel and DIRECT FLIGHTS into many airports, getting here is easy.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National, Auburn-Opelika

Online GHIN highlights OGA changes

At the Oklahoma Golf Association (OGA), we have some exciting changes for 2024.

This spring, we launched an online registration process for GHIN memberships for public golfers. Our goal was to make it easier to get registered/ renew instead of having to physically visit an OGA facility.

The link for the registration is available at the top of the home page on our website, okgolf.org –and we also provide our facilities with QR codes that you can scan onsite to link you to the registration page. We hope this will encourage more golfers to join as a GHIN membership is so much more than just a handicap index; it now includes GPS, stat tracking, and scoring within your group of friends. It really has become an extra tool in your bag.

OGA facilities have opted to use the online join/renew.

In another change, Kyle Flinton has been named as our new Director of Junior Golf. Kyle will oversee the direction and operation of the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour (OJGT) and assist with many of our OGA Championships and USGA Qualifiers. He has an extensive background with over 40 years of experience in the golf industry.

Please note, even with online join/renew, golfers can still visit their local OGA public facility and get signed up at the counter for their membership, but not all

Kyle was formerly the Director of Golf at Quail Creek G&CC and the Director of Player Development at Oak Tree Country Club. He also has a great playing career that can help guide juniors as they try to progress to the next level. Some of the highlights include being a three-time Assistant PGA Professional Champion winner, a competitor in two PGA Championships, represented America in the PGA Cup Matches, and a former Oklahoma Open champion.

Several new events have been added to our 2024 schedule.

LOUISE BLUMENTHAL JOHNSON President WOGA

We have created a Four-Ball Net Championship. It is a two-man, four-ball stroke play net (85 percent handicap) format with three different divisions: Men, Senior Men, and Women. It will be played on Monday, Sept. 23 at The Trails Golf Club in Norman.

We are also adding the Red River Rivalry Cup matches. This will pit the OGA against the Texas Golf Association in a Ryder Cup format. Teams will consist of eight-men Mid-Amateurs, six Senior Men, and four women Mid-Amateurs from each association. This year’s event will be played on Nov. 20-21 at a site to be announced.

Our 2024 schedule is under way. We kicked off at Hillcrest Country Club with the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour (OJGT) and have three additional OJGTs in April, including a makeup for a rescheduled Red River Challenge with the Texas Junior Golf Association. We also are hosting the U.S. Open Local Qualifier on April 22 at the Territory G&CC in Duncan.

Go to okgolf.org to follow all the scores on our website.

WOMEN’S OKLAHOMA GOLF ASSOCIATION

Great venues, large carrot for 2024

The 109th year of the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association includes exceptional venues for our championships.

I am excited and honored to begin my term as your president. I’d like to express my gratitude to Laurie Campbell for her leadership and dedication to WOGA.

Our season begins with the 47th WOGA Senior Championship hosted by Meadowbrook Country Club in Tulsa on April 22-23. Leeann Fairlie has won the championship seven times, including the last three.

The Stableford Partnership is scheduled May 7-8. We are excited to return to Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City, where Director of Golf Aaron Kristopeit, Head Pro Dane Williams and staff always do such an amazing job for us. Last year’s champions low gross were Teresa DeLarzelere and Missy Little. Low net champions were Laurie Makes Cry and Bonnie Thomas.

The 27th Stroke Play and Mid-Am Championship will be played June 17-18 at the historical Muskogee Golf Club. Maddi Kamas, former WOGA Girls Junior state champion and current player for Oklahoma City University, is the defending stroke play champion. Michaela Dierinzo

has won the Mid-Am Championship five times. In 2022, she won the Stroke Play and Mid-Am championship.

Rose Creek Golf Club in Edmond will host the 74th WOGA Girls Junior State Championship on July 8-9. Rose Creek will be a beautiful as well as a challenging course for our junior girls. This championship is the most prestigious and historical girls event in our state. Natalie Blonien of Altus will be on hand to defend her title. Past notable champions include Beth Stone, Betsy Cullen and Stacy Prammanasudh.

Our 106th Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Championship will be played July 22-25 at Stillwater Country Club. We are excited to return to Stillwater. Chris Tidland, general manager and head golf professional, his staff, along with Ann Watkins and her WGA always work tirelessly to make this an outstanding championship. Sydney Hermann of Ponca City will be defending her title.

I’m elated to announce that the 2024 champion will automatically be invited to play in the USGA Women’s Amateur Championship on Aug. 5-11 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

Team Oklahoma will travel to Fort Smith,

Arkansas, on July 28-30 to defend their title at the Fore State Championship at HardScrabble Country Club. This will be the 28th year for this event which includes a 12-member team each from Oklahoma. Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. Oklahoma has won 14 times. Oklahoma’s captains are Pat McKamey and Louise Blumenthal Johnson. This year’s Fundraiser for our Grants and Scholarships Programs will be hosted by Oak Tree National on Aug. 5. Entries open April 29 at 4wogafundraiser.golfgenius.com. Organize your team now as Oak Tree National will fill up fast.

Our most popular event of the year is the WOGA Four Ball Partnership played Aug. 19-20 at Shangri-La Resort on Grand Lake. Last year’s low gross champions were Janet Miller and Jill Johnson. Low net champions were Soohyun Jin and Claudia Abernathy.

WOGA’s final event of the 2024 season is our WOGA Cup team tournament hosted by The Trails Golf Club on Sept. 10-11 in Norman. This “fun” format includes two 9-hole matches on Day 1 and two 9-hole matches on Day 2, fourball and foursome. Last year’s champions were Carol Cable, Liz Paden, Susie Kraft and Vicki Graper of Shangri-La Resort.

Kyle Flinton

How to Proceed When Taking Back-on-the-Line Relief

As we begin the 2024 golf season, the sixth under the “Modernized” Rules of Golf that became effective January 2019 and updated again in January 2023, a couple of Rules have gone through multiple revisions since 2019 and still cause confusion on the course.

Let me try to clear things up for you regarding the “back-onthe-line” relief procedure and what happens when a club be comes damaged.

First, focus strictly on the wording in the 2023 Rules of Golf and erase all past knowledge and understanding you have regarding the “back-on-the-line” relief procedure and how to proceed when a club becomes damaged. Both are simple and easy to understand if you do not let past knowledge interfere.

er is allowed to drop. The procedure is straightforward and simple yet a couple of instances on the PGA Tour indicate those players who should know best are not proceeding correctly.

Luckily for Phil Mickelson at the 2023 PGA Championship, a referee was able to intervene before Phil made a stroke, but Rory McIlroy was not so lucky this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Rory properly determined the line, but then measured one-length off the line to drop his ball (third picture in diagram). Once he played the dropped ball without correcting his mistake, he incurred the twostroke penalty.

relief area for “back-on-the-line” is always one club-length from where the ball first struck the ground.

Third, ensure your ball does not travel more than one club-length from where it struck the ground so that it comes to rest in the relief area. Do those three things and you are safe to play away. As depicted in the diagram, if the ball is dropped on the line but rolls more than one club-length or if the ball is dropped off the line, the player must correct this mistake before making a stroke to avoid a penalty.

Damaged Clubs can be used (always), repaired or replaced (maybe)

The “back-on-the-line” relief procedure allows a player when taking penalty relief to drop a ball along a line that runs from the flagstick through the reference point, with no limit to how far back the play-

The proper procedure for taking backon-the-line is quite simple. First, determine the line that extends from the flagstick through the reference point. Second, make sure you drop the ball on the line. The spot on the line where the ball strikes the ground determines the spot for measuring the one club-length relief area. The

When the “Modernized” Rules were released in 2019, players were not allowed to replace a club that was broken or damaged. Players were simply limited to 14 clubs and if a club became broken or damaged during the round, the player could either use it in its damaged state or repair it but was not allowed to replace it.

This was quite a change from the way it had been for many years where players

See Rules on page 11

Rory McIlroy

Agents of change

by tom bedell

It makes for a nice story when two men of disparate backgrounds come together to make the world a better place. And that’s just the story Peter May unfolds in his “Changing the Course” (Rowman & Littlefield, $29.95). The subtitle explains it all: “How Charlie Sifford and Stanley Mosk Integrated the PGA.”

Most readers here will recognize the name of the late Charlie Sifford, the first Black golfer to get his PGA card. Fewer will know of Stanley Mosk, a California lawyer who became the state’s attorney general and later an associate on the state Supreme Court.

that Sifford was not a member of the PGA.

It’s not much of a spoiler alert to say that wheels started rotating furiously at that point, that Sifford would break professional golf’s color barrier, that he would eventually win two events on tour, and that he would be enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Sifford, who grew up poor in Charlotte, North Carolina, found his way to golf in 1934, when as a 12-year-old he began caddying at the Carolina Country Club (which accepted its first black members only ten years ago). The caddies could play on Mondays when the course was closed, and Sifford was soon enough shooting in the 70s. The club pro and owner were allies who urged him to move north where he could hone his game on integrated courses. Which indeed he did, particularly with backing from singer Billy Eckstine, winning his first tournament as a professional in 1951.

