Geddes’ ball had disappeared into a palm tree and the feisty young pro wanted to take a drop below the tree. Undeterred, Trammell declared it a lost ball and Geddes was forced to take an unplayable lie.

“ That was our introduction and she was not happy,” said Trammell, now president of the International Association of Golf Administrators( IAGA) and CEO of the Oregon Golf Association, an IAGA member.“ We still joke about that.”

But as is often the case in the golf industry, professsional contacts tend to reemerge in different places during the course of one’ s career. That has certainly been true for Geddes, who was named the IAGA’ s first executive director last July.

Trammell chaired the national search to find the IAGA’ s first full-time staff member, and it was Geddes who surfaced as the top candidate for the position to oversee 80 state and regional amateur golf associations in the United States and Canada— including the Virginia State Golf Association.

For more than a year, the IAGA’ s volunteer

board discussed how an executive director was needed to unify and validate the organization and to help maximize the influence of its nearly 3 million members.

And since its inception in 1968, as the national body for golf administrators formed to help share information, best practices and techniques with states and regions throughout North America, IAGA’ s committee members believed the association’ s purpose was far greater than to simply meet for an annual conference.

The right leader for the organization, they reasoned, would be able to see the metaphoric open fairway and figure out exactly how the IAGA should navigate its course.

DETERMINED, GRITTY, SUCCESSFUL Geddes was the right person at the right time to step into that role and it wasn’ t just because she had spent 20 years on the LPGA Tour as a player— winning 11 LPGA tour events, including two major championships.

Certainly, she had the chops as a competitor, starting back in 1981 when she helped Florida State University win the NCAA

Jane Geddes, left, and Barb Trammell met on the LPGA Tour when Geddes was a player and Trammel was a rules official. Now, Geddes and Trammell are teaming to try to expand the IAGA’ s reach in the world of golf administration.

Division I Women’ s Golf Championship. Geddes left college early and qualified for the LPGA in 1983.

The native of Long Island, N. Y., notched her first win as an LPGA player at the 1986 U. S. Women’ s Open, where she defeated Sally Little in an 18-hole playoff. She won her second tournament the following week.

ABOVE: OREGON GOLF ASSOCIATION; RIGHT: DOST & EVANS / USGA