It's Official - 2008 Season is just around the corner

Golf Psych is an offical sponsor of the Golf Channel Amateur Tour - Louisiana/East Texas.

Check out their website at: www.golfpsych.com

Frank Wallace IV
Tour Director, Louisiana/East Texas
www.golfchannel.com/amateurtour

It's Official - 2008 Season is just around the corner

Louisiana / East Texas Tour Update:

It’s Official….

With the culmination of the National Championship last week at Innisbrook Resort, our 2007 tour season is officially over, and the 2008 season is just around the corner. I know most of you are anxious to start the 2008 Golf Channel Amateur Tour season and I want to thank each of you for your patience and understanding as we continue to make things ready for next year’s tour.

New Season – New Tour

Since this is a new Local Tour for 2008, I have been busy looking at courses, talking with course staff and meeting with players interested in joining the tour. I have traveled much of Louisiana and East Texas and I must say, I have met some wonderful people and experienced some great courses. Most of the courses I have visited late in the season have been in very good condition. Our first tour event will start sometime in February so start getting your game and equipment in shape. Next year we are projected to have approximately 12 local (East Texas/Louisiana) and three regional events.

New Member Registration

The Golf Channel Amateur Tour National office has projected to have the website ready for entering the tour schedule and signing up new members sometime between Nov 15thand Dec 1st 2007. I will send out an email just as soon as the Golf Channel has things ready for you to begin registration. If you know someone who is interested in the tour, send me their contact information and I will add them to my list. Stay tuned for more information!

Existing Member Renewals

If you are an existing member of one of the other local tours and you would like to join the Louisiana/ETEX tour, you will need to respond that you would like to switch to the Louisiana Tour when you receive your membership renewal email. If you have questions about this, please feel free to contact me at fwallace@theaagt.com or Cell 936-366-8873.

Regional Director

Many of you that are new members of the tour for 2008 will begin receiving communication from both Justin Hogue and me concerning tour events. Justin is the Regional Director in charge of the Regional Major Events for the South Central Region. I am responsible for our local tour. Typically, Regional Major Events are two-day events worth double points and open to everyone in the South Central Region (Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana). When you look at the tour schedule for next year, you will notice several Regional Major Events listed on our local tour schedule. As always, if you have questions, please contact me fwallace@theaagt.com or Cell 936-366-8873.

Player Experience

I would like everyone to know my experience as a player for 2007 was worth everything I put into it. It was a great experience and I had the opportunity to participate in several different Local, Regional and National Events. The Big Break Tournament and National Championship were probably my favorites. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun these two events were and I encourage each of you to give it your all next year to qualify for the National Championship for your respective flights.

Travis Drain - National Champion (Palmer Flight)

The Texas/Oklahoma/Louisiana area did very well this year. We crowned two National Champions and four runner-ups in the individual competition. Our new National Champion in the Palmer flight is from the South Central Region (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana) – Travis Drain. The runner-up was my playing partner in the Team Competition – Chase Barnes from Houston.

Travis Drain, James Fowler, Chase Barnes
South Central Region – Palmer Flight

Mike Murphy from Corrigan, Tx. took second in the Nation in the Snead Senior flight. Mike did a great job under difficult conditions. He was 13 shots behind on the last day. I walked with Mike and his caddie Bobby Lee (Diboll, TX) and watched him execute the first two holes. Mike gained six shots on the first hole and I believe three on the second. The pace of play was slow, so I had to leave Mike and go help with the tournament to speed things up. By the time I saw Mike again, he was two shots behind and that is where he finished. Mike also finished the Tour Season as the Tour Champion (Snead Senior Flight) - Congratulations on a great season Mike that’s quite an accomplishment for the first year on tour!