Turning professional for Blacks in those days meant playing in UGA tournaments (originally the United Colored Golf Association), functioning not unlike the Negro Leagues in baseball alongside the whitesonly professional leagues. The difference being that Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line in 1947, whereas the PGA established its “Caucasians Only” clause in 1943. It wasn’t eliminated until 1961, the last mainstream sport to tear down the barriers of segregation.

It was in September, 1959, that Mosk, then the California attorney general, was playing tennis at the Hillcrest Country Club. At some point, Eckstine introduced Sifford to Mosk, who was surprised and appalled to hear about the Caucasians Only rule and

Peter May, whose “The Open Question” (reviewed in the June-July 2021 issue) took on the controversy over how many U.S. Opens Ben Hogan won, here weaves the stories of Sifford and Mosk together in compelling, mostly alternate chapters, the worlds of golf and politics shooting sparks off each other. There are countless asides and fascinating tidbits in May’s book, but it’s a fast-paced and brisk narrative in how both men were able to do away with what Mosk rightfully called “the obnoxious restriction.”

RAINMAKER

An agent of a different sort is the subject of “Rainmaker” by Hughes Norton and George Peper (Atria Books, $28.99). Besides its one-word title, the book is in the running for longest subtitle of the year: “Superagent Hughes Norton and the Money Grab Explosion of Golf from Tiger to LIV and Beyond.”

count of his rise to the very heights within the agency, and then his abrupt fall. Norton was 25 and fresh out of Harvard Business School when he began working for McCormack in 1972. He would go on to represent a hit parade of PGA Tour pros, but none so sparkling, or problematic, as Greg Norman and Tiger Woods.

It was Woods who eventually—and to this day, mysteriously—pulled the plug on Norton, hastening the latter’s firing from IMG in late 1998. Why write the book now? Norton felt the life of sports agency has been caricatured by Hollywood (“Jerry Maguire,” “Air”), and that no one has penned a history of IMG from it beginnings as “the mom-and-pop operation it was when I began my career to the multibillion-dollar juggernaut it is now.”

So there are a lot of juicy tidbits in here, and money flies around like snow in a blizzard. Norton outs his roster of good guys—players like Curtis Strange, David Graham, Peter Jacobson, sportscaster Jim Nantz and Titleist’s Wally Uihlein. But he spares no love for the villains of the piece, agent Alastair Johnson, Nike’s Phil Knight, his one-time client Mark O’Meara who may have convinced Tiger to sever ties with Norton. As for Norman, he concedes having some wonderful times with him, but calls him, “...a classic narcissist.”

Most golf fans are familiar with the tale of how the late Mark McCormack began his sports marketing agency IMG—now calling itself a global sports and culture company— with a single client, in a deal sealed with a handshake. It became known as the Golden Handshake, because the client was Arnold Palmer. The deal turned out well for both.

It turned out well for Hughes Norton, too, at least until it didn’t. Though Norton has a co-author here, it’s a first-person ac-

McCormack, and Tiger, fall somewhere in the middle. And Norton doesn’t exempt himself from judgment. He loved his job, had a million-dollar salary, was living a jet set life. But he was also a divorced workaholic with more enemies than friends. It took a long time, but he now sees his firing as redemptive.

He’s living a comfortable and seemingly more serene and balanced life. But “Rainmaker” certainly sounds wistful at times, and one can’t help notice that he lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. With his hindsight, one also can’t help but heed Norton’s cautionary note: “… as proud as I was at the time that I earned Tiger an unprecedented $100 million in endorsement income, I see now that I was literally an agent of the wretched excess that pervades the game today…. Professional golf, if it isn’t careful, may well become a victim of its own greed.”

FIX IT YOURSELF

And then there’s the most troublesome thing of all—your golf swing. But have no fear, David Leadbetter is back with “Fix It Yourself: How to Recognize the Faults in

Your Game—and Correct Them” (St. Martin’s Press, $30), written with Ron Kaspriske.

Leadbetter has been at this a long time, and the man just can’t stop himself from teaching. In a review of his “The A Swing” (June-July 2015 issue) I mentioned a dinner I was once at with a few other golf writers in Bradenton, Florida, at the Concession Golf Club. Leadbetter was at our table, and before the night was over he had us all taking cuts, trying to show us the theory behind that very book he was then working on.

This latest effort is a soup to nuts catalog of everything you’re doing wrong, from your grip to your stance to the way you turn (rather than coil) your body to the way your set up with your putter (or driver or wedge or…) to your poor practice habits to your shoddy sand play, and let’s wrap it all up with your suspect mental approach.

ter suggests this is probably not a book to read cover to cover, at least not the first time around. He has chosen the “great golf number” of 72 faults to ponder, but he also provides 72 fixes—usually with some kind of drill to try—and 72 concise swing thoughts to encapsulate each one.

“Please only work on one fault at a time from each section,” he cautions, otherwise, “I’ll have to recommend a good mental health book for you….” He naturally suggests using the table of contents to zero in on whatever ails one. So naturally I turned immediately to Fault No. 33, “Worrying about the sha---.”

Leadbetter throws caution to the wind and goes on to actually name this fault. But Leadbetter says there’s a fix, and it will “send this demon back to hell.” That alone should be worth the price of admission.

RULES cont. from page 9

were allowed to replace a club that was damaged in the “normal course of play.” It became clear early on that many players were strongly opposed to this rule change and as a result, the USGA introduced a Model Local Rule that would allow a “broken or significantly damaged” club to be repaired or replaced, provided the damage was not caused by abuse.

Beginning in 2023, Rule 4.3a(4) now allows a club that is damaged in any way, except in cases of abuse, to be repaired or replaced. However, it is still very important to read the rules sheet for your event because Model Local Rule G-9 is still available for Committees who want to restrict replacement to only clubs that are broken or significantly damaged.

If Model Local Rule G-9 is not in effect, repair or replacement of a club is allowed provided the damage was not caused by abuse. Otherwise, see MLR G-9 for a definition of broken or significantly damaged club because those are the only clubs that can be repaired or replaced.

It’s enough to give you a complex, I tell you! Well, right from the get-go Leadbet-

Tom Bedell thinks there might be more than 72 things wrong with his golf swing, but he’s willing to start somewhere.

Last thing to remember, a club that is broken or damaged, even in cases of abuse, is deemed conforming for the rest of the round and can always be used.

2024 The Year of the Driver

by ed travis

Each season, companies tout the newest club designs – and drivers in particular draw attention from fans.

After all, the driver is used off the tee on par-4s and par-5s, and other than the putter it is the most used club.

Add to the obvious need to use a 1-wood that produces good distance on long holes is the usually unspoken factor, “My drive is longer than your drive.” This may sound juvenile for grown men (women seem to be above this) to be thinking if not saying it, but after playing this maddening game for a long time I can tell you it is a fact.

As has been pointed out many times, driver manufacturers promote the idea they are able to come up with the latest and greatest year after year and in some cases and in some years that may actually be true.

However, taking into consideration the Rules of Golf have stipulations limiting the amount of rebound a clubface can produce, as well as the shaft length, distance increases attributable solely to drivers is certainly open to discussion.

According to golf’s ruling bodies, the current golf ball goes too far, and they at tacked the situation this past Decem ber by issuing regulations rolling back the allowable ball perfor mance, making the majority of today’s balls nonconforming as of January 2028 for elite players and in 2030 for recreational play.

The furor created by this lat est restriction appears to have been disproportionate to the effect since by the USGA’s own reported num bers, elite players will see only around a 5 percent decrease in distance and recreational players about half that number. The bigger problem, though, is controlling how far a golf ball can be hit is like trying to hold back the ocean tide. Distance is not simply the product of the ball and the driver.

of grass and watering systems engineered to accurately deliver the proper amount of water to exactly the right areas. Therefore, firmer fairways mean tee shots roll farther, increasing total distance, but it also means one way of grappling with what is seen as too much distance could be additional water in landing areas. One trick a course superintendent told me about years ago was in preparation for the club championship, he mowed so the grass grain laid against the direction of the tee shot.

This may or may not work, but his members certainly thought it did.

Course designers play a role as well in driver distance. Simply by putting slight downslopes or upslopes in landing areas, not to mention strategic placement of doglegs and hazards, tee shots are affected.

The remaining factor in the distance discussion is the player and the state of his or her physical conditioning, diet, training regimen and coaching, particularly when done in conjunction with computer analysis. Professional golfers now, with a few exceptions (i.e. John Daly) are athletes working out daily, watching what they eat and training their bodies to make high-speed swings. That’s not going to change, and they will only get better. Their goal is to deliver the driver clubhead to the ball as fast as possible with a repeatable swing, so the ball has the correct launch angle, a low amount of backspin and very little

For example, golf courses today are much firmer and use less water, both because of the types

Our view of the “Year of the Driver” is with all of this in mind and looking at the major factors in driver design, we see technology making an immense impact, specifithe use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The idea is to not only produce more distance, but to preserve ball speed when the ball strikes the driver face high or

low or towards the heel or toe. This is a great benefit to the average weekend golfer who doesn’t always hit the ball in the exact sweet spot and by making the driver more forgiving to off-center strikes. A straighter ball will more often find the fairway.

