In an effort to promote more participation and give back to our supporters, the Chattanooga Chapter TN PGA has developed the Partners Circle Pro-Am Series.
Each Pro-Am has a point value that each participant will receive for playing in that Pro-Am. Every player accumulating 50% or more of available points will be eiligible to participate in our season end Partners Circle Golf Day at Cleveland Country Club on August 23.
On August 23 all eligible players will have their Pro-Am entry fee paid for by the Chattanooga Chapter TN PGA and will have an opportunity to win gift certificates to the CCC pro shop.
The Chattanooga Chapter TN PGA wants to thank all that have supported our Pro-Ams over the years. Your support has enabled us to contribute over $130,000 to area junior golf and other various golf related needs
We look forward to your continued support as we embark on this new format.
Chattanooga Chapter TN PGA
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
2nd Annual 5G Shootout Sunday, September 27 at Black Creek
The 2nd Annual 5C (Chattanooga Classic CDGA Club Champions) Shootout at Black Creek will be played this Sunday, September 27, 3:00 PM. Players should arrive at 2:00 PM for registration.
The event is part of this year's Chattanooga Classic activities and matches the club champion or designated player from each of the 18 clubs that make up the Chattanooga District Golf Association in a shootout format, the winner earning a spot in the Wednesday pro-am of the Nationwide Tour’s Chattanooga Classic.
The format will be three groups of six starting out on holes No. 1-3. The player who makes the highest score on a hole in each group is eliminated from that group, and in the case of ties, a chip-off will decide who gets eliminated.
Once each of these three groups is down to just two players the final six will head to #5 tee to play holes 5 – 9. The last one standing after #9 is the 5C Shootout Champion, winning a coveted spot in the Chattanooga Classic Wednesday pro-am.
Players representing CDGA clubs in this year's shootout are as follows:
Battlefield Adam Stephens
Bear Trace Brian Hughes
Black Creek Walt Moffitt
Brainerd Richard Keene
Brown Acres Travis Almond
Canyon Ridge Rusty Boyd
CGCC Tom Baird
Champions Club Logan Chambers
Cleveland Country Club Bob Rice
Council Fire Wes Gilliland
Creeks Bend Steve Sutton
Eagle Bluff TBD
Honors Chuck Jabaley
Lookout Mountain Doug Stein
Moccasin Bend Ray Cherry
Signal Mountain Jonathan Frost
Valleybrook Mitch Hufstetler
Windstone David Martin
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Chattanooga's Adam Mitchell Named to US Walker Cup Team
Adam Mitchell was on his way home from a fishing trip Saturday when the call he’d been waiting on for what seemed like forever came in on his cell phone.
Mitchell was driving through Chickamauga Battlefield at the time, which was somehow fitting. Surrounded by history as he pulled his car over to make sure he didn’t lose cell reception, Mitchell was about to embark on a historic journey of his own.
On the other line was a USGA official telling him the best news of his young life: a special committee had carefully considered his accomplishments of the last two summers and found him worthy of the United States Walker Cup team, which will play Great Britain and Ireland at famed Merion Golf Club in Armore, Pa. on Sept. 12-13.
Mitchell thus becomes the first golfer from Chattanooga, a town that has produced its fair share of amateur golf legends over the years, to play for his country. Talk about history.
“When the call came, I was just overwhelmed with joy,” Mitchell said. “This had been a goal of mine, and for it to happen … I’m at a loss for words right now, but the one thing that comes to mind is how much of an honor it’s going to be to play for my country.
“I could play golf for a long time and not do anything better than that.”
Merion has played host to more USGA events than any course in the country and been part of some of golf’s most memorable moments. Bobby Jones closed out his Grand Slam there in 1930. Ben Hogan lashed his famous 1-iron to the 18th green to win the 1950 U.S. Open. Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open championship and later famously quipped, “I love Merion, and I don’t even know her last name.”
The great Nicklaus once said that, “acre for acre [Merion] may be the best test of golf in the world.” Mitchell earned the chance to make some of his own history at Merion on the strength of a couple of summers of strong play. A year ago, he won the Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur. This summer, he finished third at the Dogwood Invitational and the Player’s Amateur, and was also 2-0-2 in the Palmer Cup, which clearly demonstrated his ability to excel in team golf.
“It’s an honor to know that the hard work I’ve put in, and the success I’ve been able to achieve on the golf course have been recognized,” Mitchell said. “I’m just going to work as hard as I can, on every aspect of my game, to make sure I’m ready.”
