Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin

Volume XXIX Issue #2

The board members of the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin are pleased to present the 2016 Summer Issue of The Coach Approach. In this issue you will find the following:

President’s Message

Last fall I wrote to you about how our state has become a major player in the world of golf.  Hosting major multiple championships, a growing number of tour events and world class golf destinations.  That’s pretty unbelievable!  I challenged us all to strive to give our WIAA and GCAW events that “major” feel.  Well based on the results of WIAA and GCAW events so far in 2016, I would say “mission accomplished”.  In this edition of Coach Approach you see updates on the successes of the GCAW Summer Clinic and the GCAW College Showcase.  But first, I’d like to take amount to reflect on the spring golf season and some important changes coming to the association this fall.

The 2016 boy’s season culminated with an exciting State Tournament at University Ridge that included outstanding performances and scoring from both teams and individuals.

In Division 1, Marquette led throughout the tournament to capture its first championship with outstanding team score of 598. Middleton finished runner-up by scoring 606 as a team.

Senior Emmet Herb of Middleton led wire-to-wire to earn Division 1 medalist honors by shooting a 6-under-par 138. Junior Harrison Ott of Marquette and senior Matt Tolan of Eau Claire North tied for second place, seven strokes back of Herb.

Catholic Memorial earned its third Division 2 team championship in the last four seasons and its fifth overall.  The Crusaders winning team score of 621 was 11 ahead of second-place Edgewood with 633.

Senior Matt Bachmann culminated an outstanding high school career at Sheboygan Falls with a Division 2 individual title. After two consecutive runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2015, the Marquette recruit garnered a hard-earned victory with a 3-over-par 147. Junior Jacob Michel of Lodi shot 5-under par on the second day to finish second at 6-over-par 150.

St. Mary’s Springs won the Division 3 team title for the second straight season. The Ledgers shot 629 for the tournament, the 4^th lowest team total ever by a Division 3 team at state. Cochrane-Fountain City finished a distant second with a score of 656.

Tyler Leach of Spring Valley won the individual crown by shooting a 2-over-par 146 after finishing third a year ago. Patrick Treichel of St. Mary’s Springs lead the team champions by placing second individually with a score of 152.

Congratulations to the players, coaches and schools on these outstanding performances.  Also, thank you to our friends at the WIAA and University Ridge, for continuing to make the WIAA State Tournaments great experiences for players, families and schools.

Congratulations also to our 2016 GCAW Boy’s All State Team selections.  You will see a full list of the teams in this issue.  As part of the All State Committee, I can tell you that the selection of these teams is never easy.  There are so many deserving players.  But I can also tell you that the nomination and selection process has never been more effective.  That is in large part due to the work of an expanded and more diverse selection committee, led by our committee chair, Brian Bobinski.

As the 2016 Girl’s WIAA season approaches, the GCAW board is excited about upcoming changes to our membership committee.  Over the last several years GCAW membership has steadily grown under the direction of Chair, Mark Johnson.  Unfortunately, Mark will be stepping down this fall due to increasing professional responsibilities.  However, before his departure Mark worked with our IT team of Ray Johnson and Tony Pritchard to overhaul our membership processes, which were largely manual.  Starting this August, the GCAW is excited to launch a new secured, online membership portal.  Thank you to Ray, Tony and Mark for your leadership in getting this started.  All future membership inquiries can be directed to Ray Johnson and Jeff Schmidt.  Ray will be taking care of the technical processes of the membership web-site, while Jeff will be managing membership dues collection.  Details on the new membership site and the membership process are included later in this edition.  Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work.

Good luck to all coaches, teams and players as we enter the fall season.

Dirk Willis, President – GCAW
PGA Professional

New Membership System

We are proud to announce that we have a new membership registration system starting for the 2016-2017 season.  We will be using 123signup to manage all of our membership registration, as well as registration for our spring and summer clinics.

The membership options and prices will remain the same. The main difference is you will be registering online and creating a unique username and password to manage your membership.  You will still be able to pay with a check, school purchase order, or credit card via PayPal.  Your membership will be active once payment has been received.

