Jacksonville Golf Magazine

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Saving Duvalhigh school golf

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J A C K S O N V I L L E

VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 6

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L O C A L G O L F & S P O R T S M A G A Z I N E

PEOPLE:

ON TOUR:

Steve Melnyk

Bill Calfee

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Steve Melnyk, 1968

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Jacksonville Golf Magazine • June 2011 • www.jaxgolfmag.com 3

Golf is something you easily can do with your kids. Things that deter you in other sports do not matter, like skill level and age.

My recommendation for this month: go play in the Jacksonville Area GA’s Father’s Day tournament at Hidden Hills.

It’s at the end of this month and it’s not a “father-son” like they used to have. They’ll take any combination of relationships as long as two gen-erations are involved.

Golf is a family event. Dads and moms play with sons and daughters. It’s a great bonding occasion; you experience the same challenges and you can enjoy each other’s rather undivided attention.

JAGA does an excellent job with this tournament, helped greatly by Russ Libby, Ted Hopkins and the other good folks on the Hidden Hills staff. It’s also great that a fine club like Hidden Hills has adopted the Fa-

ther’s Day tournament. Indeed, the movers behind it are two members, Barney Poston and Larry Dismore.

I won’t be playing, unfortunately. My little girls are ... well, little. And no one else in my family plays the game. So I’ll have to wait a few years and believe me, you’ll see me there, because those little ones of mine al-ready have figured out how to putt the ball around the yard.

More details on the Father’s Day tournament are elsewhere in this issue. Take a look and give it your best consideration. Good tourna-ment, good reason to play.

While we’re talking about JAGA, I like the way they’re adjusting their tournament schedule.

President Bob Streightiff has re-sponded to the interests from our best players to institute a Match Play Championship, and he’s taken it as his personal mission. (How many organization presidents do that?)

JAGA also has decided that its tra-ditional season finale was outdated. It used to be the Pro-President and

teams were supposed to include the club pro, the club president or an-other official, and the two JAGA di-rectors.

Interest in the clubs waned. The pros work hard enough without having to saddle up for an outing with little meaning, and the club “official” all too often turned out to be a member who was available to play that day. Teams too often were apples and oranges, and the winner had little claim on anything other than that day’s awards.

Now, it will be a “Club Champion-ship” and we understand that teams will be a pro and three amateurs, preferably including the JAGA direc-tors. If they do it right, and keep the teams limited to a specific makeup, it could be a great thing for bragging rights as well as gift certificates.

Comments? I’m at [email protected].

Brian LamarrePublisher

A family affair

Hello fellow Tweeps.Check us out at twitter.com/jaxgolfmag

PitchShot

>> K.J. Choi won his first major tournament last month, winning a playoff when David Toms three-putted the 17th hole, the first extra hole. Choi, a for-mer Jacksonville resident, donated $200,000 of his winnings to tornado relief in the Southeastern Unit-ed States. Paul Goydos was two shots back in third place, one ahead of Luke Donald and Nick Watney.

From the Publisher

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4 Jacksonville Golf Magazine • June 2011 • www.jaxgolfmag.com

For advertising & editorialJacksonville Golf Magazine

PO Box 65536Orange Park, FL 32065

p. 904.383.7587 f. [email protected]

PublisherBrian Lamarre, [email protected]

EditorFred Seely, [email protected]

Jacksonville Golf Magazine is published every month and distributed throughout Northeast Florida. Reproduction without express written authorization from Jacksonville Golf Magazine is strictly prohibited. Editorial content is not necessarily the view of the publisher. All information is from sources we believe to be creditable. Neither the publisher nor the advertisers will be held responsible for any errors found in the publication. The publisher accepts no liability for the statements made by advertisers.

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The area’s premier tournaments for associations are coming up with the club professionals on July 10-11 and the amateurs on July 21-24.

The Chapter Championship for the Northern Chapter of the North Flori-da PGA will be 54 holes over the two World Golf Village courses. The Jack-sonville Area GA Amateur follows on the two courses at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

Expected to defend are pro Cary Splane of Marsh Creek and amateur Major Forbess of the University of North Florida.

The JAGA Amateur is open to any player with an index of 10.0 or less who is a member of a JAGA-member club.

The Chapter Championship is for Class A pros, which in almost every case is the head professional at a club in the Northern Chapter. The Chapter goes from the Georgia bor-der to Tallahassee and back around to below St. Augustine.

Splane won last year at San Jose in a one-hole playoff with Charles Raulerson of the Country Club of

Orange Park. Forbess dominated the JAGA, winning by five at Jackson-ville G&CC.

Splane

Forbess

It’s championship time

The Gate Invitational will be a week later this year due to a conflict with the PGA schedule.

The Gate will be July 28-30 at the Ponte Vedra Lagoon and Ocean courses to accommodate members who qualify in the PGA of America’s Professional Nation-al Championship.

The Gate Senior will remain the same: mid-December with com-petition days on Dec. 14-16. There was consideration of mov-ing it to November after last year’s cold weather but there were too many conflicts at the club.

Entry forms for the Invitational, considered the area’s top event for club pros and low-handicap amateurs, are available at the Ponte Vedra pro shop.

Gate datesmove a week


We keep the conversation going.Look for “Jacksonville Golf Magazine” on Facebook.

