NCAA champion, Rhodes Scholar, USGA President, golf historian and lawyer are just a handful of descriptors for Frank “Sandy” Tatum. The 90-year-old continues to be a force and respected voice in the game of golf.

What is the significance of being inducted into the NCGA’s Hall of Fame?
It is quite an honor for me and one that is very seriously appreciated. Honor has many factors and the most important is the honoree and my regard for the NCGA as one of the more important operations in golf. Environment could not have been better, making the honor so impressive including those with whom I was so honored.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
When I was part of the USGA’s executive committee in 1972, we looked at arrangements for television. I was stunned to find that not much attention was paid to it. We got involved with rights and the TV commentary went from four towers to 18-hole coverage. It took a lot of innovation and ABC was responsive and we began to realize some money. The last contract I was involved with was put to bid and we separated out contracts for Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom and that generated a lot of money and coverage.

Who comprises your dream foursome?
Alistair Cooke, Bobby Jones and Tom Watson.

How important was it to restore Harding Park?
I had so much regard for it and experience that I couldn’t stand seeing it turn into a wheat patch. I needed access to the PGA Tour so I had dinner set up with Tim Finchem and the rest is history. The process has been more difficult than I thought but we got it done. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the restoration to the landmark course that now ensures affordable public access.

How has golf in Northern California shaped you?
I was a member of The Olympic Club and involved with the greens committee and setup for the 1950 Amateur. I gained insight into what a unique institution that is. I’ve also been involved with San Francisco Golf Club which is the consummate club.

Our city championship is played at municipal Harding Park. You can play with CEOs, plumbers, etc. I played for 40 years and loved every minute of it. On top of that the NCGA and all that it does to make golf so engaging and relevant here is tremendous.

How would you define the NCGA’s role?
The NCGA couldn’t be more important. The fact that the Association owns two courses and has multiple vehicles for outreach is priceless. I am thoroughly grateful for the role of the NCGA.

What do you think of the NCGA Foundation’s efforts?
The Foundation’s Youth on Course program is one of the most important developments in the process to try to find ways to expand access to the game. The potential has been demonstrated by what the Youth on Course program has done in Northern California.Youth on Course is a real game changer. The impact so far has been stunning. Look at the statistics, look at the courses available and the number of kids who have taken advantage of the program. Youth on Course has made a real impact on the grotesque problem of dropouts and could fundamentally change the demographics of golf.

What type of success can the Foundation’s Youth on Course program achieve?
Youth on Course can provide a resource that makes the First Tee ultimately effective. There is a big hole in the First Tee because it doesn’t go far enough. The full potential of Youth on Course can be realized with cooperation of the PGA Tour, allowing millions of kids to stay with the game.

Talk about your love for Stanford University.
My love for Stanford goes back a long way. My younger brother, who I idolized, went to Stanford and I stayed on campus and thought I had died and went to heaven. I focused on what could get me there and that was mostly my academic performance. I had a marvelous time at Stanford emotionally and socially and add to that my golf and it was a stunning experience.

To play golf at Stanford was a dream come true and to win the NCAA championship was very satisfying and a personal joy. I worked my way to be the #3 guy on the team and I was delighted by that.

How do you see the state of golf?
Almost desperate; the economy has devastated the game with facilities closing and people not having enough money to play consistently. You could see this coming with golf courses being built all over the place and the economy declining.

I thought about suggesting the USGA raise a couple of million dollars to buy courses from banks and promote access. I didn’t get anywhere and maybe it was impractical. The combination of the First Tee and Youth on Course can provide a game saver.

Today’s gimme: Discounted San Jose Sharks tickets!

As a new member benefit, NCGA members will enjoy savings on Thursday, March 11 when the San Jose Sharks take on the  Nashville Predators at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets in the upper bowl are discounted to $46.00 (normally $55). Tickets in the lower bowl are discounted to $69.00 (normally $78).

Click here to buy tickets, password is: NCGA

If you do not have a Ticketmaster account, you will be asked to create one.

Look for additional special discounts to Sharks’ games in the future.

SAN FRANCISCO -  Bay Area golfers were relieved when after a long-delayed 5-month study, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department recommended keeping the 18-hole Sharp Park Golf Course open. “The Department’s report is a “good start towards saving the historic Alister MacKenzie-designed golf course and all of its endangered species—frogs, snakes, and municipal golfers,” said Bo Links, co-founder of San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that has led the fight to preserve the golf course.