Mitchell will fly out of Chattanooga on Tuesday and play three rounds at Merion with his coach, long-time amateur stalwart Buddy Marucci, and the seven other players who were selected along with Mitchell on Saturday. Two more players will be chosen after the U.S. Amateur, played Aug. 24-30 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.
Here are short bios of all eight Walker Cup players provided by the USGA:
Bud Cauley, 19, Jacksonville, Fla.—Cauley won the 2009 Players Amateur this summer after completing a stellar freshman season at the University of Alabama. Cauley also shared medalist honors at the 2009 United States Collegiate Championship. A first-team All-American selection by Golfweek and PING second-team All-American selection in 2009, Cauley was a member of the 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup squad.
He earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SEC honors in 2009. In addition, he was a Hogan Award semifinalist and was an All-Nicklaus team selection. In 2008, Cauley won the Terra Cotta Invitational and was co-medalist at the Toyota World Junior Amateur Championships in Japan.
Rickie Fowler, 20, Murrieta, Calif.—Fowler has earned his second consecutive selection to the USA Walker Cup Team. He was 3-1 in his matches in 2007 and helped lead the USA to victory over Great Britain and Ireland.
Fowler, a two-time PING first-team All-American selection, finished third at both the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and the 2009 Sunnehanna Amateur, a tournament he won in 2007 and 2008. He has played in the past two U.S. Opens, tying for 60th in 2008 and missing the cut in 2009. A rising junior at Oklahoma State University, he also advanced to the third round of match play at this year’s U.S. Amateur Public Links.
In 2008, he reached the third round of match play at both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Amateur Public Links and was low individual scorer at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championship, in which the USA Team finished second. He became the first freshman to win the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s collegiate player, and was also named the nation’s top freshman, receiving the Phil Mickelson Award in 2008.
Brendan Gielow, 21, Muskegon, Mich.—Gielow won the 2009 Porter Cup and gathered top-10 finishes at the Northeast Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur and the Southern Amateur this year. A senior-to-be at Wake Forest University, Gielow won the Northeast Amateur and the VCU Shootout in 2008.
The three-time U.S. Amateur participant was runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Division I Central Regional and led Wake Forest to the team title, helping the Deacons to their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I Championship appearance. Gielow was recently named to the Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team for the third straight season. A double-major in Mathematics and Religion, he earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in high school, graduating 12th out of a class of 325.
Brian Harman, 22, Savannah, Ga.—Harman will be playing on his second USA Walker Cup Team. He went 2-0-1 to help the USA beat Great Britain and Ireland in 2005 at Chicago Golf Club.
The 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, Harman was a 2009 PING second-team All-American selection. He recently won the Dogwood Invitational and was runner-up at the Sunnehanna Amateur.
A five-time U.S. Amateur participant, Harman tied for ninth individually at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and led the University of Georgia to the semifinals on the team side. He was named to the PING All-Southeast Region Team and was a Golfweek Honorable Mention All-American in 2008.
Morgan Hoffmann, 19, Saddle Brook, N.J.—Hoffmann had a phenomenal freshman year at Oklahoma State University, winning the 2009 Big 12 Conference individual title and earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors. Hoffmann, a quarterfinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur, won three collegiate events in 2008-09. He was named a PING first-team All-American selection and received the 2009 Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s most outstanding freshman.
A 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup team member, Hoffmann tied Oklahoma State’s 18-hole scoring record with a 62 at the 2009 Southern Highland Collegiate.
Adam Mitchell, 22, Chattanooga, Tenn.—Mitchell won the 2008 Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur. A PING second-team All-American selection in 2008 and honorable mention All-America in 2009, Mitchell has played on the last two U.S. Palmer Cup teams.
In 2009, Mitchell gathered third-place finishes at the Dogwood Invitational and the Players Amateur. Mitchell, who recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Georgia, was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 2008 and second-team pick in 2009.
He shot a course-record and personal-best 60 and a tournament-record 197 at the 2004 Bubba Conlee National Tournament.
Nathan Smith, 30, Pittsburgh, Pa.—Smith, who played Division III collegiate golf at Allegheny (Pa.) College, won the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur at age 25, becoming the youngest winner in the championship’s history. Smith has had a stellar 2009 season, winning the Western Pennsylvania Amateur and the Pennsylvania Amateur Match Play. He has also recorded top-10 finishes at the Sunnehanna Amateur (T-4), the Northeast Amateur (T-7) and the Southern Amateur (T-7).