That big sigh on the final day of the Play-ers? Not from K.J. Choi when David Toms missed that putt — it was the tournament brass when a huge

crowd stayed around to the end. The seating around 18 in past years has looked like Jaguar club seats on TV and promoted the PGA Tour brass to “encourage” staff and volunteers to fill the seats. The same encourage-ment went out this year but wasn’t needed as TV showed fanny-to-fanny crowds around both 17 and 18. <<<

If I ran the World Golf Village’s Hall of Fame ceremony, I’d be tempted to add one category for eligibility: you have to attend at least one induc-tion to be eligible. Was it true that only one PGA Tour player in The Players (Chris Riley) attended? <<<

Nice job again at the induction cer-emony and moving it indoors (it saved money, and don’t stand for any other reason) and they’ll have a good turnout next year when Phil Mickelson is eligible and surely will be voted in. Maybe Padraig Har-rington, too. 2013? Bet on Davis Love. Tiger? Wait ‘til 2017 (inductees have to be 40.) And there’s an ef-fort to get David Graham in the Hall; he’s a two-time U.S. Open winner which should make him a cinch, but his prickly personality is a problem — remember when he was relieved of his duties as the President’s Cup captain? <<<

Florida’s basketball team is sched-uled to play in our arena this fall. It’s probably a late November game and the opponent won’t be one of the locals. <<<

Mentioned last month that Timuqua-na’s Julie Madison has now won her club championship 23 times and

wondered if anyone could better that. Emily Brown can, though not all were at the same club; she’s now won 30 scattered among two courses that are now gone, Willow Lakes and Ravines, plus Magnolia Point and Eagle Harbor. <<<

If your boss doesn’t appreciate you, wish he were Wayne Weaver. With the NFL season in limbo, many teams are cutting back on front-of-fice staff. Not the Jags. No cuts, not even in pay. <<<

When the Jags were in the doldrums a few years back, the television net-work announcers were almost always Ian Eagle and Gus Johnson. No more, at least not on CBS: they canned the overly excitable Johnson, who now has caught on with Fox. <<<

Our Gator Bowl is looking for a new sponsor again after Progressive In-surance decided not to renew. GB chief Rick Catlett says he has four good prospects. <<<

With The Players out of the way, next up is the Winn-Dixie Nation-wide Open and there aren’t many conflicts during the week of Oct. 17-23. The Gators take the tradi-tional pre-Georgia week off and the Jaguars have a Monday night game. Last year’s tournament conflicted with a Blue Angels appearance, but that isn’t happening this year. <<<

Jim Delany is the highly success-ful commissioner of the Big Ten and turns out that he’s close to his alma mater. In fact, he’s nominated to be the next president of the alumni association ... at the University of North Carolina. <<<

Southwest Airlines has a nonstop to Denver. Should be successful; the Tebow clan will take plenty of seats when they go out to see Timmy. <<<

San Jose pro Todd Bork and general manager Rocky Staples tied for fifth gross in the North Florida PGA’s Pro-Official. Palencia’s Mike Broderick and George Tracy tied for second net. <<<

This year’s Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame ballot lists John Brantley ... on the Georgia side. Yes, the cur-rent Gator QB isn’t the only one with that name to have played in the game; Bulldog Brantley played defense in the mid-80’s. Two locals are on the ballot: ex-UF Coach Doug Dickey, now retired and playing golf at San Jose, and ex-Georgia lineman Pete Anderson, now living in River-side and working for a waste dispos-al company. There are 10 nominees from each school with the top two votegetters being honored the day before the game. Voters are media and select others. <<<

Friend posed this question: “If The First Tee does such a good job, why don’t Raines and Ribault have golf teams?” Dunno. <<<

David Lamm’s show was dropped by AM-1010 due to a lack of ads and he’s now filling in for other hosts plus writing columns for the sta-tion’s website. And you might re-member Greg Larson, like Lamm an ex-Times-Union columnist who, like Lamm, got canned by the newspa-per. He’s on from noon-2 at St. Au-gustine’s AM-1420. <<<

Slow play is one of golf’s major prob-lems and let’s hope that other tour-naments will put the hammer down like they did at the U.S. Open quali-fier at Sawgrass. Every contestant got a written warning in the mail, again at the first tee, and again on notices posted every six holes. No verbal warnings; when players got too far behind, the penalties rained down. <<<

— Fred Seely is editor of Jacksonville Golf & Sports and can be reached at

[email protected].

Players success:the Sunday attendance

Fred Seely

From the Editor

GOLF MA

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PEOPLE:

INSTRUCTION:

Rhonda Ferguson

Wedge game

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Our take on a popular topicBest 18 holes

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PEOPLE:

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Daytona Beach

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The Underwood Cup

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Better than Ever?The Players:

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TRAVEL:

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Take Flight

Stay Centered

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Tim Clark, 2010 PLAYERS Champion

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A look behind the gatesPrivacy, please

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Feeding the Volunteers

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Even if you haven’t lived around here for decades, you should know Steve Melnyk:

• One of eight players to win both the U.S. and British Amateurs.

• Member of the first Florida team to win a national championship.

• Led the Greater Jacksonville Open as an amateur.

• Had a 25-year career as a TV golf commentator.

And more .. so here he is:

Raised in Brunswick and a graduate of Glynn Academy, he dominated junior golf in this area.

National attention came when he entered the University of Florida, then as now a national power, and he gained All-America honors as he led the team to the 1968 NCAA championship.

His national amateur career was one of the best ever. There were wins in the 1969 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont and the 1971 British Am at Carnoustie. He was the low amateur in the 1970 British Open and the 1971 Masters, and along the way won both the Western and Eastern amateurs. He won the Par 3 tournament at Augusta and even led the first round of the Greater Jacksonville Open at Hidden Hills in 1969 he tied for fifth, five shots be-hind Gary Player.

