Joe Small has been volunteering with the FSGA for over 10 years, beginning in 2011. His tremendous dedication and support for the game is evident, volunteering nearly 500 days for the FSGA in the past 13 years and spending 30 days this year alone officiating. Small serves the game off the course as a member of the FSGA Board of Directors.
The Pennsylvania native was introduced to the game by his father when he was 11 years old. He played his junior golf at The Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, the same golf course that Arnold Palmer met his wife, Winnie. There was not a high school golf team and Small took to playing basketball and football.
After focusing on his family and a career as an independent insurance agent for the family owned company Small & Son, he picked the game of golf back up in his early 40’s. Small didn’t skip a beat and earned a Senior Club Championship victory at Harkers Hollow Golf Club, a competitive club in New Jersey.
In 2010, Small moved to Southeast Florida and was introduced to the FSGA Tournament Chairman in the area, Mallory Privett, at a Rules of Golf Workshop in 2011. The seminar peaked Small’s interest and after volunteering at a U.S. Open local qualifier he was hooked. Small enjoys the challenges a tournament presents from rulings to setup. He is a Certified Senior Rules Official and in 2015 became a FSGA Tournament Chairman in Southeast Florida.
Small’s commitment to the game and the FSGA is unmatched.
“By far my favorite thing about volunteering is the people who I meet who become well beyond a tournament volunteer and turn into true fellowship and friendship,” Small said. “I very much so enjoy the comradery that my fellow officials and I have”.
