SCGA NEWS

Terrazas, High retire from SCGA
Two of the SCGA most senior employees and long-time carpool partners, Kathy Terrazas and Timmie High, retired last month after 30 years of combined service.

Terrazas was the SCGA’s executive assistant, working with Executive Director Kevin Heaney and Assistant Executive Director Ray Tippet.
High was FORE Magazine’s production supervisor working with Senior Director of Commun­ications Bob Thomas and his staff.

Terrazas was hired by former Executive Director Tom Morgan in 1996. She had previously worked for the company that brokered the association’s group health insur­ance plan and has proven invaluable to employees in negotiating that thicket. In fact, on her last day she finalized paperwork to put three new SCGA employees into the health insurance program.

“Kathy been a godsend to me,” said Heaney at a retirement luncheon for Terrazas. “She had to go from one boss (Morgan) who was neatness personified to another (me) who hasn’t learned that valuable trait. That she managed the transition with grace is typical of who she is both as a person and as an employee. I’m going to miss her a lot.”

High began work in the SCGA Handicap Department in 1986 and moved to the Communi­cations Department several years later. "When she began in Communications,” said Thomas at the retirement luncheon, “the entire Southern California Directory of Golf was done in Microsoft Word. Timmie and her husband, Jim, converted that file into a comprehensive database that we use today both for the printed directory and the Golf Course Directory section of the SCGA Web site.”

High was legendary as the department’s Jewish mother. “We were having a staff retreat at Morgan Run one year,” related Thomas. “I got very sick and went to my room to go to bed. Just then, there was a knock on the door. ‘Room service.’ the voice said. ‘I didn’t order room service,’ I replied. ‘I know that,’ he said. ‘Timmie called us up and said to bring you some chicken soup.’”

Summing up, Thomas said, “I can’t imagine this department without Timmie for the last 14 years. She has been a great colleague and a treasured friend.”

For the past 12 years, Terrazas and High have carpooled together to and from Agoura and Golf House in Studio City, traveling the 101 Freeway with no carpool lanes. “We lobbied for an SCGA helicopter,” said High, “but to no avail. Neither of us could have made the trip traveling alone.”

Tanya Palmer has moved over from course rating to become the new executive assistant. A graduate from Brown University with a B.A. in theatre arts, Palmer began with the SCGA as receptionist in 2005 and in January, 2007 became Administrative Assistant in Course Rating.

Patricia Lynch has moved from the Handicap department to replace Palmer as Course Rating’s admin­is­trative assist­ant. She joined the Handicap department in 2002 as an administrative assistant.

Linda Kueny has replaced High with a new job title, administrative assistant. An avid golfer, Kueny worked for 25 years for Leggett & Platt, as well as for several other companies. She has a B.A. in recreation administration from Cal State Long Beach and a M.A. in information technologies from the University of Phoenix. Kueny lives in Norwalk, is married, and has a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.

Two new employees have joined the Handicap Department
Jennie Roberson isn’t actually new; she’s been working in the department as a temp for several months, but now’s she on board officially as an administrative assistant. Roberson, 25, lives in Echo Park. She is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in English high honors. Prior to coming to the SCGA, she worked in property management. When not working, Roberson loves to hike and kayak. She also loves badminton, although as she points out, “nobody knows how to play it anymore.”

Jeremy Pitt has also joined the Handicap department as an administrative assistant. The 27-year-old Pasadena resident grew up in La Cañada and went on to San Diego State, where he received a B.A. in economics. He also worked in the mortgage and real estate industries.
An avid golfer, Pitt also enjoys active outdoor sports, especially around a lake.

Chris Nelson is the latest USGA P.J. Boatwright intern to work with the SCGA. This highly valuable program provides training for those seeking a career in golf administration. Nelson will work with all SCGA departments during his year-long internship. A resident of West Hartford, CT, the 24-year-old Nelson is a graduate of Providence University in Rhode Island where he received a B.A. in history and a M.A. in U.S. history. During several summers, he worked on the staff of Wannamoisett CC, a Donald Ross-designed course in Rumford, RI that is the site of the Northeast Amateur Championship. When asked his favorite memory of working at Wannamoisett, Nelson responded, “One year I got to rebuild a bunker, which was really cool. I can always go back there and say, ‘That’s mine.’” Nelson is an avid Boston Red Sox fan (along with the SCGA’s Fran Nee).

Mark Woodward, City of San Diego golf operations manager was recently named chief executive officer of the Golf Course Superin­tendents’ Association of America, the first golf course superintendent to hold the position.

Woodward has overseen the city’s golf activities since 2005, after a 31-year career in Mesa, AZ’s parks and recreation division. In San Diego, Woodward developed a five-year business plan that has resulted in generating an additional $3 million in revenue from 2006 to 2007, including the imple­mentation of the Advance Tee Time program that added $500,000 in revenue in the first year.

His department has hosted numerous high profile events including three junior world golf championships, three city amateur championships, three PGA Tour events and the upcoming U.S. Open — on top of the three golf facilities annually hosting 260 golf outings.