He turned pro in 1971 and was a solid Tour player, get-ting three runner-up finishes and seemingly was headed to join peers like Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins as top-drawer players but his career vanished when he broke his elbow in a fall at the 1982 Phoenix Open. “Fuzzy Zoeller and I were walking to the practice range and the cart path was very slick. My feet went out from under me and I landed on my elbow. I still can’t lift my right arm above my head.”

He tried to stay on Tour but the injury ended it, and he retired in 1984.

That started his television career, first with CBS and later with ABC.

Now 64, he’s retired from television and works in the investment industry, primarily with Warren Stephens Investments in Little Rock (Golf connection: Stephens’ father once was head of Augusta National.)

FamilyLives in Ortega with wife Debbie. Sons Dalton and Butler.

Health“I had a total hip replacement three years ago and there have been complications. I can still play pretty well — I call myself a ‘bad scratch’ player — but competition is out. I can’t walk 18 holes.”

Television“I did television fulltime for 25 years on CBS and then ABC/ESPN. Then I helped with USGA events, which I really loved. I love amateur golf, so I guess my life came full circle.”

Amateur status“Fred Ridley (former USGA president) helped me through the process of getting my amateur status back. I really hadn’t thought about it but there is one great benefit: as a past U.S. Ama-teur champion, I’m an honorary invitee at the Masters. I can play practice rounds and compete in the par 3 tournament.”

Gators“My passion is the Gators. I’ve been president of Gator Boosters and I just went off the athletic board after 10 years. Time for some new blood.” (He is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.)

Steve Melnyk

Melnyk pg. 16 >>

Steve Melnyk:A good pro,now an amateur


JAGA

The Jacksonville Area GA’s directors annual meeting with club general managers, pros and superintendents will be this month at San Jose. The meeting is designed to promote bet-ter relations between club execu-tives and members.

The meeting will be on Monday, June 27, at San Jose, and over 100 people are expected to attend. The annual golf game will have a 9 a.m. shotgun with lunch and a meeting to follow.

Applications for JAGA scholarships will be due at the June meeting. Scholarship chairman Tom Tierney of San Jose said he expects to award five scholarships this year for a total of 24. Anyone entering college this year is eligible as long as they have

some attachment to a JAGA-member club. Applications must go through club JAGA directors.

Tierney said the scholarship trust has about $400,000 and trustees are undertaking a three-year study to see if the amount can reach $1 million.

“This is a big goal,” said Tierney, “but it’s worth it to see if it can be done. We need to look beyond our traditional way of raising money.”

The trust has built up through do-nations from area clubs but those have dropped off dramatically as the economy has worsened. Scholarships are paid from interest gained from the corpus of the trust, and students

now get $1,000 per semester.

JAGA President Bob Streightiff of Queen’s Harbour continues to seek a sponsor for the July 21-24 Amateur Championship at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

“We’ve had a lot of interest but no one has signed up yet,” he said. “We need the extra money to keep the event at a top level.”

Upgrading the city’s major amateur-only event has been a major goal for Streightiff and the association’s board. The event’s quality has been up and down over the years, but now is regarded on the level of a Florida State GA event.

www.jaxareagolfassn.com

Directors to meet with club executives

June 25-26: Father’s Day at Hidden Hills.There will be flights for amateurs and pros and teams can be made up of any related combination. Both part-ners must have a current handicap index. Chairman Lar-ry Dismore hopes to have a full field of 48 teams after only getting 36 last year. “We’ll upgrade with proceeds from a raffle,” he said, adding that the major award will be a weekend at Ocean Hammock including golf.

Entry fee: $225 per team.

July 21-24: JAGA Amateur at Ponte Vedra Inn & ClubOpen to any player with an index of 10.0 or less. The field will be limited to 84 players and 42 are exempt from last year. If there are enough entries, a qualifier will be held July 10 at Ponte Vedra for the open spots. The entry fee is $85 for the qualifier with another $165 due from those making the field. The entry fee for ex-empt players is $250 and must be submitted by June 30.

There are three other JAGA events in 2011 with details to be decided:

July 28-29: Junior, Queen’s Harbour.

October 3: Scholarship tournament, Ponte Vedra Ocean.

November 3: Club Team Championship, Deerwood.

Shane Convery won last year’s JAGA Junior and accepted the trophy from association Vice President Joe Power.

JAGA championships


Jacksonville Golf Magazine is distributed throughout Northeast Florida. You’ll find it everywhere and, more importantly, your potential customers are reading it.

Reaching our readers

Business golf 101Over the years I have developed many friend-ships and business re-lationships on the golf course. About 80 per-cent of my clientele, before I became a golf

professional, resulted from some type of golf interaction.

Golf is a great way to spend several hours with a client or potential cli-ent and here are a few tips to land that next big account or keep your current customers satisfied:

1. Leave the cell phone in the car. Nothing can be more distracting than a cell phone ringing on the course to interrupt a backswing or even more importantly someone who is constantly checking their email or texting. If you truly want to impress a client, give them your undivided attention.

2. Don’t rush what you are trying to accomplish businesswise. Use the first six holes to get to know your client. Find out about their family,

hobbies and sports interests. Use the next six holes to understand your clients business and their needs. The last six holes should be used to talk about clients’ you have worked with and how your business functions. After the round at the 19th hole — this is where you close the deal!

