News

May Volunteer Spotlight - George Allen

By: Tanner Clegg, P.J. Boatwright Intern

Each month, the UGA spotlights one of our devoted volunteers to express our deep appreciation for all they do and to help you, our loyal members, become well acquainted with them. The month of May features one of the UGA’s men’s course rating volunteers, George Allen.

George was born September 6, 1947 in Salt Lake City. He grew up in the Sugar House area where he attended South High School. George went on to attend The University of Utah where he graduated with his Executive MBA.

He married his wife Sharon in 1969 and they have been together since for a total of 48 years. They have two boys and now enjoy having 12 grandchildren. He loves watching the game of golf grow especially watching his two sons and grandchildren continue with the sport he loves. George met his wife Sharon through their parent’s way back in 1968. A great Joy for George and Sharon has often been playing in a scramble with their sons Jeff and Colby.

During his professional career, George worked with two of the largest construction companies’ in the world. He worked for US West for 30 years before retiring at the young age of 53. After a two-year hiatus, he went to work for Bechtel with a several years stop between projects as a commercial appraiser with his son Jeff and finally retiring from Bechtel in 2014.

George started his association with the game of golf at the age of 12.  He would go over to Forest Dale Golf Club get a ball pass from the pro and look for golf balls in the rough to sell back to the golf club. He began playing the game at the age of 15 with his high school buddies. They played all the local courses and loved Bonneville. His love of golf has continued since then. He started his sons playing when they were 8 and 9 years old during the time Johnny Miller headed up Jr. Golf for Utah. In fact, his son Jeff got his first hole in one at the age of 10 at Mountain Dale Golf Course. George believes that the Junior Golf program is a great way to introduce golf to your children and grandchildren. They can play the many Utah courses where they are taught the rules of golf plus the opportunity to play for $5 a round.  

George has been a course rating volunteer for about five years. He joined the rating team with the influence of friends especially Dennis Wood who recruited him. He loves the opportunities that being a volunteer gives him to travel the state rating different courses, being able to spend time with friends, getting a better understanding of the complex course rating system, and helping others learn about the system.

George shared the following about the course rating system, “the system has many different aspects that work together to determine the difficulty of a course. These aspects allow each course to be played fairly by golfers at all different skill levels.”

The Utah Golf Association thanks its volunteers for sacrificing their time and energy to help the UGA fulfill its mission to promote interest in the game of golf by encouraging, organizing, supporting, sponsoring, and administering golfing activities and programs. If you are interested in volunteering for the UGA, contact Rules and Competitions Director Jacob Miller at [email protected] or 801-563-0400