Please direct all technical inquiries to Ray Johnson rajohnson@gbaps.org and all payment inquiries to Jeff Schmidt schmidtj@sdoj.org

2016-2017 Membership Options

Head Coach Membership: $42
Asst. Coach Membership: $27
Staff Membership for Boys or Girls Program: $77
School Membership for both Boys and Girls Programs: $102
Lifetime Membership (Retired Coaches): $52
All memberships options offer a $2 discount if paid with cash or check.

The new membership registration will go live on August 1st and can be found at https://golfcoacheswi.org/membership/ 

2016 Boys All-State Team

First Team
Matt Bachmann -Sheboygan Falls
Emmet Herb -Middleton (Player of the Year)
Bennett Knapek -Arrowhead
Tyler Leach -Spring Valley
Harrison Ott -Marquette University
Nate Thomson -Greendale
Matt Tolan -Eau Claire North
Matt Tuman -Wausau East

Second Team
Chris Colla -Winebago Lutheran Academy
Sam Galloway -Neenah
Dawson Hinz -Baraboo
Evan Hussey -Marquette University
Joey Levin -Middleton
Robbie Morway -Homestead
Jacob O’Loughlin -Madison Memorial
Patrick Treichel -St. Mary’s Springs

Third Team
Luke Bourneuf -Badger
Andrew Clement -Pewaukee
Jack Dorward -Cedarburg
Ben Gilles -Edgewood Sacred Heart
Matthew Higley -Eleva Strum
Brock Hlinak -Kaukauna
Ryan Konop -Notre Dame de la Baie Academy
Alex Yost -Arrowhead

Honorable Mention
Jed Baranczyk -Bay Port
Tyler Beeck -Sheboygan Falls
Jack Blair -Marquette University
Steven Butler -Marquette University
Tyler Cleaves -Kaukauna
Logan Comte -Eau Claire North
Patrick Darling -Notre Dame de la Baie Academy
Ethan Diestler -Notre Dame de la Baie Academy
Kevin Hershberger -Brookfield Central
Michael Immekus -Catholic Memorial
David Keane -Marquette University
Zach Kimball -Kaukauna
Jacob Michel -Lodi
Jack O’Brien -Racine St. Catherine’s
Max Pasher -Homestead
Robert Petitjean -Notre Dame de la Baie Academy
Isaac Prefontaine -Green Bay Preble
Josh Rowinski -Catholic Memorial
Nolan Ruffing -Franklin
Brady Sarauer -St. Mary’s Springs
Patrick Sicula -Whitefish Bay
Brady Thomas -Middleton
Ian Tisonik -Catholic Memorial
Logan Walzer -Lodi
Steven Young -Cedarburg
Sean Yun -Brookfield Central

Summer Board Meeting Minute

Meeting called to order by President Dirk Willis at 9:10 on 6/20.

In attendance: Bob Sullivan, Jay Christiansen, Scott Helms, Brian Scrobel, Brandy Johnston, Andrea Wieland, Carole Zierden, Tom Shafranski (WIAA), Chuck Menzel, Tony Pritchard, Eric Holen, Adam McDonald, Steve O’Brien, Brian Bobinski, Becky Halverson

