Our History

A committee of interested golfers from around the state formed the Georgia State Golf Association in 1916 following the first Georgia Amateur Championship. According to early records, the primary purpose of founding the Association was to conduct a state amateur championship. A 14-year-old Atlantan named Bobby Jones captured that first Georgia Amateur at Capital City Club in Atlanta. The GSGA was incorporated in 1924 and was managed solely by volunteers over the next five decades. Among its milestones, the GSGA began supporting turfgrass research in 1959, rating courses in 1961, added the Junior Championship in 1966 and began administering the handicap system in 1972 before adding its first full-time staff director in 1973. The following decades saw extensive growth in members, volunteers, staff and services as the GSGA expanded its competitions program to include 18 statewide events and four interstate matches, computerized the handicap system, formalized the course rating program, established a charitable foundation, started publishing Golf Georgia magazine and began managing the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.