NORRISTOWN, Pa. – It is a year of firsts for GAP as the 43rd Middle-Amateur Championship presented by Parx Casino takes place at Jeffersonville Golf Club, the first public course to host a Major.
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In April, GAP, for the first time, launched a quartet of divot parties on April 1, April 22, May 13 and May 19 as a fun way for the GAP community to help Jeffersonville prepare for the Championship by filling divots.
“You’re looking at a golf course that does almost 60,000 rounds a year,” GAP Director of Competitions Kirby Martin said. “With a green staff of 13 people, and you’re looking to see how you can help out. I approached the club with the idea of doing it, and they were fully supportive. They bought all the sand and seed and gave us all the supplies. We just provided the people power.”
Jeffersonville’s maintenance team filled 25 to 30 buckets with divot mix for the volunteers filling divots at each party. With 270 rounds a day and a small staff, Jeffersonville’s Grounds Crew rarely has time to fill divots the way they’d like.
“We couldn’t do it on our own,” Jeffersonville Superintendent Rich Shilling, 47, of Gilbertsville, Pa., said. “GAP providing this help is huge for the playability of the golf course.”
Each divot party brought 12 to 20 volunteers, including GAP staff members and GAP volunteers, onto the course for approximately two hours. The mixture is a 50/50 sand and compost mix blended with chewings fescue and creeping bentgrass seed.
The final party was held the night before the championship on May 19. The PGA League, a Tuesday night league at Jeffersonville offered additional help to GAP and brought in some players to assist with the final push. Both groups were able to sweep through the whole back nine with 15 people.
“There are some holes, like the fairway on No. 11, where everyone hits it in the same spot,” Martin, 54, of North Wales, Pa., said. “I think we did a really nice job, and hopefully it pays off for them down the road.”
In Shilling’s eyes, the help enhances the championship-level golf course at Jeffersonville and allows his team to use the extra time to work on the fine details of the Donald Ross design.
“This is what we live for, to present the golf course to really good players,” Shilling said. “To see what the golf course is made of against the best players in the Philadelphia area is pretty awesome.”
GAP hosts four majors a year, and Martin and the team hope that this divot party idea can travel with them to other championships.
“The guys who do it really enjoy it,” Martin said. “At some places, it might undo damage. At others, it might be preemptive. It’ll depend on the course.”
The divot parties were not just maintenance. They were a sign of GAP’s belief in a public course ready to shine on the major-championship stage.
The Middle-Amateur Championship is open to individuals 25 years of age or older.
A William Hyndman, III Player of the Year points event, the Middle-Amateur started in 1984, three years after the USGA created the U.S. Mid-Amateur as a formal championship for post-college amateurs. GAP followed suit with the USGA in creating a Middle-Amateur, but initially differed in its administration of the tournament in a couple of respects.
The most obvious difference was the age requirement. Prior to 2001, the GAP Middle-Amateur was only available to players 30 years of age or older.
The GAP Executive Committee reviewed and revised that age requirement in 2001 to match the USGA’s guidelines of 25 years of age or older for eligible individuals. It also, as previously mentioned, changed the format of the event to a two-day stroke play tournament with a cut to the low 70 players and ties after the first round. Furthermore, GAP lowered the handicap index requirement from 7.0 to 5.0 in 2023. The event was expanded to 54 holes in 2024 and is a WAGR ranked event.
Parx Casino
Parx Casino® is owned and operated by Greenwood Racing Inc. and is the #1 revenue-generating casino property in Pennsylvania. Conveniently located just 20 minutes north of Center City Philadelphia on Street Road in Bensalem, Bucks County, Parx Casino® features more than 180,000 square feet of gaming and sports wagering space, including 3,000 slot machines, 148 live table games, and 48 poker tables in a private poker room.
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In 2026, Parx Casino® expanded its destination experience with the opening of Parxview Hotel, a brand-new, completely smoke-free hotel located just steps from the casino. Parxview Hotel offers 160 modern guest rooms across four room categories, including 16 spacious suites, The Bistro and bar, free parking, seasonal outdoor pool deck, and convenient complimentary shuttle service to and from Parx Casino.
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 140,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