A two-time participant in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship and eight-time U.S. Amateur participant, he posted runner-up finishes at the Northeast Amateur and the Pennsylvania State Amateur in 2008.
Drew Weaver, 22, High Point, N.C.—Weaver qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open and tied for 40th. In 2007, he won the British Amateur, ending a 28-year drought of American winners, and was a USA Walker Cup Team alternate.
Weaver, a PING third-team All-American and All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection, tied for fourth at the Dogwood Invitational and shared seventh place at the Jones Cup in 2009. A recent graduate of Virginia Tech, he has played in four U.S. Amateurs, reaching match play in 2006 and 2007.
Weaver, a three-time All-ACC Men’s Golf Academic Team selection, played in the 2007 British Open and the 2008 Masters. In May, he was named the 2009 Virginia Tech ACC Male Scholar-Athlete.
Mitchell was driving through Chickamauga Battlefield at the time, which was somehow fitting. Surrounded by history as he pulled his car over to make sure he didn’t lose cell reception, Mitchell was about to embark on a historic journey of his own.
On the other line was a USGA official telling him the best news of his young life: a special committee had carefully considered his accomplishments of the last two summers and found him worthy of the United States Walker Cup team, which will play Great Britain and Ireland at famed Merion Golf Club in Armore, Pa. on Sept. 12-13.
Mitchell thus becomes the first golfer from Chattanooga, a town that has produced its fair share of amateur golf legends over the years, to play for his country. Talk about history.
“When the call came, I was just overwhelmed with joy,” Mitchell said. “This had been a goal of mine, and for it to happen … I’m at a loss for words right now, but the one thing that comes to mind is how much of an honor it’s going to be to play for my country.
“I could play golf for a long time and not do anything better than that.”
Merion has played host to more USGA events than any course in the country and been part of some of golf’s most memorable moments. Bobby Jones closed out his Grand Slam there in 1930. Ben Hogan lashed his famous 1-iron to the 18th green to win the 1950 U.S. Open. Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open championship and later famously quipped, “I love Merion, and I don’t even know her last name.”
The great Nicklaus once said that, “acre for acre [Merion] may be the best test of golf in the world.” Mitchell earned the chance to make some of his own history at Merion on the strength of a couple of summers of strong play. A year ago, he won the Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur. This summer, he finished third at the Dogwood Invitational and the Player’s Amateur, and was also 2-0-2 in the Palmer Cup, which clearly demonstrated his ability to excel in team golf.
“It’s an honor to know that the hard work I’ve put in, and the success I’ve been able to achieve on the golf course have been recognized,” Mitchell said. “I’m just going to work as hard as I can, on every aspect of my game, to make sure I’m ready.”
Mitchell will fly out of Chattanooga on Tuesday and play three rounds at Merion with his coach, long-time amateur stalwart Buddy Marucci, and the seven other players who were selected along with Mitchell on Saturday. Two more players will be chosen after the U.S. Amateur, played Aug. 24-30 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.
Here are short bios of all eight Walker Cup players provided by the USGA:
Bud Cauley, 19, Jacksonville, Fla.—Cauley won the 2009 Players Amateur this summer after completing a stellar freshman season at the University of Alabama. Cauley also shared medalist honors at the 2009 United States Collegiate Championship. A first-team All-American selection by Golfweek and PING second-team All-American selection in 2009, Cauley was a member of the 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup squad.
He earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SEC honors in 2009. In addition, he was a Hogan Award semifinalist and was an All-Nicklaus team selection. In 2008, Cauley won the Terra Cotta Invitational and was co-medalist at the Toyota World Junior Amateur Championships in Japan.
Rickie Fowler, 20, Murrieta, Calif.—Fowler has earned his second consecutive selection to the USA Walker Cup Team. He was 3-1 in his matches in 2007 and helped lead the USA to victory over Great Britain and Ireland.
Fowler, a two-time PING first-team All-American selection, finished third at both the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and the 2009 Sunnehanna Amateur, a tournament he won in 2007 and 2008. He has played in the past two U.S. Opens, tying for 60th in 2008 and missing the cut in 2009. A rising junior at Oklahoma State University, he also advanced to the third round of match play at this year’s U.S. Amateur Public Links.
