FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Public Affairs
Home›Public Affairs›Power to the Acronym

Power to the Acronym

By Craig Kessler
January 1, 2014
3165
0
Share:
scga

Tocqueville made the observation famous in the 1830s, and it still rings true today: Americans love voluntary associations. It’s what we instinctively turn to when we want to get things done.

Golf in America is no exception. For every function there is a nonprofit association to carry the water. And a dizzying array of acronyms to memorize if you’re in the business!

If you’re reading this story you are probably a member of one — the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA). If you’re a golf professional you’re a member of the Southern California Section of the Professional Golfers Association (SCPGA). If you work in golf maintenance you’re a member of one of the Chapters of the National Golf Course Superintendents Association (GCSAA). For club managers, there’s the Club Managers Association (CMA), while for golf course owners, the California Golf Course Owners Association (CGCOA). On and on and on, all replete with national umbrella associations.

But if you’re a municipal golf manager there is no such organization focused on your discipline — until now, that is. Southern California’s municipal golf managers have come together to form their own peer review association called the Southern California Municipal Golf Association (SCMGA); they conduct their kick-off meeting January 30 at the Rio Hondo Municipal Golf Course in Downey.

“This will give us what we’ve been sorely missing for so long in the municipal golf field,” says Anaheim Golf Director Michael Lautenbach, the first president of the new organization. That’s a gentle way of saying that Lautenbach and the municipal managers from San Diego to Ventura who join him on the inaugural governing board plan on “getting some things done” on behalf of the municipal game they toil in every day.

More to the point, from the perspective of Southern California’s golfers, to the extent that the SCMGA means that municipal golf is organized to elevate the game’s most reliable growth sector to a position of equality with the sectors represented by all those other acronyms, the new organization will be “getting things done” on our behalf.

The public game has been buffeted by a myriad of problems in recent years, many associated more with the fiscal issues of their owners more than the problems generally associated with the game. Indeed, the municipal sector has fared better than most during the recent downturn, not a surprising development given the public sector’s position in the market.

But publicly owned golf courses have been particularly vulnerable to the harvesting of their revenues for needs unrelated to golf, a propensity to defer necessary capital reinvestment and attacks from those quarters that have always opposed the dedication of publicly owned open space to the game. These are all problems that if left unchallenged can erode the broad foundation upon which so much of the golf market is dependent for long-term health.

The SCMGA aims to tackle those problems head on. Getting organized is the necessary first step. Getting recognized by allies and peers is the next, something they’ve apparently accomplished if Lautenbach’s election to the Board of Directors of the California Alliance for Golf (CAG) is an indicator. The next step: Translating that organization and recognition into the ability to positively affect outcomes for the health of public sector golf, and by implication the health of the whole game.

Golf’s parade of acronyms is in their corner — ready and willing to lend whatever help they can. Golf may have many parts and a myriad of acronyms accompanying each part, but it is one game with one common destiny. Welcome to the party SCMGA.

For information about the SCMGA contact Michael Lautenbach at (714) 221-2729 or mlautenbach@anaheim.net.

Previous Article

The Naked Truth About Gary Player: He’s ...

Next Article

The Truth Behind those Tournament Scores

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Craig Kessler

Craig came to the SCGA via the merger with the Public Links Golf Association (PLGA), where he served as Executive Director for 11 years and pioneered the development of the nation’s most active and accomplished advocacy component. He has been tasked with doing the same for the SCGA as its first Director of Governmental Affairs, albeit on a much larger stage. In addition to his current and previous job responsibilities, Craig has served as a USGA Committeemen continuously for 15 years, Chair of the Los Angeles Golf Advisory Commission, Chair of the Los Angeles County Golf Advisory Committee, Member of the City of Los Angeles’ Griffith Park Master Plan Board, Member of the Ventura Golf Advisory Group, Member of the Los Angeles County Junior Golf Foundation Board of Directors and Chair of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce First Tee of Los Angeles Advisory Committee. In 2008 Craig was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Related articles More from author