3. Behave! Don’t throw clubs, curse, slam clubs or drink excessively. The way you behave on the golf course is a reflection on how you conduct business.

4. Dress appropriately. Wear prop-er golf apparel. Make sure to tuck your shirt in and wear a collar. Most people are judged within the first 30 seconds of meeting someone. If your client would like to hire a profes-sional to handle their business, look the part. Remember, your first im-pression makes a lasting impression.

5. Understand golf etiquette and rules. Even if you are a beginner, small things such as talking in someone’s backswing or walking in someone’s line could have a negative

effect on your business relationship. A great website for golf etiquette is usga.org.

6. Write a letter of thank you. No texting. No emails. Do it the old fashioned way, with a handwritten letter thanking the client for a great day on the course and letting them know that you are looking forward to working with them in the future. Handwritten letters have dimin-ished due to technology. Show your client that you are willing to take the extra time and go the extra mile for them.

This is your chance to have a cli-ent’s undivided attention for four hours or more. Use this time to your advantage! As Grantland Rice said: “Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than nineteen years of dealing with him across the desk.”

— Rhonda Ferguson is an Instructor and PGA Apprentice Professional.

For questions or comments call 904-234-3434 or email [email protected].

Rhonda Ferguson

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CalendarSponsored by Underwood’s Jewelers

Executive Women’s GAwww.ewga.com

June 25: Osprey Cove.

July 17: Slammer & Squire.

Aug. 7: St. Johns G&CC.

Aug. 17: Palencia.

Aug. 21: Slammer & Squire.

Sept. 25: St. Johns G&CC.

Oct. 2: St. Johns G&CC.

Oct. 15: North Hampton.

Nov. 5: Deercreek.

Nov. 20: St. Johns G&CC.

Dec. 4: St. Johns G&CC.Men’s Senior Interclub www.ewga.com

June 13: Slammer & Squire.

July 18: San Jose.

Jacksonville Area GA

www.jaxareagolfassn.com

June 25-26: Father’s Day, Hidden Hills.

June 27: Directors, San Jose.

July 19: Directors, Deerfield Lakes.

July 21-24: Amateur, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

Aug. 16: Directors, Cimarrone.

Sept. 20: Directors, Ponte Vedra G&CC.

Oct. 3: Bill Black Memorial, Ponte Vedra.

Oct. 19: Directors, Palencia.

Nov. 7: Four-Ball, San Jose.

Nov. 21: Club Team Championship.

Dec. 13: Directors, Fleming Island.

Jacksonville Women’s GA

home.comcast.net/~jwga/

Season Completed.

Northern Chapter PGAwww.nfpga.com/north-ernchapter/5813/

June 20: Pro-Scratch, Jacksonville G&CC.

July 10-11: Chapter Championship, World Golf Village.

Aug. 10: Stableford, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

Aug. 28-30: Gate Petroleum Invitational, Ponte Vedra Lagoon and Ocean.

Sept. 19: Military Pro-Am, NAS.

Oct. 3: Pro-Assistant, Glen Kernan.

Oct. 17: Marsh Creek Pro-Am.

Nov. 7: Sawgrass Pro-Am.

Nov. 21: Pro-Am Tournament of Champions, Amelia National.

Dec. 12: Partners Pro-Am, TBA.

Northeast Florida Seniors GA

www.nefsga.com

June 13: Prestwick (Plantation Bay.)

June 20: Marsh Creek.

July 11: Ormond Beach Oceanside.

July 25: South Hampton.

August 8: Palm Coast Grand Haven.

Aug. 22: St. Johns G&CC.

PGA Tours

www.pgatour.com

Sept. 22-25: The Tour Cham-pionship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta.

Oct. 13-16: PGA Tour Mc-Gladrey Classic, Sea Island.

Oct. 20-23: Nationwide Tour Winn-Dixie Open, TPC Valley.

LPGA Tour

www.lpga.com

Dec. 2-5: Tour Championship, Orlando Grand Cypress.

Golf Channel Tourwww.golfchannel.com/[email protected]

June 18: Palencia.

July 16-17: TPC Stadium/ Valley.

July 23: Cimarrone.

July 30: Amelia National.

Aug. 20-21: Tour Champion-ship at Ponte Vedra Ocean and Lagoon.

Sept. 3: Hammock Beach.

Oct. 15: Ponte Vedra G&CC.

Nov. 15: Amelia Island Plantation.

Players Golf Tourwww.playersgolftour.com

June 18: St. Johns G&CC.

June 19: Palencia.

July 2: Orange Park.

July 16: South Hampton.

July 30: Fleming Island.

Aug. 13: Eagle Harbor.

Aug. 28: Deercreek.

Sept. 11: Amelia National.

Sept. 24: Eagle Landing.

USGA Qualifiers

June 13-14: Junior, Gainesville.

June 27: Senior Open, Gainesville.

July 25-26: Amateur, Amelia National.

Aug. 8: Senior Amateur, Marsh Creek.

Aug. 29: Mid-Am, San Jose.

Other

June 15: Ladies Invitational, Sawgrass.

June 20-25: Women’s Western Amateur, Sawgrass.

Sept. 13: MaliVai Washington Foundation Pro-Am, Marsh Landing.

Dec. 14: Gate Petroleum Senior, Ponte Vedra Lagoon and Ocean. (Qualifier: Dec. 6.)

1stCoast GA

www.1stcoastgolf.com

May 19: AmaTOUR, Orange Park.

Florida State GA

www.fsga.org

June 13: Junior qualifier, Eagle Landing.