The Department’s report is a significant step, but nevertheless only a step, along the way for rehabilitation of the beautiful but tattered 77-year-old golf course, which is subject to a currently-pending Environmental Impact Report, and which must ultimately be approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

A Tucson-based environmental litigation group, Center for Biological Diversity, has led a political charge to close the course, in favor of creating a dedicated frog and snake preserve. The Recreation and Parks Department’s 400-page report concluded that closing the golf course, or reducing it to 9 holes, would be significantly more expensive than keeping the historic 18-hole course in operation. The CBD’s proposal to use an environmental “mitigation bank” as a funding device for closing the golf course, would have high up-front costs and questionable revenue-generating prospects, the Department’s report concluded. Under all alternatives, the frog and snake’s primary habitat would be protected and expanded at Sharp Park.

“This is another good day for golf in San Francisco and the Bay Area,” said Links, who pointed to other recent golf good news in President’s Cup Tournament conducted in October at Harding Park and the opening of the new First Tee Academy at the inner-city Visitacion Valley Middle School. “Golf is a wonderful outdoor sport played by people of all ages and backgrounds, and Sharp Park is a beautiful and historic and fun place to play. It is one of the real treasurers of Bay Area golf. And we are pleased that the Recreation and Park Department now understands this after long neglecting the property. We congratulate Parks Director Phil Ginsburg and his Department for this.”

The Department’s golf plan calls for closing the 3-par Hole 12, and shortening the 4-par hole 11 and 5-par hole 13, for the purpose of moving golfers and maintenance workers away from the two large ponds and a connecting stream on the western part of the course, which are thought to provide the best potential new habitat for the creatures. “We have not had time to study the Department’s hole closure and redesign proposals,” said Links, who is himself a prominent amateur golf architect. “But the less change to MacKenzie’s historic course routing, the better. And we are confident that our architects will have good ideas which can help to minimize the amount of golf course disruption on this landmark property. We look forward to working cooperatively with the city, as well as the Pacifica and San Mateo County leaders who share our commitment to preserve and renovate Sharp Park’s architecture as well as its environment. Golfers are environmentalists, and this is important to us, too.”

Despite its fancy architectural pedigree, the golf course is famous for being the home of a racially and culturally-diverse, middle-class golfing clientele, featuring large percentages of pensioners, women, and beginners—a clientele much like golfers on the public seaside links of Scotland. “This is exactly who Dr. MacKenzie designed this golf course for,” said Links. “He had been the consulting architect at St. Andrews before he immigrated to the States. At Sharp Park, MacKenzie intentionally re-created a Scottish public seaside links. Sharp Park’s golfers just fit the spirit of MacKenzie to a tee.”

In the months since the Center for Biological Diversity first mounted its assault to close the course in favor of a frog and snake preserve, there has been “a groundswell of public support for keeping Sharp Park open,” Links said. “Perhaps the powerful reaction from golfers and preservationists caught golf’s opponents by surprise, but it doesn’t surprise us. Together with Long Island and Chicago, San Francisco is the original home of golf in America. Because of this, golf in the Bay Area has kept its Scottish roots as a broadly-based public sport. So the attack on golf as “elitist” simply does not ring true to people here. At Sharp Park, there is also a strong cultural history factor, because the golf course is the work of the greatest golf architect in history. It is as if the CBD were trying to tear down Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin Civic Center. There is too much cultural history here to just plow it under.” Located in the southern San Francisco coastal suburb of Pacifica, the Sharp Park Golf Course has been designated as a nationally-significant at-risk cultural landscape by the Washington D.C.-based Cultural Landscape Foundation.

San Francisco Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and Pacifica Mayor Julie Lancelle have joined with the Public Golf Alliance in defense of the historic golf course. Within the past month, the golf course’s publicly-announced political supporters has grown, to now include Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo County), State Assembly Whip Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), and San Mateo County Supervisors Carole Groom and Adrienne Tissier, and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Additionally, Local 261, the Laborer’s Union that represents gardeners at the San Francisco public courses, has declared its support for the Save Sharp Park movement. This support is in addition to major golf organizations, including the World Golf Foundation, Northern California Golf Association, California Alliance for Golf, Alister MacKenzie Society, Golf Course Superintendent’s Association, and others. San Francisco golf legend Ken Venturi, the 1964 U.S. Open Champion, is the Public Golf Alliance’s Honorary Chairman.

Next up in the continuing struggle over the golf links, will be a series of public meetings, whose dates have not been set. Long-term, it is unknown when the matter will reach the Board of Supervisors for a final determination.

