Merion GC’s Carr named
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"I don’t play golf."
That was the response Will Carr, the inaugural recipient of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Volunteer of the Year Award, gave his colleagues nearly 20 years ago before being coerced into a round at the Eagle Lodge Country Club (now The ACE Club).
For Carr, a 10-year GAP course rating volunteer, that was his introduction into the world of golf.
"Eagle Lodge CC was a very nice place so my friends made me play," said the 24-year retired federal prosecutor from the United States Attorney’s Office. "So I grabbed my father’s old sticks out of the basement and that’s how I got hooked."
Carr, 54, of Rose Valley, Pa., said he had no interest in the game as a kid. His family belonged to Philadelphia Cricket Club and his father played every Sunday. However, he did not pick up the sport until 1986 when his wife Stephanie Middleton went to work for insurance giant CIGNA. Her CIGNA employment came with an Eagle Lodge CC membership.
"She expressed to me she was not quite sure how to feel about the situation as she was six months pregnant," Carr said. "‘I’m six months pregnant and your starting to play golf.’ "
"Don’t blame me," Carr jokingly told his concerned wife. "You’re the one who went and got a job that came with a golf course."
Carr’s love of the game grew exponentially to the point where he became interested in other aspects of it.
In 1996, at his first breakfast tournament as a member of Merion GC, Carr sat next to Norm Nichols, a GAP course rater at the time. It was Nichols who introduced Carr to the idea of course rating and provided him with the application. The very next year, Carr rated his first course for the GAP.
"So it was an accident of sitting next to someone who I never met before at a breakfast tournament at Merion GC that got me [into course rating]," he said.
Make no mistake, though, Carr is very passionate of his course rating duties.
"The [USGA] Handicap System does not work unless the course rating system works and unless course rating is done properly," Carr said. "And so for anyone who thinks that the Handicap System works well, it’s really a testament to the course rating system and to the people going out and doing the ratings properly. One does not exist without the other."
He added, "It’s the way in which you can have an equitable playing field were people of varying abilities can compete against each other. There aren’t many sports in which that can be done, or done successfully."
Mark Peterson, Executive Director of GAP, said Carr’s passion for course rating and the sport made him the ideal choice for the inaugural award.
"For the past 10 years, Carr has personified the fever and zeal of a GAP volunteer, " Peterson said. "Although it was not an easy choice given the commitment put forth by all of our volunteers, Carr’s devotion to his craft made him the natural selection for this award."
Along with his passion for his duty as a rater, Carr said he enjoys being able to see all of the different golf courses in the area.
"You pay attention to features on golf courses that you might not otherwise pay attention to unless you happen to play there and hit your ball to the wrong place," he said. "It’s also fun to play the courses that you rate."
Carr, who expressed his honor and surprise on being named the GAP Volunteer of the Year, splits his time as a retiree between rating courses for the GAP; serving as the Head of the Board for William Penn Charter School; teaching a fall semester law course at Widener University Law School and is an active member of The Divotees, an historic area golf club.
"I keep busy," he said. "As a friend of mine, who is also retired, said, ‘I get up in the morning with nothing to do and when I go to bed at night I haven’t gotten it done.’ "
Carr is a graduate of William Penn Charter School, Swarthmore College and Cornell University Law School.