The Iowa Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony of Jill Blackwood was held on Sunday, February 24th at The Club at Renaissance in Fort Myers, Florida. Renaissance is Jill & Tom Blackwood’s “winter club”. Chad Pitts of the IGA and Joe Butler of Burlington Golf Club – along with many other Burlington GC members – made the trip to Florida for the induction.
Daniel (Dan) Naughton, of Marion, passed away on February 26, 2019. Naughton, who was a reinstated amateur, was a fierce competitor on the IGA scene capturing the IGA Senior Player of the Year title in 2002 and 2003. Naughton’s victories included the Iowa Senior Amateur (2001 & 2003), Iowa Mid-Amateur Senior Division (2002 & 2003) and the IGA Four-Ball Senior Division in 2006 with partner Sam Aossey.
Naughton also won the Cedar Rapids City Amateur, prior to becoming a golf professional, served as an assistant pro at the Kankakee Elks Country Club as well as locally at St. Andrews Golf Club (Cedar Rapids).
A Celebration of Life for Naughton will take place 1-5 p.m. Sunday, May 5, 2019, at Hunter’s Ridge Golf Course, Marion. Arrangements by Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Marion.
Click here to read Naughton’s obituary
Norwalk’s Mike McCoy (right) was honored last week by the USGA with one of its highest honors – the Ike Grainger Award. McCoy is in his 25th year as a volunteer committee member of the USGA, which qualified him for the award.
“My first role with the USGA was when Rod Bliss, a long time USGA volunteer, asked me to become involved as a member of the U.S. Mid-Am Committee,” McCoy said. “ Robb Pomerantz had been the Mid-Am representative for several years and decided to retire from the committee. I fulfilled that role for several years and when Rod retired from the then Sectional Affairs Committee , I expanded my role to what is now known as the Regional Affairs Committee.
McCoy commented that his volunteer work with the USGA for the betterment of amateur golf in Iowa has been quite satisfying.
“My most satisfying work on the committees was focused on helping Iowa amateurs form their own independent association and hire their own staff,” McCoy said. “It was unpleasant because I had many friends who felt the status quo of a joint office was satisfactory. I knew that Iowa’s amateurs would never enjoy the unique benefits and quality of governance I observed in other states until the split was made. While emotional at the time, it has proven to be beneficial to Iowa’s amateur golfers, both men and women.”
Established in 1995 as part of the USGA’s Centennial Celebration, the Isaac B. Grainger Award recognizes volunteers who have provided 25 years of service to the Association. Grainger served as USGA president from 1954-1955 and led the USGA effort to develop the first unified code of the Rules of Golf with The R&A in 1951.
“Satisfaction from the volunteer work has primarily come in the wonderful friendships that I have made with USGA staff and fellow volunteers,” McCoy said.
The USGA and The R&A have provided two clarifications to Rule 10.2b(4) regarding restrictions on caddies standing behind players, which take effect immediately.
The purpose of Rule 10.2 is to reinforce the fundamental challenge of making a stroke and to limit the advice and other help a player may receive during a round.
Iowa golf icon Jill Blackwood passed away on Sunday, February 3rd from complications due to cancer. She was 71 years old. Blackwood was recently elected to the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame class of 2019.
Jill will be remembered for giving way more back to the game of golf than she ever took.
She was a ‘champion’ for golf for over three decades. She promoted the game to all golfers, but particularly to women and juniors. She volunteered time and money to the Iowa Women’s Golf Association, Iowa Golf Association and junior programs in and around her hometown of Burlington, Iowa. In 2014, the IGA honored Jill with the George Turner Distinguished Service Award, which is given to individuals who have contributed back to the game through volunteer efforts during their lifetimes.
She was instrumental in the revitalization of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, leading to the first class inducted in nine years at that time. She spent time as President of the IWGA and served on it’s board of directors for 23 years.
In many ways, she was one of the foundational pillars the volunteer-led IWGA stood on for decades.
Blackwood was also a terrific player. She won the Burlington Golf Club Women’s Club Championship 18 times. She participated in four USGA Championships and partnered with her husband, Tom, to win two Iowa Wife-Husband Championships (1982 & 2006).
Jill will be honored and welcomed into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in the coming weeks and months. The planned induction ceremony at her home golf club in Fort Myers, Florida (The Club at Renaissance) on February 24 will still be held (if you wish to attend the ceremony in Florida, please contact the IGA at [email protected]). She will also be honored during the traditional induction ceremony held in Iowa on April 4th. (Click here to see more info and sign up to attend the Iowa ceremony)
All golfers in Iowa mourn her passing. There are very few that were as passionate about this great game as Jill. She will be missed, but she will forever be remembered as an Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member and one of the most iconic and influential women to ever play the game in Iowa.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE INFO ABOUT JILL’S ELECTION INTO THE HALL OF FAME
CLICK HERE TO READ A FEATURE ON JILL BY MATT LEVINS, THE HAWKEYE NEWSPAPER (BURLINGTON)
INDUCTION CEREMONY SET – Click here for info
The Iowa Golf Hall of Fame will add four new members in 2019, bringing the total number in the Hall of Fame to 83. Three living inductees – Jill Blackwood, Sean McCarty and Rick Tegtmeier – have been elected along with one historical (posthumous) honoree – Pat Willcox.
