Keith Decker has won a record 27 VSGA championships .
Donna Andrews at the 2003 U . S . Women ’ s Open . line of well-known teaching professionals , a mom , and a high school football coach are the most influential people in the careers of the players chosen for induction in the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2017 . Donna Andrews , Keith Decker and J . C . Snead will be honored May 18 , 2017 , in ceremonies at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond . They ’ ll be inducted along with the late Wallace McDowell , the pioneering former executive director of the Virginia State Golf Association .
Andrews , the first woman selected for the Hall , won five straight VSGA Women ’ s Amateurs and later won six LPGA tournaments , including a major championship , the 1994 Nabisco Dinah Shore . Now a teaching pro in Pine Needles , N . C .,
Andrews had a series of outstanding teachers in her playing career . They included Phil Owenby , Davis Love , Jr ., and Jack Lumpkin .
“ All my teachers were great ,” Andrews said . “ They gave me a good foundation for my swing . But the person who introduced me to the game back home in Lynchburg was my father , Barclay Andrews .”
Decker , an amateur from Martinsville who has won 27 VSGA championships in the last 28 years , was brought into the game by his mother , Paulina Joyce .
“ Before I got my first junior set of clubs , she made me my first club , a club with a
J . C . Snead won eight times on the PGA Tour and claimed a major on the senior circuit . wooden shaft ,” Decker said . “ And I still have it .
“ I started playing golf with her when I was 7 or 8 years old . She was very patient with me . Then when we moved to Virginia
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18 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2017 vsga . org