In This Issue...
- PGA Show, Chapter Meetings and other News
- ICG Webinars, Certifications and COY Awards
- Web and Forum Highlights
1. PGA Show, Chapter Meetings and other News
As Eddie Smith reminds us in his September Presidential Message, the PGA Show will be here before you know it, and the ICG is finalizing plans for our presence there.
Plans include a larger presence at the Demo Day, a return to Room W209-B for participating sponsors (stay tuned for details), the addition of a second room for ICG workshops/seminars and an area for sponsors to have quiet tête-à-tête client meetings. Missed the fun last year? Here’s some video highlights of last year’s Show which should give you an idea of our success last year (including signing up 5 new sponsors, 67 new members, and 73 renewals).
To top last year’s success, we’ll need volunteers. Europe VP Gerald Friz has created an online form where you can sign up to volunteer in various time segments. You can also access via your member center landing page or here after logging onto our site. Initial poll results indicate that 60% of our active members will be there and volunteering. If everyone just donates 2 to 4 hours of their visit, we’ll be on our way to another great PGA Show.
And please don’t think we’re resting on our laurels. Last year, we were the first clubmaking/fitting organization to participate at the PGA Show Demo Day, had a great meeting room at the Orange County Convention Center, and we debuted our Clubmaker of the Year (COY) awards, and ICG Clubfitting Certification. At the 2016 Show, we’ll have two more ground breaking announcements.
The Great Lakes Chapter of the ICG held its Fall 2015 Meeting at Golfer's Advantage in Fenton, Michigan.
Here's a quick summary of the meeting's highlights.
Host ICG member Gary Cottrell's facility is over 1,500 square feet with Trackman fitting area, putting green, and a large shop. 22 members attended, and there were three workshops. ICG Hall of Fame member Jerry Hoefling, Sr., discussed fixing the driver vertical swing plane of a customer eliminating his chick wing left arm at impact and open face angle. ICG member Bob Uebelhor conducted a live putter fitting with member Johnny Dulin. Bob improved Johnny's putting by an alignment and weight change. ICG member and sponsor Roy Kaltz presented his APS machine.
After the workshops, the Chapter raffled off donated prizes from ICG sponsors Alpha Golf, Miura Golf and Wishon Golf. ICG Sponsor Accra Golf sent the Chapter 25 Shop aprons. Wishon Golf offered attendees great demo pricing. And the ICG provided each attendee with a Second Guy Golf Guild embroidered shirt.
Members then met for lunch and golf at the Coyote Golf Preserve (an outstanding Arnold Palmer design).
The Great Lakes Chapter of the ICG is the blueprint for the formation of future regional chapters. The dedication and talent of their members make their biannual meetings a great learning experience. It's no wonder that ICG members travelled from Canada (2!), New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and from the four corners of Michigan.
Chapter president Greg Courtnay videotaped all three workshops with a HD video camera. Watch workshop video highlights here. ICG members can watch the workshops in full at the ICG Resource Library.
The chapter is the blueprint for future regional chapters, including those forming in Europe and Asia. The Europe Chapter will hold its first ever Regional Meeting in Mallorca, Spain on November 27 and 28, 2015. Europe VP Gerald Friz has created an online registration form. As of one month before the event, 15 of Europe's 67 ICG members and 4 guests have already registered for the event. ICG Advisory BOD member, Miki Rapado, has secured us an amazing October prebook rate of 66 to 72 Euros per night. An Asia Chapter meeting is also in the works in Thailand before the New Year. Stay tuned for details about these historic firsts.
ICG members will be attending the Proponent Group annual meeting during the first week of November to foster this relationship, gain members, as well as good leads for ICG members.
2. ICG Webinars and COY Awards.
Golf Digest Best 100 Clubfitter and ICG Distinguished Service Award winner, Frank Viola, continues to be very busy, producing three webinars since the June Clubfitter Digest. Non-members can watch 10 minute clips from the MRC, Bettinardi Golf and APS webinars. Members can watch the full webinars by following the ICG Webinar Link.
For potential ICG sponsors, consider this anecdote that ICG Sponsor Tour Edge rep Andy Sillis told Frank: After their webinar, Tour Edge picked up 12 accounts in the USA, and 20 in Europe! Talk about an ROI on a sponsorship investment!
ICG Clubmaker Certification was achieved by Greg Courtnay (USA), Don Irving (Canada), Peter J. Doyle (Ireland), Adriaan Dorshorst (Australia), William C.K. Hung (Singapore), Sang Min Yoo and Byeong Cheol Jang (Korea).
The COY Committee (Jerry Hoefling, Sr., Bob Uebelhor, Eddie Smith, Agustn Sanchez, Eric Ng and Ken Collins) has had a busy September. 19 COY Surveys were submitted (doubling last year’s entrants) and 10 applicants made the second round, which is the submission of a COY video. The quality of these videos submitted so far are impressive and will make an excellent resource for ICG members. Look for some COY awards to be announced in November and December, with the ICG WorldWide COY to be announced at the PGA Show.
3. Web and Forum Highlights
In a recurring theme for our web forum highligts, Frank Viola continues not only to talk the talk, but walk the walk. Here is the definitive post (YouTube video included) on how to remove the “impossible” to remove broken off shaft from a Ping Eye 2 or any other iron head for that matter: Frank comes to the rescue again!
ICG member Alvaro Perez continues to make significant contributions to the ICG’s professional look. Last year, Alvaro performed a Jony Ivey like transformation of our logo. Then he created great marketing graphics in both English and Spanish. Now, he’s provided us with a video clip with our logo to bookend our video presentations. In case you haven’t noticed it in our recent ICG videos, here it is solo on our Facebook page. The ICG’s future is based on future contributions from our sponsors and young volunteers like Alvaro, Miki Rapado, Gerald Friz, Ryan Welch, Jerry Hoefling, Jr. and many others. We’re optimistic!
Finally, read the full September Presidential message here.
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