  • PUZZLE
    Public AffairsSpring 2015

    The Game’s Advocacy Efforts: Still Behind the Curve but Improving Rapidly

    April 1, 2015
    By Craig Kessler
  • industry
    Public Affairs

    The Industry at Mid-Decade: The Good News is that the Bad News isn’t All That Bad

    January 1, 2015
    By Craig Kessler
  • Public Affairs

    Golf Celebrates the Fruits of Research at UC Riverside Turfgrass Field Day

    September 17, 2018
    By Craig Kessler
  • california
    Public AffairsSpring 2016

    The Wages Of Indifference: Game’s Failure to Honor Public Sector Hurts Growth Efforts

    April 1, 2016
    By Craig Kessler
  • Public AffairsWinter 2021

    Dark Clouds on Muni Golf’s Horizon

    January 15, 2021
    By Craig Kessler
  • Public AffairsSpring 2021

    The Old College Try: A Suggested Path Forward for Muni Golf

    April 23, 2021
    By Bo Links

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • Fall 2022FeaturedProfiles

    Giving Back With Gusto: Joe Grohman Gains Joy in Helping Others

  • Fall 2022FeaturedHandicap Hints

    Handicap Allowances

  • Fall 2022FeaturedSustainability

    10,000 Years in the Making: The Journey at Pechanga Views History Through a Very Long Lens

  • At The TurnFall 2022Featured

    A Homebase for Generations: A Century of Character (and Characters!) at Meadowlark GC

  • Fall 2022FeaturedProfiles

    Designed for a Champion: Q&A with Architect Gil Hanse

FOLLOW US

Facebook 0Fans
Twitter 0Followers
Instagram 0Followers
Youtube 0Subscriber
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Handicap Allowances

    By Kevin O'Connor
    October 25, 2022
  • The Single Life: The Simple Pleasures of Being “That Guy”

    By John DeGomez
    October 25, 2022
  • Cut! Rulings Hollywood Got Wrong

    By Jeff Ninnemann
    October 25, 2022
  • From Crisis to Confidence: The Southern California Golf & Water Summit

    By Craig Kessler
    October 25, 2022
  • Direct to Golf Consumer: How Social Media is Changing the Way We Buy Equipment

    By Scott Kramer
    October 25, 2022
  • The Diva Golfer

    By Azucena Maldonado
    January 31, 2017
  • The USGA’s Major Proposed Changes to the Rules of Golf

    By admin
    December 14, 2017
  • Stand By Me: Temecula Native Joe Skovron On Life As Rickie Fowler’s Caddie

    By Jonathan Coe
    October 26, 2016
  • Watching the Tiger Watchers

    By Andy Brumer
    February 20, 2018
  • Remembering Jim Murray: Best of the Best

    By Bill Dwyre
    February 14, 2017
  • Julie
    on
    November 13, 2022

    The Single Life: The Simple Pleasures of Being “That Guy”

    Thanks for this. I ...
  • free proxy list
    on
    December 5, 2018

    Top 4 College Golf Names You Need To Know

    Hello,I log on to ...
  • Adela C. Garcia
    on
    November 17, 2018

    Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”

    Azucena Maldonado is a ...
  • Rose Sauceda
    on
    November 15, 2018

    Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”

    Congratulations my lovely Amiga ...
  • Judy Carls
    on
    November 15, 2018

    The Gilded One: Eldorado CC

    Excellent magazine..thank you Judy Carls LPGA ...

RECENT COMMENTS

  • Julie on The Single Life: The Simple Pleasures of Being “That Guy”
  • free proxy list on Top 4 College Golf Names You Need To Know
  • Adela C. Garcia on Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”
  • Rose Sauceda on Revolutionizing the “Ladies Club”
  • Judy Carls on The Gilded One: Eldorado CC
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise