Kansas and Central Links Golf tournament players may have wondered what happened to Greg Goode this year. The Salina resident hasn’t been seen around these parts for some time.
Well, the three-time Kansas Senior Player of the Year set his sights on national and world Super Senior ranking points in 2024 and has been in hot pursuit of those goals all season.
After winning three national events in the fall of 2023, Goode committed to playing a national schedule in 2024. He played in 22 events around the country, concluding with the Golfweek Tournament of Champions in Florida on December 15th.
By the end of that tournament, he had locked up Super Senior Player of the Year honors in the Society of Seniors — an independent national golf organization — and was second in the Golfweek Super Senior rankings. On the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points list, Goode finished the year in 12th pace for players 65 and over.
The Golfweek POY goal eluded him only because in one event early in the year he inadvertently entered as a Senior, rather than as a Super Senior, and those points don’t transfer. If he could have added his Senior points from that one tournament, he would have been a runaway for the Player of the Year honor.
Highlights of the year included two victories, one in New York at the Jack Hesler Tournament, and the other in Las Vegas at the Golfweek Desert Showdown. He also had a second-place finish in the Society of Seniors National Super Senior Championship in Portland, Oregon. Goode had eleven top five finishes in the 22 events he entered.
Time zone changes, weather, making travel arrangements, adjusting to different kinds of grasses and course conditions is challenging, he said. But asked what inspired him to devote the full year to pursuing top honors in competitive tournament play, Goode said,
“I started on this journey six yeas ago. Don Kuehn encouraged me to play in the Golfweek National Senior Match Play Championship at Tobacco Road in North Carolina. I watched him win his flight and from then on, I was hooked. I’ve played in a few ‘national’ events every year since. There’s nothing quite like it. These are the best players in the country.
“I also appreciate Central Links Golf and their rigorous schedule, competitive environment and professionally run tournaments. It makes a big difference to come out of that kind of competition. It prepares you for playing a tough schedule against the best players. CLG does a heck of a job developing players of all ages. We’re lucky to have them,” he said
Goode plans to return to a Central Links Golf schedule in 2025. Could a fourth Kansas POY be in his sights? (You’ve been warned!)
Article written by Don Keuhn