VSGA‘s Golf in the Commonwealth Podcast

BONUS - Interviews from Round 1 of 108th VSGA Amateur Championship

We’re sharing this on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 after the first day of qualifying for the 108^th VSGA Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Petersburg. The first round saw 36 players under par, the low 32 players through 36 holes of qualifying will advance to match play. For this episode we’re sharing some of the interviews with did with players after the first round. We’ll start with Mehrbaan Singh, who’s six-under 66 put him in a tie for second.

Mehrbaan is tied with Teddy Zinsner at six-under. Next is our interview with Jeff Long, a mid-am from northern Virginia who played with Mehrbaan.

Among the players near the top is David Stanford. Stanford was runner up in the Amateur last year and coming off a victory at the VSGA Junior Match Play Championship at Winchester Country Club.

The afternoon wave of players saw more great scoring conditions and produced the best round of the day, a seven-under par 65 from Sam Jung of the University of Virginia.

Our last event from Monday was with Scott Shingler, the 49 year-old from Dominion Valley Country Club whose 3-under par 69 earned him a tie for 9^th.

Keep an eye on the podcast feed and social media for more content, interviews and perspectives from the 108^th VSGA Amateur Championship. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you in the fairway soon.

Bill Keene with a Superintendent's Perspective on Covid

For this week’s episode we have a conversation Matt Pochily had with Bill Keene, the superintendent at Blacksburg Country Club. We first talked with Bill in the spring of 2020 as Covid quarantine was beginning and golf was booming, at the time, Bill was the president of the Virginia Chapter of Golf Course Superintendents Association and we did an Instagram live on some of the precautions superintendents were taking by putting pool noodles in the holes, removing rakes from bunkers and others. This time, we caught up with Bill in the pro shop of Blacksburg Country Club while we were out there for Lanto Griffin’s AJGA event at the course, a course Bill had to have ready for some of the nation’s top juniors. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Bill Keene.

Mallory Hetzel Loves Coaching and Competing

This week we had the pleasure of talking with the head women’s golf coach at Old Dominion University in Norfolk Mallory Hetzel. Mallory has a record of playing at the highest levels from her time at the University of Georgia to the Futures Tour after and then got into coaching but has received her amateur status back and continued to compete winning back-to-back Carolina's Golf Association Women's Match Play Championship titles in 2014 and 2015 before coming to Virginia and ODU shortly thereafter…in fact, we caught up at the VSGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship event at Wintergreen Resort. This was a really fun conversation with a someone who has great perspectives on two sides of the game. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Mallory Hetzel.

Lanto Griffin on Supporting Golf in Virginia

This week we're very excited to share the conversation Matt Smiley and Matt Pochily had with Lanto Griffin at the AJGA event that bears his name in Blacksburg. They caught up with Lanto during the first Lanto Junior Championship at Blacksburg Country Club, a club where Lanto had opportunity the play a lot of golf growing up where he is now offering the opportunity for a new generation of juniors to grow their competitive love of the game through the AJGA event. In this conversation, Lanto shares the thrill it is to serve as host for this event and his excitement for supporting golf at al levels in Virginia.

Belmont Golf Course Grand Re-Opening

This week we're sharing what it sort of behind the scenes footage from the grand re-opening of Belmont Golf Course in Henrico under the management of the First Tee of Greater Richmond. We'll use these interviews for a video which you’ll be able to find on our YouTube channel but in the meantime we wanted to share them here in their entirety.  The event took place on May 24 and included speeches from the First Tee’s Board Chair, Ben Pace, and comments from county officials recognizing the journey the course took from hosting the 1949 PGA Championship won by Virginia’s own Sam Snead to then a point of disrepair and near closure. Guests heard from the First Tee’s CEO Brent Schneider and then Davis Love III who spoke on Love Golf Design’s work with the course before Davis then coached a group of First Tee participants down the first whole of the short course where one young lady almost made a hole-in-one, another chipped in for birdie and others made great putts to cap off a special event. After all that was said and done, we had the opportunity to interview Brent Schneider and get his take on the project and celebration as well as Scot Sherman who was the lead architect for Love Golf Design on-site frequently working on the renovation and remaining mindful of the A.W. Tillinghast legacy and finally Davis Love III who talked about the creation of the First Tee from his time on the PGA Tour Board of Directors through today where his company had the opportunity to create an innovative and accessible golf course which is under the management of the First Tee.

Larkin Gross is Playing in the PGA Championship

Our guest this week is another former VSGA member with aspirations and opportunities to play professionally, in fact, the opportunity to play in this week’s PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. We’re talking with Larkin Gross, the 23 year-old assistant professional from Springfield Golf & Country Club in Northern Virginia who earned his way to the PGA Championship after a third round 64 at the PGA Professional Championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida. We spoke with Larkin while he was driving to Kiawah the week before the PGA and got the inside scoop on his excitement and preparation.

Lauren Coughlin goes from VSGA Champion to LPGA Tour

Our guest this week has achieved what many of us have aspire to, succeed in all levels of amateur events, play college golf and now play professionally. We’re talking with back-to-back VSGA Women’s Amateur champion from 2012 and 2013, UVA grad and Symetra and LPGA Tour player Lauren Coughlin. Lauren grew up in Chesapeake, attended the University of Virginia and has called Charlottesville home since graduating while managing a schedule on both tours. She has a unique sponsorship with the team at No Laying Up and despite having great success in many VSGA events, there’s still one title that alludes her…we spoke while she was driving back to Charlottesville from Florida so the audio may get a little choppy at times at spots but nothing we couldn't handle. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Lauren Coughlin.

Michael Chupka, PGA - From Midlothian to Bandon Dunes

This week we’re talking with a former VSGA member who grew up playing golf on the southside of Richmond at Brandermill Country Club and Clover Hill High School and then as a member of the James Madison golf team but has since moved about as far west as you can get in the continental United States and to one of the most beautiful resorts in the country, if not the world at Bandon Dunes. We’re talking with PGA Professional Michael Chupka who grew in the game in Virginia is now the Director of Communications for Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in southwest Oregon.

Three Strangers Play a Round of Golf...

This week we’re talking with Corey and Eric. These guys were both in Matt's foursome during the VSGA One-Day event at the Country Club of Petersburg. What felt special about that day and this conversation is that none of them knew each other going into this round but four hours later could have sat and talked longer than they did and were already setting up the next time to play. They’re both at different places in the game and with competition which is part of what makes the community of respective VSGA events so great.

Kate and Rob Tidgewell Play a LOT of Golf

This week we’re talking with a couple of golfers whose names are annually among the top of VSGA leaderboards…not the leaderboards you’re thinking of in events or championships though…the perhaps more coveted leaderboard of number of rounds played in a year. Kate and Rob Tidgewell, of River Creek Club in Leesburg, posted a combined 538 rounds in 2020…and those are just the number of rounds they posted to their handicap. It’s a fascinating interview with a couple who’s been married for 28 years on how they amped up their number of rounds, how they manage the emergency nine and how they sell golf to their friends who don’t play.