The curious KFT move August/september Issue 2024
The official announcement that the Compliance Solutions Championship will be moving from Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course to The Patriot in Owasso will be made in August with a press conference in September.
News leaked out the week before the event June 20-23. After two years of a fiveyear contract, the Korn Ferry Tour event was switching from a mid-summer date to one of the four finals events in September, meaning depending on where it falls it will have less than a full field and will also be televised live all four days by The Golf Channel.
The television component was apparently the biggest lure to Compliance Solutions owner and CEO Mark Lammert, although all sides are doing a good job of staying mum prior to the press conference. That includes representatives of Jimmie Austin, who were known to be exploring hosting a LIV Golf event but did not want to comment further on losing the Korn Ferry Tour event after two years. A PGA Tour official did tell Golf Oklahoma that to his knowledge there was no litigation between Jimmie Austin and the PGA Tour or Compliance Solutions.
The Patriot is home to the Folds of Honor, which in 2024 became one of two official charities of the Compliance Solutions Championship. It’s safe to assume the television package is also very attractive to Folds founder Lt. Col. Dan Rooney as it will provide numerous opportunities to raise the profile and promote the mission of FOH, which provides scholarships to children of United States military members killed or wounded in action. The Folds of Honor and Autism Oklahoma will remain the two official charities of the event.
The Patriot, which recently hosted the 112th OGA State Amateur Championship, is a beautiful venue but there are two looming issues with it hosting a professional event of this magnitude which officials will address at the presser.
The first logistical issue familiar to anyone who has been on the holes which race through canyons and valleys in its deeply wooded setting, is what to do with spectators? The course was built to be a player friendly club which hardly anyone walks. There were some spectators on it in the early days of The Patriot Cup when Rooney would bring in PGA Tour and PGA Tour
Champions players to play an 18-hole fundraiser, but that was determined to be unwieldy and tickets to the public went away.
It will be interesting to see what the plans are for spectators, parking, etc. As was proven in two years at Jimmie Austin, crowds for KFT events are relatively small even in a golf mad state like Oklahoma. The opportunity to see the next Scottie Scheffler is not the same as seeing Scottie Scheffler. Which brings us to the other issue. The Korn Ferry Tour players are the most blood thirsty sharks in the golfing ocean and barring winds or storms The Patriot will be no match. I’m guessing the winner will shoot better than 30-under par for four rounds even if two of the current par-5s are converted to par-4s and scores of 60-62 will be routine. You can do some things to protect the course with green speeds, pin placements and narrowing of fairways, but the course was designed to be fun, with slopes that funnel balls toward fairways and greens, perfect lies on the tight zoysia fairways, relatively short and greens with modest undulation.
The Patriot is just over 7,000 yards and could conceivably cut some new tee boxes in the woods on certain holes to add to the challenge. But asking members, spectators and participants in the state amateur how they thought the best of the KFT would fare there next year, some variation of the word destroy was the standard reply.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The KFT members do that to a lot of courses they play. But something to think about for the PGA Tour and for Mark Lammert. If there is a real wish to have this be a long-term successful event in this part of the state, rotate it with some of the clubs that would be more spectator friendly such as Cedar Ridge and Tulsa Country Club. That shows off more of our great venues, gets more golfers and hopefully sponsors involved and certainly allows for more spectator participation.
If the goal is simply the television exposure, then maybe not worth the effort, but I could also see this event becoming a popular fall fixture that the golf community really embraces. Much as Lammert’s alma mater Oral Roberts benefits from practicing and playing at a variety of great courses around Tulsa, so could this event.
Golf Oklahoma Offices
Southern Hills Plaza 6218 S. Lewis Ave., Ste. 102 Tulsa, OK 74136 918-280-0787
Oklahoma City Office 405-640-9996
Publisher Ken MacLeod ken@golfoklahoma.org
COO/Marketing Director A.G. Meyers agm@golfoklahoma.org
Sales Sam Humphreys sam@golfoklahoma.org
Art & Technology Director Chris Swafford chris@golfoklahoma.org
Subscriptions to Golf Oklahoma are $20 for one year (five issues) or $35 for two years (10 issues). Call 918-280-0787 or go to www.golfoklahoma.org
Contributing photographers Rip Stell, Bill Powell, Chad Hamilton
Golf Oklahoma PGA Instructional Staff Jim Young Teaching Professional, River Oaks CC 405-630-8183
Ryan Rody Director of Instruction Southern Hills Country Club rrody@southernhilscc.org
Pat McTigue Director of Instruction, Meadowbrook CC pmtigue277@gmail.com
Maggie Roller Director of Instruction, Cedar Ridge CC maggie.roller@sbcglobal.net, 918-261-1441
Oklahoma Golf Association 2800 Coltrane Place, Suite 2 Edmond, OK 73034 405-848-0042
Executive Director Kevin Stanfield kstanfield@okgolf.org
Director of Handicapping and Course Rating Jay Doudican jdoudican@okgolf.org
Director of Junior Golf Kyle Flinton kflinton@okgolf.org
Director of Rules
Bob Phelps bphelps@okgolf.org
New champ crowned, new events on way
We just completed the 2024 State Amateur Championship. The Patriot Golf Club in Owasso was our host site for its 112th playing.
We had 263 competitors compete for the title this year. After stroke play qualifying, 103 made it Championship proper to qualify for the 32-man match play field. The qualifying score to make match play was 1-under par.
In the end, Christian Johnson and William McDonald, our 2023 champion, met in the finals. Christian had to survive matches against Tyler Hunt (3 and 2), JR Hurley (5and 4), Dylan Teeter (2 and 1), and CJ Phillips (7 and 5) to reach the finals. William defeated Chase Blaser (6 and 4), Austin Quinten (5 and 3), William Sides (1 up), and Mesa Falleur (3 and 2) on his journey.
At the final match, it was close most of the day. Will stood on the 18th tee with a 1 up lead when his tee shot veered right into the trees. Christian was able to place
PLOUISE
Johnson
his tee shot in the fairway with a good angle to approach the guarded 18th green. Will had to recover into the fairway and his approach shot left him with a challenging putt for par. Christian was able to get his approach shot close enough to make an easy two-putt par. When Will’s putt slid by, the match was extended to extra holes.
On the extra playoff hole (par 5 starting hole at The Patriot), Will missed his second shot right of the green. Christian left his approach shot into the front greenside bunker. Will’s chip left him 20 feet for birdie, Christian’s bunker shot left him 15 feet. Will’s putt slid by, and Christian was able to bury his to claim his first ever state title.
With his victory, Christian earns a spot in the 124th US Amateur Championship to be played at Hazeltine National Golf Club August 12-18. This is the second victory for Oral Roberts in OGA events as Presten Richardson won
our Stroke Play at Winstar in June.
A special thanks to the staff at The Patriot Golf Club for being an exceptional host site for this year’s event!
Looking ahead, August is Oklahoma Open month. We will be returning to Oak Tree Country Club for the 39th consecutive year. Amateur Qualifying will be August 15th on the West course and the Championship will be August 22-24 on the East course. Spectators are welcome.
Our final two OGA events on the calendar will both be new events. Our Inaugural Four-Ball Net championship will be played at The Trails Golf Club in Norman on September 23. This two-man best ball net event will have three divisions: Championship, Senior (50+), and Women. Players must have an active OGA/GHIN membership to compete.
We are also starting a Ryder-Cup style match play event against the Texas Golf Association. This competition will pit our best eight Mid-Ams, six Senior-Ams, and four Women’s Mid-Ams against the team from Texas. The event will be held on Nov. 20-21 at The Territory in Duncan.
The Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour schedule is about to launch again starting Labor Day weekend. While most events are full, if you have a junior interested, please get on the waiting list. You are not charged unless a spot comes available. For most events, we do get fairly far into the wait list. Follow all the scores at OKgolf.org
Coatney an icon, leader and mentor
atty McGraw Coatney has been named to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024, with the induction Aug. 5 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Patty has been a prominent figure in Oklahoma golf and a member of the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association for over 55 years. She won the WOGA Girls’ Junior State Championship in 1976. A year later, she won the first of a record nine Women’s State Amateur Championship titles and has played on 13 Fore State
Championship teams. Also, she was a member of the USGA WOGA State Team in 2001. In 2006, she was inducted into the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, now the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame.
The Ponca City native won the Oklahoma high school individual title in 1977 and was inducted into the Ponca City Hall of Fame in 2023.
Patty McGraw Coatney
From 1978-1982, while playing for Oklahoma State, she finished third twice as an individual in the Big Eight Championship. OSU punched its ticket to nationals all four years and placed third in 1982.
She was named head coach of the University of Central Oklahoma’s first women’s golf team in 2003 and led the Broncos to conference championships in her first two years. UCO finished seventh nationally the first year in Division II.
In 1979, Patty married Chuck Coatney, and they have two sons, Kyle and Chris. Both are thoroughly enjoying their three grandchildren Ramsey, Rhett and Rhys.
Patty McGraw Coatney is an icon, a leader, a mentor and a friend to the entire Oklahoma golf community. The Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association is proud to call her one of our own. Congratulations Patty on all of your achievements.
WOMEN’S OKLAHOMA GOLF ASSOCIATION
BLUMENTHAL JOHNSON President WOGA
Christian
Match Play vs Stroke Play
Having just completed the OGA State Amateur at The Patriot Golf Club and with the USGA Women’s Amateur beginning August 5th at Southern Hills CC, both of which determine a champion via stroke play qualifying followed by match play, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a few differences in playing match play.
CONCESSIONS
The biggest difference in match play is that a player does not always have to hole out to win a hole. Rule 3.2b allows a player to concede the opponent’s next stroke, a hole or the match. Sometimes a player will concede the opponent's next stroke because it is a 1ft putt. Sometimes because the player has already hit two balls out of bounds and has no chance of winning the hole. Strategy can also come into play when a player concedes a few putts early in the match but does not concede a similar putt late in the match.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN PLAYER AND OPPONENT
Rule 20.1b(1) allows players in a match
to agree how to decide a Rules issue. However, the agreement is final even if it turns out to have been wrong under the Rules so long as the players did not ignore a penalty or rule, they knew applied. For instance, during the first hole of the OGA Sr. State Amateur Championship, Player A played a wrong ball on his second shot and incurred a loss of hole penalty in match play. The circumstances were unfortunate as the ball played was very near where the original was likely to be in dew and fresh grass clippings. Player B asked if he could overlook the penalty even though he knew playing the wrong ball was a loss of hole penalty. The answer of course was no, and we proceeded to hole #2. Another situation at the OGA State Amateur Championship occurred where the player and opponent were not sure how to proceed and called for a ruling. The very first sentence of Rule 20.1a says, “players must not unreasonably delay play when seeking help with the Rules ……”. By the time I arrived where the player had the question, there were now two groups behind the match on the tee. One player had played his second
shot from within a penalty area that was only advanced a few yards and was now unplayable. I discussed this exact situation from the Sr. PGA Championship in the last issue of Golf Oklahoma. In match play, the players should have simply agreed how to proceed and carried on with the match, even if they proceeded incorrectly. And if they cannot agree, Rule 20.1b(2) guides the players on how to proceed.
ORDER OF PLAY
While players are encouraged to play “ready golf” in stroke play and allowed in match play with consent from the opponent, the order of play is fundamental in match play. If a player plays out of turn, the opponent may cancel that stroke and make the player play again. This should not be an issue at Southern Hills CC during the US Women’s Amateur as there will be a referee assigned to every match. But I have seen many instances of playing out of turn in match play where the opponent recalled the shot and suddenly gained a significant advantage during the hole or even ended up winning the hole.
See Rules on page 19
Back to the well with Tiger Woods
by tom bedell
By my count, including one roman a clef novel about him, I’ve read at least 10 books specifically about Tiger Woods, and about as many where he’s at least in the mix. And now, Lord preserve me — two new books all about Tiger Woods?
What did I do to deserve this?
Granted, Bob Harig has every solid credential to write about Tiger, having been on hand for all of his 15 major victories, and the majority of his 82 PGA Tour wins, interviewing him any number of times. The impetus for this book was Tiger’s 2019 Masters win, but there were two earlier books in the wake of that remarkable comeback, Michael Bamberger’s “The Second Life of Tiger Woods” and Curt Sampson’s “Roaring Back: The Fall and Rise of Tiger Woods” (both reviewed in the April-May 2020 issue).
fourth with 86.)