June 17: Four-Ball qualifier, Eagle Landing.

June 27: Florida Open qualifier, Marsh Creek.

July 11: Match Play qualifier, North Hampton.

Sept. 10-11: State Mixed, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

Sept. 19: Mid-Am qualifier, Queen’s Harbour.


High school golf in Duval County may not be funded this year because of extensive budget cutbacks and the golf community — led by the local PGA chapter — will attempt to raise the $80,000 needed.

Six sports including golf have been cut by the Duval County School board, leaving the county’s 17 high schools without the sport for the 2011-12 season. The sport is being funded in other North Florida coun-ty high schools, which haven’t faced a deficit like Duval’s.

“We need to come together, and we are,” said Mike Lynch, the Chapter president. “We can’t call ourselves a ‘home of golf’ if we don’t even have high school teams.”

Lynch put together a team includ-ing North Florida Junior Golf Foun-

dation director Boots Farley and TPC pros Bill Hughes and Matt Borocz, and met with school board Athletic Director Jon Fox last month. Fox gave his approval and is in the pro-cess of setting up a foundation to accept donations, such as the money that the local group hopes to raise.

The initial proposal is to raise the money through a $100-a-ticket raf-fle. There would be 800 sold — thus, the $80,000 — and prizes would in-clude foursome donations from local clubs, equipment from manufactur-ers and golf vacation trips.

“This is something that everyone should help,” said Lynch. “I coach the Bishop Kenny team — that’s a private school but it’s important to me that the public schools have teams so we have someone to play.

Thirteen of the county’s high schools fielded boys and girls golf teams last year. Forrest and Jackson fielded partial teams, while Raines and Rib-ault had none.

The other five sports affected are la-crosse, tennis, wrestling, slow pitch softball and cross country.

The fundraising needs to be done quickly as golf is a fall sport and of-ficial play begins in September. The bulk of the money needed will go for coaching supplements, but equip-ment also is needed and some may be donated.

Saving high school golf

“We can’t call ourselves a ‘home of golf’ if we don’t

even have high school teams.”

Mike Lynch President - NF PGA Northern Chapter Boots Farley Director - North Florida Junior Golf Foundation Matt Borocz PGA Professional at TPC SawgrassO

N T

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Players from at least 27 states and numerous foreign countries — including Argentina, Canada, Germany and The Philippines — will be at Sawgrass this month for the 111th Women’s Western GA Amateur.

The dates are June 20-25 and there will be an initial field of 144 that goes through a two-day stroke play qualifier to determine the match play segment; the low 64 go into Championship Flight with others into flights of 16.

Included in the list from Florida are Victoria Tanco, the AJGA Rolex Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009; Di-ane Lang, winner of the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2008; and Meghan Stasi, winner of the 2010 USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Top college players include Mitsuki Katahira of the na-tional champion Daytona State Junior College team, the low individual in the national junior college tournament and Erica Popson of the University of Tennessee, the

nos. 2 and 3 ranked players nationally among collegians.

Two Jacksonville area residents are past winners: Louise Suggs, who lives at the World Golf Village, won in 1946 and 1947, and Windsor Parke teaching pro Mary Hafe-man, who won in 1979.

Past winners also include LPGA stars Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Dorothy Germain, JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lo-pez, Beth Daniel, Cristie Kerr, Amy Benz, Grace Park, Moira Dunn, Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lang.

There is no admission charge.

Junior college champion Mitsuki Katahira

Women’s Western has field of 144

The foursome of (from left) Dottie Hall, Isobel Spink, Lyn Cabrer and Gail Casey was best in the Marsh landing Ladies GA’s annual closing day tournament.

Second place went to Jan McManus, Amy

Wallman, Marcia Ezequelle and Linda

Pettibone.

In third were Susan Goodall, Mary Lee Golitz, Leigh LeMoyne and Pat Tancredi.

Marsh Landing ladies Upcoming golf activities at the World Golf Village:Father’s Day Free admission to everyone who visits the museum on June 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fathers will receive special gifts and free admission on the 18-hole, putting course. Contests will also be conducted throughout the day on the Hall of Fame’s Challenge Hole, indoor golf simulator and indoor putting green.Summer programs The public can play both courses at World Golf Village the same day with the Summer “Double Play” for $129. “Play All Day” packages will be available at Slammer & Squire ($99) and the King & Bear ($109). Summer Nine @ 5 Nine holes at the Slammer & Squire after 5 p.m. any day for $29. Women’s Golf Month For the month of June, women pay $39 at Slammer & Squire and $59 at King & Bear. PGA Tour clinicsEvery Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m., the PGA TOUR Golf Academy at World Golf Village is offering one-hour clinics for $20.

WGV update


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People

The biggest second banana in sports lives here. What once was consid-ered a grown-up minitour is today so strong that it’s almost a major sporting entity.

It’s the Nationwide Tour and, if you were at last month’s Players, you saw plenty of its graduates.

“I can make that argument,” says Bill Calfee, a former Tour player who is president of the Nationwide Tour. “We do everything possible to be as good as the PGA Tour.”

Calfee is one of those responsible for the Tour’s emergence and its success surely has him in conversa-tions (along with many others) as a possible successor to PGA Tour Com-missioner Tim Finchem. That’s a big step for a guy whose original Tour job was to keep players happy.

Calfee lives in Ponte Vedra and en-joys the life here (offshore fishing with his sons, Jaguar games, etc.) when he isn’t trekking the nation

with his Tour. His once Tour-worthy golf game has declined due to inac-tivity, though he acquitted himself well in this year’s Underwood Cup matches.

