2018 Yearbook

18 Annual Award Winners The Iowa Golf Associa- tion announced on Dec. 14, 2018, during the IGA Annual Awards and Player of the Year Banquet that the Volunteer of the Year Award has been named after Sean Flanders. The annual award is selected each year by the IGA staff. Flanders has volunteered his time and efforts at the IGA championships and qualifiers for the past six years. During the competition season, Flanders feels almost like a member of the staff. Most of the time, he arrives at the course before staff. He not only helps out on the competition days, but he now spends a great deal of time helping prep in the days leading up to the events – this means painting hazards, Ground Under Repair, select- ing hole locations and all the other stuff that goes into championship preparation. It’s not an exaggeration to say it has been hundreds of hours of volunteer service to the IGA over the past few years. Flanders, who won this award twice in those five years, has had his name come up during discussions about who should win each year. IGA staff ultimately made the deci- sion to honor Flanders, much to his surprise, by naming the award after him. The IGA’s Sean Flanders Volunteer of the Year for 2018, is Leighann LaRocca. LaRocca was presented her award in a surprise announcement on Friday, December 14, during the IGA Annual Awards and Player of the Year Banquet held at Echo Valley Country Club, Nor- walk. LaRocca has given countless hours to the IGA over the years, and 2018 was no different. She currently serves on the IGA Board of Directors as the Treasurer. As an officer she is part of the IGA Executive Commit- tee – one of four IGA committees she serves on. She is the chair of the Ann Griffel Scholarship Selec- tion Committee, charged with ciphering through 75- 100 scholarship applications each spring, narrowing it down to the 20 or so that will be shared with the entire committee. In addition, she serves on the Women’s Rules & Competitions Committee and the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, which, again, requires substan- Volunteer of the Year Leighann LaRocca, West Des Moines Larry Lockridge served 15 years on the IGA Board of Directors, including serv- ing at president from April 1999-April 2001. Lockridge is best known for his contin- ued service and volunteer ef- forts administrating the Des Moines City Junior Tourna- ment, starting in 1974. Lockridge saw many Iowa greats begin their com- petitive career at the Des Moines City Junior, in- cluding future Hall of Famers Mike McCoy and Jon Brown. It wasn’t unusual for Lockridge to pay out of his own pocket to make sure the event didn’t lose money. He preferred this to raising the $5 entry fee for the kids. While crowning a deserving champion is important, helping the kids learn from mistakes during a tournament setting was equally important to Lockridge. The IGA named its distinguished service award after Turner in 2003. Turner qualified for and played in the 1981, 1984 and 1993 U.S. Senior Open and the 1988, 1990 and 1991 U.S. Senior Amateur. Off the course, George has been an IGA volunteer for de- cades. George and John Nervig co-chair the Iowa Masters and many feel it’s not an official IGA event unless George Turner is somewhere on the course! IGA Names Volunteer of the Year Award after Sean Flanders George Turner Distinguished Service Award Larry Lockridge, Des Moines tial amounts of reading when studying all the info on the various individuals that have been submitted. LaRocca also recently decided to add Course Rating to her list of volunteer efforts in 2018, as she has joined the central Iowa group. Not only did she participate in rat- ings, but she also had to learn about the rating process, which takes up a significant amount of time in and of itself. Finally, LaRocca has also been one of the top sup- porters financially to the IGA Foundation Scholarship programs. She is always extremely supportive of the Golf Marathon and Benefit Tournament that we hold to raise funds for our scholarships.