Western Golf Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Western Golf Association (WGA) began its historical institution in the year 1899, and its headquarters are located in Golf, Illinois. Its purpose is to oversee and host professional and amateur events. Today the number of tournaments exceeds 250. Its first tournaments were held at the Glen View Club. The events the WGA runs today are the Western Open, Western Amateur, and Western Junior. The organization is also in charge of the Evans Scholars Alumni Association, which keeps the relationship with Evans Scholars alumni. The Western Golf Associatin is administered by officers that volunteer their time to operate this organization. The top three personnel on the staff include President Edward R. James, Chairman of the Evans Scholars Foundation (ESF) trustees R.E. “Buffy” Mayerstein and WGA/ESF executive director Donald D. Johnson.
Today, there are over 500 country clubs in the United States that support the Western Golf Association. All of these clubs also help support the Evans Scholar Foundation. The WGA has been able to distribute over $93 million to put derserving caddies into college. The WGA has also been able to start up and build fourteen chapter houses at 14 different universities. The fourteen chapters are as follows in oreder of foundation: Northwestern University (1940), University of Illinois (1951), University of Michigan (1952), University of Wisconsin (1953), Michigan State University (1955), Marquette University (1955), University of Minnesota (1958), Ohio State University (1962), Purdue University (1967), University of Colorado (1967), University of Missouri (1968), Indiana University (1969), Miami University (1974), and Northern Illinois University (1987). On top of supporting these chapter houses, the WGA also helps finance 22 different golf associations in the United States.
Roland F. McGuigan, who was the Dean of Men at Northwestern University, was appointed as the WGA’s Educational Director in the year 1967. Roughly 40 years later, James E. Moore took McGuigan’s position as Educational Director in 1989. Under him, an Evans Scholar Alum from Michigan State University, Jeffrey C. Harrison, was then appointed Assistant Education Director in 1990.
