Being recognized as the Player of the Year is "a big honor, especially with the quality of golfers that are in Alabama," Garrett says. "Being from here, I have a lot of interest in playing in state events. It feels pretty good to play down here in the South; we have a lot of good golfers in the state."

Capping off a great year of golf, Garrett just turned pro in early October, fulfilling a long-term goal. He has completed pre-qualifying school and at press time, was preparing to leave for Lakeland, Fla., where he'll undergo the first stage of qualifying school.

A Birmingham native, Garrett played high school golf at Mountain Brook, and graduated in May from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he led the Blazers golf team to a second place finish at this year's Conference USA Tournament and a 14th place finish at the NCAA East Regionals.

"Now my focus is to qualify to get on the PGA Tour," he says. "I really want to get out there and get some status on the Tour." Congratulations, Garrett, and good luck from the AGA!

The Old Committeeman posted his score for the day's round, his first order of business after playing, and walked to his usual chair at the octagonal table in a crowded XIX Hole. His being able to find it was good luck. The O.C. has been told by some younger members that his chair is reserved for him by custom and he guessed it was true on a day like this. In a bit, Stan joined him, but he had to pull up his own chair.

Their meeting had been planned for a review and critique of the club championship, always a good thing as soon as possible after such an event. The O.C. began with an observation that in his judgment the tournament went very well and asked Stan for his reaction. Stan replied, "I feel very good about it. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it and I am pleased that it turned out the way it did. I do have a few questions, but first did you find anything that we need to work on before next year?"

The O.C. replied, "I don't have any specific items needing modification, but I do have a renewed concern about our pace of play and how we behave on the course. I have concluded that these two play on each other quite apart from their individual importance. Let me explain. As I observed the play as one of your Rules officials, I reread the etiquette/course behavior section of the Rules and noted that the abuse by some players often denies the next players the solitude needed to hit their balls.

"I observed the playing of two second shots on Hole #12 that will give you the extremes of this matter. The drives of these players were on the opposite sides of the fairway. Player A had the honor and went through his routine to select his club and hit his ball. Unfortunately, he caught his ball very thinly. It was a disaster. When Player A was preparing for and hitting his shot, his fellow competitor, Player B, was sizing up his shot and was ready to address his ball and hit immediately after Player A hit his. Player B did not hit his shot as planned. Player A proceeded after his disaster to give a full analysis of what went wrong. This was unnecessary because everyone saw what he did. Player B had to wait at least 30 seconds until this distraction was over, then try to refocus to hit his ball. When Player B finally hit, I noticed that he did so very promptly. No nonsense. I would say that he took no more than 15 seconds to do the job. You know the ideal breakdown of the time to hit a shot when there are no distractions is five to six seconds for a prompt address, less than eight seconds to get the focus right and two seconds to swing the club. You lose your focus after eight seconds so a prompt player should be able to hit his shot in 15 seconds. Let's say 15 to 20 seconds per shot would be ideal.

"Where do I come out? Reread the etiquette and apply its admonitions to our way of playing. The result would be that all of us would be more considerate of our fellow players and would play faster. There you have one item observed during the championship. I am sure that there are others, but they are minor in comparison to the relationship between the pace of play and course behavior. To me, this is a matter that should be before all of us as we play on the weekend and during the week."

Stan thought a minute and said, "I knew that you would bring up something like this. You are of a view that four club players should get around our course in less than four hours and save more time for the usual XIX Hole review of the day's play."

"Yes, I am," agreed the Old Committeeman. "The pace of play rating of our course will do just that and don't forget that in the rating, four minutes are at the halfway house. The opportunity is ours. Can our golf committee rise to the occasion, if we take it up with them again as concerned club players?"

Stan replied, "I guess they can. Let's get our bravery up and have a sensible go at them, if I may use one of your expressions. But first, I must thank you for all your help and say good bye now. I'll see you soon."

After Stan left, the O.C. noticed that the XIX Hole had thinned out quite a bit because as he guessed his fellow golfers had to rush home for a frozen TV dinner. With this, the O.C. asked James for his lunch and other chits for his illegible signature.

James gave them to the O.C. and said, "You and Mr. Stan must have had another important club tournament discussion."

The O.C. replied, "It was just that and I hope that we can do something with it. Wish us luck, James. Good night."

"I do wish you luck, sir. Good night."

The Alabama Golf Association has just completed a successful 2007 championship season. We've seen a lot of exciting golf and some very talented golfers competing for the titles this year. We'd like to congratulate those who took home the trophies from our championships during 2007.

State Four-Ball: May 3-6, Greystone Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, AL
Champions: Alan Coshatt and Del Wood

State Amateur: June 7-10, Country Club of Mobile, Mobile, AL
Champion: Garrett Osborn

State Senior: June 22-24, Limestone Springs, Oneonta, AL
Age 50-56 Champion: Emile Vaughan - Overall Champion
Age 57-64 Champion: Sam Farlow
Age 65+ Champion: Bob Moody

State Junior: July 31-August 2, Turtle Point Yacht & Country Club, Killen, AL
Age 10-11 Champion: Alex Green
Age 12-13 Champion: Ben Wood
Age 14-15 Champion: Bobby Wyatt - Overall Champion
Age 16-18 Champion: Cory Gilmer

State Match Play: August 8-11, FarmLinks Golf Club, Sylacauga, AL
Champion: Joseph Sykora

State Club Team: September 7-9, Musgrove Country Club, Jasper, AL
Champion: Hoover Country Club (Will Swift, Patrick Levio, Max McClain)

State Mid-Amateur: September 28-30, Mountain Brook Club, Mountain Brook, AL
Champion: Will Swift

State Senior Four-Ball: October 12-14, Heron Lakes Country Club, Mobile, AL
Champion: Earle Bidez and Jon Golden

Lee Williams has just started learning to play golf since she joined the staff of the AGA in January. While she's still a beginner at the game, she's quickly become a pro at coordinating and executing golf tournaments. As the AGA's P.J. Boatwright intern, Lee's primary responsibilities are organizing tournaments for the Women's Alabama Golf Association (WAGA), as well as managing day-to-day office activities, administrating competitions, and traveling to the WAGA and AGA tournaments. While on site at tournaments, Lee helps with scoring and updating the AGA Web site with the latest scores.

"There are so many aspects of my job that I enjoy, but my favorite is the staff that I work with," Lee says. "We have a great time in the office and we all work well together."

A December 2005 graduate of Samford University, Lee majored in international relations and Spanish. She is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While she's still deciding exactly which direction she'll go in after completing her graduate study, Lee hopes to someday own a business. "I have really enjoyed the event planning aspect of my internship and I would like to pursue that whether it is in golf or something different," she says.

When she's not working, going to school, or practicing her newly-acquired golf swing, Lee enjoys running, traveling, and playing on her championship co-ed softball team. Her internship is possible through the USGA's P.J. Boatwright, Jr. Internship Program, which was established in 1991 to give experience to individuals who are interested in pursuing careers in golf administration.

We are all saddened by the death of James K. Spader, Jr., on Wednesday, October 17, in his Vestavia Hills home.

Jim had a battle with cancer several years ago, seemed to have put it aside for a while, but it returned earlier this year and finally got the best of him.

Jim served as President of the Alabama Golf Association in 1980, but that was just one of the things he did during his lifetime to serve the game he loved. He was also President of the Birmingham Golf Association and a member of its Hall of Fame. Hardly an event associated with golf, neither professional nor amateur, came to Birmingham in which Jim wasn't involved. And he was one of those rare people that you could ask to do something and never worry about it again. It would get done, and done very well, without much fuss or ado. He will be sorely missed.