1. Personnel Report:
   1. Dick Kyes (Cadott) has decided to step down from the Board of Directors.
   2. There was discussion of finding a replacement for Dick, preferably from the west-central portion of the state.
   3. No action taken at this time.
2. Spring Board Meeting Minutes
   1. Reviewed and Approved
      1. Motion to Approve by Brian S.
      2. 2nd by Becky H.
      3. Passed with unanimous vote
3. Treasurer Report
   1. Andrea reviewed the current financial state of the GCAW. She concluded we are in a good financial position.
   2. Andrea may need to purchase a new QuickBooks license, or pay to update the current version in response to the newly updated Windows operating system.
      1. Motion to Approve by Tonya G.
      2. 2nd by Jay C.
      3. Passed with unanimous vote
4. Membership Report
   1. As of 6/20 we were at 388 members
      1. This is the highest member total, at this time of year, to date.
   2. The board is moving forward with 123 signup. More information to come.
5. WIAA Report
   1. Tom Shafranski discussed the two coaches system. As of now, he feels the two coaches system is working well, however would like to see the board discuss the need for two coaches at state, for individual athletes.
   2. Tom discussed the changes in eligibility rules within the WIAA.
      1. Drive, chip and putt is now allowed.
      2. A regulation has been passed to allow any WIAA Athlete to participate in non-wiaa events during the regular season.
         1. Coaches can not tell kids they must attend.
         2. The event must be open to all kids.
         3. The AD must approve the event.
      3. The WIAA will be reviewing amatuer status next year. Particularly what can be accepted as awards at both WIAA and non-WIAA events.
   3. There was some discussion about regional and sectional information.
      1. Any questions or concerns regarding regional or sectional sites should be forwarded to Brian Scrobel.
      2. Some discussion regarding schools switching regional/sectional sites late in the process. Also some concern regarding practice rounds for regional and sectional sites, and the availability for all.
      3. Tom is working on a new scoring program to allow better hole-by-hole scoring during the WIAA tournament series.
      4. Tom felt the removal of Integrity Scoring at the WIAA State Tournament  may help pace of play, however he recommends we still use integrity scoring at Regionals and Sectionals. There was some discussion as to whether or not removing integrity scoring would actually increase pace.
      5. There was some discussion on Golf Carts at events. The number of spectators taking carts has drastically increased, and many times the spectators get in the way of coaches.
      6. The WIAA is looking for $1000 from the GCAW to continue the webcast of the WIAA State Tournament. At the time of the meeting Tom was unsure of how many views the webcast gets. The board questioned if we could raise money at the state tournament to supplement the cost of the webcast, such as charging for, and directing parking. Tom was going to review parking went for the Senior Tour Event at U-Ridge. There was some discussion on the true quality and value of the webcast. Tom is going to talk to the broadcast group about possibly improving the quality of the broadcast. At this time, the GCAW did not commit to the $1000 donation.
      7. Reminder that the Coaches WIAA Video is online, and all coaches must complete Varsity, JV, and Volunteer.
      8. This coming school year (2016-2017) all paid coaches must be certified AED, First Aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.
      9. Discussion upon  a local rule at State to allow stones to be moved in bunkers. This is a rule U-Ridge previously did not want to apply.
6. Hall of Fame and Awards
   1. There was one HOF Nominee, Bill Berkwitz, however he is still coaching. GCAW bylaws do not allow current coaches to be placed into the HOF.
   2. Three hole in one awards for athletes during WIAA Competition.
   3. The HOF committee is still pursuing adding another award to the HOF. The committee is to get together and develop criteria and a name for the award.
   4. Vote to add 2nd HOF Award was passed by the following:
      1. Option 1) Create a completely separate HOF Awards with different criteria – 7 Votes
      2. Option 2) Change HOF criteria, to eliminate competitive success – 2 Votes
      3. Option 3) New HOF award would be a HOF award, but have a different title – 3 votes
   5. Vote to add Asst. Coach Award was unanimous in favor to add.
   6. The committee will work on criteria for both awards and come back to board for approval.
   7. Committee is also looking into creating an Asst. Coach of the Year award.
      1. Motion to Approve by Carole Z.
      2. 2nd by Tonya
      3. Passed with unanimous vote

7) Summer Clinic

• The Summer Clinic Committee will reflect on how this year ran and change accordingly.
• Discussion regarding location for next year.
  • No decision made. Brian will work on location options and send to board for e-vote.
  • Motion to Approve by Becky H.
  • 2nd by Tonya G
  • Passed with unanimous vote

8) Academic All State

• Bob presented top three Boys Team Academic All State teams.
• 383 individual boys from 122 schools were honored with Individual team aca all state with an average GPA of 3.727
• The percentage of varsity meets required to be eligible for Individual Aca All-State was moved from 75% to 50%.
• Motion to Approve by Chuck M.
• 2nd by Adam M.
• Passed with unanimous vote

9) Scholarship

• 13 boys and 10 girls applied
• Selections were made and announced by Committee. All selections can be found on the GCAW Website.
• Committee did discuss a few small changes to the application to make it more readable for the committee.