And Harig is actually at his best when he bypasses the main character and starts quoting the supporting players. In a chapter called “The Admirers” and elsewhere in the book Harig features participants who played with or watched Tiger in some of his comeback moments, still attracting massive fan adulation even when hardly playing his best, and their reactions and sense of awe is poignant and compelling.
And is there really more to be said about the Tiger saga in general after the comprehensive “Tiger Woods” by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian (reviewed in the June-July 2018 issue), or Harig’s own “Tiger & Phil” (reviewed April-May 2022) about the rivalry between Woods and Mickelson?
To a large degree, there isn’t. And that’s why stretches of Harig’s “Drive: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods” (St. Martin’s Press, $30.00) simply becomes boring, repetitive, with a nonlinear chronology and not unlike a long organ recital — thumbing through Tiger’s injuries and operations and comebacks and then more of the same. Add recountings of certain rounds that you can’t get through fast enough. It’s all in service of a thesis that Woods has incredible drive, determination and resilience. But was this ever in doubt?
Still, to release Harig from the woodshed, there are some gems to be found.
There’s a fine closer look at one of Tiger’s more remarkable, yet less noted accomplishments, his made cut streak that lasted from 1998-2005, 142 consecutive. (Surpassing Bryon Nelson at 113, and Nicklaus with 103. Hale Irwin comes in
Shane Lowry, for example, playing with Tiger in the final round of the 2020 COVID-delayed Masters. After taking a 10 on the par3 12th hole, Woods was heading for his worse score ever at the Masters.
Then he birdied five of the last six holes. Said Lowry: “We play week in and week out on tour, we go out on Sunday lying in 50th or 60th spot, and you see lads giving up. I don’t give up…. I think I learned even more about it that day from him. He made a 10…. And then he went and tried his nuts off for the last six holes. When the greatest of all time to do it doesn’t give up, the rest of us should follow suit.”
`TIGER, TIGER’
primary sources, never spoke to Woods or, as far as can be determined, anyone else in working on the book.
Patterson is clearly an effortless storyteller and a writing machine, best known for hundreds of mysteries, various series, not a few biographies and even three golf novels. He’s had over 100 of his books on the New York Times best-seller lists and has sold hundreds of millions of copies of his various works. And he’s a great supporter of libraries and literacy initiatives.
Yet I confess I’ve not read one of his books until now, and I can’t say that “Tiger, Tiger” whetted my appetite. Not that this was a bad reading experience, but it was a bit of an odd one. Patterson sets up his short chapters with a time and a place, and then uses the present tense, creating awkward references to other time frames.
The claim for James Patterson’s “Tiger, Tiger” (Little, Brown and Company, $32.99) is: “His life, as it’s never been told before.” Stylistically, at any rate, that’s surely true. What unfolds for 439 pages, 87 chapters and an epilogue is a relentless barrage of biographical anecdotes culled from an enormous amount of secondary sources.
Patterson must have had his researchers sweating like stokers in the archives; one has to go to a website to seek the “Notes” to all his references, which run to 112 pages on their own, so at least some trees were saved in the process. All this by way of saying that Patterson didn’t rely on any
Patterson hits all the highlights of Tiger’s life, from birth right up to the eve of this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst (where Tiger missed the cut, as he just did at this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon). And the amassed anecdotes zoom right along, as though one is enveloped in an hourslong newsreel. It’s not unpleasant, and it won’t kill you. But it’s hard to imagine any remotely clued-in golf fan learning anything new here. The prose is brisk and uncomplicated, so the ideal audience for the book might be a young reader, or someone new to both golf and Tiger, but curious.
A GOLF JOURNEY
Tiger Woods has played — and won — golf tournaments on six continents. Binod “Ben” Thapa has him beat in one regard: as well as playing regulation rounds on six continents, Thapa hit a few balls with a 7-iron during a brief shore excursion on a trip to Antarctica.
Thapa relates the story in “My Golf Journey” (Ballast Books, $29.99), an account of his goal to play on all the continents, and 18 holes at a course in every U.S. capital. It
takes him about eight years, but he does it. These golf quest books are becoming more profuse. Author heads off with some knuckle-headed dream in mind and pulls it off, like playing in every state in a year.
Examples include Tom Coyne in “A Course Called America” (reviewed in the April-May 2021 issue) or playing the Top 100 courses in a year, Jimmie Jones in “Playing From the Rough” (reviewed in the last issue).
If done well, as these both were, the reader is able to ease the indigestion of envy with the vicarious pleasure of joining along. Alas, it is not done well here. Thapa is not an effortless storyteller. While we learn that he drove many miles and hours from one site to the next, tried to always stay in Marriott hotels, bought what must amount to a storehouse of souvenirs, and most certainly visits all the capitals, the narrative is woefully lacking in any incisive details.
We get the names of the courses he played at, but virtually nothing of their character. (The only time Thapa mentions a course architect he confuses Bobby Jones for Robert Trent Jones Sr.) He mentions, by first names only, all the players he meets, but we almost never learn anything about them or hear a quote from them, or anyone.
A native of Nepal, Thapa didn’t even play his first round of golf until four years after arriving in the United States in 1989. Now he’s a near scratch golfer, we gather, though there’s also little about the nature of his rounds. He seems like an agreeable chap. I’d probably enjoy losing a match to him. But beyond a tip of the cap for his enthusiasm and, well, drive, I can’t really recommend the book.
Tom Bedell lives in fear that other writers are, at this very moment, hunched over new manuscripts about Tiger Woods.
Ozgener Family Cigars Firsat
by laramie navrath
Ozgener Family Cigars may not be a familiar name to the casual cigar consumer, but a quick web search will lead you to Cano A. Ozgener. Cano got into the pipe business in 1977, and in 1993, he entered the cigar market. It would take Cano two years to create his first C.A.O. branded cigar with the help of Nestor Plasencia and Carlos Toraño. The first C.A.O. cigars were rolled in Honduras and introduced to the market in 1995. In 2007, C.A.O. Cigars was acquired by Henri Wintermans, a division of ST Tobacco Group. His son Tim would stay with the company as president until 2010. C.A.O. Cigars continue to be sold and manufactured by General Cigar Company, which is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group.
In August of 2022, after being away from the cigar industry for over a decade, Tim introduced Ozgener Family Cigars at the PCA Trade show under the distribution of Crowned Heads. His first new cigar blend, the Bosphorus, was a huge
hit. Two years later and two new blends, Ozgener Family Cigars linage is alive and in great hands. The newest release from Ozgener is the Firsat (which when translated to English means “opportunity” in Turkish).
The Firsat blend features the highest quality, Connecticut seed Ecuadorian wrapper from a higher priming. It yields a bronze, golden-tan, oily leaf. The fillers are from the finest combination of flavorful, mild Nicaraguan tobacco from the most fertile fields. The result is a cigar that’s easily accessible in its mild to medium body profile, yet with luscious, rich flavors. The smoke is cool and contains notes of citrus, (lemon peel), oak, and salt which fill the pallet. Hints of bread, toasted grains and coffee round out the second third of the cigar.
This is a great smoke for those that want little to no pepper or spices in their cigar. It’s a great cigar for the golf course and mirrors what’s at the heart of the cigar lifestyle. Ozgener Family Cigars represents a real-life example of how people from conflicting cultures & backgrounds overcame them through love, shared values, and humanity.
IRON LOFTS and the Quest for PERFORMANCE
by ed travis
Twenty-four years ago, when the multi-layer solid core Titleist Pro V1 ball was introduced, it was not the first of the type, but parent company Acushnet was able to build on their position in the market until the Pro V1 became the standard all others were measured against. It and other similar brands became the most played ball by professionals, better amateurs and aspiring recreational players due to the marked performance difference especially compared with the old rubber band wound balls in both distance and control.
The game changed for better or worse depending on your point of view.
Manufacturers worked hard to develop clubs, particularly drivers, to take advantage of the solid core ball’s properties and soon “space age materials” such as titanium and carbon fiber were common. Today every driver on the market uses some combination of these two former “exotic” materials and are manufactured with designs using artificial intelligence programming.
but that was back about 1979. Until Karsten Solheim invented the Ping irons in the 1960s, irons were forged and Solheim’s breakthrough was to cast steel heads so that the weight was pushed to the perimeter. It was a revolution. Pings were “easy to hit,” forgiving and the ball launch was very high unlike forged irons that many recreational players had a hard time just getting airborne.
Soon other makers were offering perimeter weighted irons and today there are multiple models targeted to various player skill levels from forged “Tour” blades to super game-improvement designs. Iron development has been going on for decades and continues.
The difficulty of hitting solid, accurate shots with forged irons is why perimeter weighting was introduced and the benefit to the average player was immense. Put another way golf is hard enough without being crippled by the ineffectiveness of your equipment. Forged irons often produced screaming flat shots that had little or no chance of stopping on the green and were prone to sliced or fat shots, neither of which weekend golfers need.
Irons have also undergone drastic changes. Better players know irons are not about how far you can hit them but about how close you can hit the ball to the target. Distance is a bonus but nobody in their right mind thinks hitting an 8-iron that may or may not land on the green is better than hitting a 7-iron or even a 6-iron to inside 30 feet of the pin.
Nick Sherburne, founder of Club Champion.
Since irons are about control and control comes from the proper spin on the ball, iron faces have been a subject of intense study and creative solutions to produce consistent spin such making them with a variable thickness. Talking about the amount of face flex at impact has become the hot topic and multiple-material iron construction has also become common.
ful to ask a true expert and we contacted Nick Sherburne the founder of Club Champion who now have 135 fitting locations in the U.S., four in Canada, three in the United Kingdom and two in Australia. He is surely one of the world’s most knowledgeable about irons for all types of players.
Sherburne told us when we raised the question of decreased lofts of today’s iron models: “Loft really depends on the specific golfer – there's no silver bullet for weaker or stronger lofts to guarantee success. With golf balls spinning more and the center of gravity shifting lower on clubs, the ball is getting in the air more easily. A stronger loft can help control the spin and maximize distance, but loft is only one part of the equation when looking at overall performance in a fitting. You want to maximize apex height, gapping, distance, and more – club manufacturers can't solve for those needs on an individual level with stock builds. Jacking lofts up (or down) may change the perceived "success" with a club, but a fitting will adjust for this based on an individual's needs.”
Okay, so the bottom line is really straight forward. Modern irons have 2° to 8° stronger lofts than 25 years ago, and it is not some plot by manufacturers to fool us into thinking our new clubs go farther than the old ones. It is in response to the way irons are weighted giving much higher launch and to stop from hitting ballonballs all day.
Concerning spin, the modern ball spins much less but having the proper spin on an approach shot is the key to “hitting it close.” Spin is a function of the iron loft and the impact angle to the ball your swing produces. Face grooves play a part in “grabbing” the ball’s cover so all things being equal soft cover balls will have additional spin.
Longtime players can remember the thin, straight line look at address and miserable results if you missed the center of the face of the old forged irons. Some of us even carried the pinnacle-of-macho one-iron and this writer must confess to making a double eagle with one on a dogleg par-5…
Along the way club makers have strengthened iron lofts to compensate for the much higher ball launch and trajectory the perimeter and sole weighted designs produced. Anyone who has ever hit an early 1970s Ping K1 model iron knows the launch angle was like a moon shot. Not something to give tight, consistent results.
Golf Oklahoma thought it would be use-
Titleist on their website says it well, “It’s all about getting the appropriate amount of spin on a variety of shots. If you're not generating enough spin on an iron approach shot it may go further than expected and then release out too much when it hits the green. On a golf shot that spins too much, take for example a seven iron approach shot, the golf ball could balloon up into the air costing you distance. Ultimately, if your golf ball falls even just five yards short of the green it could be the difference between a birdie putt and being plugged in a front bunker.”
Keep in mind “jacked lofts” are not club manufacturers being bad guys. Leave the conspiracy theories to obscure cable TV channels and supermarket tabloids.