AI programming analyzes thousands of simulated ball/clubface impacts to come up with varying cross sections for the face interior and other critical features of the clubhead such as weight placement, amount of offset, and overall aerodynamic shape.

The goal is to provide more distance, better consistency, and improved forgiveness with a high resistance to twisting or moment of inertia (MOI) which is expressed in g-cm 2 units.

Here are six examples of the 2024 drivers for recreational players that we place in the game-improvement category:

CALLAWAY

Callaway’s Paradym Ai Smoke MAX builds on its previous AI-de signed drivers by incorporating data from 250,000 rec reational players’ swings. The face design of the Ai Smoke allows for micro deflections creating mul tiple sweet spots across the face plus the clubhead has been made lighter and stronger with internal titanium supports.

COBRA

Callaway Paradym Ai

The Darkspeed X from Cobra Golf got its shape from consultations with aerospace engineers to reduce the amount of drag on the down swing. High-tech analysis also resulted in a redesign of the internal PWR-BRIDGE so it is sus pended lower and closer to

PING G430 MAX 10K driver

Smoke MAX

the face for improved energy transfer.

PING

The G430 MAX 10K has over 10,000 g-cm 2 combined MOI and Ping says it is its most forgiving driver ever. The head also has a larger profile at address, and the carbon fiber crown construc tion allowed weight to be saved which was relocated towards the sole so the tendency is for less ball spin to give added yardage.

PXG

very forgiving with less dispersion when compared with other drivers.

TaylorMade

TaylorMade has introduced the Qi 10 Max driver and the 10 stands for 10,000 g-cm 2, making it one of the highest MOI value drivers on the market. The head shape is shallower and features a carbon crown, face and sole which help improve the MOI by moving weight lower and towards the perimeter.

PXG 0311 Black Ops driv er is the company’s solution to the commonly held ideas about driver design. The construction produces high launching drives with reduced spin and gives consistency across the face. Company testing showed it to be

Tour Edge’s latest version of the Hot Launch line is the 524 and the C524 driver has a rear sole weight to increase the MOI which is complemented by the sole rail construction to lower the center of gravity. The face is a full-face cup design of 6-4 titanium which increases the face flex at impact for better yardage and a more

TaylorMade

Qi 10 Max

PXG 0311 Black Ops

Volunteers needed for U.S. Women's Amateur in Tulsa

Southern Hills Country Club is seeking volunteers to assist with the hosting of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship scheduled Aug. 5-11 at the historic Tulsa venue.

A volunteer package is $50 and includes a Peter Millar golf shirt, hat, water bottle, meals during your shift, clubhouse access and on-site parking.

Volunteers will serve as stationary forecaddies, walking forecaddies, marshals, stationary scorers or walking scorers. The club is also looking for junior volunteers ages 15-21 to serve as standard bearers. To register, go to https://rb.gy/lnkfo6.

For any questions, please contact Communications Director Reagan Kinglsey at rkingsley@ southernhillscc.org.

WOGA fundraiser at Oak Tree National

The Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association Junior Fundraiser moves to Oak Tree National in Edmond, with the four-person scramble scheduled Aug. 5. Golfers can purchase teams for $1,600 including green fees, carts, range balls, breakfast, lunch and prizes.

Entries open April 29 and

close July 26. To field is limited to the first 22 teams to enter. Men, women and juniors are welcome. Enter online at 2024wogafundraiser.golfgenius. com. The GGID is 2024wogafundraiser. Or call 918-760-4255 for more information.

All tournament proceeds go to WOGA's Grants and Scholarships Programs.

Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame offers two $5,000 scholarships for 2024-25

by ken macleod

The Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame announced it will award two $5,000 scholarships in 2024, one to a male and one to a female.

2023 recipients

Nathan Chronister and Lilly Stanton.

The Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Scholarships will be awarded prior to the 2024-25 academic year. The scholarships are for Oklahoma high school seniors graduating in 2024 with a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher who have been accepted and are enrolling at an accredited institution of higher education for the 2024 fall semester. Also eligible are Oklahoma residents currently attending institutions of higher education. Students must have an active interest in golf and may not be previous recipients.

The specifics of the criteria and the application form for the Hall of Fame scholarships are both available at www.oklahomagolfhof. org. Deadline for entry is April 23, 2024. Entries must be mailed to Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, 6218 S. Lewis Ave., Suite 102, Tulsa, OK, 74136, or emailed to ken@golfoklahoma.org.

Note to parents: Scholarships are also awarded by both the Oklahoma Golf Association and the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association. Go to www.okgolf.org and www.woga.golfgenius.com for details.

first PGA Tour victory means security, revamped schedule

by ken macleod

Winning on the PGA Tour will change your life’s circumstances. As Austin Eckroat will find out, as long as it doesn’t change your inner drive and motivation, there could be many more to come.

Eckroat, the 25-yearold two-time Class 6A state champion at Edmond North and four-time AllAmerican at Oklahoma State, put himself in that enviable position with his rock-sold, mid-March victory at the Cognizant Classic (formerly Honda Classic) at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

be and the golf swing is feeling good again.

“Now I think I’ll be more comfortable out there. When you are in your first or second year and you get near the lead, you have to keep it there to maintain your position (on tour) and it’s so important to have those high finishes. Now I’ve got some security and I can take more risks when it comes down to the finishes of tournaments and I can just focus on winning.”

That win immediately put him in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship and shook up his schedule for the remainder of 2024, in a good way. It guaranteed him a spot in The Masters, where he had previously never stepped foot on the grounds of Augusta National. He is in the rest of the elevated events and majors and should have a prominent role in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

“I gained a lot of security which is the biggest thing,” Eckroat said in late March while practicing at home with friends at Oak Tree National. “It’s changed my schedule a ton for sure. I’ve added all the elevated events and taken off some events I would normally play in.

“I’d love to play every event, but mentally and physically you just can’t do it.”

Eckroat’s victory was not a shock to those who have followed him since his junior career or even those who watched over the long 2022-23 rookie season in which he made 17 cuts in 32 events and had four top10 finishes, including a tie for second at the AT&T Byron Nelson and a top-10 at the U.S. Open in which he closed with a 65. He finished a solid 74th in the FedEx Cup and won over $2.467 million.

As the PGA Tour switched to a calendar year schedule for 2024, he has missed just one cut and felt all facets of his game were coming together before the win on the Florida swing.

“I thought this year I would have another opportunity to win,” Eckroat said. “Last year was weird, I was struggling with one part of my game all year. I feel like now I’ve got all the parts of my game where I want them to

After the victory, Eckroat’s phone blew up with messages from family, friends, teammates, the OSU golf family and many more. Not only did he join a long line of former Oklahoma State players to win on the PGA Tour, but permanently escaped the shadow of former teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff, who won on the PGA Tour while Eckroat was playing his senior season at OSU.

Eckroat also became the fifth player who

came up through the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour to win on the PGA Tour since the junior program was founded in 2000, joining Robert Streb, Kevin Tway, Talor Gooch and Taylor Moore. Gooch has gone on to become one of the top players on the LIV Golf circuit.

“I expect there will be more soon,” Eckroat said. “We definitely have as many good players coming out of Oklahoma, and particularly Oklahoma City and Edmond, as anywhere.”

No one was happier and prouder to see Eckroat win than his parents. Father Steve has been in the gallery for countless events since his junior year and is emotions were fully evident on the television cameras on the Monday morning finish as Austin closed out the Cognizant Classic.

“He’s so excited,” Austin said. “I said in an interview after that I was definitely the second-happiest person right now. It wasn’t just my dream, it was our dream to play and win on the PGA Tour. It’s been a shared dream of ours together.”

"It is really special," Steve Eckroat said. "It's just a really unique thing that not many people get to experience. To win on the PGA Tour is hard and to see all the work he has put in makes it even more special. I couldn't be prouder of him."

Sally and Austin Eckroat

Stars in the making on KFT

by ken macleod

More fans, more fun, more success from the locals and one more chance to say thanks to a legend of the game are among the goals as the Korn Ferry Tour returns to Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course in Norman for the second Compliance Solutions Championship on June 20-23.

The tournament, now run by HNS Sports Group out of Columbus, Ohio, has lined up a special treat on June 22, the Saturday third round, in that Jack Nicklaus will be on hand with other celebrities to participate in a multi-hole scramble that will benefit the tournament’s two primary charities, Autism Oklahoma and Folds of Honor.

Before that and on the final round Sunday, golf fans for extremely affordable tickets and convenient parking can witness the shotmaking of the next generation of PGA our (or perhaps LIV Golf) stars.

While the field won’t be finalized until the week prior, a glance at the Korn Ferry Tour points standings in late March shows a battery of players with Oklahoma ties who will likely be competing.

