The Southern Golf Association is one of the oldest - dating back
to our Charter in 1902, largest - serving approximately 500 member
clubs over a 14 state area, and most prestigious golf associations
in the world.
We are recognized by the United States Golf Association and
Regional Golf Associations as one of the leaders in the promotion
of Amateur Golf. These groups validate our credentials by selecting
our championships for inclusion as criteria for selecting players
for their team competitions. Through the years Southern Amateur
Champions have been chosen to represent the various state golf
associations in selected team competitions, as has the U.S. Golf
Association in Walker Cup and World Amateur competitions.
The Southern conducts three championships annually: the Southern
International Four-Ball Championship in January, the Southern
Amateur Championship in July and the Southern Junior Championship
in June. All are included by most major points systems as
a basis for players earning points for national amateur rankings.
Anyone is eligible to play in our championships with the only
restrictions being they must be male in gender and meet the USGA
Handicap requirements for that particular championship.
The Southern Amateur dates back to 1902 and its Champions
Roster is like reading a Who's Who's of competitive golf. Leading
this group is Robert T. (Bobby) Jones, Jr., who was the Southern
Amateur Champion in 1917, 1920, and 1922. Others who have won
or finished in a challenging position and gone on to national
and/or international prominence include Tommy Barnes, Dale Morey,
Don January, Gay Brewer, Doug Sanders, Billy Joe Patton, Lew
Oehmig, Hubert Green, Downing Gray, Marvin (Vinny) Giles, Lanny
Wadkins, Steve Melnyk, Tom Kite, John Mahaffey, Ben Crenshaw,
Gary Koch, Bill Rogers, Gil Morgan, Danny Edwards, Andy Bean,
Vance Haefner, Jerry Pate, Chip Beck, David Edwards, Jay Sigel,
Bob Tway, Mark Brooks, Gene Sauers, Davis Love, and more recently,
Justin Leonard and Allen Doyle.
The Southern Junior was first played in 1972 as a Junior Division
of the Southern Amateur Championship. Since that time, it has
stood alone and evolved into a premier championship on the Junior
circuit.
The Southern International Four-Ball Championship has been in
existence since around the middle of the 20th century but has not
always been called by its present name. It originated as the
International Four-Ball Championship and later became the Florida
International Four-Ball Championship. When the SGA assumed
management of the tournament in 2004 it was renamed to reflect its
association with the Southern Golf Association.
The SGA also sponsors a team to represent the United States
biennially in the Simon Bolivar Cup International Amateur Golf
Championship conducted in Venezuela by the Venezuelan Federation
of Golf. These two man teams, selected primarily as a result
of play in the Southern Amateur Championship, have performed
exceptionally well against teams from all over the world, having
won four of the first five competitions.
We do not restrict our attention to conducting our championships
as our Directors are very active with State and Regional Golf
Associations, as well as the United States Golf Association,
serving on various committees. In addition, we contribute financially
to the support of USGA Turfgrass research programs and to the
Bob Jones Scholarship Fund.
Additional services we provide include an annual Yearbook,
which lists all our officers and directors, our Member Clubs,
results of our championships, and other historical information
dating back to our inception in 1902.
We also provide to our member clubs information on services
that might be of interest and benefit to the clubs, such as sources
of supply for lightning detection equipment and specialized insurance
coverage available for club requirements.