GSGA Announces Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2025

The Class of 2025 will be inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek.

Meet the Class of 2025:

Jerry Pate

Billy Payne

Robert Shaw

Wayne Yates, PGA

Biographical information on the four inductees:

Jerry Pate, Pensacola, Fla.

Born in Macon, Ga., Jerry Pate grew up in a big family with a passion for golf. After moving to Alabama at a young age, he learned to play at Anniston Country Club from his father and grandfather. Pate and his five siblings would spend summers in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., where he would learn the game at a par-3 course while his father and grandfather played elsewhere.

Years later in 1967, the family moved to Pensacola, Fla., when Pate was 14. After competing in amateur events in Florida, he would return to Alabama as a walk-on on the University of Alabama golf team. Eventually earning a scholarship, Pate played four years and served as captain and earned First Team All-America honors for the Crimson Tide.

His junior year at Alabama in 1974 proved to be a launching pad for Pate’s career. He played in a qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Championship in Jacksonville at a course where his grandfather was a founding member, then went on to win the national championship at The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey. Later that summer he helped lead the United States to victory at the World Amateur Team Championship. The following year (1975) Pate was a member of the winning U.S. Walker Cup Team and earned low amateur honors at the U.S. Open, where he tied for 18th at Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

After enjoying quite the year on the amateur golf scene, Pate had a decision to make regarding his future. While never really considering life as a professional golfer, his father offered encouragement to go for it. And he did – earning medalist honors at PGA TOUR Qualifying School in the fall of 1975 to earn his card. That decision to turn pro proved to be the correct one. Pate’s first win as a professional golfer came at the 1976 U.S. Open held at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek. After picking up a second victory at the Canadian Open a few events later, Pate would be named PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and Co-Player of the Year (with Jack Nicklaus).

Six victories (including the winning 1981 U.S. Ryder Cup Team and the 1982 PLAYERS Championship) and six years after capturing the U.S. Open title, Pate would suffer an injury halting his playing days. In the meantime, he would stay involved with the game in different ways. The following decade Pate kept busy as he served as a broadcaster on television, started a golf design firm, and opened a turf and irrigation company.

Pate’s company, Jerry Pate Turf and Irrigation, is a premier provider of outdoor beautification products in the Southeast and Midwest. It has been a supporter of the Georgia Golf Course Superintendent Association for many years. Pate also was an advocate of the revamp of Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta. He designed and constructed the Dan Yates Putting Course at BJGC, providing the outline and grade for the Himalayas-style putting green.

For his accomplishments and service to the game, Pate was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Florida State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2023.

Billy Payne, Atlanta, Ga.

Born in Athens, Ga., Billy Payne attended Dykes High School in Atlanta where he quarterbacked the football team, and in 1966, he returned to Athens to play football at the University of Georgia. As a wide receiver and defensive end, Payne lettered three years earning All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) and All-America honors. In 1968 prior to his senior season, he was named a National Football Foundation (NFF) National Scholar-Athlete. He led his team to an SEC Championship and a berth in the Sugar Bowl that year as well.

After graduating in 1969 in political science, he later earned his law degree from UGA in 1973 and practiced real estate law until 1988, when he was named president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Payne launched a successful bid, and in 1990, Atlanta was selected to host the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. He continued in his leadership role, becoming the first person in modern history to earn an Olympic bid and remain president and CEO through the Games themselves. Atlanta also holds the distinction of being the first city to win an Olympic bid in its first attempt and being the first privately funded Olympics in the history of the event.

In 2006, Payne was announced as the new chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. During his 11 years as chairman, Payne oversaw several initiatives which enhanced the patron and player experience. He was part of negotiations of a new television contract with ESPN, allowing unprecedented coverage of the Par-3 Tournament. In 2008 a junior-patrons program was instituted, which allows one Augusta National Golf Club-accredited patron the opportunity to bring one junior patron to each competitive round of the Masters.

To advance the development of the game into regions underrepresented, Payne led the collaborative planning to create two competitions – the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2009 and the Latin America Amateur Championship in 2014. The winner of each event earns an invitation to the following year’s Masters Tournament.

With a desire of grow junior golf, the Drive, Chip and Putt competition was founded in 2013 as a joint initiative by the Masters Tournament, United States Golf Association, and the PGA of America. DCP is a free nationwide junior golf development competition focusing on the fundamental skills in golf, with the finals held at Augusta National the Sunday prior to the Masters each year.

In 2012, Payne announced that Augusta National Golf Club would admit its first female members, extending invitations to Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore. Until this point, the club had been male-only since its opening in 1932.

Payne retired as chairman in 2017, and in 2019 was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was inducted as a Georgia Trustee, an honor given by the Georgia Historical Society to individuals whose accomplishments and community service reflect the ideals of the founding body of Trustees, which governed the Georgia colony.

Robert Shaw, Rocky Face, Ga.

Born in Cartersville, Ga., Robert Shaw and his family moved to Dalton where he grew up. He played varsity football and basketball at Dalton High School. Shaw inherited his competitive spirit from his family, a spirit which would serve him well throughout his professional life.

