Blog post by Samantha Hirshberg, a first-year Tournament Coordinator with the American Junior Golf Association
The game of golf put simply is to play the course as you find it and play the ball as it lies. If only it were that simple. Two months ago, I was handed a 600+ page book that throws the word “simply” right out the window. The Decisions on the Rules of Golf. A book combined by the USGA and R&A to help millions of golfers around the world better understand how the Rules are applied and interpreted. Our job is to study and learn the text within these 600 pages.
Andrew Greenfield, the Director of Rules and Competitions, puts together an in-house rules school that the Operations Department attends each morning for two months. The goal is to better prepare us for not only the PGA/USGA Rules Workshop, but also for the 96 events the AJGA will host in 2012. His in-house rules school leads into a three-day long rules workshop put on by the PGA and USGA, culminating a three and a half hour, 100-question exam.
Currently we are heading into our final day of the PGA/USGA Rules Workshop before the exam. I was unsure what to expect heading to Houston to attend this workshop, which had received so much hype and attention. What I have found is that the AJGA has not only set the precedent and standard within the golf industry in such categories as pace of play and hydration, but also in how we present ourselves. A first-year attendee to the workshop will soon learn when the AJGA is present. We bring more employees than any other organization, we show up early and stay late, we dress the part, we sit in the front row and we consistently perform well on the exam. This dedication and passion for what we do is what sets the AJGA apart from any other golf organization.
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