News

Kam Schneider Resigns As Director of Course Rating for UGA

A major change is taking place at the Utah Golf Association. Kam Schneider, Director of Course Rating at the UGA, has announced her retirement and is stepping down from the position she has held for the past ten years.
One of the major responsibilities of the Utah Golf Association is to rate and measure all of the golf courses in accordance with specifications established by the United States Golf Association. It is a significant task that requires numerous volunteers and for the past ten years has been done with little fanfare or public attention and very few UGA members are even aware it is has been taking place.
The reason it has operated in near anonymity for all these years is because “there has been no squeaky wheel. When something isn’t going well we all hear about it, and when things are running smoothly no one notices,” said Bill Walker, UGA Executive Director.
“With Kam as our Director of Course Rating it has been an area of management that required little supervision,” he noted. “Without her we will have our hands full.”
Kam joined the staff of the UGA back in 2003, working closely with UGA Office Manager Toni Guest. Shortly thereafter she was named Director of Course Rating and became an integral part of the management team. Her duties included attending USGA Course Rating Seminars, calculating the ratings of the various course rating teams and coordinating the data with the UGA computers at all of the golf courses.
When she and her husband decided to start a family she suggested a work at home arrangement which was agreed upon and so for the past five years her home has also been the office of the UGA Course Rating Department.
It is the responsibility of the Utah Golf Association to rate all of the golf courses from all of the men’s and women’s tees in Utah at least every seven years, but it also requires tedious maintenance ratings when golf course conditions change, holes are re-routed, or new tees are established and other changes take place. This task requires many well trained, dedicated volunteers who spend many hours every year keeping the course rating system current, accurate, and fair. Course rating is a core part of the USGA Handicap System.
Kam Schneider has been the hub of the Utah course rating wheel for the past ten years and there’s been nary a ‘squeak.”
She has twins that are now four, Ava and Bronson, and her husband, Kyle, has taken a new position with the Greenline Equipment Company, a distributor of John Deere, and she has determined ‘that it is time to pay attention to other matters.”
“I have really enjoyed working with the course rating team leaders and with the UGA office staffers for the past ten years. It has been a marvelous experience,” she said.
“This is not going to be an easy transition for the UGA,” Walker noted. “We have two USGA interns to help us take up the slack this year, and board member Reese Nielsen will be devoting a lot of attention to it,” he said.
“We wish Kam and her family well and express our gratitude for her ten years of dependable service to the UGA,” Walker said. “She has always done the job the way it is supposed to be done.”
The UGA has had wonderful and dependable course rating teams. Gwen Adams was the women’s team leader for many years and recently turned it over to a team consisting of Martha Scott and Mary Ellgren.
The men’s teams have been led by a series of UGA board members including Larry Disera, Dennis Wood, and now Reese Nielsen.
“Kam has done a commendable job and is leaving with the course rating program in excellent condition. The course rating teams are well organized, the schedule into the future is well planned, and the volunteers are well trained,” said Reese Nielsen.
“We thank her for her outstanding work and we will try to carry it forward,” he said.