Noto Lands Dream Win

Noto Honored To Follow In Footsteps of Greats

For a long time, the greatest thrill of David Noto’s golfing career was shooting the low round of the tournament for Georgia Southern University at Augusta National Golf Club too many years ago. His 74 that day, 34 and 40, earned him a $100 gift certificate for the pro shop where he chose a tie - Augusta National green – that he still owns to this day. But what Noto did in the Georgia GCSA golf championship last fall was “right up there with that.”

It wasn’t simply that Noto, 45, from Mossy Creek Golf Course in Cleveland, won the superintendent golf championship. He’d already checked that box, winning in 2011. But to do so in November at Atlanta Athletic Club was something several magnitudes for someone with such a genuine appreciation for the history of the club and the game.

Palmer Maples, Jr., CGCS with host superintendent, Ken Mangum, CGCS and Milliken’s Cordie Morgan.

David Noto walked down the halls of history as a champion at Atlanta Athletic Club and paid homage to Bobby Jones along the way.

Golf championship presenting sponsors from Greenville Turf and Tractor, Lon Fleming and Mark Hendricks, along with Georgia GCSA golf committee chair, Lane Singleton, welcome winners to the stage.

“I really wanted to win the championship there. I’m not going to downplay how much I wanted to do it at all,” he says. “To be playing on that course where so many of the greats of the game have played made it really kind of special. When I was chipping and putting I was thinking about some of the names of those who had walked on that same ground. To see all the trophies and plaques in the clubhouse, well, I was very honored just to be there.”

Noto’s anticipation and enthusiasm for the event was so great that by the time he stepped onto the first tee he was, quite simply, “really nervous.” It showed. His swing was quicker than it should have been and he struggled to find the fairway over the first four holes, making bogey on each. “And they were good bogies,” he says, referring to some quality scrambling to limit the damage. Even so, things certainly weren’t looking good.

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Highlands Course

Superintendent Championship Superintendent Championship (0-8hcp): 1 – David Noto, Mossy Creek Golf Course ..................................79 2 – James Morton, Coweta Club ................................................82

Open Division Championship Open Division Championship (0-8hcp): 1 – Brandon Smith, Trophy Club of Atlanta .................................80 2 – Trey Warnock, Bayer Environmental Science ........................82

Superintendent Modified Stableford (9-13hcp): 1 – Jud James, Canongate at Whitewater Creek ........................+6 2 – Nathan Caffarelli, Bowden Golf Course .................................+1

Open Modified Stableford (9-13hcp): 1 – Robert Padgett, Champions Retreat Golf Club .......................+5 2 – Aaron Michaels, The Manor Golf and Country Club ...............+3

Closest to the pin: No. 4 (9-13hcp) – Lon Buckler, A.M. Buckler and Associates No. 15 (0-8hcp) – Clayton Chandler, ABAC (student)

Longest drive: No. 3 (0-8hcp) – Carey Jackson, Skelton-Morris Associates No. 12 (9-13hcp) – Heath Allen, Kinderlou Forest Golf Club

Chris Hall, of Arborguard Tree Specialists, the reigning Georgia State Senior Mid-Amateur champion, follows his approach to the hole.

Riverside Course

Superintendent Modified Stableford (14-18hcp): 1 – Mike Crawford, CGCS TPC Sugarloaf ....................................+7 2 – Patrick Patterson – Alpharetta Athletic Club – West Course .....+6

Superintendent Modified Stableford (19-30hcp): 1 – Sam Welch, Horseshoe Bend Country Club ......................... +6* 2 – Jason Edwards, The Lion Golf Club ......................................+6

Open Modified Stableford (14-18hcp): 1 – Josh Dowling, Capital City Club Brookhaven ........................+4 2 – Greg Hill, John Deere Landscapes ........................................+2

Open Modified Stableford (19-30hcp): 1 – Mike Ruizzo, Bayer Environmental Science ..........................+4 2 – Merett Alexander, NG Turf.....................................................+3

Closest to the pin: No. 6 (14-18hcp) – Mike Crawford, CGCS TPC Sugarloaf No. 11 (19-30hcp) – Jeff Dekle, Bulloch Fertilizer

Longest drive: No. 1 (14-18hcp) – Blake Austin, Peachtree Golf Club No. 18 (19-30hcp) – Merett Alexander, NG Turf *won on scorecard playoff.

Andrew Saft eyes a long putt on the par three 17th hole on the Highlands Course.

Brandon Smith, Trophy Club of Atlanta, won the open division.

At some point Noto recalled how that same quick swing brought him undone in the same championship a year earlier ultimately turning a six-stroke lead into deficit as he carded an 80 in the second round. This time, he slowed down and managed to get his round back on track and played his next dozen holes in three over. If he could par the two closing holes he would break 80 and given the degree of challenge, he wondered if that might be enough.

His playing partners hit first on the par three 17th and both finished in the water so Noto pulled an extra club concerned that the growing cold was restricting ball flight. It was a good decision as his eight-iron settled in the middle of the green. As his group moved to the 18th tee, Noto knew he was at least the leader in his group.

One of his partners was Rob Roy, from The River Club, and the two had been locked together until Roy’s water ball on 17. That gap grew when Roy, knowing he had to make up ground, went for the green in two on the par five closing hole and found water again. By contrast Noto hit driver, sand wedge, sand wedge to find the green and secure a two-putt par. “For me, I thought 79 was pretty good given how difficult the course was playing,” he says.

Later that night as Noto walked the corridors of the clubhouse once more, this time carrying a trophy like so many of the game’s greats had, he let the smile sweep across his face. The nerves were gone but the delight was obvious. It had been his first round on the golf course but he felt he knew it well having devoured television coverage of the 2011 PGA Championship there. “I’d never watched so much golf before,” he says. “And then here I was…”

With his win, Noto secured an automatic exemption to the Georgia State Mid-Amateur Championship this year. It’s an event he will be sure not to miss, something that did happen when he went to sign up for the 2012 Mid-Am as a result of his 2011 superintendent championship win. “I had gotten really busy at the golf course and I was a day late with my registration,” he says. “So I’m really looking forward to the chance to play in it in 2014.” Q