Jill Blackwood
In typical Jill Blackwood fashion, she volunteered her time as a starter at the 2018 Iowa Women’s Amateur Championship
Jill Blackwood, 71, has been a champion for golf – specifically, women’s golf – at the local, state and national level for decades.
As a player, Blackwood dominated golf in and around her hometown of Burlington, IA for years. She won the Burlington Golf Club Women’s Club Championship 18 times. She also won events at the state level and participated in four USGA Women’s championships.
While she is a terrific player, it is her work giving back to the game that carries the most weight.
For over 30 years, Blackwood volunteered her time to the Iowa Women’s Golf Association and the Iowa Golf Association. She began as district chair in 1985 and started serving on the IWGA Board of Directors in 1991. She served as the association’s President from 2002-2005. She was the volunteer director of the annual Wife-Husband Tournament for 13 years, the Iowa Women’s Amateur for eight years and the Iowa Senior Women’s Amateur for four years. She has served on the Ann Griffel Scholarship Selection Committee since 2008. In 2014, the IGA honored her with the George Turner Distinguished Service Award, which is given to individuals who have contributed back to the game through volunteer efforts during their lifetimes.
Blackwood has spent countless hours introducing golf to youth in and around Burlington. She was involved for over 30 years with the junior golf program at Burlington Golf Club, spending several years as the chairperson. She also coached the high school girls golf team from 1977 to 1982, winning the state championship in 1980.
Joe Butler, who is the PGA Professional at Burlington Golf Club and nominated Jill for induction, said in his letter of support that, “Jill has been active in every facet of golf. Her organizational skills, passion for golf and determination to teach others while handling herself with class and without thought of herself makes her deserving of this award. Her contributions to golf in Iowa are impactful and she is a tremendous role model to all she comes in contact with.”
Jock Olson, PGA Master Professional and Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member, added, “I can honestly say that I have never seen a person more driven to advance and promote the game of golf than Jill.”
Sean McCarty
Sean McCarty after he won his fourth Herman Sani Tournament in 2016.
Sean McCarty has been a force on the Iowa golf scene since his freshman year of high school. McCarty, 46, who grew up in West Branch, IA, was a runner-up at the state high school championship that freshman year, then went on to win the individual crown each of his final three years. He also led West Branch to the team title each of those last three years.
He took his talents to the University of Iowa where he was a four-year letter winner, capturing Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors in the process. He was a vital part of Iowa’s only Big Ten championship team (1992), would win four individual collegiate titles and help Iowa to eight team titles during his career. In 2016 he became the first golfer inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame.
In 1995 McCarty earned the Iowa Golf Association Player of the Year award. He was named as an All-American by the NCAA that year and he won the IGA Match Play Championship and the Northwest Amateur.
Following college, McCarty turned pro and continued to pile up the wins. He has been dominant in Iowa Section PGA events, earning Iowa Section Player of the Year honors nine times and Assistant Player of the Year six times. He has won four Iowa Opens (1997, 2005, ‘08, ‘13), four Herman Sani Tournaments (2007, ‘08, ‘10, ‘16), the 2012 Iowa Section Championship and the 1998 Waterloo Open.
McCarty has qualified for two major championships in his career, the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields CC in Chicago and the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive CC in St. Louis. Known around Iowa for his prodigious length off the tee, McCarty, at the age of 45, registered the fastest club-head speed on the PGA Tour while competing at Bellerive. He earned his spot at the PGA by finishing runner-up at the National PGA Professional Championship earlier that summer. Overall McCarty has qualified for the National PNC six times. He has also played in over a dozen Web.com and PGA Tour events over the past two decades.
One of the things that sticks out about McCarty to his peers is how humble he is about his golf talents. In a letter of support, fellow Brown Deer PGA pro Brian Wernimont said, “Sean’s talent on the course is only surpassed by his level of humbleness off it. In eight years of working side by side he has never once boasted about his playing abilities and, in fact, downplays how good he truly is. He is a true champion that lets his play on the course speak for him”.
Prominent amateur golfer Jon Olson said in his letter of support that, “Since I have been competing, Sean is the best player I have played with in Iowa. What impresses me the most is how he carries himself on and off the course. He is always calm and collected. He makes everything look easy, but there is no ego, no boasting or cocky attitude. Instead, he is true to what matters most to him – simply working hard and loving the game”.
