The General Area

For the 21st episode of "The General Area", a podcast brought to you by the Northern Ohio Golf Association, Justin was joined by AmateurGolf.com's Pete Wlodkowski. Justin and Pete had an awesome chat about all things amateur golf, the inception of his website, his passion for amateur golf and what he has learned along the way. Be sure to check it out. 

For the 20th episode of "The General Area", Justin sat down and talked with St Ignatius High School head coach PJ Myers. Coach Myers and the Wildcats are coming off their second straight Division I State Championship team title in dominating fashion. We talked about defending a state title, how they run their program and many more things!

The Thanksgiving weekend was now passed which means we are back with episode 19 of "The General Area".For this episode, Justin was joined by Northern Ohio PGA Section Executive Director David Griffith. Griffith has been the Executive Director for the NOPGA since January of 2020 and has been with the NOPGA for 23 years. Justin and David talked about his start in golf, his time on the Kent State University golf team, his path to the NOPGA and more in this interview. 

For Episode 18 of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie were joined by USGA Regional Affairs Director Jake Miller.They had a great conversation with Jake about his journey to the USGA, including being the Executive Director for the Utah Golf Association for four and a half years and being a former USGA P.J. Boatwright Intern with the Tennessee Golf Association.  Jake also talked about his first season with the USGA and the difference between working for the USGA and an AGA. 

For episode 17 of "The General Area", Justin sat down and talked with Zach Nicoludis, a Central Region Agronomist for the USGA. Zach has been in love with golf since high school and has worked at some amazing courses in his career. They talked about that, him working at different USGA championships and much more. 

It's Halloween and Justin and Mackenzie are back for a season recap. With no guest this week, we talked about the overall NOGA season, our favorite tournaments, and a quick discussion on Halloween. Then, PJ Boatwright intern Seamus Hough joins Justin and Mackenzie for a holidays draft. Head over to the Northern Ohio twitter (NorthernOhioGA) and vote on who had the best draft. 

For the 15th episode of "The General Area", Justin talked with former Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Tim Rogers. Tim has been a fixture in the Northeast Ohio golf scene for more than 30 years and has the stories to prove it. Justin and Tim talked about his start in sports, his career and some of the best events and athletes he has covered. Plus, the Northeast Ohio golf scene in general. 

For the 14th episode of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie were fortunate enough to talk to PGA Tour member and Akron native Justin Lower. Justin is fresh off his first top 5 finish on tour at the Fortinet Championship in Napa Valley after completing his rookie season in 2021-22. They talked about his two Ohio Open wins, his collegiate career at Malone University, his rookie season and more. 

For the baker's dozen episode of "The General Area", Justin talked to Copley high school and Akron alumni Ryan Gutowski. Along with episode 12 guest Andrew Bailey, Ryan just participated in the 41st U.S. Mid Amateur in Erin Hills, Wisconsin. This was Gutowski's second consecutive appearance at the Mid-Am. Justin and Ryan talked about Ryan's pro and amateur career, along with the 41st Mid-Am specifically and how he performed, plus his future in amateur events. 

For the 12th episode of "The General Area", Justin sat down with Mid-Amateur qualifier and Cleveland native Andrew Bailey.Bailey just participated in the 41st U.S. Mid-Amateur in Erin Hills, Wisconsin. Bailey talked about his experience at the Mid-Am, when he decided to start playing in USGA championships and answered some quick hitting questions at the end. 

We are back for another episode of "The General Area" and this time it is a full Tour Championship edition. In the first part of the episode, Justin and Mackenzie recap an electric final day of the Championship and the playoff that occurred. After that, Justin interviewed the Open Division winner Ian Hardesty, Senior Division winner Robert Schustrich and Senior Division Player of the Year Mark Borlin on site at Firestone Country Club. 

On the tenth episode of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie sat down with Kent State head men's golf coach Jon Mills. Coach Mills has accomplished more in the world of golf than most people, finishing in the top ten at Nationals while at Kent State, playing on the PGA Tour and taking over the reigns of a powerhouse division one golf program at Kent State. We talked about all that and more on this episode 

For the ninth episode of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie give their dream foursomes to play golf with and tell why.They were also joined by Kent State head women's golf coach Casey VanDamme. Coach VanDamme talked about his path to Kent State, why he chose a career in coaching and the lofty expectations that follow the Golden Flash program. 

Justin and Mackenzie are back for the eighth episode of "The General Area". This time, they talked with Walsh head men and women's golf coach Christina Paone. Coach Paone talked about her coaching career, what she has learned, recruiting and much more. Mackenzie and Justin also talked about recent USGA qualfiers, NOGA golfers at USGA championships and something that has never happened in the history of the organization. 

For episode seven of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie continued with the coaches corner series and spoke with Ashland Women's Golf head coach Bill Pollack. They talked about women's golf, coach Pollack's history, Ashland golf and had an interesting conversation about the intricacies and the misnomers when it comes to recruiting. Make sure to check this one out. 

For episode six of "The General Area", Justin and Mackenzie were joined by Jenny King, the head coach of the Akron women's golf team. Coach King has built the program from the ground up and has been at Akron for close to 16 years now. Coach King is also on the board of directors at NOGA as of last year.They talked about local collegiate golf, women's golf, growing the game of women's golf and her time at Kentucky and now Akron.  

Justin and Mackenzie are back and were joined by Cleveland State Director of Golf and Head Men's golf coach Steve Weir to kick off the "coaches corner" segment. Coach Weir is entering his 16th season with the Vikings and his insight into his career, collegiate, local and amateur golf were incredible. You will want to tune into this one. 

Justin and Mackenzie discuss the recent USGA qualifiers NOGA has conducted and all the young talent that is out there right now. They also discuss the historic U.S. Adaptive Open that is taking place and they are joined by a couple other members of the NOGA staff for a current golfers draft. 

This week, Justin is joined by new co-host Mackenzie Butler as well as Ohio State rising junior Maxwell Moldovan. Maxwell just participated in the 122nd U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts and shared with us his experience as a whole and some cool insights from inside the ropes. 

In the second episode of "The General Area", we gave a quick rundown of recent tournaments, upcoming tournaments, a save the date and an insightful interview with NOGA President Tom Baugh 

In the inaugural episode of "The General Area", we give an update on the first month and a half of Northern Ohio Golf Association tournaments and we interviewed Blake Solomon, the 2022 Northeast Ohio Amateur Championship Division winner