In 2008, he reached the third round of match play at both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Amateur Public Links and was low individual scorer at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championship, in which the USA Team finished second. He became the first freshman to win the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s collegiate player, and was also named the nation’s top freshman, receiving the Phil Mickelson Award in 2008.
Brendan Gielow, 21, Muskegon, Mich.—Gielow won the 2009 Porter Cup and gathered top-10 finishes at the Northeast Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur and the Southern Amateur this year. A senior-to-be at Wake Forest University, Gielow won the Northeast Amateur and the VCU Shootout in 2008.
The three-time U.S. Amateur participant was runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Division I Central Regional and led Wake Forest to the team title, helping the Deacons to their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I Championship appearance. Gielow was recently named to the Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team for the third straight season. A double-major in Mathematics and Religion, he earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in high school, graduating 12th out of a class of 325.
Brian Harman, 22, Savannah, Ga.—Harman will be playing on his second USA Walker Cup Team. He went 2-0-1 to help the USA beat Great Britain and Ireland in 2005 at Chicago Golf Club.
The 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, Harman was a 2009 PING second-team All-American selection. He recently won the Dogwood Invitational and was runner-up at the Sunnehanna Amateur.
A five-time U.S. Amateur participant, Harman tied for ninth individually at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and led the University of Georgia to the semifinals on the team side. He was named to the PING All-Southeast Region Team and was a Golfweek Honorable Mention All-American in 2008.
Morgan Hoffmann, 19, Saddle Brook, N.J.—Hoffmann had a phenomenal freshman year at Oklahoma State University, winning the 2009 Big 12 Conference individual title and earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors. Hoffmann, a quarterfinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur, won three collegiate events in 2008-09. He was named a PING first-team All-American selection and received the 2009 Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s most outstanding freshman.
A 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup team member, Hoffmann tied Oklahoma State’s 18-hole scoring record with a 62 at the 2009 Southern Highland Collegiate.
Adam Mitchell, 22, Chattanooga, Tenn.—Mitchell won the 2008 Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur. A PING second-team All-American selection in 2008 and honorable mention All-America in 2009, Mitchell has played on the last two U.S. Palmer Cup teams.
In 2009, Mitchell gathered third-place finishes at the Dogwood Invitational and the Players Amateur. Mitchell, who recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Georgia, was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 2008 and second-team pick in 2009.
He shot a course-record and personal-best 60 and a tournament-record 197 at the 2004 Bubba Conlee National Tournament.
Nathan Smith, 30, Pittsburgh, Pa.—Smith, who played Division III collegiate golf at Allegheny (Pa.) College, won the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur at age 25, becoming the youngest winner in the championship’s history. Smith has had a stellar 2009 season, winning the Western Pennsylvania Amateur and the Pennsylvania Amateur Match Play. He has also recorded top-10 finishes at the Sunnehanna Amateur (T-4), the Northeast Amateur (T-7) and the Southern Amateur (T-7).
A two-time participant in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship and eight-time U.S. Amateur participant, he posted runner-up finishes at the Northeast Amateur and the Pennsylvania State Amateur in 2008.
Drew Weaver, 22, High Point, N.C.—Weaver qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open and tied for 40th. In 2007, he won the British Amateur, ending a 28-year drought of American winners, and was a USA Walker Cup Team alternate.
Weaver, a PING third-team All-American and All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection, tied for fourth at the Dogwood Invitational and shared seventh place at the Jones Cup in 2009. A recent graduate of Virginia Tech, he has played in four U.S. Amateurs, reaching match play in 2006 and 2007.
Weaver, a three-time All-ACC Men’s Golf Academic Team selection, played in the 2007 British Open and the 2008 Masters. In May, he was named the 2009 Virginia Tech ACC Male Scholar-Athlete.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tim Jackson Reflects on U S Senior Open Experience and Amateur Golf
By Chris Dortch
For months as Tim Jackson’s 50th birthday approached, an application for the Champions Tour qualifying school sat on the corner of his desk, in plain sight, offering a tempting career path. And for months, Jackson, one of the greatest amateur players in Tennessee history, couldn’t bring himself to so much as read the form, much less fill it out.
Finally, on the day before the filing deadline, Jackson read the first page. His next move, for those who know Jackson best, wasn’t surprising. He crumbled the application into a ball and tossed it into the wastebasket.
“I don’t think it’s for me,” Jackson said. Lest anyone think the startling events of last week, when Jackson shot 66-67 in the first two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick in Indiana, setting a 36-hole tournament record and taking a two-shot lead into the weekend, made him change his mind about pro golf, think again.