Calfee’s career on the Tour was middling after a good college run at the University of Maryland. He made 168 Tour starts between 1976 and 1985, but he never finished in the top three of an event and won just under $200,000, probably just enough back then to cover expenses with the help of a sponsor.

“I realized that I needed to make a living,” he said, so he became a fi-nancial advisor and moved to Tampa.

“I was helping several players and the Tour was looking for someone to work with player relations,” he said. “I came up here to work with the players and also to run the benefits and services area.”

That led to several other positions and ultimately to the Nationwide Tour, once almost an afterthought and today established as the na-tion’s No. 2 professional tour.

“It started 22 years ago for two rea-sons,” said Calfee. “One, to allow players to compete under the PGA Tour flag with a setting that would

be similar to a Tour event, and two, and equally as important, to give a venue to the guy who wasn’t quite good enough for the regular Tour but wasn’t eligible for the Senior tour.”

Today, he presides over perhaps the best feeder organization in all of sports, plus one that seems to be blending with its better-known partner.

About three of every four Tour play-ers came off the Nationwide and al-most 80 percent of this year’s win-ners once were there. Players can have dual status and half of the field of a Nationwide event today may have players with PGA Tour cards, as you’ll see at his tour’s Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open here in October.

Calfee’s golf game was limited to weekend play until a former Tour employee, Mike Bodney, encouraged him to try for a spot on the amateur team for the Underwood Cup. Bod-ney put in a good word with ama-teur captain Doug Conkey and Calfee got a captain’s choice.

“It was loads of fun,” he said. “It got my juices running.”

His draw in singles was one of the area’s best, Jacksonville G&CC pro Ray Barr (himself a former Tour player,) and Calfee came back from a two-down, four-to-go deficit to halve the match.

Calfee (right) with Nationwide Tour grad Gary Woodland, winner of this year’s Transitions on the PGA Tour.

Calfee: the No. 2 Tour’s leader


All Lucas Glover needed to do was two-putt from 15 feet to win a play-off in this year’s Wells Fargo Open at Charlotte. If you face a putt like that to win a tournament, or even a hole in a friendly match, he says your thoughts should be on one thing: make it.

“You’ve tried to make every other mid-length putt you’ve had that day,” he said at last month’s Players. “Why should this one be any differ-ent? If you make it different, you’re changing our mindset, and the last green isn’t the time to do that.”

He quoted Brad Faxon, perhaps the Tour’s best putter over the past de-

cade: “I don’t care if it’s two feet or 50 feet, try and make it.”

Glover added, “That may be extreme for the average player but it’s worth thinking about. Even a long putt sometimes looks makeable.”

What you saw in the Charlotte play-off with Jonathan Byrd would indi-cate that he doesn’t follow his own advice. He left his first putt about three feet short, then snuck the rest into the right edge.

“The first putt was downhill and the last thing I wanted to do on that slick green was go 6-8 feet past,” he said. “I got too cautious. I had the line and I hit the right speed. I

thought it would either fall in the front of the cup or be stiff. I mis-judged; the green was slower than I thought.”

Winning the NCAA“Not many people realize the significance of our NCAA Cham-pionship: Florida seems to win something big every year, but this was the first national champion-ship for the school. We weren’t expected to win, either. Florida had many great players and teams before us, but we won with a team of me, John Darr, Richard Spears, Wendell Coffey and John Sale.” (The Gators defeated top-ranked Houston by two shots in Las Cruces, N.Mex. The Gainesville Sun recently quoted Darr saying that when Coach Buster Bishop called Athletic Director Ray Graves

to tell him of the championship, Graves replied, “Congratulations. Now, what was that tournament you won?”

U.S. Amateur“Winning the U. S. Amateur was about survival. Oakmont is so hard, the greens are so fast. Look at the score: I was two over par and won by five.”

British Amateur“I wouldn’t have played in the British Amateur had not I been on the Walker Cup team. Back then, the match was the week before the Amateur and the U.S. team was exempt, so we stayed over. Now, it often conflicts with the NCAA Championship, so there isn’t much of an American presence.”

British Open“Winning the Amateur got me exempt for the British Open. I went over, all by myself, and was staying in a dump of a hotel. Jack Nicklaus found out where I was staying and arranged a room at his hotel. Great guy — the first

time I met him was on the first tee at Augusta; we were paired in the first round. We’ve been friends ever since.”

Random thoughtsGreatest shot he’s seen: “I saw Jack Nicklaus’ double eagle at Selva Marina in the 1967 Greater Jacksonville Open. I wasn’t follow-ing him; I was walking down the (adjacent) 10th fairway when he hit it.”

Best course: Cypress Point.

Course everyone should play: St. Andrews. “In our country, you play golf through the air. At places like St. Andrew’s, the ground comes into play. You need to know how to hit a lot more shots.”

Best tournament: “No question. The Masters.”

Memorable round: “In my first Masters, I was paired with Arnold Palmer. I birdied the first three, bogied the next three and after 10 holes I was even par and still hadn’t made a par. I shot 73 that day. Arnold asked me, ‘Do you always play like this?”

Glover and two putts

<< Melnyk from pg. 7


Travel

The British Open will be July 14-17 at Royal St. George’s, a links layout in the southeastern part of England. The course is part of the Open ro-tation and is the host every eight years or so.

If you’re ever going to an Open — and the correct term is “Open,” not “British Open” — this is the best be-cause you can easily stay in London and enjoy one of the world’s greatest cities.

