Upcoming Event: Women's Golf versus Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational on October 17, 2025
Women's Golf
vs Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational
Photo by: Duke Athletics
George Shutt Memories - No. 3
6/30/2020 8:35:00 AM | Women's Golf
DURHAM, N.C.-- Over the last 16 years, George Shutt has traveled thousands of miles to follow the Duke women's golf program. He has become a staple in women's college golf not only with the Blue Devils, but as a supporter of NCAA golf.
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked nearly 3,000 miles and supported collegiate golfers and head coaches throughout the years.
We checked in with Shutt and asked him to look back at some of his great memories while following the Blue Devils and GoDuke.com will debut them each week during the 2020 summer.
#GoDuke
Memory No. 3
The 2007-08 Season
My first visit in the fall was the Tar Heel Invitational and it was the first regular season tournament that I had ever attended. What an introduction. Duke was down in the final round
by 9-10 shots at the turn and wound up winning by two shots.
Next the team played in the WGCA match play tournament better known as the Hooter's Golf Tournament. What I most remember was that it was a runaway over Georgia. Alison Whitaker and Amanda Blumenherst only played about 12-14 holes to win their final matches.
The next time I saw the team was at Redtail Golf Course in a tournament hosted by University of Central Florida. It was a very long walking golf course. Coach Brooks and I still compare it today to other courses. If my memory is correct, the distance from the 10th green to the 11th tee is approximately ¾ mile. It is also one of the more challenging courses. On the first day of the Tournament, Alison Whitaker set a new course record for women with a 65. She went on to win the medal for low score and that also got her an invite to the LPGA Ginn Tribute in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. later in the summer.
The ACC Championship was held at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. It turned out to be one of the more memorable ACC Championships that I have attended over the
years. It was back and forth with Virginia every day. The 18th hole on the Legends Course is a 180-degree dogleg left from the tee and makes the turn about 240-250 yards off the tee. If the drive goes left, a big oak tree can block a shot to the green. If longer than 280-290 one can hit it through the fairway. The second shot is to a green with trees, rough and traps on each side and a runoff in the back and nothing but high vegetation in the front. Jennie Lee hit her second shot just short of the front of the green and had a difficult pitch to the hole. She holed out for a fantastic birdie. That put Duke one shot up with one group left. It included Amanda Blumenherst. I do not recall the sequence of shots for Amanda. I just remember that she was about 10 feet away and needed the putt for a par to win the championship for Duke which she made.
The NCAA National Championships were played in Albuquerque, N.M. This tournament had many, many memories. There are four that stand out in my mind. The weather was absolutely unbelievable. Temperatures ranged from a high in the upper 90's to the low 30's. Wind gusts to over 40 mph occurred. (Play was stopped several times as balls were moving on the greens from the wind.) There was rain, hail, snow and thunder over the four days none that had been in the forecast. The first morning I sought a sporting goods store to find a rain suit. The next morning I found a Walmart where I bought a sweatshirt and gloves.
In the final round Jennie Lee started off with birdie, birdie, eagle (a hole-in-one) and the only one I have ever witnessed.) Play was then halted due to thunder and we were all told to go to the nearest shelter that happened to be an old, old school bus. There were about 40 players, coaches and spectators crammed into this old bus. Naturally, being in a metal tube, we just hoped that the lightning stayed away.
In the second round, play was halted due to darkness. As you know, a player may choose to finish the hole or not. Alison Whitaker was left with about a 10-inch putt when the horn
sounded. It was her last hole of the day. She chose to come back the next morning at 7:30 even though Duke did not begin play the next day until after noon. She made the putt.
During the tournament Alison's parents and her guardians from Atlanta rented a house. Duke was not playing all that well and needed a break. Someone suggested that there be a potluck dinner at the house. Coach Brooks agreed as long as no one discussed golf. There were 53 people that came, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Needless all were great Duke fans. What truly amazed me about this was that there were only two Duke graduates among the 53. They were me and Jennifer Pandolfi who had graduated the previous weekend. It was the first time that I had met Jennie Lee's dad.
Lastly, I got to meet several other people that made me proud to be a Duke alum and supporter of the golf team. On the first day, a Thursday, a young man with a young boy appeared (What caught my eye was that in the 90-degree heat he was wearing a three-piece suit.) He was a doctor at Presbyterian Hospital in downtown Albuquerque and was a Duke Medical School graduate. His son had seen mention of the event on local television and talked his dad into letting his skip school and come see the Duke team On Friday afternoon out on the course, I noticed a young African American gentleman looking around and at this pairing sheet. Thinking I might help I asked if he was looking for anyone in particular. He said no that he came out to see the Duke girls play golf.
In the following conversation he said he was from Chicago where he worked for a consulting firm. He said he had finished his work in Albuquerque early and went to the airport to try to get on an earlier flight home. When that did not work out, he had 3-4 hours to wait, but saw where the championship was being held and noticed that among the many teams that Duke was playing. And that he had heard so much about the success of the Duke women that he wanted to come see them. He said he had no connections with Duke.