Jackson eventually finished 11th after rounds of 73-76 on the weekend, and would have cashed a check for more than $50,000 had he been a professional. Neither lure of money, nor fame—the Crooked Stick galleries turned out in force to root him on—is going to be enough to sway Jackson.
That’s good for amateur golf.
“I’m totally dedicated to amateur golf,” Jackson said after shooting a first-round 69 in the Tennessee Amateur at The Honors Course on Tuesday, just two days after the events of Crooked Stick ended.
“I’m committed to the [Tennessee Golf Association]. I’m committed to the USGA. Hopefully there will be some opportunities down the road in both organizations. “I’ve got four or five more good years of amateur golf in Tennessee before senior [amateur] golf. After that, we’ll see what happens.”
If Jackson’s career as a senior follows a similar path to his exploits of the last 20 years on the state and national amateur circuits, he could well end up the most decorated amateur in Tennessee history. Though he didn’t start playing the game competitively until his mid-20s, Jackson has won four state amateurs, five state mid-amateurs, the state match play and the state open. He’s also won a pair of USGA Mid-Amateur championships, played on two Walker Cup teams and played in two Masters.
Though he’s nowhere close to putting away his clubs for good, Jackson has already been immortalized twice, earning a rare spot on The Honors Circle at The Honors and, coming in November, a place in Tennessee’s golf hall of fame.
“Tim Jackson is a true gentleman golfer and has played the amateur game as well as any player in our state’s history,” former TGA executive director Dick Horton said when it was announced that Jackson was headed to the hall of fame. “His record and character has represented Tennessee at the highest level of amateur golf and it’s a privilege to have him as a member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame.”
Usually hall of fame nominations come after a player is past his prime. But as Jackson proved at Crooked Stick, and again at The Honors on Tuesday when he scored better than all but two players in a field loaded with young college stars, he can still compete.
He learned a lot about himself competing against the likes of Tom Watson and Greg Norman in the Senior Open. “I think I can play with those guys,” Jackson said. “Hitting balls next to them, playing head to head with them, I found out that, on my good days, my game is very competitive with the best players in the world.”
Jackson might not have said that a few months ago. But a swing change he made before the Lupton Cup, hosted by The Honors in May, helped him hit the ball “as well as I have in my life,” Jackson said.
After shoring up his swing, Jackson, who had struggled with his putting for a while, went to work on that aspect of his game. “I've gone to the belly, I've tried three or four different putters,” Jackson said at the Senior Open last week.
“There is a guy I work with back home at the club. He suggested that I give cross-handed putting a try. I tried that, but he wanted me to really commit to it. He said, ‘If you will just do it and commit to it for a season,’ so ever since then I've been sort of trying to find a routine.
“And for me it's pretty simple—I get behind it, I take one look, and I get firmly committed to the line. Then I do a little breathing, and I step in there and go. I'm not dillydallying and working on my stroke. I'm really not thinking about the mechanics of my stroke at all. I'm only thinking about the pace.”
Jackson made a ton of putts at the Senior Open, but one stands out in his mind. “It was on the second day, at No. 13 [a par 3],” Jackson said. “I’d birdied two holes in a row heading into that hole. So I aimed right at the flag, and my ball stopped 20 feet under the hole. I told Austin [his son and caddy], ‘Can you believe this?’ It was like there was a bowling alley lane right to the hole.
“It was just so straight. All I had to do was get it in the hole. Austin and I just looked at each other and smiled, and I knocked it right in. That hole’s down in a bowl. The roar was unbelievable. It was really crazy.”
Jackson won’t regularly hear roars competing on the Champions Tour. But there are plenty more in store as he becomes a latter-day Bobby Jones. He’s certain to break the record for most TGA victories set by the great Chattanooga career amateur Lew Oehmig, who won eight state amateurs and seven senior amateurs.
Like Oehmig, Jackson could well end up a Walker Cup captain some day. And he’s certainly a threat to win the U.S. Senior Amateur, just like Oehmig, who won three of them, the last at age 69, a record. Though he’s an amateur golfer to the core, Jackson won’t ever forget what he did at Crooked Stick.
“There are two things I’ll remember about that week,” Jackson said. “My name was at the top of the leaderboard into the third day of the tournament, and never came off. And I’ll never forget the fans. Austin and I were their only choice.