Getting to EnglandContinental has a good Jacksonville-London connection through Newark. If you want to be a bit of a Brit, take USAir to New York LaGuardia and British Air across the pond.

Getting to the OpenThe best way to see any Open is with a tour. These are numerous and easily found via and internet search. But, start with your club pro, as many tour operators go through them. Costs depend on what you want — a basic trip including accommodations can cost around $1,000 plus airfare, or you can add as many bells and whistles as you want.

For instance, Perry Golf has an eight-night excursion that includes golf at

Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St. Annes and Royal Liverpool; tours in Liverpool and London; and excellent accommodations.

LocationIt’s at the bottom of England, just about at the southeast corner. It’s closer to Paris than Scotland; the Channel Tunnel (the “Chunnel” is 30 minutes’ drive away.) The nearest town is Sandwich.

Getting thereIf you’re with a tour, they’ll handle it. If you’re on your own, take the train from London’s St. Pancreas sta-tion. It’s an hour and a half and will cost you about $50. The Sandwich train station is a 15-minute walk from the course.

If you’re driving, the roads are in-terstate-quality until you near the area, then turn into two-laners.

AccommodationsThere’s nothing available in the im-mediate area as players, media, offi-cials and tour agencies have grabbed everything. If you aren’t with a tour, try the nearby larger cities of Dover and Canterbury, though your best bet will be to stay in London. The

tournament has a visitor website: opengolfsandwich.co.uk.

TicketsThey don’t set a limit so you’re in. Daily tickets are 50 pounds (about $75) and there are hospitality pack-ages available.

The clubIt was started in 1887 by wealthy London residents who wanted a championship course, rather than the then-shaggy set of courses around their city. It was modeled after St. Andrews in Scotland and became, in 1894, the first course outside of Scotland to host an Open.

It has a large membership but is available for public play, though its $400 or so summer fee may be daunting. But, that does include a three-course meal in the clubhouse. Don’t forget your jacket and tie, though.

The layoutWith its long carries from the tee and valley fairways winding through heavy rough and huge sand dunes, it is a daunting challenge made more difficult by winds off Pegwell Bay. The narrow fairways are the biggest problem —fewer than 30 percent of the tee shots in 2003 were in the fairway, and Tiger Woods started that year with a triple-bogie after losing his tee shot.

Famous holeStanding on the fourth tee, golfers face what’s reputed to be England’s largest and deepest bunker. The hole is expected to play the most over par this year as it is being changed from a 497-yard par 5 to a 495-yard par 4.

Past OpensThis will be the 14th at Royal St. George’s. In the so-called “modern era,” the winners have been Sandy Lyle (1985, by one shot over Payne Stewart;) Greg Norman (two ahead of Nick Faldo with a record 267) and Ben Curtis (one over Vijay Singh and Thomas Bjorn.)

Now, it’s time for the real ‘Open’

The imposing bunker on the fourth hole.



Palencia Pro-AmTeam: Gainesville CC team of pro Sean Solodovnick and amateurs Brandt Frenchman, J.D. Tomlinson and Mark Matson.

Low pro: David Palm, Julington Creek.

Pro-Pro: Cary Splane, Marsh Creek, and Nate Manis, Slammer-Squire.

Men’s Senior Interclub at Marsh Landing

1. Marsh Landing. 2. Jacksonville G&CC. 3. San Jose.

Season standings: 1. San Jose. 2. Magnolia Point. 3. Jacksonville G&CC.

1stcoast Seniors at Hyde Park

Flight winners: Frank Westmoreland, Roger McEwen.

1stcoast Seniors at Deercreek

Flight winners: Frank Westmoreland, Jim Stampfli, Rod Thompson.

Hyde Park MixedGross: Juanita Revels-Ronnie Martin.

Net: Lyn Phillips-Terry Cochran.

Selva Marina Mixed Gross: Don Sabia-Jeri Roche.

Flight winners: Mark Resler-Sherry Loke, Frank and Carlene Caroccio, Bill and Mary Lou Bremner, Carl Jones-Janice Raulerson.

U.S.Open qualifier at Sawgrass

Kevin Phelan, UNF; Brian Harman, Savannah; Chase Baldwin, Brunswick; Stephen Healy, JU.

Hidden Hills member-guestOverall: Bob Cronin-Jeremy MacDonald.

Flight winners: Bob Cronin-Jeremy MacDonald, Scott Gramling-Michael Primavera, Rick Haskew-Steve McCall, Lance Herlong-John Fields, Tex Blinn-Dave Merritt, Allen Witham-David Truax, Dave Llewellyn-Jack Garrity, Clip Hopkins-Travis Voisard.

San Jose member-guestOverall: Colin Lackey-Taylor Blalock

Flight winners: Tommy Donovan-K.C. Caldabaugh, Chuck Hansen-Bri-an Kassel, Bill Clement-Don Nicol, Aron Stefanides-Mark Chaffin, Ron-ald Bennett-Grant Parramore, Cary Helton-Mark Ragland, Vic Saunier-Nate Rexroth, Russ Healey-Brian Kelly, Greg Kuisel-Jason Kuisel, Steve Vining-Phil Pharr.

Winners

Larry Garrett (left) was the season-long senior champion at Julington Creek. Association President Jerry Kay presented the award.

2011 Member-Guest winners at Hidden Hills were Bob Cronin and Jeremy MacDonald with Ted Hopkins (left) and Hidden Hills owner Russ Libby (second from right).

We keep the conversation going.Look for “Jacksonville Golf Magazine” on Facebook.