Among those who played for the University of Oklahoma and know Jimmie Austin well are Quade Cummins of Weatherford, who was ranked in the top 10 through March. Max McGreevy of Edmond, Garett Reband, Logan McAllister of Oklahoma City, Grant Hirschman and Patrick Welch are other former Sooners who will likely be in the field.

events. Streb has won twice on the PGA Tour and Tway has one victory.

“We are excited to invite the Oklahoma community out to Jimmie Austin Golf Club for the second annual Compliance Solutions Championship,” said tournament director Lucas Fox. “The Celebrity Shootout will be a great addition to our week, and with new

There will be a tented fan zone in the same area with food and drink options.

A pro-am will be held on the Wednesday (June 19) and spots are available. To purchase a foursome to play with a KFT pro is $8,500 and includes a custom gift package for each individual, invitations to a private pairings party and weekly passes. For more information or to purchase a team, go to the tournament website at www.compliancesolutionschampionship.com.

Fans can purchase tickets on that site and receive information on volunteer opportunities.

Jimmy Stanger won the debut event in 2023, shooting rounds of 67-66-67-66 to finish at 22-under, one shot ahead of Rafael Campos. It was Stanger’s first win in 120 tour starts. Stanger now is on the PGA Tour, finished third in the Puerto Rico Open and played in his first Players Championship. Big things could be in store for this year’s winner as well.

“The Korn Ferry Tour is the pathway to the PGA Tour and the level of golf is incredible,” Lucas said.

Representing Oklahoma State on the KFT points list are Kris Ventura, Brendon Jelley of Tulsa and Zach Bauchou. Oak Tree National members and former PGA Tour card holders Josh Creel and Rhein Gibson are likely participants, and we could well see former Edmond North stars Kevin Tway and Robert Streb, as both have only conditional cards on the PGA Tour this year and have played in some KFT

family-friendly tournament ticket pricing options there are many ways to get involved with this year’s event, including volunteering. There truly is something for everyone at the Compliance Solutions Championship.”

Tournament organizers have worked to make the event more fan and family friendly and up the level of the spectator experience. Parking will again be free at the nearby Lloyd Noble Center with fans shuttled to within a few yards of the first tee. Individual day tickets are $10 or $25 for a weekly pass, with all military and fans 18 and under attending for free.

The holes have been shifted slightly so what is traditionally 18 will become 17 and 18 is the 10th hole, allowing for spectators to congregate around the final two holes.

McAllister, Bauchou and Cummins were playing a round at Oak Tree National recently with Austin Eckroat, who was on the Korn Ferry Tour two years ago but is now a PGA Tour winner, having broken through at the Cognizant Classic. Eckroat was preparing for his first Masters and has all of the other elevated events and major championships to look forward to for the rest of 2024. It’s a position that the others would like to be in and a victory at Jimmie Austin could go a long way to moving them up that ladder.

“It’s cool to see what Austin did,” McAllister said. “We have a group text message with a bunch of us on the Korn Ferry Tour, and as soon as he won we sent a message around that hopefully the floodgates kind of open after this. It’s cool to see someone you play with every day win out there. It kind of lets us know that we can do it, too.” To stay connected with the Compliance Solutions Championship on social media, follow the tournament on X, Instagram and Facebook at @cschampgolf.

Lucas Fox

Rhein Gibson Grant Hirschman Patrick Welch Kris Ventura

Korn Ferry Tour members from Oak Tree National Quade Cummins, Logan McAllister and Zach Bauchou hope to join Austin Eckroat (third from left) on the PGA Tour soon.

Brendon Jelley

Garett Reband Josh Creel Max McGreevy

Jack Nicklaus

New leader at Southern Hills

by ken macleod

Being the replacement for Nick Sidorakis as general manager at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa is no easy task.

From 1995 to 2024, Sidorakis guided the club through massive renovations of its facilities and restoration of the 1936 Perry Maxwell-designed course. He oversaw three major championships (2001 U.S. Open, 2007 PGA Championship, 2022 PGA Championship) as well as the 2009 U.S. Amateur and the 2021 Senior PGA Championship. He is concluding his tenure by helping with one last national championship, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in August.

Among his myriad other accomplishments, Sidorakis helped identify and recruit his eventual successor, Jay Johnson. They first met on a golf trip in 2018 while Johnson was the assistant general manager of The Governors Club in Chapel Hill, N.C., home to 27 holes designed by Jack Nicklaus. Sidorakis then recommended Johnson when the general manager job at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., came open in 2019.

“I was impressed with his acumen, his knowledge of the business at a young age, the way he handled himself,” Sidorakis said. “And all the guys who knew him longer than I did spoke very highly of him.”

For Johnson and his wife Hannah, arriving in Hutchinson just in time for the Covid shutdown was a culture shock for the two North Carolinians. And then they had a baby girl Norah, who was born at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City with spina bifida, requiring a month’s stay in the hospital at birth and special care since.

“We really had to rely on each other and on our faith at that time,” Johnson said. “We were feeling isolated in the middle of the country a long way from family. But Norah has done so well. She has weak ankles so she has to wear braces, but otherwise that’s all you would really notice. She’s got all the personality in the world and she’s brought our entire family closer together.”

Prairie Dunes is a wonderful golf course, but Johnson was brought there to improve every other aspect of the club, from food and beverage to amenities such as the pool, tennis and lodging operations. He specialized in that at both his previous jobs at The Governors Club and before that for seven

years at Carolina Country Club. He is a wine and spirits expert and knows hospitality inside and out.

While he improved those operations at Prairie Dunes, moving into that role at Southern Hills is a different scale.

“People ask me how I would compare the

two operations and I just say you shouldn’t compare the two,” Johnson said. “The only similarity is the golf course architect and the design of the courses. But they are on completely different scales. The one thing though is that the fundamentals of managing successful clubs is the same, whether it’s attention to detail, treating people well, doing the right things, having high standards, being visionary.”

At Southern Hills that may mean managing a staff of up to 350 compared to about 50 at Prairie Dunes, but like Johnson said, the fundamentals are the same.

Although he had fully intended to be at Prairie Dunes for five to 10 years, when a Southern Hills search committee asked if he would be interested in the assistant general manager’s job in 2021, he felt he owed it to his family to interview. Though it was common knowledge that Sidorakis would be retiring at the end of 2023, he said no assurances were given that he would be next in line or given a chance to interview for the job.

“I asked if they could guarantee me a shot that I would be considered and they would not do that,” Johnson said. “They just said, no guarantees. We hope you get an interview but you’ve got to prove it.

“I went home and told my wife and she said ‘no way, if we’re leaving here, we’re

going back to the East Coast.’ She had never been to Tulsa and didn’t know Southern Hills. But I convinced her it was worth the risk and the day I interviewed they showed her around Tulsa. I saw her at the end of the day for a cocktail reception and could see that her demeanor had changed and she could see it. She’s equally to thank for this whole succession as anybody because without fully supporting this and raising our daughter and spending the time that she has, this doesn’t work.”

“Jay did have to prove himself and he bet on himself,” Sidorakis said. “He came in and did some excellent things, improving our food and beverage service and making some key hires. Our membership got comfortable with him and saw what he could do.”

On the championship golf side, Johnson was only on board for a month before the 2022 PGA Championship, so he was able to dive in and quickly understand much of what goes into hosting a major championship, knowledge that he will hopefully need in the future.

Johnson’s performance was such that the Southern Hills board announced in February 2023 that he would succeed Sidorakis when he retired at the end of the year. His self-belief had paid off in one of the more prestigious positions in the business.

Johnson was born and grew up in Lakeland, Fla., a commuter town of more than 120,000 serving Orlando and Tampa. Family members had a history in the hospitality business, meaning they worked in restaurants or at Disney World or both. He played high school football well enough to be recruited by numerous smaller schools and chose Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., a small liberal arts college founded in 1851. He played two years of football but also started working on weekends at the Country Club of Salisbury. A career in golf and hospitality was born.

Next stop was working at Carolina Country Club I Raleigh, N.C., while also working an internship right out of college. He began as a bus boy and six months later became a bar manager job. Then a promotion to banquet manager and up the chain until he was hired as clubhouse manager by the Governors Club in Chapel Hill, where he rose to assistant general manager. His mentor at Carolina Country Club, GM Jack Slaughter, was among the first to recognize his talent and provide encouragement.

He also played a role in Johnson first being invited on playing trips with other

Hannah, Norah and Jay Johnson

GMs in 2012, trips that eventually led to meeting Sidorakis on one of those in 2018 in St. Louis at Bellerive Country Club.

Johnson says his rapid rise is the result of a combination of hard work and determination coupled with opportunity. It just goes to show, never turn down a great golf trip.

“My wife always gives me a hard time when I go on those trips that I’m just going to have fun,” he said. “But I say I’m going to network with some of the best GMs in the business. It’s because of that networking that my name got mentioned for Prairie Dunes and that we came to the Midwest. And that led to this.”

As far as establishing his own identity at Southern Hills, Johnson said it will take Time, but he’s looking forward to all the inherent challenges.

