Wrapping up the GCAA convention

__ORLANDO--__Do I have to go back to Connecticut? There's something very appealing about the 80-degree temperatures down here in the land of Mickey as compared to the snow/cold/endless winter we're experiencing back at GW HQ. It's the trademarked line I tell many coaches when they ask where we're based and I tell them in New England: "When January rolls around, we all wonder what a golf magazine is doing in the northeast."

In departing from another well-run Golf Coaches Association of America national convention--coaches who aren't attending this event miss out on getting the latest scoop from the NCAA and having an impact on shaping the future of the sport--there were a few other odds and ends that are worth noting.

GCAA officials, meanwhile, are hopeful a more formal partnership with the tour might be forthcoming this spring where the two organizations can share information and resources. Any arrangement with the PGA Tour would be a good thing for college golf. Who knows, it might even create a way for the long-held wish of many coaches of getting top college golfers direct access to the larger pro tours (e.g. exempting first-team All-Americans into PGA Tour events or giving them a conditional Nationwide Tour card) to some day become a reality.