Coatney enters Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame
by ken macleod
Two years after Dale McNamara won the last of her then record seven WOGA State Amateur championships, Patty McGraw, daughter of well-known Ponca City pro Gervis McGraw, of the well-known McGraw , introduced herself to the state by winning the 1977 championship on her home course at Ponca City Country Club.
Two years later she won again at Twin Hills CC in Oklahoma City, defeating University of Tulsa star and future LPGA player Adele Lukken. That was the first of three consecutive state championships in which her victims were future Oklahoma Golf Hall of Famers Linda Morse and Janice Burba (Gibson), also a future LPGA players.
In fact, the 1981 match against Gibson at Tulsa Country Club was one of her career highlights as she didn’t make a single bogey in a runaway victory.
“Patty was just a competitor,” said Gibson, now the long-time executive
director of First Tee of Tulsa. “She was a great match play player. She could make par no matter what or where her ball was. Just a fierce competitor.”
McGraw Coatney (she later married PGA professional Chuck Coatney) went on to win a record nine WOGA state amateurs. She broke McNamara’s record with her eighth in 1991 at Elks Country Club in Duncan, then came out of virtual retirement to win her ninth in 2001 at Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City.
Her brother Mike McGraw, current Baylor coach and long-time teacher, coach and golf historian in Oklahoma, said Patty figured out something that eluded him in their early days.
“She made the game look so easy and I made it look hard,” he said. “I would hit 500 balls a day and she would never practice. She just loved to play. If I would have paid more attention to her, I would have been a better golfer.
See Patty on page 15
Patty Coatney
Mike McGraw
Janice Gibson
Tatum, Rennie are Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame scholarship recipients
by ken macleod
The job of the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame scholarship committee never gets easier. Every year the committee is overwhelmed by the quality of applicants applying for the two $5,000 scholarships it awards annually.
This year was no different as there were outstanding applicants from throughout the state. Which should make the 2024 recipients – McKenna Tatum of Edmond and Karston Rennie of Pauls Valley – all the more proud of their accomplishments.
“It’s pleasing to see the results of dedication, commitment and hard work of all of the applicants,” said Lew Erickson, chair of the scholarship committee. “Karston and McKenna have a wonderful future in front of them, ambitious too!“
Tatum carried a 4.33 grade point average while earning Valedictorian hon -
ors at Edmond Memorial. She did that while playing in the No. 1 spot for the golf team and taking part in a host of charitable activities. She will enter the University of Arkansas this fall majoring in biology with a goal of becoming an anesthesiologist.
Like Rennie, Tatum was introduced to golf by her father and plans to play competitive golf well into the future. She began her career in South Central Section Junior Tour events, played in U.S. Kids and 45 Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour events as well as high school golf, and Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association tournaments.
Rennie’s career in golf is similar but really just getting started. This fall he will enroll in the Professional Golf Manage -
ment program at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., with the goal of becoming a PGA professional.
Rennie started playing with his father Nick at the age of 4 and it’s been a love affair ever since. He spends his summers working at the nine-hole Pauls Valley Golf Course, learning every aspect from running the pro shop to serving on the maintenance crew. The four-year starter for Pauls Valley also loves the competition, whether in high school, OJGT or PGA section events.
“I love the competitive nature of the game,” Rennie said. “I’ve been competitive my whole life, and I love team sports like baseball as well. But in golf it’s on you and I like seeing how I can stand up to the pressure.”
The two will be recognized at the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Classic on Oct. 7 at Oak Tree National in Edmond. There are still openings for sponsors and teams in the event which raises funds to support the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame and its mission to honor and recognize those who have contributed to the sport as well as the two annual scholarships.
Karston Rennie
McKenna Tatum
Lew Erickson
Young returns to OSU, Tulsa hires Roters
Aformer golf professional and assistant at South Carolina the past three years, Mike Roters is the new women’s golf coach at the University of Tulsa, succeeding Annie Young.
"We're excited for Mike and his family to join TU," said Director of Athletics Justin Moore. "Mike is one of the bright young stars in the women's golf game, and we couldn't be more excited for him to lead our women's golf program and continue the Tulsa tradition of competing at a high level of success."
"I'd like to thank Justin and Crista (Troester) for the opportunity to continue the rich tradition that TU has in women's golf," Roters said. "The legacy here is super strong and I'm excited to continue to build off the success the team has had. My family and I can't wait to get involved in the community and start working with the women and see what we can accomplish moving forward."
In his three seasons in Columbia, Roters
PATTY
cont. from page 13
“She had a real temperament about her. On the outside she was a nice girl but she had an underlying competitive nature and it was just there. And she was never out of control. That’s something a college coach is always trying to teach his players and she knew it instinctively.”
Patty, who was an inaugural inductee into the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame which later merged with the Okla homa Golf Hall of Fame, was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on Au gust 5 in Oklahoma City.
“It’s a great honor,” Patty said. “Mike is right, I just couldn’t stand to practice. And I wasn’t a great ball striker. They used to call me the happy hooker, because every shot would hook. But I think it was just able to take it shot by shot and stay in the moment. And that’s a good thing to do, particularly in match play.”
made a substantial impact on the Gamecocks program, helping lead South Carolina to three NCAA Championship appearances and perennial top-five status in what has been one of the most successful eras in program history. In 2022-23, the Gamecocks advanced to match play for the first time since 2016. The team's 1,153 72-hole total set a new program record at the NCAA Championship, beating out the 2016 team by nine strokes. USC was one of two teams to have three players finish in the top 25 of stroke play in the competition.
Prior to his tenure at South Carolina, Roters spent six seasons with the Iowa women's golf program. His coaching career began at the University of Idaho, where Roters served as an assistant coach. He helped the Vandals earn five All-Big Sky First Team honors and coached an individual NCAA Championship qualifier.
Roters played collegiate baseball at Mt. Hood Community College where he served as the team captain and was a first team All-
Conference Southern NWAAC award winner in 2002. He obtained his associates of science in 2002 and then went on to play at New Mexico State from 2002-03. In 2014, he earned his bachelor's degree in general business studies at Lewis-Clark State College.
He became a golf professional in 2007 and joined the Canadian Tour in 2009. Roters participated in many professional golf events, including the U.S. Open Sectional, Boise Open (Nationwide Event) in 2008, the PGA National Assistants Championship in 2012 and the Times Colonist (Canadian Tour Event) from 2008-2010. He won the Lilac Open in 2012.
Roters and his wife Jennifer have four sons: Gavin (19), Grant (12), Harvey (10) and Luke (5).
Young became the second assistant to OSU head coach Greg Robertson after being named the American Conference Coach of the Year in 2024, during which she led Tulsa to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
“We are very excited to add Annie to the coaching staff, and we want to welcome her and her family back to Stillwater,” Robertson said. “She was an All-American player here at
See Young on page 16
Patty was a four-year starter at Oklahoma State and was all-conference in 1980 and 1982. She won the Oklahoma Girls High School Championship in 1977 and also played on the boys team previously. She coached UCO to conference championships in 1983 and 1984, the first two years of the women’s golf program.
Mike Roters
Annie Young
City okays shelter by course
by ken macleod
Less than a year after the Tulsa citizens approved $8 million in bond money to improve the City of Tulsa golf courses, about $4 million of which is dedicated to Mohawk Park in north Tulsa, the city of Tulsa has approved the operation of a homeless shelter in a long-shuttered nursing home on the entry road to the Mohawk Park golf course.
The final step to approval should come at the city’s Board of Adjustment hearing on Sept. 10. If approved, the facility is expected to be open in November and to soon be serving 50 to 75 households that are on a waiting list for permanent housing.
Sarah Grounds, the founder and executive director of The City Lights Foundation of Tulsa, longtime advocate for the homeless and a person who operated a similar facility in east Tulsa, said any concerns that golfers have for either the children of the First Tee of Tulsa or of there being panhandling in the parking lot are largely unfounded.
The facility is for individuals and families coming out of homelessness who are on a list for permanent housing. She noted many are
exhausted, glad to have a room and basic necessities such as food and shelter taken care of and that they sign agreements not to panhandle in the area. There are three full-time staffers at the shelter at all times including security and she said they would be open to quickly resolving any issues that arise.
Nick Sidorakis, recently retired Southern Hills General Manager and long-time champions of the First Tee of Tulsa, asked at a meeting city of Tulsa officials had with residents and other interested parties on July 11 if the city would build such a facility near an elementary school. It was not answered by anyone that night, but Grounds said she would have no qualms about that.
“I cannot answer for the city but I would have no concerns about placing the Residential Care Center near a school,” she said. “It is no different than an apartment or other housing options being near a school- with the exception of an actual school having more students and longer hours in a set location and this type of housing providing more support services and knowing the neighbors living on-site extremely well. That is more support and knowledge than most schools have of
nearby neighbors.”
Golf Oklahoma asked mayor’s chief of staff Blake Ewing that with no other retail within walking distance, why the residents would not congregate at the golf course or in the parking lot?
“This will be a much more controlled situation than what people imagine when they think of a traditional shelter,” Ewing said via text. “We don’t anticipate people wandering on to the golf course or panhandling in the area.”
YOUNG cont. from page 15
OSU and has since become an accomplished coach. I have known Annie since her days on the team as a Cowgirl, and I have always been impressed with her hard work as a player and a coach.
“She will bring 15 years of coaching experience, and there is no doubt our players will benefit from having her here. As she joins Maddi Swaney, I’m fortunate to have two of the best coaches in college golf working with me. I think that’s a tribute to the commitment Oklahoma State is willing to put toward the women’s golf program.”
Grace Kilcrease, the top player on Tulsa’s 2023-24 roster with a 72.7 scoring average, transferred to OSU following Young's departure.
HOLES HEROIC GOLF 28 11 OCT NOV OF THROUGH
It’s the most noble reason to play the game you love and have a boatload of fun. Operation Unity is a HERO100 Golf Marathon event between Oct. 28th (First Responders Day) and Nov. 11th (Veterans Day). Grateful Americans across the nation will play 100 holes at their home club to provide academic scholarships to the families of fallen or disabled U.S. service members and first responders.
Together, we'll meet sacrifice with hope.
Fiscus to make renovation his final project at TCC
by ken macleod
If anybody ever left a situation in better shape than he found it, it’s Tulsa Country Club General Manager Jason Fiscus.
Fiscus is stepping down this fall after 20 years to enjoy some time with his family before pursuing other options. He leaves after more than $27 million in four major renovations, including the current $15-million project, the breadth of which is difficult to describe.
A recent visit found the parking lot and entrances being basically torn up, workers busy on a new back patio east of a new members bar and lounge and also putting counters down in the new family dining area which has shifted to the west so children won’t have to go through the adult area to reach it.
Outside, superintendent Brady Finton is about to start moving into his two gleaming new maintenance buildings, one the agricultural center and the other a state-ofthe-art nearly 12,000-square foot building with offices, break area, work areas, storage, hydraulic lifts and much more. The two buildings and the outside shaded storage area dwarf his previous work space of just 6,000 square feet, a building set for de-
molition any day.
His buildings are now at the far south end of the parking lot and have direct access to the course for his staff of 23 instead of having to maneuver past the range and tee boxes. As you move to the north, the parking lot as mentioned is getting a new entrance in the center, there will be a new staging area for deliveries and the front of the clubhouse will have a new entrance.
Further north, the old cart barn is gone and a new one built further west and north.
The removal of the old maintenance building will make room on the driving range for a new three-bay indoor teaching center and expansion of the driving range, the final stage of the project and one that won’t be complete until next May. Much of the rest was scheduled to be completed
in a flurry over August and into early September.
Fiscus, whose successor has not yet been named, has overseen a dramatic transformation at TCC. When he came onboard the club had a membership of mostly older businessmen. The transition to a much younger, thriving family-oriented club
Workers put in a new patio east of the clubhouse at TCC.
Left to right, Brady Finton and Jason Fiscus.
started with a new pool and dining patio in 2007. Then came an extensive interior clubhouse renovation in 2010 and a Rees Jonesled renovation of the entire golf course in 2011. In 2017, the club replaced the clubhouse roof and did a full bunker renovation.