“I think it’s a real easy tendency to compare yourself to Nick, but what I try to do more than anything else is not compare myself to Nick,” Johnson said. “I look at it as I will have my own organic way of going forward and seeing the opportunities when they come in due time. Championship golf is part of our DNA and I look forward to working with all the organizations and having a role in what comes next.”

Jimmie Stanger 2023 CHAMPION

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TALENT OVERFLOWS IN STATE JUNIOR RANKS

by scott wright

Not only has Oklahoma begun to produce more college-ready junior golfers in recent years, now the emergence of talented players is beginning to happen at younger and younger ages.

Golfers in their early teen years are showing the capability of competing with high school upperclassmen on a regular basis around the state, and this list shows the fruits of their labor.

Here’s a look at the top 10 girls and boys golfers in the state of Oklahoma for 2024:

GIRLS

1. LISA HERMAN, JENKS

STATE TOURNAMENT SITES

Here’s a look at the state tournament host sites for the OSSAA state championships.

The 36-hole girls tournaments will be held April 29-30 and the 54-hole boys tournaments will be May 6-7.

GIRLS

2A: Prairie West Golf Course, Weatherford

3A: Lincoln Park East Golf Course, Oklahoma City

4A: Winter Creek Golf and Country Club, Blanchard

5A: Muskogee Golf Club, Muskogee

6A: Stillwater Country Club, Stillwater

BOYS

2A: Territory Golf and Country Club, Duncan

3A: Muskogee Golf Club, Muskogee

4A: Shangri-La Golf Course, Monkey Island

5A: Winter Creek Golf and Country Club, Blanchard

6A: The Oaks Country Club, Tulsa

Not only did Herman win the Class 6A championship by 10 strokes as a freshman last spring, she has risen up the national junior rankings into the top 25 thanks to multiple high finishes in major national events. She won an AJGA event, took third at the Women’s Western Junior and fifth at the AJGA Tournament of Champions. Her sophomore season with the Trojans should be one to watch.

2. NATALIE BLONIEN, ALTUS

The 5A champion in 2022 and runner-up a year ago, Blonien has signed with the highly regarded Arkansas women’s program. She’s coming off her first AJGA win at the Amundi Evian Showcase in Las Vegas in December, which came on the heels of three OJGT victories in the fall.

3. EVYN CANNON, EDMOND

A fast-rising star on the junior circuit, Can -

non is only an eighth-grader, but has piled up multiple top-10 finishes on various junior circuits, including AJGA, OJGT and multiple Texas tours. She began making a name for herself in Texas at age 11, competing against — and often beating — high school-age players.

4. LUCY DARR, STILLWATER

Staying close to home at Oklahoma State, Darr has put together a strong high school career, including a 6A runner-up finish last spring. She’ll try to build off a strong 2023 summer season that included wins at OJGT and TJGT events, and top-fives at an AJGA tournament and the Hudson Junior Invitational.

5. JULIANA HONG, NORMAN NORTH

Hong took sixth place at the 6A state tournament as a freshman last year and had a strong finish last summer and fall, finishing top 10 in

three straight AJGA events. She also posted wins in the TJGT Red River Series and an OJGT event.

6. SYRAH JAVED, NORMAN NORTH

After a third-place finish at the 6A state tournament to cap her spring, Javed exploded to begin her senior year with a dominant showing against instate competition. She posted three OJGT wins in the fall, concluding with the Fall Finale. She also took second at the WOGA Girls Junior, finishing behind Natalie Blonien at the Golf Club of Oklahoma.

7. JACI HARTMAN, TURNER

Hartman was the 2A state runner-up as a freshman and sophomore before win -

Natalie Blonien

Lucy Darr

Evyn Cannon

Syrah Javed

Juliana Hong

Lisa Herman

ning the title by three shots as a junior. Now a senior, the Northern Colorado signee is looking to lead Turner back to the mountaintop. And she’s coming off a strong fall that saw her finish with a string of top-fives at OJGT events.

9. ALLIE JUSTIZ, BISHOP MCGUINNESS

his last two OJGT events to go with a pair of top-fives on other circuits.

8. PEYTON COBURN, BISHOP KELLEY

The Bradley signee is likely the top contender to push Altus’ Natalie Blonien for the 5A title after finishing third last year. She was right on Blonien’s heels at the WOGA Girls Junior Championship last summer, where Coburn took third.

Class 4A state runnerup to her younger sister, Abbie, last year, Allie is looking to build on a strong summer that included multiple top-10 finishes in OJGT, TJGT and AJGA events. That included taking fourth at the South Central Jr. PGA Championship. Now a senior, Allie has signed with Texas State.

10. RYLEE ROBERTS, EDMOND NORTH

3. COLLIN BOND, COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN

The Class 6A champion as a sophomore, Roberts signed with Oklahoma State in March. This spring she took home individual champion honors at the 6A State Preview, the Edmond North Invitational and the Lady Sabercat Invitational and had two top-20 AJGA finishes in 2023.

Five more to watch: Abbie Justiz, Bishop McGuinness; Josey Cavitt, Turner; Sophia Lefler, Jenks; Megan Kalapura, Holland Hall; McKenna Tatum, Edmond Memorial.

BOYS

1. PARKER SANDS, EDMOND NORTH

Bound for the University of Florida, Sands has shown the capability to post crazy scores, like his record 59 in the Oklahoma Open at Oak Tree Country Club last August, a 62 at the OGA Boys Junior Stroke Play Championship and a 65 at the AJGA Talor Gooch Foundation Junior Championship at Gaillardia Country Club. A top-50 player nationally on Junior Golf Scoreboard, Sands was the Class 6A runner-up by one shot last year and is among the top contenders this spring.

2. GRANT GUDGEL, STILLWATER

The Oklahoma State signee burst onto the scene when he won the 6A crown as a sophomore two years ago, and he’s been a consistent performer ever since. Like Sands, he has climbed into the top 50 nationally and will be a prime contender in 6A this spring. Gudgel finished first and second in

A late arrival on the golf scene, Bond didn’t really focus on golf until the summer of 2020 when the world was shut down by the Covid pandemic. Basketball had always been his passion, but his athletic nature and lanky frame helped his golf career blossom. He won the AJGA Payne Stewart Junior last year and had a strong OJGT fall season. The reigning 2A champion after winning the title by 12 shots last year, Bond has signed with OSU.

4. WILL HENNESSEE, BISHOP KELLEY

The defending 5A champion, winning by three strokes at The Territory last May, Hennessee spent his summer playing in some unique events and posting high finishes. He was the runner-up at the TJGT State Match Play Invitational and took third in the Gator Invitational in Mississippi. Likewise, his college choice is outside the box, too. He has signed with Seton Hall.

5. CAMERON CHEEK, OWASSO

Another player who came to golf later than most high school stars, Cheek was a highly gifted tennis player in his younger years, reaching the top 50 of the junior rankings. But at age 16, he swapped his racket for a set of clubs and hasn’t looked back. The Oklahoma signee won three OJGT tournaments last year, as well as the South Central PGA Players Tour event at Stillwater Country Club.

6. PRESTON ALBEE, CHOCTAW

Albee enters the season sitting on the bubble of the top-100 national rankings. A junior for the Yellowjackets, Albee is among the loaded field of contenders for the 6A title. His summer was highlighted by three straight top-five finishes on the AJGA cir-

Cameron Cheek

Collin Bond

Will Hennessee

Rylee Roberts

Jaci Hartman

Parker Sands

Grant Gudgel

Allie Justiz

Peyton Coburn

Preston Albee

cuit, including a win in the Talor Gooch Foundation Junior Championship and a runner-up in the Joplin Junior.

7. CHASE HUGHES, OKLAHOMA CITY

For those interested in watching for the next wave of talent, keep an eye on Hughes, who is only an eighth-grader, but has held his own with the state’s best

juniors at any age. He won an AJGA and Texas Junior Golf Tour event last year, and has finished in the top five in four OJGT events.

8. SAM BONAOBRA, UNION

Bonaobra heads into his junior season coming off a run of success to close the fall. He finished with a win in the US Kids Teen Series at Battle Creek and two straight OJGT runners-up. He’s looking to improve on his seventh-place finish in the 6A state tournament.

9. SAM MORRIS, JENKS

Yet another talented player in the highly competitive 6A field, Morris will stay in the Tulsa area for college, having signed with Oral Roberts. Following a top-10 at state last year, he carried momentum into the OJGT schedule, where he closed with a win in the Firelake Junior Classic.

10. EMERSON MAJMA, EDMOND

A freshman homeschool student who is competing with the OKC Storm, Majma won his first true high school tournament in Wichita Falls, Texas, in early March. He also has multiple top-five OJGT finishes and was one of 88 to qualify for the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship, where he took 12th last November.

Five more to watch: Mason Haley, Enid; Ben Lathrop, Heritage Hall; Parker Payne, Noble; Carter Ray, Walters; Josh Stuart, Norman North.

Sam Bonaobra

Sam Morris

Emerson Majma

Mason Haley Ben Lathrop Carter Ray

Parker Payne

Chase Hughes

Municipal golf champion

Lehr's support lifted Bailey Ranch through good times and bad

by ken macleod

Every municipal golf course should have a Warren Lehr watching out for it.

