Inside the Issue Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association

16 Sup’s On

WHO ARE WE?

4 Curt’s Corner

A message from the Executive Director

5 By The Numbers

9 2023 Amateur Series Schedule

A place for all to experience that competitive edge. Events for golfers of all ages and abilities to play together.

Play Yardage Book

10 The Bogeyman

Ruth Park: A Dependable, Accessible, and Soulful Neighborhood Joint

6 2023 MAGA Schedule

Mark Your Calendars. Championship Season is right around the corner and Registration is Now Open!

8 USGA Qualifier Schedule

Competing with the best in the nation starts here. Sign-up to Qualify for a USGA Championship today.

Emerging Technologies for Golf Course Maintenance: Mowers, Drones, Sensors, GPS, Data Collectors

18 Rules Center

What to do when you find your ball stuck in a tree.

20 Keeping Up with the USGA

Announcement of the 67th President of the USGA. Championship Registrations have begun to open.

13 Volunteer

Become a Volunteer for the Association Today!

14 Golf Fitness Hub

Early Extension and how to keep from feeling stuck.

An Allied Golf Association of the USGA providing a variety of golf services to clubs and golfers in the Metropolitan St. Louis, Central, and Southern Illinois region.

WHAT WE DO:

- Provide GHIN Handicap Service to 140+ Member Clubs under the World Handicap System

- Provide the USGA Course/Slope Rating service to our Member Clubs

- Regional authority on the Rules of Golf and Amateur Status

- Conduct twelve (12) Metropolitan Championships each season

- Conduct USGA Qualifying for nine (9) USGA Championships each season

- Conduct three (3) Championships in Illinois

- Conduct the Amateur Series of Events for golfers of all ages and abilities

METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Amateur Championship

Open Championship

Women’s Amateur Championship

Junior Amateur Championship

Senior Amateur Championship

Four-Ball Championship

9-Hole Championship

East Side Amateur

Old Warson Cup (Match Play Championship)

Shogren Cup (Match Play PGA Pros vs. MAGA Amateurs)

Sobbe Cup

Mid-America Junior Cup

Amateur Series

ILLINOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Southern Illinois Amateur

SIGA Championship

Tony Stevens Cup

USGA QUALIFYING ROUNDS

U.S. Open • U.S. Amateur

U.S. Mid-Amateur • U.S. Senior Amateur

U.S. Women’s Open • U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur

U.S. Junior Amateur • U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur

U.S. Amateur Four-Ball

22 Normandie Reimagined

An update on the renovation project of Normandie Golf Club.

Maga Staff

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Curt Rohe - curt@metga.org

DIRECTOR, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Caroline Buchan - caroline@metga.org

2023 PJ BOATWRIGHT INTERNS

Coming Soon

EXECUTIVE BOARD Officers

Scott Engelbrecht, President/Treasurer

Mike Marquart, Secretary

At Large Members

John Bugh

Stan Grossman

Kelli Kirchoff

Mike Marquart

Rick Meyer, Jr

John Moore

Mick Wellington

Advisory Committee

Scott Thomas, Chairman

Tom Barry

Skip Berkmeyer

Chris Kovach

Ryan Eckelcamp

Tom Portner

Curt Rohe

THE METROPOLITAN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Dan O’Neill

MVGCSAA

Dr. Zach Cutler

Curt’s Corner

Curt Rohe - Executive Director

Greetings members and welcome to the 2023 season! First week of March is always a busy week...score posting started and registrations opened across all MAGA championships and Amateur Series! The phone lines and email inboxes are a little tired after these first couple days of March. However, we are officially off and running for the 2023 season.

Lot of good things are happening early this spring around the office. We are excited to welcome our first Corporate Sponsor, CliftonLarsonAllen! CLA’s support will assist us to continue to grow in our core services of handicapping and championships. Thank you to their Chief Geographic Officer, and President of MAGA, Scott Engelbrecht for stepping up as our first corporate sponsor. We are looking to add 2-3 more to the mix, if you or your company have any interest in our Corporate Sponsorship program, please contact us for all the details.

We are less than 2 months away from kicking off the competition season, starting April 29-30 at Old Warson with the 25th playing of the Old Warson Cup. The fields are finalized and we should be making that announcement very soon on who is in to compete for an important early season championship. May will once again be a busy month to start the season, the aforementioned Old Warson Cup is followed closely with the 3rd Robert A. Shogren Cup at Bellerive CC. The 18th Metropolitan Open Championship is back again at Country Club of St. Albans May 17-19 where we look to have another strong field of the top amateurs from the area and golf professionals from around the country.

Recently we launched an advertising program for The Metropolitan, you will see those first ads in this issue. The newsletter continues to grow here in its 10th season and we are reaching almost 25,000 people with each issue! If you have interest in getting in on the advertising program, please reach out to Caroline Buchan at the office who can provide you with all the details to showcase your business right here.

10th season...I just mentioned that above and WOW! We did not know where The Metropolitan was going to go when we started this 10 years ago, but I could not be more pleased with what it has become. I love being out and having members tell me how much they enjoy reading the newsletter, so thank you! Everything we do is done with the focus to continually improve and that is the same with The Metropolitan. We are grateful to have the Mississippi Valley Golf Course Superintendents featured again and we welcome a new feature, Dr. Zach Cutler from Family Golf and Learning who will be providing information on golf fitness and taking care of your body.

So...here wo go with the 2023 season, welcome again and thank you for reading!

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