PUBLICBent Creek 103rd St. on Westside. Range. 779-0800.

Blue Cypress Off University Blvd. in Arlington. Range. 762-1971.

Cecil Field 103rd St. on Westside. Range. 778-5245.

Deerfield Lakes Lem Turner Rd. just south of Callahan. Range. 879-1210.

Fernandina Beach Amelia Island Parkway. Range. 800-646-5997

First Tee of Jacksonville Golfair Blvd. west of I-95 North. Nine holes. Range. 924-0401.

First Tee of St. Johns County. Three holes. SR 207, St. Augustine. 810-2231.

Hyde Park Northern dead end of Jammes Rd. on Westside. Range. 786-5410.

Jacksonville Beach Penman Rd. south of Beach Blvd. Range. 247-6184.

King & Bear Part of World Golf Village but about three miles south of main area off SR 16. Range. 940-6088.

Mill Cove Monument Rd. in Arlington. Range. 642-6140.

Palatka Moseley Ave. west of downtown. Range. 386-329-0141.

Palm Valley Palm Valley Rd. east of U.S. 1. Nine holes. Range. 285-8978.

River Bend Golf Links South of Green Cove Springs. Range. 284-8777.

Slammer & Squire In World Golf Village. Range. 940-6088.

St. Augustine Shores U.S. 1 south of St. Augustine. Range. 794-4653.

St. Johns Golf Club Cypress Links Blvd. 27 holes. Range. 209-0350.

Starke East of town. Nine holes. Range. 964-5441.

UNF Golfplex At University of North Florida. Three holes. Range. 620-2050.

SEMI-PRIVATEAmelia River Amelia Island Parkway. Range. 491-8500.

Champions Club at Julington Creek Off SR 13 in Mandarin. Range. 287-4653.

Cimarrone CR 210 west of I-95. Range. 287-2000.

Country Club of Orange Park West end of Kingsley Ave. in Orange Park. Range. 276-7664.

Cypress at Grand Club Palm Coast. Range. 386-437-5807.

Eagle Harbor CR 220 in Fleming Island. Range. 269-9300.

Eagle Landing OakLeaf Plantation. Range. 291-5600.

Golf Club at Fleming Island US 17 in Fleming Island. Range. 269-1440.

Keystone Golf & Country Club U.S. 21 south of town. Range. 352-473-4540.

Magnolia Point Off US 17 in Green Cove Springs. Range. 269-9315.

Matanzas Course at Grand Club Palm Coast. Range. 386-446-6330.

North Hampton Off A1A west of Fernandina Beach. Range. 548-0000.

Pine Course at Grand Club Palm Coast. Range. 386-445-0852.

Queen’s Harbour Atlantic Blvd. west of Intracoastal Waterway. Range. 221-1012.

Royal St. Augustine SR 16 west of I-95 in St. Augustine. Range. 824-4653.

Selva Marina Selva Marina Blvd. north of Atlantic Blvd. in Atlantic Beach. Range. 246-3144.

South Hampton CR 210 west of I-95. Range. 287-7529.

St. Johns Golf & Country Club CR 210 west of I-95. Range. 940-3200.

Windsor Parke Hodges Blvd. north of Butler Blvd. Range. 223-4653.

PRIVATEThese clubs are private and are open to the public only for special events.

Amelia National Off A1A west of Fernandina Beach. Range. 652-0660.

Deercreek North of Avenues Mall on Southside Blvd. Range. 363-1507.

Deerwood Baymeadows Rd. west of Southside Blvd. Range. 642-5917.

Glen Kernan Hodges Blvd. north of Butler Blvd. Range. 646-1116.

Grand Haven Palm Coast. Range. 386-445-2327.

Hidden Hills Monument Rd. in Arlington. Range. 641-8121.

Jacksonville Golf & Country Club Hodges Blvd. north of Butler Blvd. 223-6910.

Long Point South of Amelia Island Plantation. Range. 277-5908.

Marsh Creek A1A south of St. Augustine Beach. Range. 461-1145.

Marsh Landing South of Butler Blvd. in Ponte Vedra Beach. Range. 285-6514.

Osprey Cove East of I-95 at Exit 1 in Georgia. Range. 800-352-5575.

Pablo Creek San Pablo Rd. south of Butler Blvd. Range. 992-6900.

Palencia US 1 north of St. Augustine. Range. 599-9030.

Plantation Country Club A1A south of Ponte Vedra Beach. Range. 543-2960.

Ponte Vedra G & CC In TPC. Range. 285-0204.

San Jose San Jose Blvd. Range. 733-1511.

Sawgrass A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach. Range. 273-3720.

Timuquana Timuquana Rd. west of US 17. Range. 389-0477.

RESORTThese courses are primarily for the use of resort guest or mem-bers. Some are also open for public play at certain times.

Omni Amelia Island Plantation In Amelia Island Plantation. 54 holes. Range. 261-6161.

Golf Club of Amelia Island Amelia Island at Ritz-Carlton. Range. 277-8015.

Ponte Vedra A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach. Range. 273-7710.

TPC Sawgrass In Sawgrass Country Club, 36 holes. Range. 273-3235. Open to public 14 days in advance.

MILITARYThese clubs are located on Navy bases and are for persons assigned to the bases or retired military per-sonnel. They occasionally are open for public play during special events.

NAS US 17 north of Orange Park. Range. 542-3249.

Windy Harbor Mayport Rd. north of Atlantic Blvd. in Atlantic Beach. Range. 270-5380.

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