T
he Texas Golf Association is perhaps best known for conducting world-class amateur golf championships. For good reason, too. With the exception of the USGA, no other golf association in the country gives competitive amateurs the kind of elite tournament experience the TGA provides for men, women, junior and senior golfers.
Along with Executive Director Stacy Dennis, the TGA’s dedicated Championships staff members are, for all intents, the public face of the TGA. Throughout the year, Tournament Directors John Cochran IV, Kellen Kubasak, Chris Untiedt, Amy Worthington, Kevin Porter and their skilled teams routinely interact and engage not only with thousands of competitive golfers, but also with hundreds of members and staff at esteemed host clubs to conduct memorable, seamless events in every region of Texas.
Here’s the thing, though.
The TGA does so much more for golf and golfers than administering exceptional championships.
In addition to the dozen or so competition-focused TGA employees, there is also a full staff of professionals who are committed to the Membership side of the association. These industrious folks spend their days working to enhance the experience of, and build greater value for, over 550 TGA Member Clubs and more than 136,000 TGA Members.
Mary Harrison, for example, has been a critical part of the TGA for 20 years. As Senior Director of Handicapping and Membership, Mary oversees all Handicapping-related issues, including the rollout and widespread education of the World Handicap System, as well as expanding the association’s club and individual membership base.
Kelly Kilgo is the Director of Outreach and Managing Director of the TGA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the association. A TGA staffer since 2005, Kelly has held many different posts, including the Executive Director of the Women’s Texas Golf Association, which merged with the TGA in 2015. Currently, her chief responsibilities with the Foundation see her raising money to help grow the game from grassroots levels throughout Texas and organizing events to strengthen the association’s Outreach initiatives.
Randy Guillot is the Managing Director of Finance for the TGA, a massive undertaking that includes everything from day-to-day bookkeeping, accounts payable/receivable, budgeting and forecasting, payroll, allocation of the TGA Foundation’s charitable efforts and so on. Randy also moonlights as the de facto Human Resources officer for the TGA.
As Manager of USGA Products, Zach Madison heads up the TGA’s Course Rating efforts. Zach oversees 10 regional teams, which adds up to over 100 volunteers. He travels across the state to meticulously and accurately rate the 558 current TGA Member Clubs, which include an array of public, private and resort facilities.
There are a host of other key TGA Membership staffers – including the Communications Team that produces this magazine for you six times a year – and we’ll introduce many of them to you over the next several pages.
You might not see or talk to them as much as the highly visible Championships Department, but you can be assured the enthusiastic professionals who make up the Membership portion of the association constantly are working on plans and projects to make life as a TGA Member more enjoyable and valuable.
