November 2013
| Business World Magazine | 197
ca-Cola is the title sponsor of the TOUR
Championship at East Lake Golf Club,
and Southern Company is the presenting
sponsor of the Payne Stewart Award. We
have four of the leading golf manufactur-
ers with headquarters in Georgia: Bridge-
stone, Club Car, E-Z-GO and Mizuno.
The employment numbers driven by golf
courses, by development and businesses
affiliated with those courses, and by these
manufacturers are astonishing. It is easy
to see how golf ties into the strength of
our economy,” says Palmer. He adds that
part of Georgia’s appeal today among
golfers is also a byproduct of the respect
for Augusta National Golf Club and Bob-
by Jones “as a gentleman, a lawyer, and a
corporate icon.”
As Palmer says about Bobby Jones,
“The fact that he built Augusta National
Golf Club and created The Masters isn’t
lost on anybody. He added to the image
of golf in Georgia, and one of the reasons
we’re so highly regarded is our associa-
tion with him, because he won our first
amateur championship.”
It is this very foundation of respect on
which the GSGA has constructed a range
of modern services, volunteer support,
industry advocacy, and charitable good
works which make golf interactions far
better than par as a recreation, as a sport,
and as an economic driver in a state whose
legacy in golf grows greater each year.
For online information involving the
programs and services supported by the
Georgia State Golf Association, visit their
website at
For online in-
formation on the Georgia Golf Hall of
Fame, visit
. For online
information on the GSGA Foundation,
visit