10) College Showcase

• The Showcase will be hosted at Whistling Straits July 17 and 18.
  • July 17 will be registration, skills, video of swing, and Launch monitor data collection.
  • July 18 is an 18 hole tournament on the Irish Course.
  • Total of 100 spots available. Currently about 50% full.
  • Registration for WIAA Athletes will run through 6/30, after 6/30 non-wiaa athletes can register.
    • A. Delong will keep registration as long as possible for all. Closing of registration will directly correlate with deadline to print book. Tournament field reaching capacity will also close registration.
  • Promotion for event
    • Heavily use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
    • Kohler Corp will be photographing the event
    • Andy L. will send an email blast to Jr PGA members
    • Bob S. will send email blast to WIAA coaches list.
  • Motion to Approve by Adam M.
  • 2nd by Mark J.
  • Passed with unanimously

11) Website Report

• No Report

12) Coach Approach

• No report

13) Marketing Committee

• We have finalized the Precision Pro Annual Contract
• Ogio has reached out to Dirk about creating a  partnership for apparel and bags. Too many questions at this point, the board has elected to pass.

14) Retired Coaches Report

• We currently have over 40 retired coaches. One retired coach from Marinette passed this last year.
• As always, if you have info regarding retired coaches, please contact Chuck Menzel.
  • Motion to Approve by Jay C.
  • 2nd by Adam M.
  • Passed with unanimously

15) Jr PGA

• No Report

16) WSGA

• No Report

17) New Business

• None

18) Boys All-State

• Brian Bobinski, committee chair, announced Boys All-State Team. Boys all state can be found on GCAW Website.
• In an effort to get more athletes nominated for All-State, the board will work on over communicating the deadline and the location of forms.
• The board will also make better use of social media to promote All-State nominations.
• Motion to Approve by Scott H.
• 2nd by Eric H.
• Passed with unanimously

Motion to adjourn by Andrea W.

• 2nd by Tonya G
• Passed with unanimously

Meeting adjourned by President Dirk Willis at 12:12pm

2016 GCAW Scholarship Winners

Girls:
1st Place ($1000) – Amy Holzer, Hartford

Boy’s Academic All State

Congratulations to the record 370 boys who achieved Academic All-State status this year.  The following maintained a 3.25 GPA or higher while playing in at least 75% of their varsity matches. High Honors is 3.75+ and Honors is 3.25-3.749

For a full list visit https://golfcoacheswi.org/boys-academic-all-state/

Boy’s Team Academic All State

Congratulations to the 30 teams being honored for the academic accomplishments of their boys’ varsity team.  The Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin (GCAW) is proud to announce the recipients of the 5th annual “Team Academic All-State”award, established to recognize high school golf teams with the highest ‘team’ grade point averages (‘team’ is defined as the five designated golfers on the roster for the spring 2016 WIAA regional tournament).   The three teams with the highest cumulative team GPA in each division (D1- D2-D3) will be recognized with gold, silver, or bronze medals for each student-athlete, and their schools will receive a certificate to note this accomplishment.  Schools with at least a 3.25 team GPA will receive a certificate acknowledging honorable mention status.

On July 17th and 18th the GCAW hosted the College Showcase at Whistling Straits. On Sunday, July 17th all 99 of the 100 registered athletes participated in the Skills Session, with one no show. During the Skills Session each athlete completed a range session in which they worked their way through their bag, demonstrating their skills to attending college coaches.

The skills session was also an opportunity for each athlete to have their swing recorded both “down the line” and “face on” while having their launch monitor data being recorded for both their 6 iron and their driver. Launch monitor data can be found on the GCAW website.

On Monday, July 18th, the GCAW hosted an 18 hole tournament The Irish Course at Whistling Straits. The girls played The Irish at about 5400 yards, while the boys faced the course from 6650 yards. Scores for the event can be found on the GCAW website.

The GCAW would like to congratulate Lorenza Martinez (75) and Mathew Higley (72) on their GCAW College Showcase championships.

In all 99 high school golfers and 40 college coaches participated in the event. Below you will find a list of the College Coaches who either attended, or requested swing videos, scores, and launch data.