They were lining the fairway, constantly supporting us—hollering and clapping. The roars when we hit good shots or made putts were phenomenal. “And that was pretty cool.”
For months as Tim Jackson’s 50th birthday approached, an application for the Champions Tour qualifying school sat on the corner of his desk, in plain sight, offering a tempting career path. And for months, Jackson, one of the greatest amateur players in Tennessee history, couldn’t bring himself to so much as read the form, much less fill it out.
Finally, on the day before the filing deadline, Jackson read the first page. His next move, for those who know Jackson best, wasn’t surprising. He crumbled the application into a ball and tossed it into the wastebasket.
“I don’t think it’s for me,” Jackson said. Lest anyone think the startling events of last week, when Jackson shot 66-67 in the first two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick in Indiana, setting a 36-hole tournament record and taking a two-shot lead into the weekend, made him change his mind about pro golf, think again.
Jackson eventually finished 11th after rounds of 73-76 on the weekend, and would have cashed a check for more than $50,000 had he been a professional. Neither lure of money, nor fame—the Crooked Stick galleries turned out in force to root him on—is going to be enough to sway Jackson.
That’s good for amateur golf.
“I’m totally dedicated to amateur golf,” Jackson said after shooting a first-round 69 in the Tennessee Amateur at The Honors Course on Tuesday, just two days after the events of Crooked Stick ended.
“I’m committed to the [Tennessee Golf Association]. I’m committed to the USGA. Hopefully there will be some opportunities down the road in both organizations. “I’ve got four or five more good years of amateur golf in Tennessee before senior [amateur] golf. After that, we’ll see what happens.”
If Jackson’s career as a senior follows a similar path to his exploits of the last 20 years on the state and national amateur circuits, he could well end up the most decorated amateur in Tennessee history. Though he didn’t start playing the game competitively until his mid-20s, Jackson has won four state amateurs, five state mid-amateurs, the state match play and the state open. He’s also won a pair of USGA Mid-Amateur championships, played on two Walker Cup teams and played in two Masters.
Though he’s nowhere close to putting away his clubs for good, Jackson has already been immortalized twice, earning a rare spot on The Honors Circle at The Honors and, coming in November, a place in Tennessee’s golf hall of fame.
“Tim Jackson is a true gentleman golfer and has played the amateur game as well as any player in our state’s history,” former TGA executive director Dick Horton said when it was announced that Jackson was headed to the hall of fame. “His record and character has represented Tennessee at the highest level of amateur golf and it’s a privilege to have him as a member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame.”
Usually hall of fame nominations come after a player is past his prime. But as Jackson proved at Crooked Stick, and again at The Honors on Tuesday when he scored better than all but two players in a field loaded with young college stars, he can still compete.
He learned a lot about himself competing against the likes of Tom Watson and Greg Norman in the Senior Open. “I think I can play with those guys,” Jackson said. “Hitting balls next to them, playing head to head with them, I found out that, on my good days, my game is very competitive with the best players in the world.”
Jackson might not have said that a few months ago. But a swing change he made before the Lupton Cup, hosted by The Honors in May, helped him hit the ball “as well as I have in my life,” Jackson said.
After shoring up his swing, Jackson, who had struggled with his putting for a while, went to work on that aspect of his game. “I've gone to the belly, I've tried three or four different putters,” Jackson said at the Senior Open last week.
“There is a guy I work with back home at the club. He suggested that I give cross-handed putting a try. I tried that, but he wanted me to really commit to it. He said, ‘If you will just do it and commit to it for a season,’ so ever since then I've been sort of trying to find a routine.
“And for me it's pretty simple—I get behind it, I take one look, and I get firmly committed to the line. Then I do a little breathing, and I step in there and go. I'm not dillydallying and working on my stroke. I'm really not thinking about the mechanics of my stroke at all. I'm only thinking about the pace.”
Jackson made a ton of putts at the Senior Open, but one stands out in his mind. “It was on the second day, at No. 13 [a par 3],” Jackson said. “I’d birdied two holes in a row heading into that hole. So I aimed right at the flag, and my ball stopped 20 feet under the hole. I told Austin [his son and caddy], ‘Can you believe this?’ It was like there was a bowling alley lane right to the hole.
“It was just so straight. All I had to do was get it in the hole. Austin and I just looked at each other and smiled, and I knocked it right in. That hole’s down in a bowl. The roar was unbelievable. It was really crazy.”