October 20, 2009

PEBBLE BEACH – Kissing your sister never looked so sweet.

In results that pay homage to the spirit and uber-competitiveness of the event, both the Hanna-Wehrman and Staedler-Jetter cups were halved, with the final scores of both riding on the final putt on the final hole. The annual event pits the finest Northern California amateurs against the best professionals as determined through a qualifying points system in a three-round Ryder Cup format.

Coming into the day, the amateurs were two points up in both cups and boasting long winning streaks over the last few years. But strong professional play in the singles’ matches propelled the NCPGA teams into position to snatch both cups. With the score tied 9-9 in the Hanna-Wehrman Cup, the NCGA’s Scott Hardy and Rick Reinsberg – a formidable four-ball team playing together in singles’ matches – needed to tie or win the final hole for the amateurs to retain the trophy. A solid up and down from 100 yards for birdie by Hardy, punctuated by an eight-foot putt, allowed the St. Mary’s golf coach to secure a tie and 1/2 point against Steve Hummel of Wolf Creek in Reno. (Ironically, both Hardy and Hummel made aces on the first day of competition). Rick Reinsberg of Moraga then needed to hole a six-footer to win his match against Rick Leibovich of Tehama, and to win the overall event. Reinsberg, the NCGA Amateur Stroke Play champion, missed left, halving both the match and the cup.

“The hole location (on 18) was a little higher than normal, so it was more difficult to stop the first putt,” Reinsberg said after reaching the par 5 in two shots and taking three putts to hole out.

The NCGA team led 6-4 coming into the singles matches after dominating the morning foursomes the first day, taking every point 5-0. But the afternoon four-ball saw the professionals almost completely reverse that result, winning 4-1. The amateurs had taken home the trophy for the last three years, and now retain it for a fourth year, with the overall series tied at 17-17-9.

The senior Staedler-Jetter Cup provided a case of deja vu, as 2008 senior player of the year Jeff Burda reached the final hole in two and then missed a five footer to clinch both the match and cup, resulting in an overall 14-14 tie. The Del Rio member established a 1-up lead with a 20-foot birdie putt on 16 and held on with a stellar up and down from the bunker on 17 in his match against Mick Soli of the Links at Mariners Point.

The senior amateurs won both foursome and four-ball sessions by a single point on the first day, powered by the Bob Olds/Carl Selkirk and Jeff Burda/Jim Knoll duos who claimed points in both sessions. The amateurs now lead the overall series 12-4-3 and retain the cup for the sixth year in a row.

“The competition was wonderful and the sportsmanship and camaraderie is what its all about,” said NCGA captain and Vice-President Vaughn Kezirian. “We get to mix with the pros from all areas of Northern California and I think that’s important. The course was in great shape, which was tremendous given the rain we had yesterday.”

It is the first time both cups have resulted in a tie in the history of the event dating back to 1967 (Hanna-Wehrman) and the 1991 (Staedler-Jetter).

The NCGA Hanna-Wehrman team was comprised of William Moore, Ricky Stockton, Steven Chung, Reid Scarff, Kevin Wentworth, Danny Paniccia, Jeff Hoffman, Russell Humphrey, Scott Hardy and Rick Reinsberg. They competed against the NCPGA team of Steve Hummel, Robert Poole, Don Winter, Steve Pellegrine, Jerrel Grow, Jason Schmuhl, Jeffrey Anderson, Ed Hester, Mitch Lowe and Rick Leibovich.

John Enright, Paul Balatti, Herb Jensen, Mark Miller, Dan Bieber, Bob Fleming, Bob Olds, Carl Selkirk, Ronnie WileyBob Rowland, Jeff Burda, Jim Knoll, Rob Thompson and Doug Johnson comprised the NCGA Staedler-Jetter team. The NCPGA’s team consisted of Mike Beveridge, Ron Parsons, Charlie Gibson, Al Weinhold, Michael Cook, Michael Paul, Raul Quezada, Doug Cody, Al Krueger, Gary Plato, Ric Burgess, Glen Stubblefield, Mick Soli and John Snopkowski.

NCGA Hanna-Wehrman Cup Team: First row - Danny Paniccia, Reid Scarff, Ricky Stockton and Steven Chung. Second row - Russell Humphrey, Jeff Hoffman, Bill Moore and Rick Reinsberg. Back row - Kevin Wentworth and captain Vaughn Kezirian.

