Jim Popa has lived his life around golf since he was a child. The Popas have played golf as a family and it has become a legacy. It brings as many memories as rounds of play. Jim Popa’s legacy is primarily the old way.
Popa was 69 years old and not only served as the Executive Director of both the Ohio Golf Association (OGA) and the Columbus District Golf Association (CDGA), but he also led the Society of Seniors for many years. Popa never thought he would be a nominee for the Yancey-Ford Award, given annually by Golfweek, to an individual that has made significant contributions in senior amateur golf.
Popa was stunned when Ford called him to inform him that he had won this year’s award. Ford was the president of the Society of Seniors at the start of Popa’s 24 years with the group. Since then, the two men remain friends.
Popa described him as “a wonderful man, a great old Virginia gentlemen who epitomizes everything you’d hope golfers to be.” “Gentlemen, who are competitive and nice, that really reflect the ideals we would like to see in senior amateur golfers.”
Jim Popa (Courtesy Ohio Golf Association)
Ford and Popa shared a vision of the Society of Seniors. Ford stood by Popa when Popa was promoted to the position of Executive Director. The two men raised money and launched a scholarship fund to benefit the children of full-time golf course employees where the Society of Seniors held its events. Nearly 20 scholarships have already been awarded.
Popa is an Ohio native who took over the Ohio Golf Association after the death of his father Nicholas Popa in 1993. Jack Hesler asked Popa, a member of the Society of Seniors and a former board member of Ohio Golf Association who knew Jim Popa, to attend an event of the Society in 1998. He also wanted Popa’s feedback. Popa only took five minutes after arriving to decide he wanted to become a member.
Popa became Executive Director of the Ohio Golf Association in 2014. He continued to serve as executive director for both the Ohio Golf Association, and Columbus District Golf Association over the following years. He would take his help to the road during the winter months after the summer tournaments in Ohio.
Popa, despite the fact that he was busy with his job at the Society, said he felt “honored” to have had it.
Popa was inducted into the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame in 2023. In addition, he was awarded the Southern Ohio PGA Lifetime Achievement Award and the USGA Ike Granger Award.
Popa has made a great contribution to the game of golf, even though it wasn’t his original intention to do so. After completing high school and working for his father’s Columbus ad agency, Popa enrolled at Ohio State University to study commercial arts with the goal of becoming a cartoonist. Popa, who is not a fan of science, decided to take time off after learning that he would need to take a couple of chemistry classes when he switched to the fine arts program. Popa caddied on the PGA Tour for two and a quarter years, notably his brother-in law Ed Sneed. Popa was on Ed’s bag when he won the 1977 Tallahassee Open, one of four Tour victories.
Popa was able to rub shoulders, with Sneed, with the greats of that era. Arnold Palmer, Lanny Wedkins, Tom Weiskopf, and Jack Nicklaus were all present. He had enough stories to last a lifetime, or at least write a thick book.
When it was over, he returned to Ohio with golf once more as his north star.
Popa told me that after I returned to the town I started working for my father, doing layout. “It was a matter of time before I started going to tournaments alongside him. He and I started to manage golf in Ohio after we hired other people to run our advertising agency.
Jim Popa (Courtesy Ohio Golf Association)
Popa, along with his wife Martha (whom Popa calls the “great woman behind his story”) raised their three children while Popa coached golf in Ohio for 30 years. Popa has largely put his service behind him and now plays golf every week for pure fun.
In reflecting on a game he has dedicated so much time to, he stated: “Golf’s the greatest of all games.” “I am convinced that we have taught young players how to behave on the golf course. We have taught them to shake hands, wear their hats in front, and tuck their shirttails. “They respect the game and they respect the tradition, that’s what i always try to impress upon the young people at my tournaments.”
The senior players are used to being polite and respectful to each other. They respect the rules, the golf course, and the people running the tournaments. “That’s the thing I love most about the Society.”
He has contributed more than his fair share in shaping it.
