Author: iowagolf

Anderson wins first career Iowa Mid-Amateur, Palmer tops in Senior Division

May 10, 20170 commentsChampionships, Iowa Mid-Am

J.D. Anderson wasted little time sprinting out to the lead in the second round of the 32nd Iowa Mid-Amateur at Beaver Hills Country Club in Cedar Falls.
Anderson (Johnston), following a par on the opening hole, holed out for eagle on the second and birdied the third hole to pull away from his group, somewhat, early in the round. Anderson, who admitted his goal was to stay aggressive, notched four more birdies to add to his round of 67 (-5) and a 13​8​ two-day total (-6). The win secured Anderson’s first-eve​r​ Iowa Mid-Amateur title and his first individual title of an IGA administered event.

“This means a lot,” Anderson said. “I am really happy. I had a lot more nerves today that I expected, because of what it meant. The bigger goal is to win all three (Mid-Am, Match Play, State Amateur).”

Anderson said his quick start to the round helped calm his demeanor early on.

“I ​was ​forced to lay up on two and then holed out,” Anderson said. “Then I made a 15-foot putt on three and that settled the nerves. It was a solid day. I got away with some bad shots. My main focus was to stay aggressive. I assumed someone from behind was keeping pace, so I wanted to keep making birdies

Anderson, who assumed another ‘low’ round was out there in a group ahead of him, was right. Dusty Drenth (Davenport) put together his own magic, firing a tournament low 66 (-6), but was unable to catch Anderson. Drenth shot 142 (-2) for the two-day event and finished second.

A trio of golfers, Dennis Bull (Norwalk), Kevin Ault (Cedar Rapids) and Scott Hart (West Des Moines) finished in third place at 145 (+1).

In the Senior Division, West Des Moines’ Joe Palmer (above) battled back after an opening round 75 to post two under-par 70. Palmer commented that he had not seen or played the course for some time, but was able to put together a good round on Tuesday.

“I make some mistakes (yesterday),” Palmer said. “Today I played better. My goal was to get it back to par. I thought if I shot 69 that would make the leaders have to shoot something under par too. I really didn’t know how I stood until the last putt. I am excited about the summer.”

This title adds a new accomplishment to the résumé for Palmer

“This trophy is one I had never won, this one and the State Amateur, Palmer said. “I have been fortunate to get the others, now I just need to concentrate and see what we can do at the State Amateur.”

Anderson also made the comment that he is looking forward to keeping his positive momentum going on Monday in the U.S. Open Local Qualifier, being held at Burlington’s Spirit Hollow Golf Course.

“I am really looking forward to the U.S. Open Local (at Spirit Hollow Golf Course),” Anderson said. “Hopefully I make five birdies and an eagle there too.”

Click here for full results

Three tied for lead after opening round at 32nd Iowa Mid-Amateur

May 8, 20170 commentsIowa Mid-Am, News

A host of players are within shouting distance of the lead after the opening round of the 32nd Iowa Mid-Amateur Championship at Beaver Hills Country Club, Cedar Falls. Mostly sunny skies along with off and on windy conditions gave players a good test of golf on Monday.

Leading the pace is Johnston’s J.D. Anderson, Norwalk’s Dennis Bull and Waterloo’s Niel Doak with 71 (-1). Anderson posted three birdies against a pair of bogeys, while Bull and Doak each made four birdies and 3 three bogeys. All three are chasing their first career Iowa Mid-Amateur title.

Anderson commented that being in position to have good looks with the putter was critical on day one.

“Getting the ball in position on the greens (was the key),” Anderson said. “There are some tricky greens out there today. It was a solid day, I was in a lot of fairways and had a lot of opportunities. I realized mid-round that even par was a good score today. There aren’t a ton of birdies out here and pars are good.”

Doak said he had nothing but positives to take from today’s round.

“On the first tee I would of taken 75 or 76,” Doak said. “I have only played eight time so far this year. The putts went in today, that’s for sure. I tried to stay out of my own way. I was three-under through 12 holes. I knew where I was at. Even with bogeying 16 and 18 I don’t care. I am still happy. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, this is a somewhat new position for me in a statewide amateur tournament.”

Bull said he spun his wheels a little at the start, but got going after a trio of birdies on the front nine.

“I played ok,” Bull said. “I got off to a slower start than I wanted to. I made birdies on 5, 8 and 9 and got going. Then I made  bogey on 10. It was great, it wasn’t bad. I had a good group, it was fun. I thought the greens were awesome. If you were out of position you could make bogey out there today.”