McCarty currently works as the Director of Golf at Brown Deer Golf Course in Coralville, Iowa. He has been at Brown Deer since 2001. Prior to Brown Deer GC, McCarty spent a year teaching under Mark Egly at the Des Moines Driving Range.
Rick Tegtmeier
Rick poses with his wife Sherry and Zach Johnson following Zach’s induction into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.
Rick Tegtmeier, 59, has been grooming fairways in Iowa for over 45 years. He is one of only 74 people worldwide to currently have the designation of Master Greenkeeper, which he obtained in 2015.
In 1973 – at only 14 years of age – Tegtmeier began on the grounds crew at Rockford Country Club in Rockford, Iowa. At 17, he was named superintendent. At age 20, he took the head position at Urbandale Golf & Country Club where he remained for two years. After spending a year at Hinsdale Golf Club in Illinois, he joined the staff at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in 1983, where he was the superintendent of the North course, working under Iowa Golf Hall of Fame member Bill Byers. In 1989 he left Des Moines Golf & CC to take the head superintendent position at Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids, where he remained for 17 years. In 2006, following Byers’ retirement, Tegtmeier moved back to Des Moines Golf & Country Club as the Director of Grounds, where he remains today.
In 2017 Des Moines Golf & Country Club played host to the LPGA’s Solheim Cup matches. What many didn’t see were the years of work that went into hosting that international championship. Tegtmeier oversaw four years of renovations to the 36 holes at DMGCC, as the club did extensive work on nine holes each year. Under Tegtmeier’s guidance, the work was completed on schedule and the club provided a pristine playing surface for the best female golfers from the U.S. and Europe.
U.S. captain Julie Inkster commented about Rick, “My team could not stop raving about how the the course is. You should be one proud papa on how this course played”.
Partly due to his terrific work in preparing DMGCC to host the Solheim Cup, Tegtmeier was honored by TurfNet as the national Superintendent of the Year in 2017. In the announcement of Tegtmeier as the winner, John Reitman wrote, in part:
Tegtmeier was recognized not just for staging a virtually flawless venue for the 2017 Solheim Cup. He also won acclaim for his four years of hard work and preparation leading up to the event and, most importantly, how he used the event to help others, including fellow superintendents throughout Iowa. Tegtmeier wanted to prove to the world that Iowa superintendents were more than capable of producing a venue that rivaled anything in professional championship golf, so he opened the door to any Iowa greenkeeper who wanted to help prove his point. In all, 87 volunteers showed up to work. The flawless conditions, large crowds and patriotism turned the Solheim Cup into an experience that was almost surreal.
When he wasn’t busy making his own golf courses better, Tegtmeier has volunteered time to many turfgrass related causes. Since 2016 he has served on the Board of Trustees of the Iowa Turfgrass Institute. He was a member of the USGA’s Green Section committee from 2010-2015 and served on the Iowa Golf Course Superintendents Association board from 1992-1996, including as President in 1995. From 1996 to 2004 he served on eight different Golf Course Superintendents Association of America committees or task forces.
In his letter of support for Tegtmeier’s nomination, Past President of the GCSAA Sean Hoolehan, CGCS wrote, “While I was President of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America I often asked Rick to participate on important committees and task groups. He was a pioneer in the use of technology and a leader in using that knowledge to increase quality and productivity of superintendents. Rick was one of the most respected superintendents in the country well before the Solheim Cup”.
Pat Willcox
Pat Willcox
Pat Willcox was one of the dominant figures in golf in Iowa in the late 1930’s, 40’s and early 50’s.
The professional, who spent time in both Des Moines and Waterloo, won the Iowa Open three times and the Iowa Masters four times between 1940 and 1951. His Iowa Open victories came consecutively in 1940, ‘41, and ‘42 while his wins at the Iowa Masters occurred in 1940, ‘45, ‘47 and ‘51. He also captured the Waterloo Open in 1938 and won the Cedar Rapids Open in 1944.
There are five major Iowa championships that have been contested since at least the 1950’s – the Iowa Amateur, Iowa Open, Iowa Masters, Northwest Amateur and the Herman Sani Tournament – and, using those as a foundation, 13 men have won those titles at least seven times. Eleven of them were already in the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame. With the addition of McCarty and Willcox, now all 13 are in.
Willcox qualified for five major championships during his career, including four U.S. Opens. He finished 23rd at the 1940 U.S. Open at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio and 50th the next year at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. He also qualified for the national championship in 1937 (Oakland Hills CC in Michigan) and 1947 (St. Louis CC) but missed the cut. Willcox made it through a qualifier to play in the 1939 PGA Championship, but records indicate that he did not ultimately tee it up at the Pomonok Country Club in Flushing, New York.