Lehr was the first head professional at what was then known as Bailey Golf Ranch and now Bailey Ranch Golf Club in Owasso when it opened in 1993 in the midst of the country club for a day boom.

After a roaring first six years in which the club not only paid its operational budget but made debt service payments as well, he left in 1999 to be the director of golf at the high-end Paako Ridge in the Sandia Mountains above Albuquerque.

When Lehr returned to Owasso to help care for ailing parents in 2006 by accepting a post as the manager of golf and parks for the City of Owasso, things were not quite the same at Bailey Ranch.

The golf course boom sweeping the country had crested in the Tulsa area with the opening of more than a dozen new courses since 1988. At Bailey Ranch, some crucial mistakes had been made on the agronomy side by previous superintendents, particularly after the club lost Tim Lampton to Tulsa Country Club. That resulted in large portions of the greens dying.

And the financial crisis of 2007-08 was looming.

Bailey Ranch is also a vital part of the greater Tulsa golf community, serving as home for many college and high school events as well as tournaments on the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour, Tulsa Golf Association and Oklahoma Golf Association.

Even during the past few years when Bailey Ranch missed out on part of the Co -

“We went on a lot of rides on the course where we discussed everything,” Burd said. “His door was always open and still is. I could ask his opinions and I valued them. He’s been hugely instrumental in the success we’ve had.

“Warren is just a consummate professional who cares about the course and his people. He’s fair and honest and just a good guy to have on your side.”

Rounds which had been steady at well over 30,000 dipped some years to around 15,000. Subsidies were needed from the city to not only pay bills but to implement needed repairs.

Lehr never wavered. He knew what the golf course had meant to the city and what it would mean again when the tide turned. As he moved up to become assistant city manager in 2009 and then became city manager in 2014, he made certain the course had the resources it needed to remain a vital part of the fabric of life in the fast-growing suburb which now has right around 40,000 residents.

“When you look at it, Bailey Ranch was the first attraction in Owasso for anyone outside of the city to come to,” Lehr said. “And it has resulted in millions of dollars of real estate taxes (more than 500 homes are in the housing developments that sprang up around the course.) “

vid golf boom by first deciding it was time to retire its 25-year-old bent grass greens and switch to Bermuda and then losing a good portion of the new greens during the winter kill of 2022-23, Lehr made sure superintendent Chris Cook and director of golf Corey Burd had the backing of the city to stick with the repairs.

Play is now booming and the course is poised to do more than 40,000 rounds this fiscal year. Lehr has helped shore up many areas of Owasso city government with his conservative nature, attention to detail and astute management skills and was celebrated by many constituencies at his recent retirement in March.

Burd started at Bailey Ranch as an assistant in 1999 and was named the head professional in 2004 despite not having his Class A PGA membership secured as yet. When Lehr returned in 2007, he became a mentor and a friend.

Burd’s grandfather ran the Angus cattle ranch on which Bailey Ranch is built and he spent his childhood fishing in the ponds and quail hunting on the property. Now 16 years in to being the director of golf, he also coaches the high school teams and appreciates all that the golf course has meant to the community.

“It’s kind of put us on the map,” Burd said. “It’s been the impetus for millions of dollars of economic growth.”

Lehr said his training as a PGA golf professional was ideal for running a city. He pointed out that much like police, fire, finance, parks, community development, public works and other departments are all going their own way, it’s similar to a course where the restaurant staff, maintenance staff, pro shop workers, outside cart barn and range staff are independent fiefdoms.

“You don’t have to be an expert in every area to have an eye for finding good people,” Lehr said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a golf course, IBM or a church, the most important thing you can do is identify, recruit, hire, train and retain good people.”

Lehr began his career as an assistant at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth where he would have conversations on the range with Ben Hogan. He then went to LaQuinta Golf Club in Palm Springs, Calif., in 1987 and came to Oklahoma in 1990, serving three years as an assistant to Jerry Cozby at Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville, where he learned the meaning of 70-hour work weeks.

He was more than prepared when he was hired to run Bailey Ranch. And he’s always believed any subsidy the city made either in operations or capital expenditures for repairs or improvements would flow back to the city many times.

That’s a message not always easy to con-

Warren Lehr and Corey Burd at Bailey Ranch

vey when you have multiple constituencies battling for limited funds.

“It’s called constructive dissatisfaction,” Lehr said. “You are successful when everyone is happy enough they are not too mad at you. You try to lead in a way that keeps things moving forward at a rate that people can accept. Some are more interested in parks, some roads, some golf.

“Chris and Corey are very good at what they do and that’s been been great for the course.”

While many municipalities waver in their commitment to golf, it only makes sense that if you build and own the course as a quality of life issue for your citizens, then you take care of it like you would any other park or museum, and that includes occasional capital improvement expenditures as well as a subsidy as necessary. Lehr has always fully understood that and been willing to share his commitment with others. He developed a 14 bullet point list of

Falconhead Resort set to celebrate Pete Brown's historic victory

by jay c upchurch

Prior to his arrival at the 1964 Waco Turner Open, Pete Brown had done very little during his previous 21 PGA Tour starts to make anyone believe he would be a serious contender that week, much less be on the verge of making history.

The Mississippi native was fresh off of a missed cut at the Texas Open Invitational and had managed only one top-20 finish — a tie for 15th at the 1963 St. Paul Open Invitational eight months earlier — when he and best friend Charlie Sifford pulled onto the property at Turner’s Lodge, located two miles north of the small Oklahoma town of Burneyville.

While Brown had more than proven his talents during a decade-long stay on what was known as the “Chitlin Circuit,” winning four Negro National Opens and a trio of North & South Championships — that success had not yet translated over to his first two seasons on the PGA Tour.

And with proven names like Miller Barber, Gay Brewer, Bruce Crampton, Raymond Floyd, George Archer and Dan Sikes among the 150 players in the Waco Turner Open field, the 29-year-old Brown was simply looking for something positive to build on.

Sifford never quite got going during the final round that featured blustery conditions, but Brown was solid all day long. And when he arrived at the 72nd hole, he owned a one-shot lead over Sikes, whose chip-in for birdie moments earlier had given him a final-round 67.

“I knew I could be the first member of my race to win an official tour tournament if I parred the 18th hole,” Brown told Oklahoman and Times writer Wally Wallis afterward. “I was scared to death.”

The closing hole was a demanding, uphill 234-yard par-3, and Brown hit his tee shot to the front fringe just short of the putting sur-

Jim Dent and Jim Thorpe, who followed him onto the PGA Tour.

THE AFTERMATH

Brown’s history-making victory in Oklahoma never really made national headlines, and while its significance remained evident in the continued racial evolution of the PGA Tour — the memory of his accomplishment faded with each passing year.

After graduating from the regular tour to the PGA Senior Tour for a few seasons, Brown helped make ends meet by running the Madden Golf Course in Dayton, Ohio, where he had moved his family in 1981. He was the head pro and his wife, Margaret, ran the course restaurant for 24 years.

“I had started off the year playing pretty good but had not been able put together four good rounds at any point. That can shake a man’s confidence,” said Brown in a 2008 interview. “But I was always working on my game and I still believed I had what it took to play with those guys.”

Brown opened the ’64 Turner Open with a pair of 1-under 71s, which left him tied for ninth, four shots off the lead held by Moon Mullins (71-67). A third-round 68 bounced the 29-year-old Brown up the leaderboard and into a tie for second with Sifford, a single shot behind leader Dudley Wysong (69-71-69).

Going into Sunday’s final round, Brown and Sifford — the first two African-American golfers to play on the PGA Tour after it abolished a long-standing “Caucasian Only” clause in 1961 — were both in position to make history as the first person of color to win a PGA Tour event.

face. Close to 1,000 patrons looked on as his ensuing chip shot rolled past the hole, leaving him just under 3 feet away from immortality.

Cheers rang out across the demanding par-72, 7,040-yard course as Brown calmly sank the decisive putt to etch his name into golf history via a one-shot victory.

“Being the first Black player to win a PGA event was special,” Brown said in 2008. “I knew it was important because of the struggles we had endured just to play on the regular tour, but I don’t believe I realized how truly significant it was until later on.”

While his only other victory would come at the 1970 Andy Williams-San Diego Open, Brown ultimately enjoyed a 17year career on the PGA Tour, making 365 official starts and pocketing more than $214,000 career earnings.

More importantly, his courage and success helped paved the way for other Black players including Lee Elder, Calvin Peete,

In 1989, a bad back forced Brown to retire from competition at age 54. That same year, Don and Barbara Sessions moved back to Oklahoma after spending several years in New York City. The couple and their 4-year-old son just happened to choose Falconhead Resort — formerly known as Turner’s Lodge — as their new home.

Barbara Sessions was immediately intrigued by the history of the property and she has spent the past 35 years researching and documenting the contributions that Waco and Opie Turner made to golf, the most famous chapter of which revolves around Pete Brown’s historic victory there in 1964.