Jackson won’t regularly hear roars competing on the Champions Tour. But there are plenty more in store as he becomes a latter-day Bobby Jones. He’s certain to break the record for most TGA victories set by the great Chattanooga career amateur Lew Oehmig, who won eight state amateurs and seven senior amateurs.
Like Oehmig, Jackson could well end up a Walker Cup captain some day. And he’s certainly a threat to win the U.S. Senior Amateur, just like Oehmig, who won three of them, the last at age 69, a record. Though he’s an amateur golfer to the core, Jackson won’t ever forget what he did at Crooked Stick.
“There are two things I’ll remember about that week,” Jackson said. “My name was at the top of the leaderboard into the third day of the tournament, and never came off. And I’ll never forget the fans. Austin and I were their only choice.
They were lining the fairway, constantly supporting us—hollering and clapping. The roars when we hit good shots or made putts were phenomenal. “And that was pretty cool.”
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
UTC Recruit Steven Fox Opens with 2-under 70 at The Honors
By Chris Dortch
When Steven Fox, an incoming freshman at UTC, turned up on the practice tee at The Honors before his first round in the Tennessee Amateur on Tuesday, the first person he saw was Sal Rende, father of Fox’s future teammate Derek Rende.
“What school are you going to?” the elder Rende asked Fox, who was decked out in black shirt and shorts and burnt orange belt and hat and could have passed for an Oklahoma State player. Not far behind was UTC coach Mark Guhne, who, it just so happened, was wearing a brand new hat with his team’s logo emblazoned on the front.
“He shows up in black and orange,” Guhne said, laughing. “We fixed that right away. He now owns a Chattanooga hat.” Fox didn’t mind trading and Guhne didn’t mind wearing burnt orange.
That sartorial misstep aside, Fox joins one of the nation’s up-and-coming programs with the complete package. The former star player at Hendersonville High School has shown an ability to go deep—witness his 8-under-64 and second-place finish in the Tennessee Open last May—was a 4.0 student and has the perfect temperament for golf. If there’s a notch below low key, Fox is right there.
“I just try to go out there and have fun every time I play,” Fox said. “I never let myself get too high or too low. Golf is supposed to be fun.”
It’s definitely fun the way Fox plays it, as he proved yet again at The Honors on Tuesday. He shot a 2-under-par 70, making five birdies to offset the inevitable bogeys that come at The Honors. Fox’s game is built for big tournaments and tough venues.
“He enjoys playing and he has no fear whatsoever,” Guhne said. “He never met a golf shot he didn’t like. He’s fun to watch. He never gets too pumped up or too down on himself.”
By his own admission, ball striking is the weakest part of Fox’s game. The low numbers he shoots usually come as a result of his putter.
“My putting has been very good at times,” Fox said. “If I hit 15 or 16 greens, I’m usually under par.”
Fox’s blade nets him a bunch of birdies, but occasionally it helps him save par. He made a couple of par putts in the 10- to 15-foot range on Tuesday (at tough par fours No. 4 and No. 15) that kept his momentum going.
Guhne started recruiting Fox when he was a junior, a bit before Fox started cranking out some really low numbers playing against golfers several years older and considerably more experienced. When Fox came to Chattanooga for a visit, it didn’t take him long to decide where he wanted to go to school.
“He told me as he left that he’d get back to me in a week or so,” Guhne said. “By time he got to Monteagle, he was calling me to tell me he was coming to Chattanooga.”
“My dad and I visited and we fell in love with the campus,” Fox said. “And the players made me feel like part of the team. And coach Guhne is a great guy. It’s great to be a part of a program that’s been so successful.”
Fox isn’t the only UTC recruit in the Amateur field. He joins Alex Ratliff of Kingsport. The two became fast friends after they learned they were both business management majors and had the same class schedules this fall. They will try to add to the impressive exploits of UTC’s program under the direction of Guhne, who has made a living out of finding and signing good in-state players.
“We’re going to try and keep it going,” Fox said, including Ratliff in on that statement. “If we can play our game, we’ll be able to compete and contend.”
When Steven Fox, an incoming freshman at UTC, turned up on the practice tee at The Honors before his first round in the Tennessee Amateur on Tuesday, the first person he saw was Sal Rende, father of Fox’s future teammate Derek Rende.
“What school are you going to?” the elder Rende asked Fox, who was decked out in black shirt and shorts and burnt orange belt and hat and could have passed for an Oklahoma State player. Not far behind was UTC coach Mark Guhne, who, it just so happened, was wearing a brand new hat with his team’s logo emblazoned on the front.
