News

UGA and UWGA Announce Merger

In a historic announcement the Utah Golf Association (UGA) and the Utah Women’s Golf Association (UWGA) have announced a major administrative merger of the two organizations.  The UGA and the UWGA have operated separately since the UWGA was formed in 1926, but under this agreement the UWGA will cease to exist and the two parallel organizations will become one.
The officers and directors of both organizations have been discussing and negotiating the terms of the merger during much of the past year and it was approved at a recent UGA board meeting.
The key ingredients of the merger shifts the management responsibility of the five UWGA tournaments to the Utah Golf Association, and creates a UGA Women’s Advisory Committee to “ensure women golfers and competitors are represented in measure with men golfers and competitors.”
The five tournaments the UWGA have been sponsoring include the Utah State Women’s Amateur Championship, the Utah State Women’s Senior Amateur Championship, the UWGA Four-Ball, the UWGA Spring Open, and UWGA Fall Finale, a 36-hole individual, handicap flighted tournament.
The advisory board will consist of six women to be selected based on geographical location that will include two from the north, two from the central, one from the south, and one from the color country that includes both St. George and Moab. The first advisory board includes Linda Olsen, Karen Gardiner, Julie McMullin, Mary Herman, Rose Roberts, and Jodi White.
Amy Mayberry was President of the UWGA during the negotiations and was elected to the UGA Board of Directors at the UGA Annual Meeting in October. Other women on the UGA Board of Directors are Denise Vilven and Karen White.
Mayberry said, “As president of the UWGA I wouldn’t be supportive of anything that wasn’t for the greater good. This merger is good for Utah’s women golfers.”
Bill Walker, UGA Executive Director, and whose shoulders the merger rests on, said, “”The Utah Golf Association will continue our strong support of women’s golf and we believe there are many opportunities for growth of the women’s game in Utah.  Over the past three years it has been the UGA’s pleasure to jointly run the Women’s State Amateur and to assist in the UWGA’s four other tournaments this past season.  We are enthusiastically prepared to take women’s golf in Utah to a new level.”
Walker added, “To that end, the UGA has applied for a P.J. Boatwright, Jr. Internship with the United States Golf Association that will be dedicated to women’s golf initiatives in Utah.  This intern becomes an employee of the UGA and will have a primary responsibility of supporting the women of the UGA.  More than ever the UGA is excited to work with and support our women members.”
John Taylor, the newly elected UGA President said, “The women’s association voted on the merger and about 95% of them were in favor and so that is a positive indication that they see it as a good thing for them, and in as much as we were already providing many of our services to them it was sort of a natural evolution to join together.  It should be good for everyone.”
Judy Allem was president of the UGA when negotiations began and was very instrumental in the process. She completed her nine years on the UGA board after the annual meeting in October.  She said, “It’s time we did this. It is a win-win for both organizations. It opens up more opportunities for women to become involved and makes UGA resources more readily available to them.” 
For questions regarding details of this recent merger please e-mail [email protected] or call the Utah Golf Association at 801-563-0400.