The Tulsa engineering firm Cyntergy did the interior design work while the main contractor for the outside projects is Cowen. The renovations in this massive project are being paid by member assessments of $10k per and though TCC naturally lost a few members its numbers are still healthy and a new waiting list will probably be on the horizon once all the improvements are ready to be
shown off.
“I wouldn’t be able to make this decision to leave if I didn’t feel like we had a great team in place and the project was in a great place with a strong committee to oversee the last push,” Fiscus said. “It’s bittersweet. This place has been the center of my life and my family’s life for the last 20 years. But I am looking forward to spending a holiday season at home with my family.”
Fiscus hired Finton at the end of his first year on the job and the two have worked together through all the vast improvements.
“I’m going to miss Jason a lot,” Finton said. “He’s been great for this club and we’ve worked together on making it better for 20 years.”
PENALTIES
While there are one stroke penalties in both stroke play and match, the general penalty results in a two-stroke penalty in stroke play but a loss of hole penalty in match play. As soon as the breach occurs, the hole is lost. An example of how the general penalty can be more severe in match play, imagine a sudden death playoff between two players, one in stroke play and the other match play. Both players play tee shots into the same general area. Both players identify a ball and play second shots to the green. After arriving at the green, the players realize they have inadvertently played the other players’ ball. Both players played a wrong ball and incurred the general penalty. In stroke play the players must correct the mistake and each get a two-stroke penalty. They could then make the same score and continue the playoff. However, in match play, although both players played a wrong ball, the first to do so lost the hole and it is now irrelevant what the other player does.
There are many nuances to playing match play and many players prefer match play. If you have not played match play, I encourage you to give it a try.
Earlywine clubhouse dazzles
by ken macleod
The praise for the new clubhouse at Earlywine Golf Club in Oklahoma City has flowed in online and in person, making the years of delays and cost overruns worth it to those instrumental in its creation.
“It’s great to hear,” said Tom Hoch, who contracted to do the interior design of the 8,000-square foot building featuring a spacious pro shop, restaurant worthy of the lunch and dinner attention of golfers and nongolfers alike, huge banquet room, gleaming new locker rooms and restrooms, indoor hitting bays and fitting center and much more.
Outdoors there is a shaded veranda with great views, an activity lawn for those renting the banquet room and coolest of all, a 24-station driving range bay that is shaded, heated and blocks the north wind.
“It’s a fun setting and a modern environment that plays well with today’s lifestyle,” Hoch said. “It’s got all the modern amenities. It’s going to be a place about community more than just golf.”
“We’re going to have by far the best driving range in the city, maybe the state, and one of the best clubhouses in the state as well,” said longtime director of golf Dan Langford Jr. “With the courses in great shape as they are, it really takes us to a whole other level.”
Langford is the only one of four OKC public course professionals that thousands of area golfers grew up and learned the game from that is still working. Alsie Hyden at Lake Hefner, Steve Carson at Lincoln Park and Mark Galloway at Trosper Park were his contemporaries for decades and he gets sentimental discussing his new building and what it can mean for Earlywine Park and Oklahoma City public golf in general.
“It’s been kind of like waiting for Christmas for three years, so it’s nice to have it arrive,” Langford said. “I think our golfers have all been very impressed.”
Ten years after Oklahoma City finished a beautiful facility at Lincoln Park, it completed the clubhouse at Earlywine and will immediately begin work on phase one of a new $10 million facility at Lake Hefner. The Earlywine clubhouse started with a fixed cost budget of $8.5 million that swelled to $12.5 million after adding in architect fees, testing, engineering fees and other costs. Final numbers including the parking lot and Covid-related delays and price increases pushed the number up to close to $14 million.
Just as city officials in Edmond wound up spending close to $22 million on the new clubhouse and course renovation at KickingBird Golf Course, there is a strong feeling it’s worth every penny in a city that has long made quality and affordable public golf a high priority for its residents.
“I think it exceeded expectations,” said former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett, now the chairman of the Oklahoma City Golf Commission. “The covered hitting bays took people by surprise. The visual of walking into the pro shop or restau-
rant and seeing the green right outside the window. It looks like art when you walk in.
“I just think it’s spectacular and shows a commitment to public golf and a commitment to south Oklahoma City. I have friends who haven’t been out there while they were operating out of the trailer and when they drove up they couldn’t believe what they saw.”
Cornett credited the city’s park department for not downsizing the project as prices soared during and after Covid, and for finding creative ways to fund the portions that went over budget.
Sean Simpson, Oklahoma City Golf Trust Specialist, who coordinated all aspects of construction from the city side, has also been pleased with the comments from friends who love the game.
“Everyone has loved it so far,” he said. “I have a bunch of friends who are golfers and they are just shocked at the change from the previous building to this one. It just makes everything else better too. They all feel better about the golf courses as well.”
The clubhouse was financed by bond packages passed in 2017, but construction took a back seat to completion of the softball facilities at Devon Park.
The roomy restaurant and bar, named The Overlook, has already proven popular even among non-golfers coming in for lunch and dinner. Both food and beverage manager Jim Gonzalez and chef Kevin Jasmin have poured their hearts into making it a place for all to enjoy. Jasmin previously worked as Chef De Partie at Fine Company and Bouchon in Las Vegas, and said his goal was to exceed the expectations of golfers as well as make it a destination for diners throughout south Oklahoma City.
Tom Hoch
Dan Langford
Dan Langford Jr., lower left, is loving the reaction to the new clubhouse at Earlywine Golf Course.
"one of the most fulfilling municipal golf options in the country"
Raw-boned beauties of Nebraska
by ken mac leod
Oklahomans wandering inside Nebraska outside of football season, what’s the deal?
Actually this group hailed from Tulsa, Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, Albuquerque and Huntsville, Ala. All lured to Nebraska by the promise of something approximating links golf in the sand hills.
What we found was a totally unique golf experience. Not really like playing links golf, but certainly like nothing else we had previously experienced anywhere.
The core of our travel group has been to Scotland and Ireland. We’ve been to Bandon Dunes, to Sand Valley, to Whistling Straits, to Erin Hills, to Streamsong in search of the genuine links experience or as close as you can get.
After Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed the ultra-private and phenomenally rated Sand Hills in Nebraska, we figured it was just a matter of time before enough other architects and developers followed suit. And sure enough, that time is here.
It takes a little planning – and maybe a little better planning than we did – but we did the best we could to maneuver around some tournaments and special events.
We were unable to get on Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenburg which is supposed to be phenomenal, but we hit most of the rest of our targeted destinations. Those included, in order:
Landmand Golf Club near Homer. Tatanka Golf Club near Niobrara Dismal River near Mullin
Caprock Ranch near Valentine Prairie Club near Valentine
Awarii Dunes near Axtell
All together, including three days of 36
holes and three days of 18 holes, it was 162 holes and about 2,000 miles of driving Sunday to Saturday. A little ambitious perhaps for a bunch of 60-plus golf geeks but you really don’t feel it until you get home.
Those willing to spend some hours on the lonely Nebraska state highways can now create a phenomenal golf trip just two states to the north.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
Landmand is near Sioux City, Iowa, and is approached by miles of dirt road with no
signs. Your vehicle will be covered in dust by the time you find the parking lot of this former ranch, but from there the experience is pretty amazing. The course is massive and raw boned, with great vistas, incredibly huge greens with tons of elevation and movement and explosions of sand. It was our first inkling that the trip was going to require a lot more aerial than ground game. Landmand sold out its allotted tee times for the summer the day they went on sale, that’s how popular this place has been since opening in 2022. It was designed by Rob Collins and Tad King, creators of the highly acclaimed Sweetens Cove near Chattanooga. This outrageous course has four short par-4s in which driving the green is possible, but getting on the greens here is just the beginning of your adventure that could end three, four or five putts later. From there it was a few hours north to stay at the Ohiya Casino, about which the best thing that can be said is Tatanka Golf Course is on the same property. And though we’re not in the true sand hills yet, that is another course with a ton of movement. And again, getting on the greens is just half the battle, then you have to figure out the multiple breaks and the speed. They are beautiful and treacherous.
I’ve never had so many three-putts in
The final hole on The Pines Course at Prairie Club.
Jack Nicklaus' White Course at Dismal River is a tester.
#NWA CHAMPIONSHIP
my life as I did on this trip. PGA professional Troy Harder is a staunch defender of his course and says flatly no golf trip to Nebraska is complete without a visit. There are not many golfers living nearby, Niobrara has a population of 363. But he is noticing a huge uptick in rounds as more visitors include it either as part of a state journey like ours or in conjunction with a visit to Landmand.
“It’s definitely a hidden gem,” Harder said. “Every day that goes by half the people playing here have never been here before (the course opened in 2017)."
Harder said no state in the country has built more exciting new venues than Nebraska in the past 20 years.
any state in the last 10 years for quality of new ventures. There’s no letdown in any of the courses you have lined up.”
From Niobrara, we entered the true sand hills, a massive region area of sediment
Our first day in the dunes was at Dismal River, a 36-hole resort with the original White Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and the Red Course designed by Tom Doak. It has magnificent cabins and a lodge, a clubhouse with spectacular views and the different feeling of driving more than a mile in a cart from the clubhouse to the first hole.
“This state in the golf world, if we had PGA Tour events here, we would get the same big-time notice as other states,” Harder said. “You put this course on TV, Sand Hills on TV, all of a sudden Nebraska golf goes way up. I would put this state against
WKP UB 7.375x4.875.qxp_. 1/26/24 3:46 PM Page 1
eroded from the Rocky Mountains by Pleistocene glaciers, washed out into the plains by wind and rivers and now covered with grass. As architect Gil Hanse said of his first visit, everywhere he looked he saw a golf course and it’s hard not to get excited for what may lie ahead on your first visit.
If you were truly searching for a links experience, Nicklaus’ White Course will disappoint in that it requires a precise aerial game and offers few opportunities to play the ball along the ground or take advantage of the rolling terrain. Balls that miss the fairways or disappear into huge bunker complexes guarding greens often can’t be found.
Not so on the Doak course or really any of the others we played. Much more angles and opportunities to bring different shots into play.
We won’t spend much time describing
36 HOLES | PLAY SAGUARO & CHOLLA
The Coore/Crenshaw-designed Saguaro course (No. 1) and the Scott Miller-designed Cholla course (No. 9) have been ranked among the Top-10 Best You Can Play in Arizona* for a decade. And you can experience both within a 3-day period with the 36-hole package. Located minutes from Scottsdale, Arizona in the pristine Sonoran Desert of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
Caprock Ranch as it is strictly private and we were fortunate to get on. Gil Hanse is the designer and the project began over 20 years ago before being completed in 2021. The course winds not only through the sand hills but many holes are built on plateaus overlooking the Snake River Canyon, just spectacular. Hanse says the setting is one of his favorite places on earth, if that tells you how good it is.
From there it was on to The Prairie Club, probably the most successful resort to capture the spark created by Sand Hills and turn it into a roaring fire. It offers two 18hole beauties and a short course called The Horse Course, designed by Hanse and golf architecture writer Geoff Shackelford.
The Dunes was designed by Tom Lehm-
an and Chris Brands and is probably the quintessential Nebraska experience for those searching for something similar to Sand Hills (we’re guessing). Wide, sweeping fairways, allowing all kinds of shot making, and again, big bold greens with a ton of movement. The Pines Course, designed by Graham Marsh, has some holes with a similar feel, but also some that border the same Snake River Canyon that is so prominent at Caprock Ranch.
You could make your entire trip playing the courses at the Prairie Club and staying on site and you would have a wonderful time. But then, you wouldn’t have as many bugs on your windshield.
On the way home we stopped at Awarii Dunes, which had lost its superintendent
early in the year and suffered some turf grass loss before the new man came on board. Out of the sand hills and into the prairie, there were the bones of an entertaining course there, designed by well-respected architect Jim Engh, who said he drew his inspiration for the course from Irish links.
So there you have it, our first foray into Nebraska. It seems every inch of the eastern part of the state is covered by corn or other crops, while in the sand hills there is grass and cows. But a surprisingly beautiful state to drive in, the miles flew by and we often could go 20 minutes without passing another vehicle. There are not many people outside the Omaha-Lincoln area. Just the farmers and ranchers – and now golfers.
