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COMMON
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VIRGINIA GOLFER
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compiled by CHRIS LANG
» Virginia Golf & the people who make it great
& NOTES : 7
Get Ready for Great Golf in 2018
AS WE CELEBRATE a spectacular 2017 season and move into the new year , we thought we ’ d help you start 2018 with a special issue of Virginia Golfer . You ’ ll notice that we made some changes , with an eye toward making the first issue of the year — in the golf offseason in Virginia — a little more evergreen . Inside , you ’ ll find everything you need to get geared up for the year ahead , including :
Schedules and information to get you ready for various professional golf tours . For the fifth straight year , the PGA Tour is operating with a wraparound schedule that began last fall , but for many , the Hawaii and West Coast swings signal the beginning of a new year . The PGA Tour makes four stops relatively close to Virginia — once in Maryland ( tentatively ), once in West Virginia and twice in North Carolina . The LPGA Tour returns to VSGA member club Kingsmill Resort , and the PGA Tour Champions makes another stop at VSGA member club CC of Virginia in October for the first event of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs . An expanded look at the VSGA championship schedule . The VSGA competition season kicks off in April with the Virginia-West Virginia Matches and concludes in October with the Four-Ball Match Play Championship . In between , the VSGA will conduct nearly 70 championships and qualifiers for men , women and juniors . A detailed look at the VSGA VIP Golf Card program , which offers VIP pricing at more than 200 courses in Virginia and West Virginia . Proceeds , in part , benefit the VSGA VIP Scholarship Foundation . A look at the newest class of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame and information on how to purchase tickets for the induction ceremony , which in 2018 will be held at Hermitage Country Club in Manakin-Sabot .
We hope this issue helps get you excited for another great year of golf in Virginia . If you have questions , comments or concerns , please contact me at clang @ vsga . org . Thanks for reading , and we ’ ll see you on the golf course !
Chris Lang , Editor
Upon Further Review
The world ’ s governing bodies adopt new protocols for video review
In April 2017 , Lexi Thompson was walking off the 12th green at the ANA Inspiration — the LPGA ’ s first major championship — when she was informed that she was subject to a four-stroke penalty because a viewer had emailed in a possible rules violation from the previous day ’ s round .
Once LPGA Tour officials reviewed video of the incident , in which she incorrectly marked her ball on the 17th green , Thompson was hit with a retroactive two-stroke penalty . She received an additional two-stroke penalty for ( unknowingly ) signing an incorrect scorecard .
The Thompson incident was a tipping point for the world ’ s golf governing bodies . On Dec . 11 , a working group led by the
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6 V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ANUARY / F EBRUARY 2018 vsga . org