Day One GCAA National Convetion Recap

Jan. 22, 2007

Day One GCAA National Convetion Recap
NCAA Division I Breakout

Two Coaches Coaching
At the USGA College Relations it was announced that effective Jan. 2008 a decision will be added that will be made to allow two coaches to coach for intercollegiate competition.

Range Finders
For 2007 no range finders will be allowed in the NCAA Regionals and Finals. There were comments that it did help pace of play in some regular season events.

Electronic Devices
Use by players will be listed as unsportsmanlike conduct and will not be permitted at this time. This includes Ipods, phones, etc.

Tournament Sites
2007
Regionals ? May 17-19
Golf Club of Georgia
Rich Harvest Farms
ASU Karsten Golf Course

Finals ? May 30-June 2
Golden Horseshoe Golf Club

2008
Regionals ? May 15-17
Council Fire Golf Club
Scarlet Golf Course
Gold Mountain Golf Club

Finals ? May 28-31
Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex ? The Kampen Course

Bids are open for 2009 Regionals

Pace of Play
USGA pace of play policy ? similar to AJGA. The USGA wants the NCAA to look into this policy for the NCAA. Clyde Luther ? who serves as the head Rules official for the Division I Championships - feels the current flag system works. There were comments for and against.

TV Update
The Golf Channel has cut back on college golf coverage. It is a priority for the committee to get the championship back on television but it is very expensive.

2008 Regional Selection
The criteria will be in the NCAA Handbook. The Championship Cabinet asked for a review of Golfstat and doing the same for golf as RPI does for basketball. Mark Laesch explained how the ranking works. The filtering system compares all Division I schools against each other and reviews head-to-heads and common opponents. The system also contains a fluke factor in the formula. Strength of schedule probably won?t be made a by the end of the year in the data.

50-percent Winning Percentage
The Golf Committee passed the 50-percent proposal and forwarded to the Championship Cabinet for 2008 NCAAs and will review this summer. The actual winning percentage will be for the entire season, including conference championships. After analyzing last year?s data, only one team would have been affected. This would only apply to at-large selections.

Regional Advisory Committees ? 2008
It has been proposed that Regional Advisory Committees will merge into three regions ? East, West and Central.

Ideas to Improve NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships
Carts will be allowed for coaches at Regionals. Carts will not be allowed at the 2007 NCAA Finals but will be considered for future championships.

Herb Page brought up the idea of four regionals with smaller fields to more easily allow completion of rounds. Donnie Wagner addressed this as a budget issue with the NCAA. The NCAA previously tabled this issue. A straw vote by members in attendance unanimously supported four regionals.

Items that were tabled for further discussion for the NCAA Legislative Meeting included junior varsity competition, a recruiting calendar, 27 days of competition, two coaches on the road recruiting and in-season, overseas

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