As a teenager, Shaw worked at his father’s business, Star Dye Company, which dyed bed sheets, robes and rugs in Dalton. After high school Shaw attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. Despite being enrolled for four years, Shaw did not earn a degree. When his father died in 1958, Shaw and his brother took over the company while merging into the carpet industry. The Shaw brothers began making carpet in 1967. By 1986, Shaw Industries was the top-ranked carpet maker. Shaw would serve as founder and CEO until he retired in 2006.

As a young professional, Shaw once stood atop Mount Sinai in Dalton. That’s where he envisioned the landscape would be perfect for a championship golf course. Years later in 1984 that land was purchased. By early 1985, Shaw hired architect Tom Fazio to design a golf course. Fazio described this piece of property as having an unusual natural beauty. The construction of the golf course officially began in June of 1986. The course was named The Farm – named after the McArthur Farm which once occupied the property. It opened in June of 1988. Phase one was the golf course. Phase two came in the spring of 1991, which included club facilities and a guest lodge.

Shaw has always shown a commitment to the support and promotion of amateur golf. The Farm has been a generous supporter as well. The club has hosted some major competitions contested in the amateur game over the years. It was host of the annual Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic, which was recognized as one of the premier tournaments in collegiate golf. Contested at The Farm from 1989 to 2019, numerous collegiate All-Americans and participants of U.S. Walker Cup teams competed. The Southern Amateur Championship was held at The Farm in 1993, as was the 2005 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.

The Farm has also been the host site to many of the top amateur competitions in the state of Georgia, including the Georgia Amateur Championship in 1990 won by Georgia Golf Hall of Fame member Allen Doyle, and the 1996 Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship won by Kim Lisi. It also hosted the 2013 Georgia Junior Championship won by Marcus Byrd, a multi-winner on the APGA Tour, and the 1997 Georgia Senior Championship won by Bill Ploeger, a member of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

In 2001 Shaw created the Clay Dykes Invitational in honor of his late friend, which transformed into one of the country’s top senior amateur tournaments.

Years before developing The Farm into a championship golf course and upscale residential community, Shaw was instrumental in taking Dalton Golf & Country Club from a 9-hole facility to an 18-hole championship golf course. He was the club's president in the early 1970s.

Shaw regularly gives back to the Northwest Georgia community, supporting the local hospital, Boys and Girls Clubs and the Boy Scouts.

Wayne Yates, PGA, Woodstock, Ga.

Born in Atlanta, Ga., Wayne Curtis (Yates) and his younger sister, Shirley, grew up in a children’s home – the Southern Christian Orphanage. Up until the age of 13, his social life consisted of spending time playing outside with the other children in the home, what he would call his 60 brothers and sisters.

In 1955 at age 13, one of those brothers told Curtis about a job he had making a little money as a caddie at Candler Park Golf Course in Atlanta. Once it was explained what caddying was, he was interested and joined his friend the next morning at the course. Curtis made $7.50 that first day as a caddie and couldn’t wait to tell his sister that they no longer had money problems.

The golf professional at Candler Park was Jim Yates. He noticed the teenager was working hard and seemed to have an interest in learning more. The golf pro began teaching him the game, loaned him clubs and offered lessons. The relationship between the two continued to grow, and learning his childhood was spent at a children’s home, Yates and his wife adopted Curtis, officially changing his name to Wayne Yates.

The next few years Yates continued learning the game and started playing more and more. In 1962 he won his first Atlanta Open. From there he quickly made a name for himself on the golf scene in Georgia. He added two more Atlanta Open titles in 1966 and 1968. Yates joined the PGA of America in the 1960s, and in 1969 he was hired as the head golf professional at Indian Hills Country Club in Marietta. While working he continued playing competitively, which included a nine-year stint on the PGA TOUR (1970-78), four U.S. Opens (1968-71) and four PGA Championships (1966, 1968, 1970, 1972).

Though his days playing professionally were relatively short-lived, Yates made the most of them. He totaled five Atlanta Open titles (1962, 1966, 1968, 1973, 1974) and two Georgia PGA Championships (1972, 1977). For his efforts, Yates was awarded multiple Georgia PGA Player of the Year honors.

Once his time on the professional tour ended, Yates returned to work as golf professional at Mystery Valley Golf Club in Atlanta (1980-89). In 1985 he suffered a stroke which ultimately ended his playing career.

Yates passed away in December of 2019.

These four inductees will bring the total number of Georgia Golf Hall of Fame members to 139.

The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame is dedicated to the preservation of Georgia’s golf traditions, heritage, achievements, and excellence.

The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly in 1982. Headquartered in Augusta, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame began inducting members in 1989 and held an induction ceremony in Augusta annually through 2009. During the 2010 legislative session, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Authority and Commission was abolished. The Georgia State Golf Association then entered into an agreement with the Georgia Department of Economic Development to manage the ongoing activities associated with the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. The GSGA is authorized to host the annual induction ceremony and store and display Hall of Fame members’ memorabilia in the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Room inside Murray Golf House at Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta. The induction ceremony was revived in 2011 at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek and is now held annually.

Click here for more information on the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.