The Golf House of Wisconsin
The Golf House of Wisconsin is the home for all of the various organizations that pertain to the game of golf in the State of Wisconsin.
In November 2006, the Wisconsin State Golf Association (WSGA), the Wisconsin Section of the PGA of America and the Golf Course Owners of Wisconsin (GCOW) moved into shared office space under the name Golf House of Wisconsin.
The Golf House is home to several state golf associations. Along with the WSGA, the WPGA and the GCOW, the Senior Golf Association of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Women's State Golf Association all now work out of the same location.
The Golf House of Wisconsin concept has been the dream of many individuals for a long, long time. WPGA Executive Director Joe Stadler said he has seen documentation of the effort being discussed in the 1970s, and he said longtime Wisconsin professional Manuel de la Torre told him the idea dates back to at least the early 1960s.
WSGA Executive Director Tom Schmidt said the discussions picked up steam a couple of years ago, at which time both the WSGA and the WPGA arranged their existing office leases to expire, paving the way for the move. About a year ago, the final decision was made to establish The Golf House.
There is little doubt that the new space will allow all the golf organizations to work more closely on what is essentially a joint mission to grow and improve the game of golf in Wisconsin. They just go about it in slightly different ways. The WSGA serves its membership of more than 60,000 amateur golfers, the WPGA works on behalf of their member-professionals while also organizing numerous tournaments for Wisconsin junior players each season, and the GCOW currently has more than 125 member courses it represents and advocates on behalf of.
Schmidt sees many benefits to the new arrangement. One big benefit is the fact that we're all together and can easily talk to each other and get problems solved without having to chase around and get people on the phone, it will make us much more cohesive and we'll be able to do some projects together probably much more efficiently.
The establishment of The Golf House has not only brought the WSGA, WPGA and GCOW closer together, but it has also given their respective customers one source to go to in order to solve their needs. The Golf House is the one place where individuals, amateurs, professionals, course owners/operators and the general public can go to ask questions on almost anything relating to the game of golf in Wisconsin.
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