NCGA Staedler-Jetter Cup Team: First row - Jim Knoll, Bob Rowland, Bob Olds, Ronnie Wiley and John Enright. Second row - Paul Balatti, Bob Fleming, Doug Johnson and Mark Miller. Back row - Carl Selkirk, Jeff Burda, Dan Bieber, captain Vaughn Kezirian, Herb Jensen and Rob Thompson

Results

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Singles

	4	vs.		6
Kevin Wentworth	3 & 2	vs.	Mitch Lowe
William Moore		vs.	Robert Poole	1 up
Steven Chung		vs.	Jason Schmuhl	2 & 1
Ricky Stockton	3 & 2	vs.	Steve Pellegrine
Jeff Hoffman		vs.	Jeffrey Anderson	2 & 1
Reid Scarff		vs.	Ed Hester	3 & 2
Russell Humphrey		vs.	Don Winter	2 & 1
Danny Paniccia	4 & 3	vs.	Jerrel Grow
Scott Hardy	Halved	vs.	Steve Hummel	Halved
Rick Reinsberg	Halved	vs.	Rick Leibovich	Halved

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Singles

	6	vs.		8
Paul Balatti	3 & 1	vs.	Glen Stubblefield
Dan Bieber		vs.	Al Weinhold	1 up
Bob Fleming	4 & 2	vs.	Mike Beveridge
John Enright	2 & 1	vs.	John Snopkowski
Bob Rowland	2 & 1	vs.	Raul Quezada
Bob Olds		vs.	Gary Plato	1 up
Carl Selkirk	Halved	vs.	Al Krueger	Halved
Ronnie Wiley		vs.	Doug Cody	1 up
Jim Knoll		vs.	Ron Parsons	1 up
Rob Thompson		vs.	Charlie Gibson	3 & 2
Mark Miller		vs.	Michael Cook	5 & 4
Doug Johnson	2 & 1	vs.	Ric Burgess
Jeff Burda	Halved	vs.	Mick Soli	Halved
Herb Jensen		vs.	Michael Paul	3 & 2

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Foursomes

	5	vs.		0
William Moore Ricky Stockton	1 up	vs.	Steve Hummel Robert Poole
Steven Chung Reid Scarff	3 & 1	vs.	Don Winter Steve Pellegrine
Kevin Wentworth Danny Paniccia	3 & 2	vs.	Jerrel Grow Jason Schmuhl
Jeff Hoffman Russell Humphrey	5 & 3	vs.	Jeffrey Anderson Ed Hester
Scott Hardy Rick Reinsberg	2 & 1	vs.	Mitch Lowe Rick Leibovich

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Foursomes

	4	vs.		3
John Enright Paul Balatti		vs.	Mike Beveridge Ron Parsons	1 up
Herb Jensen Mark Miller		vs.	Charlie Gibson Al Weinhold	1 up
Dan Bieber Bob Fleming	1 up	vs.	Michael Cook Michael Paul
Bob Olds Carl Selkirk	5 & 4	vs.	Raul Quezada Doug Cody
Ronnie Wiley Bob Rowland		vs.	Al Krueger Gary Plato	1 up
Jeff Burda Jim Knoll	2 & 1	vs.	Ric Burgess Glen Stubblefield
Rob Thompson Doug Johnson	1 up	vs.	Mick Soli John Snopkowski

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Four Ball

	1	vs.		4
William Moore Ricky Stockton		vs.	Steve Hummel Robert Poole	6 & 5
Steven Chung Reid Scarff	Halved	vs.	Don Winter Steve Pellegrine	Halved
Kevin Wentworth Danny Paniccia	Halved	vs.	Jerrel Grow Jason Schmuhl	Halved
Jeff Hoffman Russell Humphrey		vs.	Jeffrey Anderson Ed Hester	2 & 1
Scott Hardy Rick Reinsberg		vs.	Mitch Lowe Rick Leibovich	3 & 1

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Four Ball

	4	vs.		3
John Enright Paul Balatti	2 & 1	vs.	Mike Beveridge Ron Parsons
Herb Jensen Mark Miller		vs.	Charlie Gibson Al Weinhold	3 & 2
Dan Bieber Bob Fleming		vs.	Michael Cook Michael Paul	6 & 4
Bob Olds Carl Selkirk	3 & 2	vs.	Raul Quezada Doug Cody
Ronnie Wiley Bob Rowland	4 & 3	vs.	Al Krueger Gary Plato
Jeff Burda Jim Knoll	1 up	vs.	Ric Burgess Glen Stubblefield
Rob Thompson Doug Johnson		vs.	Mick Soli John Snopkowski	2 & 1