Tom Doak's Red Course at Dismal River.
The spectacular Caprock Ranch designed by Gil Hanse.
Solid to the 'Coeur'
Golf trips to the Inland
Northwest don't disappoint
of the 15th hole at Circling Raven.
by bill kamenjar
Not knowing what to expect on a recent golf trip to the Inland Northwest – specifically the Spokane (WA) and Idaho panhandle area –I was excited to see what this part of the country offers golfers.
Thanks to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, ‘those who have always been here,’ the golf getaway was well worth the trip. Celebrating its 20th anniversary season this year, sinewy, brawny Circling Raven flows across the rolling hills of the Palouse and through wetlands and woodlands. It’s nature golf at its finest. Moose, eagles, bears and other wildlife agree as they live and roam throughout the abundant countryside.
The Tribe never misses an opportunity to greet the outside golf world. And they do so with two simple words organically derived and translated from their native tongue: “Welcome Home.”
Twenty years is a mere sliver of time in comparison to the ancient history of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, but Circling Raven has soared so resoundingly since it opened, that it draws visitors from throughout North America. Laid out amid the Tribe’s ancestral homelands and hunting grounds, the ingenious holes Bates authored astound firsttime players. And keeps them coming back.
Illuminating the course’s allure is its 13th hole – once nothing more than a wilder-
ness of hope for future generations. Named “Medicine Man,” it’s at the hole’s high point that the true power and mystique of massive 620-acre Circling Raven shines most brightly. This insight came to me through playing with tribe member Beau Jones.
The lean 18-year-old with jet-black hair and a long ponytail worked through his pre-shot routine gripping a seemingly deficient 5 iron to cover the 218 yards of space that lay ahead. (The hole stretches to 253 yards from the tips!) With one fluid transitional move, the impending college golfer’s ‘stinger’ swing sends his ball piercing through the sun-seared summer air, over an extensive expanse of trouble below and safely onto the wide, narrow green setting up his successful birdie putt.
This all happens to the delight of the surrounding Ponderosa pines, natural wetlands, native grasses, a few clusters of white-barked Aspen trees, and Jones’ three playing partners who had the good fortune to witness the moment.
It’s hard to fathom that when Circling Raven architect Gene Bates – in the early 2000’s – was strategically trying to convince Coeur d’Alene Tribe leadership that the right vision for a pure golf course experience wasn’t where other petitioning designers had it blue-printed, a player as advanced as Jones had not even been born yet. But with each passing day that Jones and other golfers play amid the outstand-
ing fairways, greens and practice facilities, Bates’ job-winning (later award-winning) creative vision is validated that much more.
“I just want to represent this place because it’s done so many great things for me,” said Jones, son of the golf club’s guest services manager, James Samuels, who has been with the club for most of its 20 years.
As the Tribe intended. It built the casino resort golf amenity knowing it would provide professional and sporting opportunities for its people and community members.
Bates was spot on in taking advantage of the forests, wetlands and panoramic mountain views that prevail along the intricate path that he chose.
For a pure golf experience, it would be tough to find a routing and setting more inspiring than Circling Raven, where Jones shot 65 during a high school campaign and finished runner-up in the state championship. Measuring 7,189 yards from the tips, Circling Raven meanders through scenic Coeur d’Alene National Forest surroundings reminiscent of something out of the movie “Dances with Wolves” or “The Revenent.” It offers a golf experience that is as culturally rich as it is visually stunning (the course is named for the medicine manprophet who led the Tribe through some of its most difficult times).
The nationally ranked track was voted Idaho’s No. 1 course in Golfweek's “Best Public Access Golf 2024,” a distinction that it has
View
held for most every year of its existence.
As wonderful as the resort is singularly – including cultural activities like canoeing area waterways as the Tribe has for time immemorial, Native American themed paint-and-sip sessions, cultural dinners with dance and drum and authentic food dishes, and more – it’s even better used as a golf trip base camp, pairing it with other nearby courses. These include seven operated by Spokane County and Spokane City, where the international airport is located.
Indicative of the area’s great courses is the marvelous Spokane County layout known as Latah Creek. Routed with its namesake creek winding through the course, it unfurls through terraced green terrain and showcases well-bunkered greens, wide fairways, and superb putting surfaces.
Public golf in the Spokane area is historic and considered top-notch by nation-
The gals take over on this foray into Alabama
by abbey algiers
When it comes to golf trips, it seems men and women have different ideas of what makes for a good time.
Great courses with lodging and affordability rank high for all. But when it comes to women planning girls golf getaways, a golf trip calls for a few more “like-to-haves” such as spa services, hotels with lifestyle amenities ( fitness center, spaces to relax or work), great food, and culture.
and boutique hotels. In addition, I learned about Alabama’s art and music scene, history, and outdoor recreation opportunities. All of these elements make Alabama an ideal spot for a girls’ golf getaway.
In addition, it’s a bonus when golf courses, hotels, and attractions are easily accessible. A golf trip is no time for hassles.
WOMEN WANT A GETAWAY THAT MAKES THEM FEEL LIKE THEY’VE GOTTEN AWAY
The perfect place for this?
Alabama, where the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail draws in thousands of golfers each year and southern hospitality, great food and drink, and unique experiences bring them back.
COME FOR THE GOLF, STAY FOR THE LIFESTYLE
I’ve been lucky enough to visit Alabama twice in the past year with fellow golf writers. During these trips, we played courses both on and off the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, sampled Alabama’s food and drink, and stayed at world class resorts
WHY ALABAMA?
(par-3) courses, such as 18-hole par-3s at Hampton Cove in Huntsville, Grand National in Opelika, or Magnolia Grove in Mobile.
LET’S START WITH THE TRAIL
Alabama has become a destination spot for golfers worldwide, thanks to The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail that consists of 25 courses at 11 locations throughout Alabama and was created over 30 years ago by Dr. David G. Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama to increase tourism to the state.
REGARDLESS OF YOUR HANDICAP, YOU’LL FEEL COMFORTABLE PLAYING RTJ COURSES
Many of the courses along the trail sites have hosted major PGA, LPGA, and other tournaments, but don’t let that be intimidating. Each RTJ course offers multiple tee boxes catering to golfers of all abilities. Some RTJ courses have as many as 12 tee box options. This means a golfer can choose their box based on ability -- not gender or age.
In addition, the Trail has multiple short
Fun fact: The Short Course at Magnolia Grove was named “The Best Par-3 Course in America” by Golf Digest. Nine-hole par 3s are found at Silver Lakes in Gadsden, Highland Oaks in Dothan, and the new Back Yard at Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham. The Back Yard was designed with the young junior golfer and beginner in mind, and can be played within an hour. The best part might be its fire pit for postround drinks and laughs.
THE RTJ TRAIL… CONVENIENCE, AFFORDABILITY, AND GREAT GOLF
The nice part about a golf trip to Alabama is the strategic and convenient placement of courses on and off the Trail. The average drive time between RTJ course locations ranges from 1.5 - 2.5 hours. Plus, there are plenty of activities off the trail, as each course is strategically located close to Alabama cities and attractions, as well as other great public courses.
Better yet, golf in Alabama is affordable -- the Wall Street Journal has called The Trail the “biggest bargain in the country.”
In addition to its already reasonable rates, there are trail cards plus travel packages offering golfers additional discounts.
IT’S A GOLF TRAIL AND A SPA TRAIL - THE PERFECT COMBINATION
Kiva Dunes Golf Course in Gulf Shores.
Left to right, Battle House exterior and Renaissance spa.
Finding accommodations along the trail is easy, thanks to the RTJ Golf Trail Resort Collection. All hotels in the collection offer elegance and relaxation, perfect for a girls getaway, but six of its hotels comprise the RTJ Spa Trail. A trail card makes the experience even more affordable.
SO MANY CHOICES… LET’S START WITH MOBILE
In addition to the RTJ Trail courses, Alabama has a variety of public courses throughout the state. With so many choices, it helps to choose a city as a launching pad for golf and fun.
Our group chose Mobile, a charming and historical city that’s undergoing a renaissance. We stayed at the Battle House Renaissance Hotel & Spa, an RTJ Spa Trail property with spacious rooms, a rooftop pool, three restaurants, a tennis court and many amenities and extras such as a fitness center with top of the line TechnoGym equipment. Last, but not least, if you’re looking for the ultimate spa experience, you’ll find it here.
Across from the Battle House is Las Floriditas -- a Cuban themed speakeasy designed to look and feel like the original El Floridita in Cuba. (Be sure to come with the password!) Nearby is Dauphin’s, known for its flavors of French Creole and fresh catch of the day, and gorgeous views of downtown Mobile and Mobile Bay from its perch on the 34th floor of the Trustmark Building.
I’ve been to the original El Floridita in Cuba. Las Floriditas is spot-on in all the details.
The dining options really don’t stop in Mobile. If I were returning on a girls’ trip, I’d definitely come back to Felix’s Fish Camp - our group had a blast, thanks to the relaxed vibe, live music, views and amazing food. For off-the-beaten path entertainment try some local recommendations such as Greer’s St. Louis Market for happy hour on the rooftop patio, or Callaghan’s Irish Social Club for nightly live music and greasy cheeseburgers, or The Haberdasher for craft cocktails, wine, or beer. Speaking of burgers, don’t miss Mobile’s Oldest Restaurant, The Dew Drop Inn, and finally head to the Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar for a truly unique dining experience in a historic home in the Oakleigh Garden District (with homes dating to the 1700s) brought to you by renowned Chef Jim Smith.
MOBILE AND GOLF ARE THE PERFECT COMBO
On the golf end, the RTJ Courses at Magnolia Grove are just a
20-minute drive from downtown Mobile.
Magnolia Grove offers three courses -- The Crossings, The Falls, and their Short Course. It was easy to see why Magnolia Grove was recently named one of the “Top 50 Public Courses” by Golf World magazine readers, and Golf Digest named Magnolia Grove in its “Places to Play” as two of the nation’s “Great Value Courses” and America’s “Top 50 Affordable Courses.”
GOLF AND MORE AT THE GRAND HOTEL
Just about a half hour out of Mobile fi nd The Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa. This historic beachfront property has attracted generations of repeat guests since opening its doors in 1847. Beyond its two 18-hole championship RTJ
Trail golf courses (the Dogwood and Azalea), The Grand offers numerous amenities -- a 20,000-square foot spa with 12 treatment rooms, plus four styling, manicure, and pedicure stations. Nine dining and bar options mean leaving the property is optional, and for more activity, hit one of the 10 tennis courts with LED lighting, two championship croquet lawns, or the 11 pickleball courts. Nearby Mobile and Pensacola airports offer direct flights from 20 cities.
COME FOR THE GOLF, STAY FOR THE BEACH
Perhaps your idea of a golf getaway must include sand… and not the kind we try to avoid on the course. If this is the case, add Gulf Shores-Orange Beach to your short list. Enjoy world class golf, 32 miles of beach, and the “nation’s best recreational trail.”
For our stay in Gulf Shores, we started our golf day at a local favorite, the Sassy Bass Amazin’ Grill (famous for its oysters, great tasting affordable food, live music, and friendly smiles) and then played 18
holes at the Jerry Pate-designed Kiva Dunes Golf & Beach Resort. Gorgeous and challenging (but in a good way) are two of the many words I’d use to describe Kiva Dunes. Perhaps the most appealing point of Kiva Dunes is its commitment to “go beyond the ordinary, offering not just accommodations, but a lifestyle.”
What does this mean for a bunch of golf travelers? Great golf may be the initial draw, but guests are presented with amenities and activities for a true experience at the Kiva Beach Club.
Two other options are the Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club with three distinct nines and the Arnold Palmer-designed Cypress Bend at Craft Farms. Golf Digest gives the course 4.5 stars, but I’d give it a solid 5 -- its beauty made me forget how challenging it was.
SO MANY OPTIONS TO GOLF, STAY AND PLAY IN GULF SHORES
Our group enjoyed The Beach Club Resort & Spa, a beachside resort offering 1-5 bedroom condos and beachside cottages plus pools, tennis, fitness, and onsite dining at Coast at the Beach Club.
