O
ne Monday in early May every year is one of
Tripp Sheppard’s favorite days.
That’s when the fruits of the Virginia
State Golf Association’s VIP Card program
are distributed to high school students who
have applied for and been selected to receive VSGA-VIP
Scholarship Foundation awards.
“Being able to present scholarships to so many talented
young students is quite gratifying,” says Sheppard, the
director of VSGA Membership/VIP Card Program. “I’m
not sure who flashes a bigger smile, the students, parents
or staff members who have worked so hard throughout the
year in support of this initiative.”
From Humble
Beginnings
The brainchild of Dr. Frank Filipowicz and Dave
Daniels, the VSGA VIP Golf Card program has
grown exponentially in its 32 years of existence
by ARTHUR UTLEY
14
Since the inception of the VIP Card Program in 1984
and its tie-in with the Scholarship Foundation, a 501(c)
(3) entity that provides money for young men and women
with an interest in golf, more than 900 recipients have
received $2.1 million in scholarships. The class of 2016, 34
high school seniors and two turfgrass students, received
$100,000 in scholarships.
The first scholarships were awarded in 1985 when three
students shared $4,000.
Golfers throughout the Commonwealth, many of whom
purchase a card annually, use t he VIP Card to play approximately 200 courses in Virginia and West Virginia for only a
VIP fee. The Scholarship Foundation is a direct recipient of
proceeds that come from the sale of VIP cards.
The VIP Card began in the mid-1980s when Dr. Frank
Filipowicz, who was president of the VSGA in 1983-84,
asked his friend and golfing buddy, Dave Daniels, the
owner and operator of Mill Quarter Plantation, for some
help in “dragging the Virginia State Golf Association out
of prehistoric times (and to produce revenue),” Daniels
remembered during an interview in September. Daniels
had bought Mill Quarter, a public course, in 1978 after retiring from the insurance business. Daniels had Mill Quarter
turning a profit within five years, and Filipowicz noticed.
Daniels grew up playing golf with and competing
against Jack Nicklaus in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1950s.
Daniels was “the country kid with no money,” but he was
given an opportunity to play for a city high school that had
a golf team. College wasn’t in his plans until he won two
scholarships at the national caddie tournament.
vsga.org