Local organizers of the E-Z-GO Vaughn Taylor Championship presented
by TaylorMade-adidas Golf, which took place at Jones Creek Golf Club in
Augusta, Ga., July 23-26, 2012, have earned the Hospitality Award from the American
Junior Golf Association. The Hospitality Award honors the tournament committee
that creates a special tournament experience for the juniors and families in
attendance at the event.
Each year, the AJGA presents
awards to the tournaments with the best individual media coverage, Junior-Am
fundraising tournament, charitable giving and volunteer base. The AJGA also
recognizes the year’s most outstanding golf professional, superintendent and
general manager, as well as the most improved event, best new tournament, best
Invitational and overall tournament of the year.
"I’ve been to a lot of LPGA
and PGA events and we’re not doing anything that doesn’t happen at that level,"
said Tournament Chairman Dan Troutman. “We are slowly trying to add things each
year that they will see as they progress to the highest level of competition.”
Throughout the week, the
tournament chairman and committee provided unique benefits to the juniors and
their families through a wide array of amenities, including private locker
rooms with engraved name plates, private dining area, shoe cleaning and
repairing, exact yardages from their assigned place on the driving range and an
information booth staffed by the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau’s
sports council. At the booth, players and parents could find free movie passes
and coupons to local restaurants, among other things. Meals were provided each
day for juniors in a private dining room and parents were setup in the main
dining area with multiple live scoring screens. Additionally, the club’s pool facility
was open all week to families of players that needed a break from the heat that
surpassed 100 degrees daily. One special memento each player received that week
was a personalized money clip which served as their entry key to the locker and
dining facilities, similar to what the players receive at professional golf
events.
“We do it because we think
there’s more to life than golf,” Troutman said. “These folks go play golf every
weekend here, there and yonder, and we want them to care about more than how
fast the greens are. We want them to think ‘Man, you play at Jones Creek in
Augusta at the AJGA event, it’s a whole package, not just a golf tournament.’
We want the word out there that if they are going to play in any event of the
summer, they need to play in Augusta.”
The tournament returns to the
AJGA schedule in 2013 and will be played July 29 – Aug. 1 at Jones Creek Golf
Club.
Complete list of
2012 Tournament Awards.