For great drinks, apps, and dining, try The Cold Hole Bar & Grill at Jesse’s On the Bay -- and enjoy the indoor and outdoor dining options and steak and seafood. Zeke’s Restaurant is another option for those close to Orange Beach, and if your group is into craft beer, don’t miss Big Beach Brewery. Finally, experience live music and a great atmosphere at the world-famous beach bar, Flora-Bama. Be sure to ask for its signature drink, The Bushwacker.
ON AND OFF THE TRAIL, ALABAMA IS WORTH A VISIT
The bottom line? Planning a trip with friends is serious business. For the best of many worlds -- golf, spa, dining, culture, and more, consider Alabama. On or off the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, there’s something for everyone. For more information on a golf getaway to Alabama, visit www. GolfAlabama.org.
Magnolia Grove Crossings 14.
Craft Farms Clubhouse.
Stephens Cup brings elite event to Oklahoma
by ken macleod
That the prestigious Jackson T. Stephens Cup will be played at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club on Oct. 21-23 is a good lesson in learning to value every relationship, because you never know what might come of it 40-plus years later.
Oklahoma City businessman and member David McCubbin, past president of OC G&CC and current co-chair of the long-range golf planning committee, went to college at William and Lee University in Lexington, Va., where he got to know classmate Warren Stephens, son of the late Jack Stephens, former chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and cofounder of Little Rock financial services firm Stephens Inc.
It’s been a four decades-plus friendship that has benefitted both, and now it will do the same for Oklahoma golf fans interested in watching many of the nation’s premier collegians.
This will be the fourth year for the tournament, which was first held at The Alotian Club outside Little Rock, founded by Warren Stephens, and then went to Seminole and Trinity Forest. The nationally televised event features some of the nation’s top collegiate men’s and women’s teams as well as participants from the military academies and historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).
“We don’t get too many opportunities for a home game and we’re having it at a place we’re super fond of, with a strong OU membership. It will be fantastic.”
“I just think it’s really cool that the world will get to see Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club on television and what a good thing it is for our state to have a premier event like this televised,” said OSU coach Alan Bratton. “They can see some of Perry Maxwell’s work on the greens that hasn’t really been touched.”
Warren Stephens said he is proud of what the tournament has grown into in just four years.
“This tournament was named after my father to honor his legacy and contributions to
The schedule for the week includes a college-am and a clinic for First Tee of Oklahoma City participants on Sunday, followed by 36 holes of stroke play on Monday, 18 holes on Tuesday and then match play among the top four men’s and women’s teams on Wednesday.
Portions of the tournament will be televised by The Golf Channel. Tickets are $25 for a daily pass with those 17 and under admitted free and sponsorships are available.
Go to www.stephenscup.com for tickets and more information.
The field should command great regional and national interest. The men’s field includes Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Arkansas as well as Florida State with superstar Luke Clanton, Southern Methodist (including Tulsa’s Will Sides) and San Diego State.
The women’s field includes Oklahoma State, Arkansas, defending champion Wake Forest, Florida State, South Carolina and Oregon.
“It’s our first year to participate and we’re really excited,” said OU coach Ryan Hybl.
mann has the course looking on a daily basis is incredible. I haven’t played any better and I’ve played Pebble Beach and Cypress Point and a lot of really good courses.”
Tim Fleming, the PGA Director of Golf Operations at OCG&CC, said the club has a long history of supporting top amateur events, dating back to the 1953 U.S. Amateur and including five Trans-Miss Championships and numerous Oklahoma Golf Association events. But these two championships represent the club stretching its wings again. Fleming and McCubbin said they would not be surprised if another event or two is not added to the calendar soon.
the game of golf. Dad (Jack Stephens) was a staunch believer in sportsmanship and fierce competition, and we built this event with those two pillars as the foundation. Now in our fourth year, we have created a definitive and highly competitive collegiate competition comprised of the nation’s premier collegiate golf programs and future stars of the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour competing at world-class golf courses. We’re excited to be in Oklahoma City this year and look forward to providing fans a first-rate experience that includes complimentary tickets for youth under 17 (when accompanied by a ticketed adult), complimentary parking and concessions available for purchase.”
McCubbin said Warren Stephens asked him three years ago if Oklahoma City would be interested in hosting and with the club having undergone an extensive renovation by Tripp Davis in 2020, there was a desire for a coming out party. The club will not only host the Stephens Cup but the 2025 USGA Women’s Four-Ball Championship next spring.
“The course is incredible,” McCubbin said. “Not only the job that Tripp did, but the way our superintendent Nathan New-
“We’re certainly proud of the product we have,” Fleming said, “The golf course is in tremendous condition. The job that Nathan and his crew do is just incredible.”
Davis is looking forward to seeing how the top collegians handle the classic course.
“Being able to work with OCGCC to renovate the course and work to get the original design intent to fit the modern game as much as was possible was one of those unique opportunities that is hard to put into words.,” he said. “I really didn’t want it to end. Given Alister Mackenzie was also involved made it more special and interesting.”
And how will the top collegians fare in terms of scoring? That’s always dependent on wind, rough height, pin positions and other factors, but Davis said the men will have a challenge and that the course is ideal for the collegiate women.
“The one thing OCGCC doesn’t have is length, but it makes up for it to some extent with angles, requirements to be very precise if being aggressive, and greens that when fast and firm are tough to approach, tough to get up and down from around the greens, and tough to putt,” he said. “When the rough is even just a bit taller than normal it can be very difficult to have the distance control needed in approaching these greens. Add some wind and it will test every part of the game.
“I do think it’s a great course for the college women because they will generally have to play more strategically. It is a course that I think is more of the type we need to have today for tournament golf in that it can be set up to test every part of the game, it offers a lot of strategic options, and margins for error for aggressive shots can be set up to be quite small. It’s not penal, but you have to think to avoid having any weakness exposed.“
OSU's Ethan Fang
OU's Ryder Cowan
High praise for Southern Hills
by ken macleod
The week of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship was the first significant time at Southern Hills for USGA Championship Committee chair Kevin Hammer. But his ties to the club go back decades.
His godfather is Bob Murphy, a close friend and college teammate of his father Laurie Hammer, a long-time PGA professional at Delray Dunes in Boynton Beach, Fla. Murphy won the 1965 U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills.
Another close family friend is Dave Stockton, who won the 1970 PGA Championship at Southern Hills. Laurie ran the Keystone Ranch Golf Club for Stockton for 13 years in the summers.
“I’ve had a lot of fun this week sharing the pictures in history hall and photos of the golf course with those guys,” Hammer said.
Hammer said the USGA could not have been more thrilled with the job done by Southern Hills, it’s staff and members and said he felt confident the two entities would be talking soon about what comes next.
“This has been one of the better weeks in memory,” Hammer said. “The partnership we have with the staff here has really been incredible. From Cary Cozby the head professional to Bryant Evans the superintendent, to Jay Johnson the GM to Nick Sidorakis and everyone else, they are wonderful people. Jay said his goal is to make our members feel like family and our guests feel like members. That’s a beautiful statement and they’ve proven that to us.”
As for what could potentially be the 11th USGA event to be held at Southern Hills, all sides took a wait and see approach. One event that it almost certainly won’t be is a fourth U.S. Open to go with those in 1958, 1977 and 2001. The USGA has awarded the U.S. Open for every year through 1942 and also for five of the eight years after that. The U.S. Women’s Open is awarded through 2036 before any openings are available.
The USGA has 14 other championships including the U.S. Amateur, which was last held at Southern Hills in 2009.
All of which means Southern Hills will likely continue to pursue major champion-
ships with the PGA of America while keeping in touch with the USGA for amateur events. The USGA currently has two other events scheduled in Oklahoma, the Women’s Four-Ball Championship at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club in 2025 and the U.S. Senior Open at Oak Tree National in 2027.
The 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur turned out to be a thrilling event, with a wild final between the same two young ladies who met three weeks earlier in the final of the U.S. Junior Girls Championship. Rianne Milixi of the Phillipines again prevailed over Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, Calif. Just when Talley had won three holes in succession to even the36-hole match split over two days, Milixi birdied holes 13, 14, 15 and 16 in succession to close out the match 4 and 2, a stunning display of ball striking and putting skills from a 17-year-old that stands about 5-feet-2, but who is an immensely capable athlete.
Kevin Hammer
Rianne Milixi
What a summer for Natalie Blonien!
Talk about a trifecta. For Natalie Blonien, the summer before her freshman year at the Univertity of Arkansass will provide lasting memories as she dominated women's amateur golf in the state.
First came a riventing victory in the WOGA Junior Championship at Rose Creek in Oklahoma City, in which she had to birdie the final two holes to hold off rising star Harlow Gregory of Norman by a shot. Then a hard-fought victory over the state's other 14-year-old phenom Evyn Cannon of Edmond in the championship match of the WOGA State Amateur Championship at Stillwater Country Club on July 25.
single shot. Two of her future teammates at Arkansass advanced all the way to the semifinals.
Far from being despondent, Blonien drove to Oklahoma City, where she had
That win earned Blonien a spot in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. After two rounds, she missed the cut for the top 64 advancing to match play by a
Johnson
by ken mac leod
Cthat event by a shot over Adrienne Aahn of Dallas.
“I’m glad I was able to stay in it,” Cannon said followng her victory in the WOGA State Amateur. “I played good, a lot better than I’ve been playing lately. I feel like I’ve been improving and honestly just proud that I stayed in it and made it to the final match.”
entered the AJGA's Talor Gooch Foundation Junior Championship in advance just in case. The day after missing the cut in Tulsa, she shot a 5-under 67 in the first round of the AJGA event at Gallardia Country Club and then went on to win
Gregory, who will be a freshman at Community Christian School this fall, demonstrated why she has reached the finals of the national Drive, Chip and Putt contest. Playing the much-improved Rose Creek at close to 6,300 yards, Gregory hit just two greens in regulation on the back nine, but shot 2-under. That is correct, she did not miss a putt on the back nine. And that was after cruising around the front nine in 3-under with a total of 12 putts.
That added up to a personal best 5-under 67 and a 6-under total of 138 for the 36-hole event.
rallies late to upend McDonald in OGA State Amateur
hristian Johnson spent his 202324 redshirt season at Oral Roberts wisely, gaining 15 pounds of muscle in the weight room and 25 yards off the tee while working hard on his game.
The 2023 Class 3A state champion at Christian Heritage Academy in Oklahoma City persevered just as he did all last year. He came back from two holes behind with three to play to shock defending champion Will McDonald of Oklahoma City and win the Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship with a 22foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole July 26 at The Patriot in Owasso.
With the win comes an automatic berth in the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship scheduled Aug. 12-18 at Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. McDonald is also in the event, having qualified in Dallas on July 22. Johnson seemed equally thrilled with the win and the berth in the Amateur.
“I could not dream of anything better,” Johnson said. “It’s what I’ve worked my whole life for. It means everything to get to represent my state, my team.”
The way the two played the downhill par-5 in the playoff was oddly similar to the way they played it at 8 a.m., but with a starkly different result.
As he had in the morning, Johnson hit his second shot into a bunker just in front of the pin and blasted long. As he did in the morning, McDonald hit his second shot just right of the green and faced a long chip. Instead of getting up and down for birdie as he did in regulation, McDonald left his chip short and missed about a 24-foot putt for birdie. Johnson, who missed his birdie putt in the morning, then drilled his downhill 22-footer for the win.
“We knew what the putt did and it was pretty similar to the putt I had on the first hole,” Johnson said. “It broke about two cups to the right. I just gave it a little extra and it went right in the middle.”
Johnson becomes the fourth ORU golfer to win the OGA State Amateur, joining Dave Barr in 1973, Jim Kane in 1979 and 1980 and Mike Hughett in 2001. Hughett, the 2023 inductee into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, watched all 18 holes of the championship match.
Combined with the earlier victory by Presten Richardson in the OGA Stroke Play Championship at WinStar Resort in Thackerville, it gave ORU a sweep of the two premier OGA amateur events.
“I’m proud of him,” said ORU coach Lance Watson. “He’s a young man who does everything you ask of him. He’s worked so hard in the last year to make himself a better player.”
