Industry Hills (Calif.) Golf Club at Pacific Palms has been named the 2010 Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA). An open-to-the-public facility east of Los Angeles that includes a membership component, Industry Hills recently completed a $60 million renovation of its two courses (Ike and Babe) and adjoining hotel and spa.
The association of golf course owners and operators also named Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, the winner of the Jemsek Award for Golf Course Excellence. The Jemsek Award is given in honor of the late Joe Jemsek, who owned and operated three courses, including Cog Hill, near Chicago. Firestone celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2009 and continued an unrivaled run of 55 consecutive years of tournament golf.
“We love tournament golf, and we continue to change the golf course to keep it up to the standards demanded by today’s professionals along with the high expectations of our loyal members,” said General Manager Mark Gore.
Both facilities will be among those recognized at the NGCOA’s member appreciation and awards event on Feb. 11, 2010, during the association’s Annual Conference in San Diego.
The NGCOA’s Champion Award, which recognizes work that improves opportunities for fellow course owners, went to outgoing NGCOA president Charlie Birney, managing director of a family-owned business that owns and operates three Mid-Atlantic area courses; Del Ratcliffe, president of the North Carolina Golf Course Owners Association and of Charlotte-based Ratcliffe Golf Services, who successfully rallied stakeholders to defeat a golf sales tax in his state; and Ted Horton and the California Alliance for Golf, who led a similar fight against taxation in California.
Juday Creek in Granger, Ind., was named the winner of the Player Development award for successfully growing the game. The family-owned course has designed a four-part approach to bringing new and occasional players into golf and turning them onto the game through instruction, leagues and creative special events.
The late Beryl Artz, a longtime executive with ClubCorp, president of the Somerset Golf Group and an NGCOA board member from 2006 to 2007, was named the winner of the Paul Porter award, which is given in honor of the late CEO of Poppy Holding, Inc. and the Northern California Golf Association.
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