Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/698823
33 BY MIKE TOMBERLIN GOLF: ONE OF GREENEST OF SPORTS AND ALABAMA IS CASHING IN FROM TEE TO GREEN Spring into summer in Alabama is the time of year that is all about green. Leaves get dressed in it. Grass gets made over into it. Golf courses get bathed in shades of it. In fact, golf courses are so green that the end goal of each hole is on the green. In Alabama, golf is green in more ways than one. Major tournaments like Yokohama, Regions Tradition and Barbasol bring professional golfers to the state and, with them, the economic impact and dollars that follow. In the realm of economic development, golf is one of those bright green markers that checks all of the boxes. It is its own industry where people spend millions to buy equipment, join clubs, play courses and manufacture products in support of it. Golf is an image enhancer with the ability to change the way people from within and outside of the state view Alabama. Golf courses enhance the quality of life and the infrastructure of communities. And golf is often used as a recruitment tool to help lure companies to the state. Mercedes-Benz may be the greatest example of this, but more on that later. A 2010 study by SRI International for the Alabama Alliance for Golf found that the industry in the state generated an economic impact of $1.5 billion, supporting 21,221 jobs with $458.8 million of wages. "It's interesting, because if you look at Alabama on a per capita basis, we have a good number of people who play golf, but we're by no means at the top of the list," said Gene Hallman, president and CEO of the Bruno Event Team. "But when you look at the tournaments, we have some of the largest crowds on the respective tours." The Bruno Event Team has managed golf tournaments and other sporting events in Alabama and across the country for years. In Alabama, it still manages the Regions Tradition. Hundreds of children attend Alabama Power jumior clinics each year. LPGA player Caroline Masson of Germany poses with young fan. Nick Saban studies the course at the Regions Pro-Am.