“He shows up in black and orange,” Guhne said, laughing. “We fixed that right away. He now owns a Chattanooga hat.” Fox didn’t mind trading and Guhne didn’t mind wearing burnt orange.
That sartorial misstep aside, Fox joins one of the nation’s up-and-coming programs with the complete package. The former star player at Hendersonville High School has shown an ability to go deep—witness his 8-under-64 and second-place finish in the Tennessee Open last May—was a 4.0 student and has the perfect temperament for golf. If there’s a notch below low key, Fox is right there.
“I just try to go out there and have fun every time I play,” Fox said. “I never let myself get too high or too low. Golf is supposed to be fun.”
It’s definitely fun the way Fox plays it, as he proved yet again at The Honors on Tuesday. He shot a 2-under-par 70, making five birdies to offset the inevitable bogeys that come at The Honors. Fox’s game is built for big tournaments and tough venues.
“He enjoys playing and he has no fear whatsoever,” Guhne said. “He never met a golf shot he didn’t like. He’s fun to watch. He never gets too pumped up or too down on himself.”
By his own admission, ball striking is the weakest part of Fox’s game. The low numbers he shoots usually come as a result of his putter.
“My putting has been very good at times,” Fox said. “If I hit 15 or 16 greens, I’m usually under par.”
Fox’s blade nets him a bunch of birdies, but occasionally it helps him save par. He made a couple of par putts in the 10- to 15-foot range on Tuesday (at tough par fours No. 4 and No. 15) that kept his momentum going.
Guhne started recruiting Fox when he was a junior, a bit before Fox started cranking out some really low numbers playing against golfers several years older and considerably more experienced. When Fox came to Chattanooga for a visit, it didn’t take him long to decide where he wanted to go to school.
“He told me as he left that he’d get back to me in a week or so,” Guhne said. “By time he got to Monteagle, he was calling me to tell me he was coming to Chattanooga.”
“My dad and I visited and we fell in love with the campus,” Fox said. “And the players made me feel like part of the team. And coach Guhne is a great guy. It’s great to be a part of a program that’s been so successful.”
Fox isn’t the only UTC recruit in the Amateur field. He joins Alex Ratliff of Kingsport. The two became fast friends after they learned they were both business management majors and had the same class schedules this fall. They will try to add to the impressive exploits of UTC’s program under the direction of Guhne, who has made a living out of finding and signing good in-state players.
“We’re going to try and keep it going,” Fox said, including Ratliff in on that statement. “If we can play our game, we’ll be able to compete and contend.”
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Men's Metro Entries Increase 20% from 2008
90 players are entered in this year's Men's Metro at Cleveland Country Club July 10 - 12, an increase of 20% over last year's 75 players.
There are 12 teams competing for team low-ball championship on Friday.
Pairings will be posted on this website Tuesday night, July 8.
There are 12 teams competing for team low-ball championship on Friday.
Pairings will be posted on this website Tuesday night, July 8.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Men's Metro Entry Deadline, Course Set-Up
The entry deadline for Men's Metro at Cleveland Country Club is Monday, July 6.
The following yardages will be played Friday and Saturday at CCC.
The course set-up on Friday and Saturday will be a mixture of gold and blue tee yardages, with majority being blue tee yardages (par 72).
#2, #5 and #8 on front side will be normal gold tees. All other holes will be normal blue tees for a total yardage of approximately 3,100 yards.
#11, #14, #15 and #18 on back side will be normal gold tees. All other holes will be normal blue tees for total yardage of approximately 3,300 yards (total yards approximately 6,400 yards).
#9 will play around 180 yards and #13 will play around 200 yards.
On Sunday the majority of the tees will be normal gold tee yardage.
The following yardages will be played Friday and Saturday at CCC.
The course set-up on Friday and Saturday will be a mixture of gold and blue tee yardages, with majority being blue tee yardages (par 72).
#2, #5 and #8 on front side will be normal gold tees. All other holes will be normal blue tees for a total yardage of approximately 3,100 yards.
#11, #14, #15 and #18 on back side will be normal gold tees. All other holes will be normal blue tees for total yardage of approximately 3,300 yards (total yards approximately 6,400 yards).
#9 will play around 180 yards and #13 will play around 200 yards.
On Sunday the majority of the tees will be normal gold tee yardage.
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