GOODMAN WINS TRANS-MISS AMATEUR
Andrew Goodman of Oklahoma City and the University of Oklahoma edged Will Sides of Tulsa and Southern Methodist in a one-hole playoff to win the prestigious Trans-Miss Amateur Championship on July 12 at Flint Hills National in Wichita.
Both players finished the 72-hole event at 14-under after Goodman closed with a 7-under 64 while Sides shot 66 in the final round. Goodman shot rounds of 69-66-7164 while Sides posted 73-67-64-66.
Christian Johnson
Final round red serves Natalie Blonien well.
Quinton Croker and Cooper Schultz tied for third at 11-under. Matthew Troutman of OU tied for 14th at 5-under, Stephen Campbell Jr. of OU tied for 19th at 4-under and Ryder Cowan of OU and Edmond tied for 22nd at 3-under. Cowan was 9-under through two rounds, but stumbled in the third with a 77.
Goodman’s final round bogeyfree 7-under 64 was highlighted by five birdies in the first seven holes and seven birdies total, including on No. 18, to get into the playoff with Sides. Sides finished in solo second place after falling in the playoff after rounds of 7367-64-66.
GOTCHER'S BALL-STRIKING PROWESS LEADS TO SENIOR CROWN
ness. Not being around the game 60-70 hours a week has allowed him to get back to what he loved about it originally, the ball striking, the strategy, the competition
and the joy of the game.
For 54-year-old Mike Gotcher, winning the Oklahoma Golf Association Senior State Amateur Championship was the culmination of countless hours of hard work – and a renewed love affair with golf.
Gotcher, a former PGA of America club professional, left the golf business in 2009 and now runs a home inspection busi-
All that was on display as Gotcher defeated Ron Roden of Oklahoma City 3 and 2 to secure Oklahoma’s premier senior event for the first time. He lost to Eric Gudgel in the championship match in 2021 and won the OGA Senior Stroke Play Championship in 2022.
With his son Max serving as caddie and his daughter Aly and wife Kerri following every shot along with friends, Gotcher
put on a stripe show in the victory over Roden, hitting all but a couple of fairways and greens in regulation. While not able to convert on the many good birdie looks he gave himself, he kept the pressure on Roden to make birdies knowing Gotcher was making par at worst.
On the key hole of the match, however, Gotcher did miss a green and did make a long putt. He left his tee shot on the par-3 13th hole in a front right bunker, flew his next shot 25 feet past the cup, and after Roden’s birdie effort stopped on the lip, made the long par putt.
“That was really a key hole,” Roden said. “That’s the beauty of match play. I actually thought I had made my putt and it comes up a halfinch short. Then he rolls in a 25-foot sidewinder. He made a great putt.
“Mike hit the ball really well today. I had a great week and have nothing to be unhappy about, he just played better than me this morning.”
“That was an unexpected make, but I knew when I made it that was a big gut punch for Ron,” Gotcher said. “That’s the sudden swings of match play.”
Mike Gotcher
Andrew Goodman
PLAY TITLE
Peter Vitali was hoping to be paired with Mike Gotcher in the final round of the Oklahoma Golf Association Senior Stroke Play Championship on a blazing hot Tuesday at Meadowbrook Country Club in Tulsa.
Vitali, the defending champion in this event, was hoping to exact a bit of revenge for losing to Gotcher in the semifinals of the OGA Senior State Amateur earlier this summer at Cedar Ridge. For a good while, however, he got more than he wanted.
Gotcher came out blazing and at one point led Vitali by five on the front nine and still had a three-shot lead when Vitali bogeyed the 10th hole. But when the tables turned, they did so shockingly fast.
Vitali birdied holes 11, 13, 14 and 15, four of his seven birdies on the day. Gotcher, meanwhile, three-putted for bogey on 11, missed a short birdie putt on the par-5
13th, then hit the shot that derailed what could have been an epic back nine battle. His tee shot on the par-3 14th flew the green, hit a downslope behind it and came to rest beside a tree 30 yards over the green. The resultant double bogey completed a six-shot swing in four holes and suddenly Vitali was three shots ahead. His birdie on 15 and Gotcher’s second double bogey on 16 when his drive found the water completed the momentum swing and even Vitali’s closing bogey left him with a 5-shot victory.
Vitali, of Oklahoma City, shot rounds of 71-68 to finish at 3-under 139 while Gotcher held on to second place at 144 (7074). Todd Raffensperger of Broken Arrow, Stephen Siegenthaler of Bixby, Michael Hughett of Owasso and Blake Gibson of Yukon tied for third at 145.
Terry Hughes of Bartlesville won the Super Senior Division with rounds of 6970 for a 3-under 139. Terry Collier of Bixby was second at 143 (71-72) followed by Rob -
ert Moore of Stillwater at 151 ((75-76).
In the OGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship, Brooklyn Benn of Edmond opened with a 69 and followed it up with a 73 for an even-par 142, five shots ahead of Ashlyn Acosta of Yukon (75-72) and Lydia Sitorus of Claremore (74-73).
LATHROP WINS TALOR GOOCH FOUNDATION JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Ben Lathrop of Oklahoma City secured his first AJGA victory, making 12 birdies and an eagle over three rounds at Gaillardia Country Club to shoot 7-under, two shots better than Duke Heise of Spring, Texas.
Chase Hughes of Oklahoma City tied for third after a finaalround 65, Jace Chaney of Ardmore tied for seventh and Emerson Majma of Edmond and Jacob Newsome of Tulsa tied for 10th.
Ben Lathrop
Where one great course leads to another
Twelve incredible courses at one unforgettable destination. Come PLAY and STAY with us. Book your Golf Trail Getaway today at GolfingAtFunLake.com.
Peter Vitali with son Will
Dealing with pressure
Ihave been very fortunate and blessed in this crazy game of golf. Since turning 50, I have played in eight major championships.
This year at the age of 61, I played in three majors, including the PGA at Valhalla Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, competing with the world’s best players. This was definitely a higher level of pressure than I am used to! I hope by sharing some tips that help me deal with increased pressure can help you all with your golf game.
There was a time in my life that I could not hit a fairway or make a putt. I know every golfer has seen that long putt go in the hole before they even hit it, and sure enough it goes in. Conversely, we have all been over a 3-foot putt for the win knowing we are going to miss it and we do. This has happened to the best players in the world.
I must give a lot of credit to a great friend of mine, Billy Ray Young. He claims he is
not a sports psychologist, but he has certainly helped me with my self-confidence and the capability to handle the extreme pressure. Here are a few tips to help you with your golf game.
1. Believe in Yourself: You have to be very positive to have positive results. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I get down and let negative thoughts creep in. When this occurs I say: CANCEL/CANCEL out loud to myself. I then say a phrase that Billy Ray gave me. This phrase helps put me back into a positive frame of mind. I said this phrase every day of the Senior PGA Championship in 2022. I finished tied for 17th. While playing with Ernie Els the final two rounds I felt very comfortable and relaxed. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget.
2. Consistent and Precise Routine: I have a routine that I go through every time I hit a shot. This is common among athletes in other sports. For example, a great freethrow shooter will always bounce the ball the same number of times before he shoots.
My routine helps me stay in the zone and allows me to block out any distractions that might affect my swing.
3. Visualization: Picturing the shot or ball flight before I hit. Some of my best shots have been from behind trees and having to hook or slice a ball 30 yards to get on the green. Sometimes we get complacent from the fairway because we don’t visually see the shot before we hit. You should still have a great image in your mind of the type of shot you want to hit no matter where you are hitting from.
4: Here are a few videos you should watch when time allows:
“Bend Time and Space to Free Your Mind,” with Peter Crone on The Ed Mylett Show.
“How Your Thoughts Create or Destroy Self Confidence,” by Ed Mylett.
Tracy Phillips, a teaching professional based in Tulsa, competed this summer in the PGA Professional Championship, The PGA Championship, and Senior PGA Championship.
Tracy Phillips
SCHEDULES & RESULTS:
KORN FERRY TOUR COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS CHAMPIONSHIP AT JIMMIE AUSTIN OU GC, NORMAN (PAR-72)
JUNE 20-23
1, John Pak 64-66-65-70 – 265 ($180,000); 2, Jackson Suber 64-69-72-63 – 268; 3, Steven Fisk 67-66-71-67 – 271; 4 (tie), Davis Shore 73-65-7163 – 272, Harry Higgs 67-71-67-67 – 272, Paul Peterson 66-67-70-69 -- 272 and Brent Grant 65-68-72-67 – 272; 8 (tie), Trevor Cone 67-6573-68 – 273, Brian Campbell 69-66-70-68 – 273 and William Mouw 64-73-67-69 – 273; 11 (tie), Davis Chatfield 66-68-69-71—274, Kevin Velo 68-67-72-67 – 274, Ollie Schniederjans 68-67-7168 – 274, Jack Maguire 65-66-74-69 – 274 and Blaine Hale Jr. 69-69-67-69 – 274; 16 (tie), Austin Hitt 71-67-69-68 – 275, Ryan Gerard 67-69-7069 – 275, Alistair Docherty 71-67-70-67—275, aCooper Jones 66-66-71-72 – 275, Frankie Capan III 65-68-70-72 – 275 and Peter Kuest 65-69-69-72 – 275.
SCS YAMAHA MATCH PLAY AT THE TERRITORY, DUNCAN
JUNE 23-26
ROUND OF 16
Austin Peters def. Will Baird 6 and 5, Cary Cozby def. Tanner Hughes conceded, Shannon Friday def. Brent Wilcoxen 4 and 3, Bobby Jacks def. Darren Watts 1-up, Jett Johnson def. Mike Hansen 4 and 3, Tim Fleming def. Clint Colbert 1-up (21), Jim Young def. Kyley Tetley 3 and 2, Mark Meacham def. Derrick Vest 2 and 1.
QUARTERFINALS
Peters de. Cozby 1-up, Friday def. Jacks 3 and 2, Johnson def. Fleming 1-up (23), Young def. Meachem 4 and 3.
SEMIFINALS
Peters def. Friday 4 and 3, Johnson def. Young 4 and 3. FINAL Peters def. Johnson 5 and 4.
OGA STATE AMATEUR AT THE PATRIOT GC, OWASSO
JULY 23-26
Round of 32
Austin Quinten def. John Helzer 1-up (21), William Sides def. Chase Blaser 6 and 4, Emerson Majma def. Jack Pfister 2 and 1, William McDonald def. Joseph Crisotomo 6 and 5, Mesa Falleur def. Delbert Brooks 1-up, Conrad Walcher def. Luke Morgan 1-up, Jesse Rouse def. Parker Rose 5 and 3, Jace Chaney def. Kyle Hudelson 3 and 1, Dylan Teeter def. Michael Day 3 and 2, Conner Cryer def. Cameron Surles 5 and 3, Christian Johnson def. Tyler Hunt 3 and 2, JR Hurley def. Bryant Polhill 3 and 2, Cooper Watson def. Mike Gotcher 2-up, Connor Henry def. Jamie Voegeli 1-up, CJ Phillips def. Matthew Smith 2 and 1, Coleman Sides def. Nick Friederichsen 1-up (19). Round of 16
Sides def. Quinten 5 and 3, McDonald def. Majma 3 and 2, Falleur def. Walcher 4 and 3, Rouse def. Chaney 2 and 1, Teeter def. Cryer 4 and 3, Johnson def. Hurley 5 and 4, Watson def. Henry 4 and 2, Phillips def. Sides 3 and 2.
QUARTERFINALS
McDonald def. Sides 1-up, Falleur def. Rouse 4 and 2, Johnson def. Teeter 2 and 1, Phillips def. Watson 3 and 2.
SEMIFINALS
McDonald def. Falleur 3 and 2, Johnson def. Phillips 7 and 5.
FINAL
Johnson def. McDonald 1-up (19). Stroke play qualifying 1, Teeter 62; 2, Helzer 64; 3 (tie), Phillips, Falleur, Rose and Watson 65; 7, Majma 66; 8 (tie), McDonald, Polhill, Hudelson and Johnson 67.
