Zach Madison was 5 years old when he first picked up a golf club in his hometown of Van Alstyne. Located about 45 miles due north of Dallas, fewer than 4,000 people reside in Van Alstyne today.
It was even less populated than that when Zach’s love affair with golf began. Fast forward 19 years later, and Zach’s relationship with the game has impacted tens of thousands of Texans and reaches far and wide across the state. As Manager of USGA Products, Zach heads the Course Ratings process, which is a vital piece of the TGA’s Membership Department.
“My favorite thing about golf is that it’s a sport anyone can try out and enjoy,” Zach said.
Prior to joining the TGA, Zach worked as an Assistant Superintendent at Oak Hollow Golf Course in McKinney while attending Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. He now serves as the TGA’s resident expert on all things pertaining to calculating and issuing Course Ratings for more than 550 Member Clubs.
During his travels across the state, Zach also helps TGA Members better understand how Course Ratings are determined and how they impact golfers’ World Handicap System Indexes.
Zach currently oversees 10 regional Course Rating teams across Texas, which adds up to 100 well-trained and dedicated volunteers serving the state’s golfing community.
Rating how difficult (or not) a given course is often leads to lively discussions from those who play it on a regular basis. Golfers are some of the most opinionated people around, and Zach hears plenty of grumbles from golfers about his teams’ diligent work. He said some inaccurate myths about the Course Rating process are to blame for most of the criticism.
“One myth is that we calculate Course Ratings by just playing the course,” Zach said. “That’s just not true. Course Ratings actually are derived from all the data and measurements our trained teams gather. So, playing is a very small portion of it. Course Ratings come almost exclusively from numbers.”
Course Ratings are important because they tell golfers how challenging a course plays. Zach takes pride in providing accurate information for the benefit of the course and its players.
“It is the basis of Handicapping,” he said. “If you don’t have good Course Ratings, you can’t have accurate Handicapping. In order for Handicapping to be accurate across the entire state and everyone to be equitable, you have to have accurate Course Ratings.”
Through three years of producing and updating Course Ratings, Zach still learns surprising things about his role and the people with whom he works.
“It’s surprising how many clubs’ Course Ratings tend to not have all the tees ready for men and women,” Zach said. “Women are now playing way farther back. There are so many people that come to me saying their Handicaps are wrong, and it all goes back to the Course Rating was done so long ago that it’s now invalid.”
Like most of his TGA Membership Department colleagues, Zach works behind the scenes. But his efforts are seen and felt at golf courses in every corner of Texas and through the countless golfers he assists throughout the year.
“The people I get to meet and the courses I get to see are my favorite things about the role,” he said. “Playing such an important role in Handicapping also is really neat.”