Lurking just two off the pace (73) is Scott Hart (West Des Moines). No less that 13 players are with four strokes of the lead. With course conditions nearly perfect in the opening round, a shoot-out on Tuesday is a distinct possibility.

In the Senior Division, David Studer (West Des Moines) and Ron Peterson (Urbandale) share the lead with 73 (+1). Tim Ward (Waterloo) is just a shot back after his 74 (+2)

A bunched leaderboard in the Senior Division sees a total of 10 players within three shots of the lead.

Click here for complete Round One results

Iowa Mid-Amateur Pairings Released

May 2, 20170 commentsIowa Mid-Am, News

Groupings and starting times for the 32nd Iowa Mid-Amateur Championship have been released.  93 total players (53 Mid-Ams and 40 Seniors) will tee it up next Monday and Tuesday at Beaver Hills Country Club in Cedar Falls.

You can view the pairings and follow the results by going to the official website of the Mid-Amateur here.

Beaver Hills CC is hosting an IGA championship for the first time since 2003, when it also hosted the Iowa Mid-Amateur.  Mike McCoy, the six-time champion who now has the trophy named after him, won in 2003 by one stroke over Jon Brown.  Both are competing this week.  In fact, Brown is the defending champion after defeating Sam Zoske and Justin Schulte in a playoff last year (at Elmwood CC, Marshalltown).

Play kicks off at 8 a.m. on Monday and will finish with 18 holes on Tuesday.

2017 IGA Member Play Day venues announced

May 2, 20170 commentsNews

Amana Colonies Golf Club, Sunnyside Country Club and Glen Oaks Country Club will host IGA Member Play Days in 2017. The IGA is pleased to organize the opportunity for our members to play these courses which are either not normally available to the public, or available for a reduced rate. The fee varies for each day but each time is less than the normal guest fee. These play days are not formal competitions and are open exclusively to IGA Members.

The first IGA Member Play Day will be held on Monday, May 22nd, at Amana Colonies Golf Club in Amana ($35 per person). Sunnyside CC ($65 per person) will host on Monday, June 5th, while Glen Oaks CC ($105 per person) will host on Monday, Oct. 16.

As in the past, golfers are encouraged to bring their own foursome as pairing requests will be honored (as nearly as possible). We have reserved a block of morning tee times at these great facilities so all play will begin from the 1st tee. Just come, have fun and whatever “games” you want to play within your group or groups is totally up to you. Each event includes golf, range balls, cart and lunch. Sign up early because once the tee time block is gone we will not allow any more entries.

An IGA Member (anyone who has a membership number through their enrollment in the GHIN Handicap Service at an IGA Member club). You can sign up to be an IGA Member online by clicking here.

As stated previously, the opportunity to play these prestigious clubs is an exclusive benefit only to IGA members. If you are not already a member, simply sign up for the GHIN Handicap Service at an IGA Member Club (your GHIN number is your membership number). A complete list of member clubs is available under the “Member Clubs” tab at the top of the page. 

For more on IGA Member Play Days visit http://iowagolf.org/iga-member-play-days/

IGA to launch Super Senior Player of the Year in 2017

May 1, 20170 commentsNews, Uncategorized

The Iowa Golf Association Board of Directors recently approved a recommendation from the Rules & Competitions Committee to begin a Men’s IGA Super Senior Player of the Year award.  The award will go to the top point-earner age 65 and older in a series of IGA events, USGA events and Additional Point Events and will be launched in 2017.

Discussion of starting a Super Senior Player of the Year award began in 2015, after the IGA had record participation in the super senior division of the Iowa Senior Amateur.  It continued again in 2016 and so discussion became serious as a super senior division could be a potential source of growth for point events that need it.

“Our committee looked hard at the numbers and discussed the potential for a Super Senior Player of the Year award for the past two years,” said IGA Executive Director Chad Pitts.  “We discussed it with our various point events and ultimately determined to go forward with it in 2017.”

A few sanctioned point events have already committed to a Super Senior Division while others plan to make that decision within the next few weeks.

“It will be a fairly simple system, modeled closely to our other Player of the Year systems,” added Pitts.  “It will also be a bit of a fluid system early in the year as we figure out which of our additional sanctioned point events wish to offer this division.”

You can view the complete Super Senior Player of the Year Point System here.

Points will be calculated and posted to the IGA Player of the Year Standings page here.

IPGA wins 50th Iowa Cup Matches

April 27, 20170 commentsIowa Cup Matches, News

The Iowa PGA Section retained the Iowa Cup, played at Ankeny’s Otter Creek Golf Course, 20-10 over the team of amateurs from the Iowa Golf Association. This year marked the 50th playing between the two sides.

