Saucon Valley CC’s David Decker takes the Rules of Golf in stride

Article available in the Winter issue of the GAP Magazine.

By Tom Kerrane

  About 10 years ago, David Decker felt he was ready to make some changes.

  Everything in his life was fine at the time. He was content, family life was great, and his daughters were getting a little older.

David Decker (right) assists Tom Gramigna with a ruling at the Amateur Championship.

  To test his body, he decided to get back into distance running, something he had enjoyed when he was younger.

  To inspire his brain, he got into volunteering for the United States Golf Association.

  Decker had no idea those two choices made nearly a decade ago would develop to the point where they now join his family and friends, among the true loves of his life.

  This decision to take on new challenges came right around the time Decker’s home course, Saucon Valley Country Club, was hosting the second of its two U.S. Senior Open Championships. Decker was a marshal for the tournament and was introduced to many people from the USGA.

  Quickly, much like his renewed involvement in running, he was hooked and took a keen interest in the rules of golf.

  After getting his first taste with the USGA, Decker then offered his services to the Golf Association of Philadelphia, and it has been a great marriage of commitment and enthusiasm.

David Decker with daughters Emily (left) and Amy (right) and wife Kaki.

  David Decker has demonstrated such drive and commitment that he has been named the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 2010 Volunteer of the Year.

  “I never thought of it as anything more than wanting to set a good example for my daughters and finding and doing things I enjoy,” Decker said. “This award is very special to me. I have enjoyed every moment of it.”

  Added Kirby Martin, the Association’s Director of Competitions, “David’s work ethic and knowledge of the rules of golf make him an invaluable source to the Golf Association of Philadelphia. He is truly a special individual.”

  The Bethlehem, Pa. resident and member of the USGA’s Regional Affairs Committee has been all over the country working national championships. This year alone, his expertise took him to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open Championship at Oakmont CC and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in Charlotte, N.C. Add in the numerous GAP events he works and a couple more Pennsylvania Golf Association tournaments – not to mention being a vice president for Merrill Lynch – and Decker’s appointment book is quite full.

  “David has worked very hard to get into the upper echelon of rules officials,” said Jeff Hall, the USGA’s Managing Director, Rules and Competitions. “He attends rules workshops and is always looking to gain knowledge.

  “We do keep him busy. He works the highest level of events.”

  Before an Andy North or a Gary Koch might discuss a particular ruling during a television broadcast at one of the championships, he has likely just received an explanation from Decker, who often assists with the broadcast coverage of USGA events.

  Decker comes from a golfing family. His father, David, Sr., has been a longtime member at Saucon Valley CC and introduced his son to the game. Nowadays, they are frequent companions on the golf course and the running trails.

  “I’m very proud of what Dave has done. Our whole family is,” David Decker, Sr. said. “Being a USGA rules official — that’s a very exclusive club.

  “We work together, workout together, play a lot of golf together, and I have another son [Jon] I get to do that with, also. We’re a pretty lucky family.”

  The other members of the David Decker, Jr. family, wife Kaki and daughters Emily, 14, and Amy, 12, are not quite the golf fanatic Decker is. One side-benefit of his thirst for knowledge, however, is that the rest of his family has also become quite proficient in the rules of golf.

  “When I was studying for the test,” Decker said, “I’d write things down on cards, and they would ask me the questions, so they got to know them pretty well.”

  Few, though, know the rules as well as Decker.

  “I’ll get home on a Saturday afternoon, and there will be a message waiting for me,” he joked. “All the Saucon people know they can come to me if something crazy happens during their round.

  “I don’t think the average golfer understands the rules more than a fraction. I thought I knew what I was doing, and I only got 17 percent right the first time I took the rules test.”

  Yet, his determination brought him to the top of the list on that test a short time later.

  “We look for people who demonstrate their commitment in many ways,” Hall said. “Clearly, by Dave winning this award, he has succeeded at that.”

  His degree of commitment and desire to do what he enjoys at a top level is what has made Decker stand out. Be it his relationships with family and friends, his distance running or his affinity and volunteer work for the sport of golf, he is in it to do his best.

  With golf, he is working the biggest events around the area and across the country. With running, he will take on any new test.

  “I’ve done the Ironman twice, about 20 marathons and a couple 50-milers,” Decker said. “When I did my first 50-miler, I didn’t know if I could finish it. This 100-miler next spring, I don’t know if I can finish that.”

  But Decker did finish that 50-mile race. And he did pass that rules test.

  One thing he has proven over the past decade, David Decker is willing to take on new challenges and work until he achieves his goals.

  The Golf Association of Philadelphia is much the better for it.

NOTES–Decker was the fifth recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award. Past honorees include: Thomas Conboy of Sandy Run Country Club in 2009; Bob Fitzgerald of Sandy Run Country Club in 2008; Joseph Tyrrell of Spring Ford Country Club in 2007 and Will Carr of Merion Golf Club in 2006.

Tom Kerrane is a sports writer for the Norristown Times Herald and has been covering golf since 1990.