Perhaps Willcox would have collected even more victories but for World War II putting a halt to many golf tournaments during his run. He did, however, play a part in the war efforts. In 1943 he was spending most of his time helping make bombs for the war effort at the Chamberlain corporation in Waterloo. It is documented that he would spend ten hours a day, seven days a week making bombs. Only when he knew they had met their quota for the week and month did he enter the 1943 Iowa Masters.
Willcox was 79 years old when he passed away in 1987.
The Iowa Golf Hall of Fame is administered by the Iowa Golf Association on behalf of all golf organizations in and around the state, such as the Iowa Section PGA and the Iowa Golf Course Superintendents Association.
The nomination and induction process consists of two committees, the Nominating Committee and the Voting Committee. The Nominating Committee determines the eligibility of nominees submitted by the general public as well as identifies individuals to nominate. They finalize the ballot. The Voting Committee has the task of researching and studying those on the ballot and casting votes for induction. The Voting Committee consists entirely of individuals who are current members of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame.
These four individuals will be honored during an induction ceremony at a time and place to be determined. Once ceremony details are finalized, they will be announced at iowagolf.org.
The ownership group of Whispering Creek Golf Club in Sioux City has put the course up for sale. The asking price is $2.7 million.
Whispering Creek GC opened in 2000 and includes 18 holes of championship golf. The course has been host to multiple IGA championships in the past 18 years, including the 2006 & 2015 Iowa Amateur and the 2009 IGA Four-Ball.
In addition to the free weekly magazine, Global Golf Post is launching a premium service (GGP+) today, Tuesday, January 8. While the magazine focuses on the news of the week, GGP+ will dive deep into professional and amateur golf, course design and architecture, as well as other golf features. GGP+ will deeper, meaningful golf stories that you can’t find anywhere else. There will be no clickbait and no ads. This is a reader-supported endeavor.
Readers will gain full access to GGP+ with a monthly subscription fee of $7 or an annual fee of $60 (a 25 percent discount). New subscribers will receive a 14-day free trial offer, however, you as a valued partner, will be able to offer a 21-day free trial — a little extra incentive to help motivate your audience to give GGP+ a try.
“We believe that the combination of great golf journalism, a brilliant user experience and the Global Golf Post brand will prove to be a compelling offer for serious golfers around the world,” Jim Nugent, Global Golf Post Publisher said. “For the past nine years, we have been demonstrating that quality golf journalism cannot only survive, but thrive in the digital world. GGP+ is the next step in this ongoing effort. We hope you will support our efforts and take us up on the trial offer. And if you like what you read, please tell all your golf friends about us.”
Global Golf Post+ will deliver original, premium-quality golf journalism produced by GGP’s seasoned staff of writers, editors and contributors.
Much of today’s internet content is low-quality clickbait focused on attracting page views and eyeballs. Global Golf Post is moving in the opposite direction by providing deeper, more meaningful golf stories that you can’t find anywhere else.
GGP+ will publish two original golf stories per day, six days per week. The aim is quality, not quantity.
The Iowa Golf Association (IGA) is excited to offer two P.J. Boatwright Internships – a 9-month and a 3-month – in 2019. Working under the direction of the IGA Executive Director and senior staff, the interns will learn about all aspects of amateur golf administration.
The IGA is an Allied Golf Association (AGA) of the USGA and is the governing body for golf in the state of Iowa. It exists as a non-profit organization that works to preserve, protect and promote the best interests and spirit of the game. As “caretakers” of the game the IGA works to preserve the rich history of golf in our state and to provide numerous services that benefit all that play the game in Iowa.
In 1991, the USGA established the P.J. Boatwright, Jr. (pictured above) Internship Program. This program is designed to give experience to individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in golf administration, while assisting state and regional golf associations in the promotion of amateur golf, on a short-term, entry level basis.
The deadline to apply is February 11, 2019.
Click here to view 2019 Intern job description and instructions for applying
As you probably have heard, 2019 marks the most substantial update to the Rules in the last 60 years. The rules have been modernized and even reduced down in number from 34 to 24. While many of the changes are very player friendly (penalties have been removed or lessened), there are some changes that could result in penalty to the player, if you don’t take the time to learn them.
In order to further understand these rule modernizations, the USGA has provided the Iowa Golf Association with ‘Clarifications of the 2019 Rules of Golf’ (linked below). The purpose of these clarifications is to provide additional context to the Rules of Golf (often as the result of frequent questions received since the 2019 Rules of Golf were released).
The USGA does not plan to add to these clarifications on a regular schedule, but may do so periodically if additional context is considered helpful. The IGA will be sure to share any additional information when it is made available.