The volunteer-of-the-year award is named after Charlie Bedford who was an outstanding FSGA Committee Member and volunteered his time as both a Tournament Chairman and Course Rater. Charlie was an expert on the Rules of Golf and a USGA Master Course Rater. He spent countless days of service to the game he loved and cherished.
Charlie was recognized as the 2000 Volunteer-of-the-Year, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and was inducted into the Florida Golf Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a USGA Committee Member for ten years and officiated four US Opens, six US Amateurs, seven US Senior Opens and ten US Amateur Public Links Championships.
Patsy Elliot - Course Rating Volunteer of the Year
Patsy Elliot, of Palm Beach Gardens, has been awarded the 2013 Course Rating Volunteer of the Year. After a 30-year career in sales and General Management at IBM and Microsoft, Patsy retired to Palm Beach Gardens. Moving to Florida allowed her to get involved in one of her passions; golf. Patsy is also a past President of two women’s golf leagues in South Florida.
She has been involved with course rating at the FSGA since 2003, having learned about it from Lee County captain, Mary Ann Riccio, at an FWSGA tournament. To Patsy’s surprise, her active involvement led her to become a captain before the end of her first year. With Palm Beach County having so many golf courses, her husband claims that she spends more time on the golf course than with him. In 2013, Patsy and her team have completed ten course ratings. Patsy is a native of Kentucky and a graduate of Transylvania University.
Moe Gallant - Tournament Volunteer of the Year
Lakeland’s Moe Gallant has been awarded the 2013 Tournament Volunteer of the Year. Moe has been involved with the FSGA for three years and in that time has helped at over one hundred FSGA tournaments and qualifiers. He is a PGA/USGA and FSGA certified rules official and has attended five USGA/PGA rules schools (soon to be six). In his 45 years of playing golf, Moe has earned two club championships, four hole-in-ones, and has played in all 50 states with his lovely wife Gail. His love for the game is why he spends so much of his time officiating.
From 2007-2010 Moe was playing at least 250 rounds a year. However, back problems intervened with his game leading him to ‘back’ off from playing golf as much as he used to. He now only plays 75-80 times a year. Volunteering has filled this gap for him and it keeps him involved with the game he loves. He has found that he enjoys officiating and volunteering as much as he does playing. Gail is particularly happy that Moe has found volunteering, as she thought he would drive her nuts if he couldn’t play golf every day. Before volunteering, Moe was a CPA by trade and an Executive Vice President of Audit & Security for Banknorth (now TD) in Maine. He is a step-dad to two daughters and one granddaughter who now reside in Rhode Island.