“Once we moved here, I begin to realize that some very significant golf had happened at this site thanks to the Turners,” said Sessions. “With my background in journalism and love for history, everything just took off from there — and my main goal has been to tell their story.”

A TIME TO CELEBRATE

Sessions played a major role in helping establish Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum, which officially opened in 2019, around the same time she began thinking about a way to further commemorate Brown’s memorable win.

Unfortunately, Brown passed away in 2015 from congestive heart failure, but that

Pete Brown, left, shown here with Lee Elder at the PGA National Team Championship in Oklahoma City in 1968.

Courtesy Turner's Lodge Pro Golf Museum

has not stopped Sessions from doing everything in her power to keep his memory alive and well. Earlier this year, Sessions and Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum announced plans to host the Pete Brown Jubilee, celebrating the 60th anniversary of his triumph at the 1964 Waco Turner Open.

The event is set for May 1, 2024, and will include several keynote speakers, including black golf historian Ramona Harriet, during

For more information on the Pete Brown Jubilee, contact Barbara Sessions at Turner’s Lodge Pro Golf Museum, (580) 276-7587.

a program on the 18th green where Brown made history, along with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the museum’s newest exhibit entitled the “Life and Times of Pete Brown.”

“I’m not sure anyone can imagine what this means to our family,” said 84-year-old Margaret Brown. “I’m so proud and excited to know that Pete’s accomplishment in Oklahoma all those years ago is being celebrated again, and will live on forever thanks to Barbara and the museum there.

“It will be a truly special moment to stand there on the 18th green to relive Pete’s amazing victory.”

Exciting new changes have come to The Coves Golf Club.

The Coves Golf Club is South Grand Lake’s championship golf course and is on par to be one of the northeast Oklahoma’s premier courses. We look forward to having you visit us for your next round of golf. Our new white sand traps are in, a beautiful new clubhouse renovation is wrapping up, and our community and memberships are growing. It’s a perfect place to spend your next golf outing.

•

•

Rose Creek, The Coves COMPLETE CLUBHOUSE EXPANSIONS, CONTINUE COURSE IMPROVEMENTS

by ken macleod

Construction costs have soared since the pandemic, but so have private golf club memberships throughout the country, making it sort of the best of times and the worst of times to invest in capital improvement projects.

Many Oklahoma clubs are taking the optimistic view and using this boom time in golf to dramatically improve their courses and facilities. Here are a couple of striking examples:

THE COVES GOLF CLUB

The Coves, an 18-hole semi-private resort course on Bird Island on the shores of Grand Lake, has recently completed a massive expansion of its clubhouse and a complete renovation of all of its bunkers.

The course also purchased $80,000 worth of topsoil to level areas and, coupled with a tree trimming and removal program, greatly expand turf grass coverage.

The bunker project was done by United Golf of Tulsa and included adding white granite sand from Arkansas.

“It’s made a huge difference both aesthetically and strategically,” said Mark Hill, director of golf. “The course just keeps getting better and better.”

The clubhouse project was recently completed and included adding 2,800 square feet

of seating, expanding the kitchen and building a beautiful new deck with seating for another 50 on a rise above the course. It has greatly expanded the social and tournament capabilities for the course, which serves a fast-growing community of resident lake dwellers as well as visitors. Most of the lakeside lots in The Coves are sold but spec homes are going up and other lots are selling

quickly as well.

Hill said the course has 24 tournaments scheduled for 2024 and the new clubhouse also offers residents the ability to have din ners and social events.

Hill said the course is adding 30 new golf carts as well as other continued improve ments. For more information, go to www. thecovesgrandlake.com.

Above, the expanded dining, bar and patio at The Coves.

More room for functions, parties and more at The Coves.

"one of the most fulfilling municipal golf options in the country"

ROSE CREEK GOLF CLUB, EDMOND

When Alex Hammill pulled together a group of investors to purchase Rose Creek Golf Club in Edmond from Tour 18 in 2022, there was no question about diving in to major renovations. The previous owners had let the condition of the Arthur Hillsdesigned golf course deteriorate greatly, including not repairing significant winterkill from the winter of 2021. Consequently, despite a booming local housing neighborhood to draw from, membership had dipped below 100.

Hammill, a supremely confident 44-year-old Australian with a long history of working in hospitality, including restaurants and boutique hotels in Los Angeles followed by club management companies Club Corp and Arcis, took both what he had learned that worked and just as importantly what didn’t

work in forming the philosophy that would guide his investment decisions and management style at Rose Creek.

“The management companies that offer a cookie cutter experience and just send money off to the home office is why I started my company,” Hammill said. “I really focus on the experience, the hospitality. I have my own unique methods that separate me from everyone else in the industry.”

Hammill has more than backed up his bold talk. He and his investors have so far pumped more than $6 million into a total rebuild of the clubhouse, massive course improvements and additions such as pickleball courts, golf simulator and arcade and much more to come.

The result was what Hammill described

as a “tsunami of new members,” with Rose Creek adding over 1,100 new members between golf and social members.

The golf course is the foundation of any private club and much is going on to improve things there, including a completely new irrigation system, 120,000 square feet of sod added to replace the damaged turf, more frequent aerification and fertilizer,

Below, one of three rooms in Cache, Rose Creek's speakeasy with a 1920s Parisian vibe.

Patio area of new Neighborhood Provisions restaurant.

Alex Hammill

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Jack Nicklaus, Honorary Chairman of Patriot Golf Days

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rebuilding every bunker with Better Billy Bunker liners and premium white sand added, leveling of tee boxes, expansion of ponds and improvements to the pitching and putting practice areas.

Hammill said the course is 80 percent where he wants it and to appreciate where it is today one has to consider how much it had been allowed to deteriorate. It will continue to improve in 2024 with a consistent maintenance program and the remainder of the irrigation system installed.

Many of the other changes are complete, however, and several are stunning.

The restaurant area and patio have been greatly expanded with a light and airy feel, and comfortable seating. Chef Jim Camp runs the kitchen at what is called Neighborhood Provisions and the restaurant and patio are open to the public.

vibe with three dimly lit rooms featuring a bar, pool and other games. Anyone caught talking on their cell phone goes on the Wall of Shame and has to buy a round for

2.5 acres in front of the club he is planning The Retreat, to feature a family pool, adult-only pool, a fitness facility, rooftop bar and terrace, coffee bar, day care, barber shop, a spa and more.

Not open to the public is the passage to the club’s speakeasy Cache, a 1920s Paris

the house. It’s definitely one of the coolest amenities we’ve seen in our travels to golf courses around the country.

Hammill is not slowing down. In the

“The goal for members is you can get everything you need to get done in one place,” Hammill said. “You can have one of the best meals, workout, sauna, play golf, use the simulator, pickleball, just everything. And that’s why there’s a lot of excitement around here right now.”

Hammill, who did some work for The Greens Country Club when first moving to Oklahoma City before purchasing Rose Creek, makes certain all of his hospitality options appeal to women to keep those who are not golfers using the club as much as possible.

After this complete turnabout of Rose Creek, it’s highly likely his services may be in demand at other clubs in the state.

Anyone caught using a cell phone in Cache goes on the Wall of Shame.

this is different

Hard Rock Hotel coming to Pointe Vista

by ken macleod

An indoor water park, an 11-acre swimming pool with white sandy beaches and swim up bars, an outdoor amphitheater for concerts as well as spas, body fitness, restaurants and bars are among the amenities to be included in the Hark Rock Hotel at Pointe Vista Resort at Lake Texoma.

All of which means better days lie ahead for Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course, one of the state’s top public courses but in need of some TLC after years of carrying the Pointe Vista development while it worked slowly toward having somewhere for people to actually stay and play, whether the play is golf, boating on Lake Texoma or all the activities that the Hard Rock brand includes.

The Hard Rock Hotel is projected to open in 2026. Both the Hard Rock and West Bay are on lands once occupied by the old Lake Texoma state park golf course and lodge which were closed in 2006. Pointe Vista Development led by CEO Mark Fischer has been working through many issues since to bring the long promised resort to where it includes both public and private lodging as well as amenities and entertainment for the public.

Chickasaw Pointe, a Randy Heckenkemper design, opened in 1999 as the flagship course for the State Park golf course system and was sold to Pointe Vista in 2008. Ryan Chapman was the pro at Chickasaw Pointe at that time and now manages the golf course, rapidly expanding marina and oversees the development project.

Chapman is excited to see the Hard Rock project this close to fruition and expects it will mean a significant reinvestment in the golf course to have it prepared to be a flag ship amenity of the resort.

Already there has been a conversion of the ultradwarf Bermuda greens from Champion to TifEagle as well as add $300,000 in irrigation repairs. The new greens should be fully healed back in after a month or so of hot weather this spring/summer.

“I expect the golf course will improve dramatically as we start to put significant money back into it,” Chapman said. “It’s been in a bit of a holding pattern like everything else with nowhere to stay down here. Now you have the 40 rooms and 10 cabins open at West Bay and the Hard Rock on the way.”

Also being developed are condos and private housing on the shores of Lake Texoma where previously four holes of Chickasaw Pointe resided until they were relocated in 2015.

