Announcements

NGCOA is pleased to announce its latest executive partnership with aboutGOLF, a pioneer and current industry leader in the premium indoor golf and entertainment space. aboutGOLF is now an executive partner of the association and NGCOA Smart Buy Marketplace partner, and is offering members a complimentary two-year full commercial subscription, including access to all of the courses, ranges and games when they purchase a simulator. Members can learn more and take advantage of this exclusive benefit at sims.aboutgolf.com/ngcoa.

NGCOA is pleased to announce the addition of new staff, and internal moves and promotions.

Membership: Rachel Carter joins NGCOA as Senior Director of Membership. She has more than 20 years of professional country club and golf club experience and most recently served as a consultant and member specialist for RCS Hospitality, a long-time NGCOA partner. She has been publicly recognized as an industry expert, and frequently speaks and writes about issues in our industry. Rachel has also served as Assistant General Manager, Member Services at the prestigious Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach. She is well-positioned to support and grow our membership.

Corporate Partnerships: After leading the Membership department for four years, Jay Andersen returns to his roots in the Corporate Partnerships department, promoted to Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships (co-leading with Mike Ketterman). Jay has been with NGCOA since 2014 and his aptitude for building industry relationships, as well as growing sponsorship and advertiser engagement, over the past eight years will continue in this new role.

Education: Taylor Wall has been promoted to Senior Director of Education. Taylor has been with NGCOA since 2020, starting his run as the Marketing department’s Content Manager. His new responsibilities include leading efforts related to NGCOA’s Golf Business assets (Golf Business magazine, Golf Business LIVE, Golf Business WEEKLY, etc.) as well as building the educational program and crafting the education program at NGCOA’s events. Assisting him is recently-hired Content Coordinator, Harry Murrell. Harry brings his talent for writing and audio/video creation and editing. Just previous to joining us, he served as a Golf Assistant at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marketing: With Taylor’s transition out of managing content for the Marketing department, Will Mooney replaces him as Marketing Coordinator, responsible for email and social media marketing. Will is a recent graduate of High Point University, where he majored in Sports Management, and most recently worked as Athletic Communications Assistant for Wake Forest University.

“The changes to our team here at NGCOA HQ are very exciting,” said Jay Karen, NGCOA’s chief executive officer. “Rachel is coming onto the senior executive team at a critical time when we have big changes in store for the organization. The members and our affiliates are going to love working with her. Will and Harry have hit the ground running, and I can’t wait to see what they add to our output. Rounding out our executive team with Jay and Taylor covers all our bases with people who have been doing great work.”

With great sadness, the NGCOA staff and board of directors learned of Hilda Allen’s unexpected passing last week.

As president and managing director of her company, Hilda W. Allen Real Estate, she was a consistent presence at NGCOA for more than 25 years. Hilda shared her real estate passion and expertise with NGCOA members by sponsoring and exhibiting at our conferences, as well as presenting at educational sessions.

The combination of her Georgia-bred southern charm, business acumen, and knack for connecting people resulted in her stellar reputation and popularity within our industry. Hilda will be greatly missed.

“Hilda Allen was a giant in our industry,” said Jay Karen, NGCOA’s chief executive officer. “For the 24 years I knew her, I couldn’t wait to see her at our events. Behind that sly grin and twinkle in her eye was a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. She was tough and warm wrapped up in the same package. We will miss her dearly.”

We are pleased to hear that Hilda’s son, Marty Howell, will continue to run her business.

If you would like to make a contribution, her family suggests a contribution in her memory to the Cook County Educational Foundation, 1109 N. Parrish Avenue, Adel, GA 31620

NGCOA members can download the report at no cost, and non-member golf course owners and operators can purchase the report for $99.

NGCOA is pleased to announce a corporate partnership with 100GROUP. As the ”Exclusive Merchant Processing Partner of NGCOA,” 100GROUP will provide NGCOA member golf courses with one complimentary year of PCI compliance services, followed by a 70 percent discount on continued PCI compliance services, 24/7 business concierge, and next-day funding. NGCOA members can learn more and take advantage of this NGCOA Smart Buy Marketplace benefit at 100group.com/ngcoa.

In addition to PCI compliance, 100GROUP offers its clients service and 24/7 support for integrated software payments, credit card processing, ACH/check processing, POS integration, retail/e-commerce, hosted payment pages, phone orders, mobile/contactless payments, and chargeback assistance.