THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602250192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
No history of Virginia golf is complete without a chapter on Vinny Giles.
Giles, born in Boonesboro, Va., will be the featured speaker Monday night at the Friends of Scouting Sports Dinner at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott.
The $200-per-plate banquet, $180 of which is tax-deductible, is the main event in a campaign to raise $275,000 in support of Boy Scouts in four Hampton Roads cities and seven North Carolina counties.
Since 1973, Giles has been one of the game's most respected players and player representatives. He was a three-time All-American at Georgia. A four-time U.S. Walker Cup participant, he captained the 1993 matches. He won the 1972 U.S. Amateur Championship and 1975 British Amateur, and was low amateur at the 1968 Masters, 1973 U.S. Open and 1993 U.S. Senior Open.
A seven-time State Amateur champion, Giles was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1976 and named Virginia golfer of the year in 1990.
Giles' Pros, Incorporated includes among its clients Lanny Wadkins, Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Beth Daniel and Ben Crenshaw.
The dinner begins at 5:30; a few tickets remain. For information, call event chairman Andy Giles at 489-2258.
WORTH NOTING: The Virginia State Golf Association and Colonial Williamsburg's Golden Horseshoe are awaiting word from the U.S. Golf Association that they have been selected to host the 1999 State Teams Championship. The three-day event, won by the Virginia men's team last October in Orlando, Fla., was created as part of the USGA's Centennial celebration. But it proved so popular - 47 states entered men's teams, 43 entered women's - that the 16-member USGA executive committee recently voted to make it a biannual event beginning in '97.
The Golden Horseshoe would put the men's state event on its Gold course, the women on the Green course. Aiding the cause, one would think, is the fact that the 1998 USGA Senior Women's Amateur championship will be staged on the Green next year.
If it happens - and the odds are very good, according to sources from both organizations - October 1999, could turn out to be the greatest month in the history of Williamsburg golf.
The PGA Tour's Michelob Championship at Kingsmill would occupy one of the early weekends of the month. The USGA Team Championship would follow.
GOLF FOR DUMMIES: The title may leave you a bit cold, though you'll feel better knowing it's just the latest in a far-reaching series of ``For Dummies'' publications by IDG Books. This time, the company has selected CBS' popular golf analyst Gary McCord to take readers through the most fundamental, and some trivial, aspects of man's most infuriating game.
``Golf For Dummies,'' co-authored by Golf Digest's John Huggan, reveals tips and techniques used by the pros to master the game. And if that doesn't work, McCord's irreverent brand of humor ought to make it a worthwhile read.
Beginner or low-handicapper, McCord will address selecting equipment, course etiquette, driving, the short game, playing in adverse conditions and everything in between. Computer buffs will find info on World Wide Web golf sites and other online resources.
Rest assured you won't be bogged down in golf mumbo-jumbo. Actor Bill Murray wrote the foreward. Actor Kevin Costner penned the afterward.
In between, McCord handles topics like ``10 Uncool Things To Do On the Course,'' in addition to the serious stuff.
``Golf for Dummies'' is expected in bookstores in April, in time (of course) for Father's Day.
GOOD STUFF: Honey Bee's innovative Kelly Sorensen has put together the Excel Golf School, every Friday and Saturday in April and May, at the Virginia Beach course. Each session includes six hours of instruction, 36 holes of golf and breakfast and lunch for each student. There are no age restrictions. Cost is $230. For more information, call Kelly at 471-2768. . . . There's not a lot of time left, but some Great Smoky Mountain golf courses and resorts in western North Carolina and east Tennessee are offering accommodations for as little as $30 a night the rest of this month, and slightly higher rates in March. We're only a day's drive from some of the country's best mountain golf. For more info, call 1-800-799-5537, or write The Great Smoky Mountain Golf Association, P.O. Box 18556, Asheville, N.C., 28814. . . . For the 11th straight year, Golf Shop Operations magazine has published its list of America's 100 best golf shops. The winners are broken into five categories - private, resort, municipal, privately owned/ daily fee and off-course. Bobick's Nevada Bob's Golf in Virginia Beach was the only state shop named. It finished second in the off-course category to Bobick's Golf of Fort Wayne, Ind. by CNB