The new resort hotel will consist of 189 rooms and be located near the existing West Bay Casino and Resort which itself has 40 rooms and a 9,600 square foot casino, adding gambling to the options for guests.

“I’ve gone from giving lessons to overseeing the operations of not just a golf course but a large marina and this development,” Chapman said. “Pretty heady stuff for a washed up old golf pro.”

“We’re excited to expand our award-winning hotel portfolio and bring our unique brand of hospitality and entertainment to Lake Texoma and the Pointe Vista development,” said Todd Hricko, Senior Vice President and head of Global Hotel Development for Hard Rock International, in a press release.

Rendering of new hotel and resort

Save shots by sharpening short game

It’s spring and a good time to go over these golf thoughts:

1, What is the weakest part of my game? 2. Which shots (putts, chips, woods) do I hit most during a round of golf?

Think about this. A round of golf consists of 18 holes. The National Golf Foundation reports that 74 percent of golfers do not break 90 on a regular basis.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, you shoot 90 on a regular basis. There are typically four par-3s, so you will typically hit driver 14 times or 16 percent of your round. On average, this will leave you with a shot to the green that will require an iron or a wood.

Since there are 10 par-4s, four par-5s, and four par-3s, on the average you will be required to hit a minimum of 28 iron/wood shots or 31 percent of your shots from fairway or rough. So, you have hit 47 percent of your total shots and we have not even talked about chipping or putting yet. Roughly 48

shots are left for chipping/putting. An average golfer who shoots 90 might hit five greens in regulation. So, there will be 13 chip shots, which means 35 putts for 18 holes, or 1.94 putts per green average. There’s not much room for a three-putt here. This means on average you should be two-putting each hole. And one-putt one of the holes. All of this to score a 90.

Let’s go a step further, take 18 full-swing iron/ wood shots and we assume we hit every green in regulation. Then add an average of two putts per hole, 36, that gives us a 68, a terrific score. Where do the shots go? The best players on the PGA Tour only average hitting 12 greens per round -- that means we will have to do some chipping/ pitching/and putting along the way. The best players in the world have on average at least six chipping/pitching/sand opportunities ev-

ery time they step on the course. An average player who hits six greens in regulation will have 12 opportunities to make par from off green. A player pars the six holes but fails to get up and down the other 12, score = 84. This means chipping/ putting will account for at least 48 shots or 57% of all the shots you hit on the golf course and all of this is without one three-putt.

A player who focuses on the short game will on average get up and down half of those to save par, and will hit two birdie putts per round. That gives them a score of 76 which most 90 shooters would be happy to take. That is a drop of 14 shots without technically changing any aspect of your full swing or long game.

I hope this makes you rationalize value of the short game.

Maggie Roller is the director of instruction at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow. Contact her at maggie.roller@sbcglobal.net.

Maggie Roller

Jenni Roller putting in the OGA Junior

SCHEDULES: More at www.golfoklahoma.org

OKLAHOMA GOLF ASSOCIATION

May 6-7, OGA Four-Ball, Senior Four-Ball, The Club at Forest Ridge, Broken Arrow

June 3-6, OGA Junior Boys and Girls, KickingBird Golf Club, Edmond

June 17-19, OGA Stroke Play, WinStar Resort, Thackerville

June 24-27, OGA Senior State Amateur, Cedar Ridge CC, Broken Arrow

July 8, OGA State Amateur Qualifier #1, Lincoln Park West, OKC

July 11, OGA State Amateur Qualifier #2, Forest Ridge

July 23-26, OGA State Amateur, The Patriot, Owasso

Aug. 5-6, OGA Senior and Super Senior Stroke Play Championship, Meadowbrook CC, TULSA

Aug. 5-6, OGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship, Meadowbrook CC, Tulsa

Aug. 12-13, OGA Mid-Amateur Championship, Winter Creek Golf Club, Blanchard

Aug. 22-24, Oklahoma Open, Oak Tree CC East, Edmond

Sept. 23, OGA Four-Ball Net Championship, The Trails Golf Club, Norman

OKLAHOMA JUNIOR GOLF TOUR

April 6-7, Ponca City Spring Classic

April 13-14, Lake Hefner South Spring Challenge, OKC

April 20-21, OJGT/TJGT Red River Team Challenge, Dornick Hills

May 11-12, Lincoln Park East Junior Open, OKC

May 18-19, Muskogee Spring Championship

May 28, Oak Tree Junior Classic, Edmond

Aug. 31-Sept 1, John Conrad Fall Classic, Midwest City

Sept. 7-8, Bailey Ranch Bash, Owasso

Sept. 14-15, Page Belcher Junior Championship, Tulsa

Sept. 21-22, Firelake Junior Open, Shawnee

Sept. 28-29, Lake Hefner (North) Fall Championship, OKC

Oct. 5-6, Lincoln Park Best of the West, OKC

Oct. 12-13, OJGT Fall Finale, KickingBird Golf Course, Edmond

Oct. 26-27, OJGT/TJGT Red River Team Challenge, Dornick Hills, Ardmore

Nov. 20-21, Red River Cup Matches, TBA

USGA

Aug. 5-11, U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, Southern Hills CC, Tulsa

USGA QUALIFIERS

April 22, U.S. Open Local Qualifying, The Territory, Duncan

June 10, U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier, boys and girls, Dornick Hills, Ardmore

June 12, U.S. Amateur Qualifier, KickingBird Golf Course, Edmond

June 29, U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifier, men’s and women’s, Winter Creek GC, Blanchard

Aug. 1, U.S. Senior men’s and women’s qualifier, Shawnee CC

WOGA

April 22-23, WOGA Senior Championship, Meadowbrook CC, Tulsa

May 7-8, WOGA Stableford Partnership, Lincoln Park, OKC

June  17-18, WOGA Stroke Play/Mid-Am Championship, Muskogee Golf Club

July 7-9, WOGA Girls’ Junior State Championship, Rose Creek GC, OKC

July 22-25, Women’s Oklahoma State Amateur Championship, Stillwater Country Club

July 28-30, Fore State Championship, HardScrabble CC, Ft. Smith, Ark.

August 19-20, WOGA Four-Ball Partnership,

Shangri-La Resort, Monkey Island

September 10-11, WOGA CUP, The Trails Golf Club, Norman

THE PLAYERS TOUR

PGA SOUTH CENTRAL SECTION

May 31-June 1, Jim Hitch Memorial, Sunset Hills, Guymon

June 10-11, Willowbend GC, Wichita, Kan.

June 17-18, Lost Springs PT/Jr. PGA qualifier, Lost Springs G&CC, Rogers, Ark.

June 24-25, Search Country Club, Search, Ark.

July 1-2, Forest Ridge PT/Jr. PGA Qualilfier, The Club at Forest Ridge, Broken Arrow

July 8-9, Meadowbrook CC, Tulsa

July 15-16, Muskogee Golf Club

July 22-23, Cimarron National, Guthrie

July 29-30, The Trails GC, Norman

OKLAHOMA HIGH SCHOOLS GIRLS

April 29-30

Class 2A, Prairie West Golf Course, Weatherford

Class 3A, Lincoln Park East, Oklahoma City

Class 4A, Winter Creek Golf Club, Blanchard

Class 5A, Muskogee Golf Club

Class 6A, Stillwater Country Club BOYS

May 6-7

Class 2A, Territory Golf Club, Duncan

Class 3A, Muskogee Golf Club

Class 4A, Shangri-La Resort, Afton

Class 5A, Winter Creek Golf Club, Blanchard

Class 6A, Oaks Country Club, Tulsa

TULSA GOLF ASSOCIATION

April 6-7, TGA Two-Man Challenge, South Lakes GC, Jenks

April 23, Three-man Team, Hillcrest CC, Bartlesville

May 7-8, TGA Senior Stroke Play, South Lakes GC, Jenks

May 21, Three-man Shamble, Shangri-La Resort, Afton

June 1-2, TGA Two-Man Challenge II, Bailey Ranch, Owasso

June 13, Three-man team, Forest Ridge, Broken Arrow

June 22-23, TGA Stroke Play, LaFortune Park, Tulsa

July 20-21, TGA Four-Ball, Stone Creek GC, Tulsa

Sept. 5, Three-man team Shamble, Meadowbrook CC, Tulsa

Oct. 3, TGA Par-3 Two-Man Shamble, LaFortune Park, Tulsa

COLLEGE

Oct. 21-23, Jackson T Stephens Cup, Oklahoma City G & CC

AJGA

Aug. 5, Qualifier for Talor Gooch Foundation Junior Championship, Gaillardia CC, OKC

Aug. 6-9, Talor Gooch Foundation Junior Championship, Gaillardia CC, OKC

PROFESSIONAL EVENTS

KORN FERRY TOUR

June 20-23, Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course, Norman

ALL PRO TOUR

May 22-25, Real Okie Classic, Muskogee Golf Club

June 12-15, The Territory Classic, The Territory, Duncan

Aug. 27-30, The Oklahoma Championship, Indian Springs CC, Broken Arrow

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