Ben Hollerbach, left, Durel Billy, and Ed Ronco
Elections for the 2017 Society of Hickory Golfers Board ended Thursday, Dec. 15, with Ed Ronco, Durel Billy, and Ben Hollerbach elected to three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2017.
Hugh Cameron, Michael Shiff, Bob Platt, and Scott McAllister also stood for office. We’re grateful to them for running and hope they will try again for the three new board posts that will come open later this year.
All three of the newly elected officers have some experience serving SoHG members. Ed Ronco, of Wyandotte, Mich., served as the Society’s treasurer for the past 18 months. He is a retired educator who would love to see the SoHG increase exposure to hickory golf for high school golfers.
Durel Billy, of Seattle, Wash., is a transportation specialist and president of the APNational Golf Club. He serves on the executive board of the Washington State Golf Association and was the creator of the National Hickory Golf Day concept, now observed on May
1. 2017 marks the second year of this observance of hickory golf. Like Ronco, Billy hopes to encourage more juniors, as well as ladies, to become involved with the Society.
Ben Hollerbach, of Brookhaven, Ga., is a research engineer with the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology. Possessed of a keen mind for numbers, Hollerbach has graciously managed the not-exactly-simple Championship Series spread sheet for the Society. He hopes to expand the reach and visibility of hickory golf by encouraging the growth of new and existing regional chapters.
Two hundred of the nearly 600 SoHG members cast ballots, for an approximate 38 percent voting turnout.
Thanks to all who voted and especially to the seven gentlemen who stood for the Board election. Please extend your congratulations to these new board members when you next see them.
Voting results as captured through Survey Monkey are shown below. Voters were asked to choose a first, then a second, then a third choice. The totals indicate how many votes of the 200 cast were placed with any one individual.