SENIOR STATE AMATEUR AT CEDAR RIDGE CC, BROKEN ARROW
JUNE 24-27
Round of 32
Peter Vitali def. Jef Falling 2-up, Eric Gudgel def. Jay Betchan 1-up, Dave Miley def. Jason Gulley 3 and 2, Terry Collier def. Andy Lucas 2 and 1, Mike Gotcher def. Brad Nelligan 7 and 6, Scott Mabrey def. Joel Driver, conceded, Kirk Wright def. Shawn Barker 1-up, Ken Kee def. Brian Szymanski 1-up (19), Michael Alsup def. Greg Hathaway 2 and 1, Blake Gibson def. Kirk Fryer 1-up (19), Stephen Siegenthaler def. Tony Woods 1-up, Kirk Maynard def. Frank Billings 3 and 2, Ron Roden def. Ron Miller 5 and 4, Michael McDonald def. Terry Hughes 2 and 1, Michael Hughett def. Scott
Athey 6 and 5, Scooter Hall def. David Lynn 3 and 1. Round of 16
Vitali def. Gudgel 6 and 5, Miley def. Collier 5 and 3, Gotcher def. Mabrey 3 and 2, Wright def. Kee 3 and 2, Alsup def. Gibson 1-up (19), Maynard def. Siegenthaler 2 and 1, Roden def. McDonald 5 and 4, Hughett def. Hall 3 and 1.
QUARTERFINALS
Vitali def. Miley 1-up, Gotcher def. Wright 4 and 3, Maynard def. Alsup 6 and 5, Roden def. Hughett 5 and 4.
SEMIFINALS
Gotcher def. Vitali 1-up, Roden def. Maynard 1-up. FINAL Gotcher def. Roden 4 and 2.
OGA
WOMEN'S STROKE PLAY AT MEADOWBROOK CC, TULSA (PAR-71)
AUG. 5-6
1, Brooklyn Benn 69-73 -- 142; 2 (tie), Ashlyn Acosta 75-72 -- 147 amd Lydia Sitorus 74-73 --147; 4, Reagan Plank 75-74 -- 149; 5, Jessica Osden 75-76 -- 151; 6, Drew Faires 77-75 -- 152; 7 (tie), Brianna Maddux 77-78 -- 155 and Lauren Anderson 79-76 -- 155; 9, Kate Strickland 7880 -- 158; 10, Mary Cassity 80-81 -- 161; 11, Elle Daniels 81-81 -- 162; 12 Lorelai Etaw 84-80 -- 164; 13, Lily Reid 84-81 -- 165; 14, Kate Moore 87-79 -- 166; 15 (tie), Kamryn Zuniga 85-84 -- 169 and Rylan Ashley 82-87 -- 169.
STROKE PLAY AT WINSTAR RESORT SCISSORTAIL GC, THACKERVILLE (PAR-71)
JUNE 17-19
1, Presten Richardson 67-64-68 – 199; 2, CJ Phillips 70-66-67 – 203; 3, Tres Hill 75-65-65 – 205; 4, Mesa Falleur 69-69-70 – 208; 5 (tie), Blas Ayesa 75-68-66 – 209, Rhett Hughes 67-71-71 -- 209 and Benjamin Stoller 69-69-71 – 209; 8, Chase Hughes 71-69-70 – 210; 9 (tie), Collin Bond 74-65-72 – 211, Harley Abrams 73-68-70 – 211, Christian Johnson 68-74-69 – 211, William McDonald 72-70-69 – 211 and Matthew Smith 71-71-69 – 211; 14 (tie), Sam Morris 69-72-71 – 212 and Jake Hopper 70-71-71 – 212.
WOGA STATE AMATEUR AT STILLWATER CC JULY 22-25
Championship flight Round of 32
Reagan Chaney bye, Sydney Hermann def. Brooklyn Benn 5 and 4, Maggie Ruby def. Amanda Therrell 3 and 2, Jaiden Gregston def. Leigh Ann Fore 4 and 3, Lucy Darr def. Lorie Harned 5 and 3, Logan Allen def. Amy Reavis 3 and 1, Evyn Cannon def. Teresa Delarzelere 8 and 7, Makaylee Cowan def. Olivia Coit 1-up, Natalie Blonien bye, Jenni Roller def. Aubree Vaughan 6 and 4, Peyton Coburn def. Chrissy Bagwell 5 and 4, Ashlynn Acosta def. Nikki Pitts 1-up (22), Maddi Kamas bye, Brianna Maddux def. Emily Leahey 3 and 2, Rylee Roberts def. Natalie Purvis 9 and 8, Allie Justiz def. Carrie Bowers 6 and 4. Round of 16
Hermann def. Chaney 1-up, Gregston def. Ruby 6 and 5, Darr def. Allen 4 and 3, Cannon def. Cowan 2 and 1, Blonien def. Roller 5 and 3, Coburn def. Acosta 2 and 1, Kamas def. Maddux 2-up, Roberts def. Justiz 4 and 2.
QUARTERFINALS
Gregston def. Hermann 3 and 2, Cannon def. Darr 1-up, Blonien def. Coburn 5 and 3, Roberts def. Kamas 1-up (19).
SEMIFINALS
Cannon def. Gregston 6 and 5, Blonien def. Roberts 4 and 3.
FINAL
Blonien def. Cannon 1-up.
Qualifying 1, Chaney 66; 2, Blonien 67; 3 (tie), Kamas and Darr 70; 5 (tie), Cannon, Roberts and Coburn 71;; 8, Therell 72; 9 (tie), Gregston and Pitts 73.
A flight final: Sky Rogers def. Laurie Campbell 3 and 2.
JUNIOR AMATEUR AT ROSE CREEK GC, OKLA. CITY (PAR-72)
JULY 8-9
CHAMPIONSHIP
1, Natalie Blonien 71-66 – 137; 2, Harlow Gregory 71-67 – 138; 3, Jaci Hartman 72-74 – 146; 4, Evyn Cannon 72-79 – 151; 5 (tie), Syrah Javed 76-80 –
156 and Lorelai Efaw 82-74 – 156; 7, Lilly Grace Reid 78-79 – 157; 8 (tie), Josey Cavitt 82-76 –158, Elle Daniels 81-77 – 158 and Cara Cummins 77-81 – 158; 11, Sophia Lefler 83-79 – 162; 12 (tie), London Wilson 83-80 – 163 and Beans Factor 84-79 – 163.
STROKE PLAY/MID-AMATEUR AT MUSKOGEE CC (PAR-72)
JUNE 17-18
Stroke play
1, Juliana Hong 76-74 – 150; 2, Michaela Dierinzo 77-75 – 152; 3, Jessica Osden 80-74 – 154; 4, Natalie Blonien 72-82 – 154; 5, Leigh Ann Fore 77-79 – 156; 6, Amanda Therell 78-79 – 157; 7, Lauren Anderson 76-81 – 157; 8, Janet Miller 78-81 – 159; 9, Aubree Vaughan 78-85 – 163; 10, Brianna Maddux 80-84 – 164; 11, Emily Porter 8384 – 167; 12, Jill Johnson 82-88 – 170. MID-AMATEUR
1, Dierinzo 152; 2, Fore 156; 3, Therell 157; 4, Miller 159; 5, Vaughan 163; 6, Porter 167; 7, Johnson 170; 8, Iorie Harned 85-86 – 171; 9, Kathy West 83-90 – 173; 10, Dana Hurley 92-84 – 176.
TULSA GOLF ASSOCIATION
STROKE PLAY AT LAFORTUNE PARK GC (PAR-72) JUNE 22-23
1, Samuel Bonaobra 67-69 – 136; 2, Clayton Smith 72-67 – 139; 3 (tie), Cole Stephenson 70-70 – 140 and Luke Phillips 72-68 – 140; 5, Brad Shirley 7270 – 142; 6, Casey Paul 73-72 – 145; 7, TJ Eckert 75-72 – 147; 8, Matthew Barksdale 77-71 – 148; 9, Ian Wilcoxen 76-73 – 149; 10 (tie), Nicholas Bulla 78-72 – 150 and Matt Davis 79-71 – 150; 12 (tie), Matt Ramage 73-80 – 153 and Matt Willingham 74-79 – 153.
SENIORS
1, Todd Raffensperger 69-68 – 137; 2, Terry Collier 73-723 – 145; 3, Scott McGhee 75-71 – 146; 4, Tony Woods 75-72 – 147; 5 (tie), Jason Gulley 75-73 – 148 and Brian Benefield 73-75 – 148. Seniors A flight
1, Richard Hunt 73-73 – 146; 2, Nick Sidorakis 7374 – 147; 3, Mike Monroe 78-75 – 153.
OJGT
OAKWOOD SUMMER JUNIOR OPEN AT OAKWOOD CC, ENID (PAR-71) JULY 1-2
BOYS
1, Kale Flinton 70-71 – 141; 2, Kaden Leivian 69-73 – 142; 3, Charlie Haney 73-70 – 143; 4, Jack Williams 71-73 – 144; 5 (tie), Owen Mitchel 74-71 – 145 and Austen Mueller 73-72 –145; 7, Jay Wasemiller 70-76 – 146; 8 (tie), Caden Thompson 74-73 – 147, Banks Cozby 70-77 – 147 and Gabe Jones 71-76 – 147; 11 (tie), Ty Neatherlin 76-72 –148 and Jackson Magness 72-76 – 148. GIRLS 1, Jaci Hartman 71-75 – 146; 2, Harlow Gregory 69-80 – 149; 3, Abbie Justiz 78-76 – 154; 4, Lilly Reid 76-82 – 158; 5, Erika Burkhalter 78-81 – 159; 6 (tie), Cara Cummins 82-78 – 160 and Elle Daniels 77-83 – 160; 8, Nikki Pitts 78-83 – 161; 9, Katelyn Clark 79-84 – 163; 10, Brooklyn Bowman 84-80 – 164; 11, Maggie Ruby 87-78 – 165; 12, Autumn McMahan 87-83 – 170.
29TH OGA SENIOR & 20TH OGA SUPER SENIOR STROKE PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
MONDAY, AUGUST 05, 2024 – TUESDAY, AUGUST 06, 2024
Meadowbrook Country Club
Results
Super Senior Stroke Play
Terry Hughes, Bartlesville – 69-70–139; Terry Collier, Bixby– 71-72–143; Robert Moore, Stillwater – 7576–151; Bruce Maddux, Ponca City– 78-76–154; Jerry Nick, Okmulgee – 78-77–155; Orville Stephens, Okmulgee– 80-75–155; Britt White, Owasso – 76-79–155; Karl Holliman, Edmond – 77-78–155; Tom Chick, Tulsa – 80-77–157; Bob Freeman , Enid – 79-79–158; Scott Brecheisen, Afton – 78-80–158; Robert Samis, Oklahoma City– 72-86–158
SENIOR STROKE PLAY
Peter Vitali, Oklahoma City – 71-68–139; Mike Gotcher, Broken Arrow– 70-74–144; Todd Raffensperger, Broken Arrow– 77-68–145; Stephen Siegenthaler, Bixby – 72-73–145; Michael Hughett, Owasso – 7372–145; Blake Gibson, Yukon – 69-76–145; Guy Child, Stillwater– 77-72–149; Scott Challis, Edmond, OK –80-71–151; Scott Mabrey, Tulsa, OK – 75-76–151; Jeff Falling, Tulsa– 76-75–151; Steve Steele, Edmond– 7477–151; Eric Gudgel, Stillwater – 74-77–151
The Best Drive of Your Life...
…is
Guthrie, OK
Vance Buick and GMC
5322 S. Division St. (405) 293-4216
Vance Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 5302 S. Division St. (405) 293-2334
Vance Country Ford 5400 Division St. (405) 369-9135
Miami, OK
Vance Chevrolet, Buick and GMC 1640 N. Main St. (918) 919-4342
Vance Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 3606 Highway 10 East (918) 928-3220
Vance Ford, Lincoln 510 N. Main St. (918) 238-8690
Woodward, OK
Vance Chevrolet, Buck and GMC 3425 Willams Ave.
Vance Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram 3425 Willams Ave. (580) 256-7474
Lifetime Powertrain guarantee accompanies all new vehicles purchased (FREE) and pre-owned vehicles up to 90,000 miles when purchased. See dealer for more details.
