“We’ve got to look forward, and we’ve
got to see what’s down the road…we’ve
got to continue to evolve.”
be a mistake…you’ve got to try and see
what sticks…The marketplace dictates…
We don’t know what this next group of
golfers wants.”
SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS
Saving his best moment for last, Conkling made his
first hole-in-one at Cedar Point in September, the
day before his final VSGA board meeting.
quite honestly because personally I still
think it’s a little too closed,” he says. “I
think the entire industry preaches we have
to be more inclusive and more diverse and
sometimes I think we’re not, even though
I know the staff wants to be.”
Greever played a major role in the
integration of the women’s division into
the VSGA. She is secretary-treasurer of
the Board of Directors and could one
day become the first female president of
the board.
“During Jamie’s tenure, the board wel-
comed women onto the board with open
arms, and it’s been a very successful inte-
gration,” Greever says. “The best way to
judge Jamie’s tenure is to look at the status
of the organization he is leaving behind.
He has recruited, trained, mentored and
retained a tremendously, highly qualified
staff and is leaving the organization in good
financial shape.”
Conkling says he hopes he has had an
impact on his staff’s lives.
“I hope I have created an atmosphere
where they feel free to speak up, question,
try new things, make mistakes…we can’t
worry about what’s been done down in
the past. We’ve got to look forward, and
we’ve got to see what’s down the road…
we’ve got to continue to evolve,” he says.
“You’re going to get a lot of pushback from
people who don’t want change, but if the
organization thinks it’s the right thing
to do to move forward and solve things
through, you’ve got to do it even if it might
vsga.org
Two hot-button issues Conkling faced head
on are the residency eligibility requirement
for tournaments and initiating qualifying
for a number of tournaments. Both met
opposition, but changes were made.
“The residenc y requirement was
always something that bothered him,”
Palmer said. “I think we ended up in the
right place, but not everybody agrees with
that. The feeling was in order for you to
win the VSGA Amateur you had to be a
Virginian. His approach was if you are a
member of a [VSGA] member club [even
if you reside outside Virginia borders] you
are entitled to the benefits of membership
and one of them is eligibility to partici-
pate in our tournaments.”
Qualifying has increased participation
and extended the VSGA’s reach.
“Anything we’ve tried to do, we’ve
always tried what is best for golf, what
is best for the members and what is best
for the association,” Conkling says. “No
one knows how much this staff does
until they get on staff. We don’t have
any downtime anymore, and we can’t do
it all without the volunteers. We’re here
every day trying to figure out how we
can improve.”
Now it is time to pass the torch to Smiley
and to new energy.
“He taught me so much about the busi-
ness of golf and the professionalism that’s
involved with it. He pushed me to be the
best I could be by challenging me, putting
more on my plate,” Smiley says, “but I
felt like I could always bounce things off
of him. That could be said for the entire
staff. I think on the surface Jamie and I
are very different, and he knows this, but
deep down we have a lot of similarities in
the way we operate.
“He’s certainly a character. It’ll be differ-
ent not having him around.”
Conkling chats with past MAPGA
president Matthew Schulze, left, and
MAPGA executive director Jon Guhl
at a VSGA annual meeting.
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