Members of the Tellico Village Men’s Golf Association gathered Saturday to take part in the MGA Turkey Shoot held at Toqua Golf Course.

The four-man shootout marked the final MGA event of the 2017 season.

The team of Lons Boatman, Craig Richert, Charlie Sampson and Jim Valenta took home the title after finishing with a score of 54.

“It was a great turnout for this year’s turkey shoot,” Adam Jacobs, Toqua golf professional, said. “I want to congratulate those four for winning this event, but also congratulate and thank all those who have participated in all the other events we’ve had this year.”

A short luncheon was held immediately after the turkey shoot where Players of the Year were named.

“This year was the first time we changed the Player of the Year,” Ed Frandle, current TVMGA president, said. “Prior to this, every single player that competed was in contention for that award. This year we put in a Player of the Year competition for the white tees and the orange tees. We’ve had great success with that and as of Thursday, we had about eight people still in contention in both categories.”

Pat White was named the White Tee Player of the Year, finishing with 175 points. Ron McDaniel was named the Orange Tee Player of the Year and finished with 235 points.

“It was a great season for the guys and we were pretty much dead even in both categories in terms of having the same number of players playing on both tees,” Ron Coles, current TVMGA vice president, said. “Pat snuck in there at the last minute on the white tees and Ron pretty much stayed ahead the whole time.”

In addition, the 2018 TVMGA Board of Directors were also introduced.

Tom McPhee will replace Frandle as president and Dennis Kelly will take over as vice president. Other members elected were Tom Brem, Terry Dowty, Vince Josefowicz and Bruce Wise.

“I am very pleased and look forward to serving as president this next year,” McPhee said. “I’ve served the last couple of years in several, various positions with the MGA. We actually have the biggest MGA in the state of Tennessee, so it’s truly an honor for me to get the chance to help lead it this coming year.”

“Well, I’ve immensely enjoyed serving this past year,” Frandle added. “As president, I got to know all the new guys coming in and we’ve had a number of new faces this year. It points to some of the growth of the Village, which is really positive. I’ve been on the board for three years now and I’ve really enjoyed working alongside those guys and I think Tom will do a great job next year.”

As president, McPhee hopes to continue building on the TVMGA’s recent success and growth.

“The past boards have made some great improvement and I think I just need to continue with those,” McPhee said. “Our premier event is the Member-Member tournament and I think we’ve kicked that up a notch with the Friday night events with prizes and food, so I think we’ll continue that. I think we’re also going to continue to grow and get more participation. We’ve established a good pace of play over the last few years, so that’s also something I want to continue. The most important thing, personally, is just to make sure that every single person that comes out enjoys their time, has fun and makes lasting memories.”

Members of the TVMGA meet at 10 a.m. Thursdays for a round of 18 holes. The courses rotate weekly between Kahite, Tanasi and Toqua. For more information, visit www.tvmga.com.