2007 Annual Award Recipeints

Bob & Carolyn Hooper

The 2007 DSGA Annual Award was awarded to both Bob and Carolyn Hooper, for their decades of dedication to the game and their expertise in the Rules of Golf.

Their journey began in the 70's with Bob, he was playing in a match play championship at Newark Country Club. After several holes, with the match all square, an extra club was found in his bag. Although he knew there was a penalty involved he was not sure what it was. Someone following the group claimed that he should be penalized loss of hole for each of the 3 holes played. The next day he found out that he should have only been penalized for the first 2 holes. He lost a tournament that he should have won! After that he became a serious student of golf.

Over the years Bob has become more involved with golf, serving in various capacities with the Delaware State Golf Association, and with the United States Golf Association. Since 1981 he has been a member of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship Committee serving as General Chairman in 2003 when the Mid-Am was held at Wilmington Country Club. He has served as a Rules Official for 27 U.S. Mid-Ams, 26 U.S. Opens, 22 U.S. Senior Opens and many other U.S. Championships. He also served as Rules Chairman for the 2005 & 2007 Palmer Cup. In 2006 he received the Joseph C. Dey Award for "meritorious service to the game of golf as a volunteer". That same year he also received the Isaac Granger Award for 25 years of service to the USGA.

Carolyn has been a member of the USGA Women's Committee, which oversees conduct of the Women's Open and Women's Amateur Championships, since 1998. She was Chairman of the Women's Mid-Amateur Committee from 2001 to 2003 and has been Chair of the Women's Future Sites Committee as well as the Women's Ad Hoc committee since 2004. She has served as a rules official in Women's Open Championships since 1994, the Women's Amateur since 1998, the 2006 U.S. Open and many other U.S. Championships.

This year Bob and Carolyn celebrated their 50th wedding anniversay by officiating at the British Women's Open at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland.