Note: This is a repost of a previously published story on the NCCGA website.
With the launch of the new Nextgengolf website, I can’t help but think of how far we have come in the past five years.
In the fall of 2009, I attended my first NCCGA Tournament in eastern Ohio. There was barely a website, scoring was done on some guy’s Excel sheet, players were not told the scores from day 1 and honestly I didn’t even know it was an “NCCGA” event until I got a small trophy. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the competition, I loved the team comradery, but I saw so much room for improvement for the tournament experience.
I had the privilege to serve as the President alongside Kevin Flanagan (Towson) and Robert Powell (Virginia Tech) for two years, and we were able to use member feedback to improve our website and begin using tournament scoring software to make it more of a national organization, rather than a regionally-based organization with little communication.
It is amazing to think there were 5 Regions back in 2009, looking at over 20 Regions in 2014. In just 5 years WE have changed the landscape of competitive non-varsity golf, something that could not be done without great members. The merger with CollegeGolfPass in January of 2013 proved vital in gaining the resources and abilities to forge the way for sponsorships (Cleveland/Srixon) and a complete collegiate golf experience across a wider demographic. This was most evident at the Fall 2013 National Championship at Barefoot Resort. Twenty-four teams and sixteen individuals traveled from across the country to compete at the largest club golf tournament to date.
From a small organization with a mission to the largest non-varsity college golf offering, the NCCGA has great potential to continue to grow and impact more and more young golfers. With our new Student Leadership team recently elected and committed to improving the overall experience, the spring 2014 season will be our best yet. Sometimes it helps to look back and think about where we came from, to truly appreciate how far we’ve come.
