Wednesday, January 8, 2014

From past to present

It's pretty incredible to think of how far the golf industry has come technologically. I doubt Fred Corcoran (pretty much the godfather of golf administration - google him, he's pretty interesting!) or even Dick Haskell, who served as MGA's executive director from 1969-1997, would be able to imagine the technological landscape of the golf industry today. Just the fact that I am writing this blog is representative of the way we are reaching our member golfers these days.

You can count on real-time scoring during our championships, done on tablets. You can post scores online, and through your PHONE (download the MGA app if you haven't yet!). We are reaching more people through web-based outlets than ever before, and actively working on defining our web presence and continually finding the most effective ways to serve our golfers.

So when we stumble across pieces of the past, it is especially interesting. While cleaning out a closet recently, we stumbled upon a media guide for the 1989 New England Amateur Championship. 8 pages, carefully crafted on a typewriter, containing tee times, course information, and championship history. Now, we have the luxury of doing our pairings online. If someone withdraws, it is an easy click of the mouse. As recently as 20-30 years ago, things were a bit more time-consuming. I imagine the MGA went through a lot of white-out!




 It is so great to stumble upon these pieces of days gone by - not only does it make us reflect on how much the industry has changed, it also gives us an appreciation for the guys (and gals) who made the golf industry tick before we had iPhones and laptops and tablets.



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