With the upcoming 2014 tournament season quickly approaching, the Florida State Golf Association held their own version of spring training at their headquarters in Tampa on March 11th and 12th. Sixteen volunteer Tournament Chairmen from around the state who administer qualifying for FSGA and USGA Championships met at FSGA headquarters and the overlying theme of the two-day event was consistency. The Chairmen arrived on March 11th and after a casual lunch the meeting began.
Executive Director Jim Demick kicked off the meeting with a brief introduction and update of the Association. The discussion focused on the FSGA standards and goals for conducting a tournament. During the rest of day one, FSGA staff and the invited volunteer Tournament Chairmen would discuss topics such as Pace of Play, Tournament Operations, the Notice to Players, USGA qualifying and Volunteer recognition, recruitment and training. Afterwards, a dinner, which was catered by Carrabbas was enjoyed by all.
The Chairmen would meet back at FSGA headquarters the next morning as the discussion continued. The group went on to discuss creating consistency in policies, scoreboard results, and spectator cart polices. FSGA staff members also gave some insight on their areas of expertise. Gary Donat gave a brief overview of the Course Rating system while Jeff Magaditsch and Kyle Walkiweicz discussed One-Day and Interclub events. Aaron Skoviera provided an update on FSGA Club Services and the GHIN handicap system. Lastly, the Chairmen discussed the best ways to train and potentially recruit new volunteers as a way to familiarize volunteers with all of the daily tournament tasks as well as growing support for FSGA administered events. After a brief lunch, the Tournament Chairmen were on their way home and back to their perspective regions.
FSGA staff and the volunteer Tournament Chairmen all sat down for those two days with the same goal in mind; to administer events across the state in a consistent manner. The group also discussed the best ways to grow so that the FSGA can continue to provide competitive, professionally administered quality golf tournaments to our members and golfers all over the state of Florida. The presentation and open discussion was an overall success as the attendees were able to come to a conclusion on a sense of consistency for FSGA tournaments. Year after year, the FSGA is confident that whether you attend an event in Tallahassee or Miami, Jacksonville or Naples, you will be provided with a consistent first class product.