During the morning Four-Ball matches, Team IGA collected wins and a full point from Garret Jensen/Ty Stewart and from Ron Peterson/Tom Schill. Three other teams were able to halve their match and gain additional .5 points for the amateur side. Heading into the afternoon singles matches the IPGA led 6.5 – 3.5.

As Team IGA looked to make a comeback, afternoon singles matches went the way of the IPGA, winning a total of 13.5 points out of 20. Winning afternoon matches for Team IGA were J.D. Anderson, Jon Brown, Ty Stewart, Garret Jensen and Scott Hart. Three others were able to halve their singles match.

Play was cancelled for Friday due to cold and rainy forecasts for Friday morning. Four-Ball and singles matches were contested on Thursday.

A special thanks to Otter Creek Golf course for hosting the event.

Click here for scoring results from the matches.

USGA, R&A announce new decision to limit use of video review

April 25, 20170 commentsNews

The USGA and The R&A have issued a new Decision on the Rules of Golf to limit the use of video evidence in the game, effective immediately.

The two organizations have also established a working group of LPGA, PGA Tour, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and PGA of America representatives to immediately begin a comprehensive review of broader video issues, including viewer call-ins, which arise in televised competitions.

New Decision 34-3/10 implements two standards for Rules committees to limit the use of video: 1) when video reveals evidence that could not reasonably be seen with the “naked eye,” and 2) when players use their “reasonable judgment” to determine a specific location when applying the Rules.

Click here to read more about the recent announcement.

World Handicap System in the works

April 20, 20170 commentsNews

The USGA and The R&A are working with golf’s handicapping authorities to develop a single World Handicap System for the game.

More than 15 million golfers in more than 80 countries currently have a handicap, a numerical index long used as a measure of a golfer’s potential skill level. Today, handicaps are delivered through six different systems in the world.

The aim of the proposed handicap system is to adopt a universal set of principles and procedures that would apply all over the world.

An extensive review of existing handicap systems administered by Golf Australia, the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) in Great Britain and Ireland, the European Golf Association (EGA), the South African Golf Association (SAGA), the Argentine Golf Association (AGA) and the United States Golf Association (USGA) has been undertaken.

Click here to read more

Harvester GC, ISU to host NCAA Division I Men’s Regional in 2019

April 19, 20170 commentsNews

The NCAA announced host sites for championship events in Divisions I, II and III for most sports through the 2021-22 seasons on Tuesday.  The Harvester Golf Club in Rhodes was selected as one of six sites for a DI Men’s Golf Regional in 2019.  The event will be held May 12-15, 2019 and Iowa State University will serve as the host school.

Each year the NCAA holds six regional qualifying sites to determine the 30 teams that qualify for the NCAA Championship.  In 2019, the championship will be held at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  13 teams and ten individuals not on those teams will compete at each of the six regional sites.  The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals.

Other 2019 regional sites include University of Louisville Golf Club in Louisville, KY, Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, CA, University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, GA, Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, WA and TPC Myrtle Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC.

While it was expected that the NCAA would announce championship finals sites through 2022, they only announced through 2019.

 

See Tommy’s Honour movie at Fleur Cinema

April 18, 20170 commentsNews, Uncategorized

The Iowa Golf Association is pleased to extend a special invitation for you to view the new film Tommy’s Honour. The Fleur Cinema is exclusively exhibiting the movie in Des Moines. This will be a great chance to spend time with fellow golf-lovers at The Fleur Cinema taking in this remarkable new film about the creation of modern golf. Show times through April 20 can be found here: http://fleurcinema.com/now_showing/?id=352

Set in Scotland in the early days of the game, Tommy’s Honour tells the moving true story of the conflicted relationship between legendary father-son golfers “Old” Tom Morris and “Young” Tom Morris. The two men’s innovations in caddying, play, course design, groundskeeping, and ball- and club-making helped birth the modern game of golf.

While Old Tom helped found The Open Championship in 1860, it wasn’t long before Young Tom’s accomplishments began to outshine his father’s. Tommy’s fiery personality ultimately led him to rebel, first against the stodgy aristocracy that dominated the game (starting with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews) and then against the parents who shunned his passionate relationship with his wife. You can view a trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FcSe6TuE-8

As some of you may be aware, the owners of The Fleur Cinema also own Echo Valley Country Club, host site of the 2017 Herman Sani Tournament and a major supporter of the Sani Scholarship and the IGA’s work across the state.

We hope you’ll take this opportunity to enjoy a wonderful filmic depiction of key figures in the development of the game with other golf lovers, exclusively at The Fleur Cinema. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for seniors or children.

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