Legendary Golfer Visits Ohio State

Last fall brought more than football to Ohio State. On Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, Tom Crow, one of golf's legendary figures, visited The Ohio State University for the first time.

Tom Crow has had success both on and off the golf course. He is a former Australian Amateur Champion and also went on to represent Australia in the Eisenhower International Teams Championship. After moving to the United States in 1973, Crow founded Cobra Golf. Today it is one of the top manufacturers of golf equipment.

Crow's best-known design is the "Baffler," the first utility wood. This type of club provides players with greater flexibility from difficult lies.

The Professional Golf Management Program (PGM) had the good fortune to be connected to Tom Crow through one of their students, Josh Stueve. The two met while Josh was interning last summer at a private course in Jackson, Wyoming, 3 Creek Ranch. Josh relayed Crow's interest in PGM, and CFAES Development coordinated the visit along with the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.

On the evening of Oct. 23, a reception was held at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center to welcome Tom Crow to campus. He gave an entertaining talk to the students and donors about golf club design. The program was a big hit with the attendees. On Saturday, Crow watched the Buckeyes beat Minnesota from the President's Suite in The Horseshoe.

Josh Stueve said, "Mr. Crow's visit to Ohio State turned out to be everything we had hoped it would be. The students very much appreciated his talk on the founding of Cobra Golf, and he offered valuable insight into many of the different projects the PGM staff is working on to improve the quality of the program. Best of all, after attending the Buckeye football game on Saturday morning, he has become an instant die-hard Buckeye fan. We really feel fortunate to have had Mr. Crow choose to visit our program, and we hope he comes back again soon."

Following the game, Tom toured the PGM suite on the way out to visit the proposed PGM driving range site at Waterman. Tom's old friend and fellow golf legend, Mike Hurdzan, was there to share his range site drawings. Crow was impressed with the work and enthusiastic about the possibilities. The highlight of Tom's visit was going to Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Design to see Mike's collection of golf memorabilia.

The weekend wrapped up with a wonderful dinner with the PGM students and staff. Tom is excited about the program and wants to return. Crow said, "I am delighted with the young people in the PGM program. It was a fabulous visit and I was enormously impressed."

For more information about Professional Golf Management, contact Karen Race at (614) 247-8754.

--By Sarah Grafner