Since he became hooked on the Blue Devils in 2004, he has traveled to as many tournaments as possible, given numerous hugs, walked nearly 3,000 miles and supported collegiate golfers and head coaches throughout the years.
We checked in with Shutt and asked him to look back at some of his great memories while following the Blue Devils and GoDuke.com will debut them each week during the 2020 summer.
#GoDuke
Memory No. 3
The 2007-08 Season
My first visit in the fall was the Tar Heel Invitational and it was the first regular season tournament that I had ever attended. What an introduction. Duke was down in the final round
by 9-10 shots at the turn and wound up winning by two shots.
Next the team played in the WGCA match play tournament better known as the Hooter's Golf Tournament. What I most remember was that it was a runaway over Georgia. Alison Whitaker and Amanda Blumenherst only played about 12-14 holes to win their final matches.
The next time I saw the team was at Redtail Golf Course in a tournament hosted by University of Central Florida. It was a very long walking golf course. Coach Brooks and I still compare it today to other courses. If my memory is correct, the distance from the 10th green to the 11th tee is approximately ¾ mile. It is also one of the more challenging courses. On the first day of the Tournament, Alison Whitaker set a new course record for women with a 65. She went on to win the medal for low score and that also got her an invite to the LPGA Ginn Tribute in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. later in the summer.
The ACC Championship was held at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. It turned out to be one of the more memorable ACC Championships that I have attended over the
years. It was back and forth with Virginia every day. The 18th hole on the Legends Course is a 180-degree dogleg left from the tee and makes the turn about 240-250 yards off the tee. If the drive goes left, a big oak tree can block a shot to the green. If longer than 280-290 one can hit it through the fairway. The second shot is to a green with trees, rough and traps on each side and a runoff in the back and nothing but high vegetation in the front. Jennie Lee hit her second shot just short of the front of the green and had a difficult pitch to the hole. She holed out for a fantastic birdie. That put Duke one shot up with one group left. It included Amanda Blumenherst. I do not recall the sequence of shots for Amanda. I just remember that she was about 10 feet away and needed the putt for a par to win the championship for Duke which she made.
The NCAA National Championships were played in Albuquerque, N.M. This tournament had many, many memories. There are four that stand out in my mind. The weather was absolutely unbelievable. Temperatures ranged from a high in the upper 90's to the low 30's. Wind gusts to over 40 mph occurred. (Play was stopped several times as balls were moving on the greens from the wind.) There was rain, hail, snow and thunder over the four days none that had been in the forecast. The first morning I sought a sporting goods store to find a rain suit. The next morning I found a Walmart where I bought a sweatshirt and gloves.
In the final round Jennie Lee started off with birdie, birdie, eagle (a hole-in-one) and the only one I have ever witnessed.) Play was then halted due to thunder and we were all told to go to the nearest shelter that happened to be an old, old school bus. There were about 40 players, coaches and spectators crammed into this old bus. Naturally, being in a metal tube, we just hoped that the lightning stayed away.
In the second round, play was halted due to darkness. As you know, a player may choose to finish the hole or not. Alison Whitaker was left with about a 10-inch putt when the horn
sounded. It was her last hole of the day. She chose to come back the next morning at 7:30 even though Duke did not begin play the next day until after noon. She made the putt.
During the tournament Alison's parents and her guardians from Atlanta rented a house. Duke was not playing all that well and needed a break. Someone suggested that there be a potluck dinner at the house. Coach Brooks agreed as long as no one discussed golf. There were 53 people that came, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Needless all were great Duke fans. What truly amazed me about this was that there were only two Duke graduates among the 53. They were me and Jennifer Pandolfi who had graduated the previous weekend. It was the first time that I had met Jennie Lee's dad.
Lastly, I got to meet several other people that made me proud to be a Duke alum and supporter of the golf team. On the first day, a Thursday, a young man with a young boy appeared (What caught my eye was that in the 90-degree heat he was wearing a three-piece suit.) He was a doctor at Presbyterian Hospital in downtown Albuquerque and was a Duke Medical School graduate. His son had seen mention of the event on local television and talked his dad into letting his skip school and come see the Duke team On Friday afternoon out on the course, I noticed a young African American gentleman looking around and at this pairing sheet. Thinking I might help I asked if he was looking for anyone in particular. He said no that he came out to see the Duke girls play golf.
In the following conversation he said he was from Chicago where he worked for a consulting firm. He said he had finished his work in Albuquerque early and went to the airport to try to get on an earlier flight home. When that did not work out, he had 3-4 hours to wait, but saw where the championship was being held and noticed that among the many teams that Duke was playing. And that he had heard so much about the success of the Duke women that he wanted to come see them. He said he had no connections with Duke.
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