Around The Commonwealth
Passion Rewarded
The USGA honors VSGA past president Gib Palmer with the
prestigious Joe Dey Award by CHRIS LANG
A
father and sons trip to the birthplace
of golf resulted in a meeting that
Gib Palmer would never forget.
In 1984, Palmer traveled to St. Andrews
along with father Russell and brother
Curt for the Open Championship. That
was enough of a thrill. Anyone who knows
Palmer, who was president of the VSGA
from 2014-15 and remains a member of the
VSGA board of directors, knows how deep
his love of golf runs.
“His passion just oozes out when he talks
about the game,” said Kathy Gordon, the
USGA’s Regional Affairs Director for the
Southeast Region.
On course in Scotland, the Palmers met
with Joe Dey, the decorated former USGA
executive director and PGA Tour commis-
sioner and a longtime friend of Russell.
“The thing that’s interesting to me about
that conversation is that was 34 years ago,
and I still remember that conversation,” Gib
said. “You know, if I saw a movie last week,
I wouldn’t know if I had seen it or not. But I
remember what he looked like. I remember
how gracious he was. To me, it’s interesting
that I recall that so well.”
That conversation went through Gib’s
mind as he took a phone call from the
USGA’s Emily von Doehren, who had
reached out to inform Gib he was the recip-
ient of the 2018 Joe Dey Award, the highest
honor the USGA bestows on a volunteer for
a career of meritorious service to golf.
“Having met Mr. Dey, and knowing a
little bit about him and what he stood for,
and having my name being associated with
his name and his reputation of honesty,
integrity and respect for the game of golf,
that means a lot,” Gib said. “I can’t think of
anything that would be better.”
Palmer received the award on Feb. 3 in
Miami Beach, Fla., at the USGA’s annual
meeting. He became the second VSGA
past president to win the award, joining
Virginia Golf Hall of Famer Clyde Luther,
the 2002 winner.
vsga.org
“I personally knew and worked with Mr.
Dey,” Luther said. “He would be proud to
have the name Gib Palmer on the award
named after him.”
Palmer's service to golf is extensive and
his work has had a widespread impact.
On the national level, he joined the USGA
Junior Championship committee in 1996
and still serves it today. He’s worked
numerous U.S. Junior Amateurs as a Rules
official and has played a key role in the
growth and success of that event.
In Virginia, Palmer—a member at Salis-
bury Country Club—began his journey
to the presidency as a VSGA sectional
chairman, long before the VSGA’s pro-
fessional staff expanded. Sectional chair-
men were responsible for running VSGA
Amateur, VSGA Junior Stroke Play, and
State Open of Virginia qualifiers. When
a spot on the board of directors opened,
he was recommended for it and accepted
the responsibility.
In his two years as president, he over-
saw the integration of the VSGA Women’s
Division, the construction of a dedicated
VSGA headquarters in Midlothian, and
the establishment of the Virginia Golf
Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame gave Palmer the most
satisfaction, and a father-son moment of
his own.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever worked on a
project in my whole career, that was more
collaborative and more collegial, where
everybody was working for the same pur-
pose, very much together, trying to achieve
a goal,” Palmer said.
“I was really nervous about that whole
thing, because the stakes were pretty high.
We needed to do a good job with that. One of
the neatest things I remember about that—
and there were plenty—was at the very end,
when the ceremony was over and every-
body was just visiting with each other, my
son Christopher (whose Kenmont Group
helped create the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame
website) came to the back of the room and
shook my hand and said, ‘we did it.’ He was
an important part of the project too. That
meant something to me.”
And the Joe Dey Award shows clearly
that Palmer means something big to golf
in Virginia, and beyond.
Gib Palmer receives
the Joe Dey Award
during the USGA's
annual meeting.
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