Ted Robinson, prolific and highly respected Southern California-based golf course architect and designer of dozens of well-known courses throughout the region, died at his home in Laguna Beach after a 10-month struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Through the planning of 26 separate projects in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area alone — including Sunrise, Monterey, Palm Valley, The Lakes, Indian Wells, Ironwood, Tahquitz Creek, and Desert Springs — Robinson pioneered many of the integrated design concepts now widely accepted as industry standards.

In 1967, Golf Digest dubbed him the King of Waterscapes for the integrated use of lakes, streams and, most notably, waterfalls within his golf courses. Among his other Southern California projects were Tijeras Creek and Tustin Ranch in Orange County and Robinson Ranch in Santa Clarita, a project designed and developed jointly with his son and named in his honor.

Robinson joined the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) in 1973, ascended to Fellow in 1995, and served as ASGCA President from 1983-84.

Long-time Handicap Chairman Tom Gay died March 22 at the age of 79. Gay was Handicap Chair of Military Golfers of El Toro, along with other clubs. In 2007, after 67 years of playing, Tom finally made his first hole-in-one.

Santa Ana CC Invitational celebrates its 60th anniversary
August 4-9, 2008 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Santa Ana Invitational golf tournament. During the summers following World War II, many Los Angeles residents vacationed in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar. Among the vacationers were members of Annandale, San Gabriel, Oakmont, Los Angeles, Wilshire, Hacienda, and other distinguished country clubs. Some of the vacationers became regular guests at Santa Ana Country Club throughout July and August.

Inevitably, a competitive event among these visitors was discussed and a committee of Chairman Lee Metzger, Gerald Ritchie, General Manager Stanley Ridderhof, Manager Riley Huber, and Profes­sional Jay Nunnally created the inaugural Santa CC Invitational in August 1949.
The Santa Ana Invitational is a two-man team event using a four ball format. Thirty two teams comprise the Championship Flight while the remaining teams are grouped into eight-team flights.

First Industry City Championship set for August 1-3
Industry Hills Golf Club will host the inaugural Industry City Championship August 1-3.The 54-hole stroke play compe­tition will have golfers compet­ing in seven flights; the Championship flight will be for players with Low Indexes as of July, 2008 of 2.9 and below. Play on August 1 and 2 will be on both the Eisenhower and Za­harias courses. After Saturday’s play, each flight will be cut to the low one-third of the entrants who will play the final round on the Ike course.The entry fee of $195 includes green fees, cart, range balls, tee prize and prize fund. Entry deadline is July 18, although late entries will be accepted for an additional $10 fee if the field is not full. The Pacific Palms Resort, of which Industry Hills GC is a part, will offer a $129-per-night room rate (plus tax). Information: 626/810-4653; www.PacificPalmsResort.com.

Pro Kids Golf Academy (also known as The First Tee of San Diego) has unveiled its Short Game Schools for adults. The schools focus on putting, chip­ping, pitching, and bunker shots. Pro Kids Short Game Schools are different from most because they take place on the course where the students are hitting realistic (game situations) shots. The schools also include the use of three-dimensional technologies for putting which provide information as specific as 1/10th of a degree. Information: contact PGA Director of Golf, Todd Smith at
tsmith@prokidsonline.org or 619/583-6106, x102.

Hogarth continues record run at Lakeside’s Kelly Cup
If you’re looking for a favorite in next month’s California Amateur Championship, Tim Hogarth would be a name on anyone’s list. Hogarth isn’t a member at Lake­side Golf Club (one the state amateur sites) but he certainly owns the famed 1920s Toluca Lake layout.

The 41-year-old Hogarth fired a 1-under-par 69 in the final round to win his sixth overall and fourth consecutive Kelly Cup, both records for the prestigious invitational tournament celebrating its silver anni­versary this year. Hogarth previously won Kelly Cups in 1999, 2000 and 2005-2007.

Hogarth shot 70-72-69 — 211 for the three rounds. He finished eight shots ahead of Randy Cross of Sacramento, who finished with a 54-hole total of 219. Lakeside GC member Greg Bell finished third at 220.

Mike Hyland of Las Vegas, who was leading heading into the final round, ballooned to an 80 over a course with hard fairways and thick rough and finished fourth at 221.

“They really grew the rough up for this tournament,” said Hogarth of Lakeside. “If you missed the fair­way, the best you could do would be to advance it about 120 yards.”

On the other hand, noted Hogarth, the fairways and greens were somewhat soft. “If you could drive the ball well,” said Hogarth, “you were okay. Today, I struck the ball great and hit 17 greens.”

Hogarth had triple-hernia surgery earlier this year. A week before the Kelly Cup, Hogarth finished ninth in the 25th SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Toscana CC in Indian Wells where he was the defending champion (see page 10). “I really needed one tournament as a tune-up,” said Hogarth. “I’m sorry it had to be the Mid-Am, but that turned out set things up for the Kelly Cup and, I hope, for the rest of the spring and summer.”

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