Mike Murphy & Bobby Lee

Congratulations to our top finishers:

Travis Drain, Chase Barnes, Bill Mathews, Greg Phillips, Steve Hancock, Terry Galbraith

Check out the National Championship results

Team Championship

The South Central Region ended up 5th, 12th, and 21st, which is the best showing by our region. We had 480 golfers from across the US and Puerto Rico which competed in this year’s event. The event consisted of 40, 12-person teams (2 teammates from 6 different flights) which competed in three types of matches. Best Ball, Modified Alternate Shot, and Team Match Play. Congratulations to all the participants this year!

Team Dinner North Texas Team - (L- R) Trecia Wood, Frank Wallace, Walter White, Russ Cornell, Ron Finnerty, Nancy Geihl, (Seated) Chase Barnes

Team North Texas – Team Picture

First Row: Trecia Woods, Mike Buie, Marvin Pea, Nancy Geihl Second Row: Ron Hardy, Russ Cornell, Chase Barnes, Bill Clark, Frank Wallace, Walter White, Ron Finnerty, Don Khieu

Mike Murphy, Megan West (Golf Channel), Frank Wallace



Scoreboard and Trophies


Sponsors and Discounts

Mental Game Golf School - One of our tour sponsors for Louisiana/ETEX this year is GolfPsych. If you are interested in attending a school or purchasing some of their products on their website, please let me know. Stay tuned for more information about GolfPsych.

Free Rounds of Golf –There will be free rounds of golf to various venues this year as part of our prize packages.

Pro Shop Discounts – Most courses are offering Amateur Tour participant discounts on merchandise in their Pro Shop.

Reduced Fees for Practice Rounds – Most courses on our schedule are offering reduced fees for practice rounds prior to the tournament.

Club Repair and Tuning – I am offering club repair and tuning services for all tour members. If you need grips changed, loft and lie adjustments, shafts replacements, club tuning, etc. My shop is equipped with high quality Mitchell equipment. If you need irons or putters adjusted, I have the equipment to adjust loft and lie to meet your specifications. I also have a Mitchell Frequency Analyzer for finding the true shaft flex, and performing shaft spine alignment. Now is the time to start getting your clubs ready for next year’s tour.

**Each member of the Golf Channel Amateur Tour will receive a 15% pre-season discount on club services. Please contact me for details.

Club Customization – I have a few sources for customizing your clubs, from painting your driver to creating custom wedge grinds. If you are looking for this type of service, let me know and I can help you get this done.

Sponsorship Opportunities

If you have a business or know someone that would like to participate in the tour through sponsorship, please let me know. We have several packages available at the local, regional, or national level. This is a great way to get exposure to players on the tour by offer product samples, demo opportunities, discounts for products and services or new product test marketing.

USGA Rules

Everyone that is interested in playing the tour next year, please brush up on the rules of golf. The USGA has a great website for testing your knowledge and learning about the rules of golf. I cannot stress this enough! Penalty strokes are a part of the game, but you do not want to add unnecessary strokes for an improper drop or applying the wrong ruling to your situation. It is each player’s responsibility to know the rules. So please brush up in the off-season, you will be amazed at how much this can help you. http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/rules.html


Getting Involved

Some of you have expressed an interest in assisting with the tour for next year. As with anything, you can assist in many ways to make the tour better for everyone. If any of you have a desire to assist with the tour for next year, please shoot me an email and I will try to get you involved. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. For those of you that have already helped, Thank You very much for all that you have done.

Bringing the Tour to You

I want everyone to know that I am very excited about bringing the tour to you in the Louisiana and East Texas area. I value your input and look forward to growing this tour with you over the next few years. Together we can create a tour that is competitive and fun for everyone.

Once again, welcome to the Golf Channel Amateur Tour – Louisiana / East Texas



Frank Wallace IV
Tour Director, Louisiana / East Texas
Golf Channel Amateur Tour
Cell 936-366-8873
Home 936-634-1963
Mail: fwallace@theAAGT.com
Web: http://www.thegolfchannel.com/amateurtour/

Revisions to USGA Rules for 2008

Check out the new rules of golf for 2008