SEND IN YOUR NEWS AND NOTES: All members of the MGWA, with items for our Newsletter, are urged to e-mail them to Chuck Stogel (chstogel@aol.com).
PHOTO GALLERIES: Please note that photo galleries from many of our MGWA meetings and outings are posted on our website (metgolfwriters.org). There are foursome photos, action photos, meeting photos and more. To access, log on to our website and click on Meetings & Outings, then open the photo gallery you wish to see (photos are free to copy).
LUKE DONALD TO RECEIVE GOLD TEE AWARD
MGWA Honorees Include Steve DiMeglio, McCormick Family
Former world No. 1 golfer, four-time European Ryder Cup player and two-time (including next year) European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald (left) will be honored with the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s premier recognition — the Gold Tee Award. The presentation will take place at the MGWA’s 72nd National Awards Dinner on Monday, October 7, 2024 at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase, NY. MGWA members are entitled to purchase discounted tickets to the dinner (see below).
The Gold Tee is presented annually to an individual whose career achievements exemplify the best spirit and traditions of the sport of golf. Past honorees include Bobby Jones (1953), Ben Hogan (1963), Arnold Palmer (1965) and Jack Nicklaus, and more recently Nancy Lopez (1995), Annika Sorenstam (2004), Phil Mickelson (2006), Dottie Pepper (2022) and Larry Nelson (2023).
As an amateur representing Northwestern University in 1999, Donald won the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, besting Tiger Woods’ scoring record. Since turning professional in 2001, he has amassed 17 career victories and was the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer in 2011.
Veteran writer Steve DiMeglio (far right) will receive the MGWA’s Lincoln Werden Golf Journalism Award. In addition to authoring numerous children’s books on sports, publications he has worked for include the Palm Springs Desert Sun and, most recently, USA Today.
The McCormick family from New Jersey — Mark, Linda, Ryan and Mark James — will be honored with the MGWA’s 2024 Family of the Year award. Patriarch Mark has been the head pro at Suburban GC in Union, NJ, since 2000. A St. John’s alumnus and three-time All-Big East selection, son Ryan is currently a rookie on the PGA Tour after spending 2023 on the Korn Ferry Tour. Wife/mother Linda is the veteran golf shop manager at Suburban. And son Mark James has worked in the multimedia departments at the NJSGA, NJPGA, MGA and USGA.
Announcements of other honorees for the MGWA Awards Dinner are forthcoming. As always, MGWA members are offered discounted tickets to the dinner (limit of two per member) priced at $195 each. Regular ticket price is $425 pp. Dinner tickets, along with raffle tickets, are available online via the MGWA website. The URL is: metgolfwriters.org/member_awards_dinner_form. You must be logged into the website to access this form.
MGWA OUTING AT ARCOLA IS SOLD OUT
The Met Golf Writers mid-summer visit to Arcola CC in Paramus, NJ, has turned into a hugely popular event with a registration for golf far exceeding expectations. As a result, registration to play golf at our meeting and outing on August 6th has been closed.
One of the Met area’s very best courses, dating back to 1912, Arcola has undergone a variety of alterations and renovations over the years. Among the guest speakers scheduled on August 6th is architect Andy Staples, the principal at Staples Golf Design in Scottsdale, AZ, who has drafted a comprehensive Master Plan that Arcola will begin implementing in September 2025. The ONE Club Training Device will demo its product at Arcola. The optional tournament competition is our annual Better Ball event, split into Quill & Tee GC and MGWA divisions. Those in Quill & Tee who choose may also enter qualifying where the winning twosome advances to the MGA Four Ball Championship.
RWC HOSTS MGWA AT NEW MONSTER GOLF CLUB
Olson, Berger Capture Pinehurst Trophy
Resorts World Catskills’ hotel, casino and golf staff, based on a sprawling campus in Monticello, NY, were both gracious and enlightening hosts on June 4 for a visit from the Met Golf Writers (see photo gallery under Meetings & Outings on the MGWA website, metgolfwriters.org). A field of 60 golfers teed it up on the “new” Monster Golf Club course, with 19 attendees taking advantage of an optional special offer to stay overnight on June 3rd. Formerly the site of the renowned Concord Hotel, and its Monster and International courses, RWC hired Troon Golf to manage its golf operation and engaged Rees Jones Inc. to craft a new, single layout which had a soft opening last autumn and officially opened this spring. Reviews for a course that is still maturing were mostly positive, with some quibbles about operational kinks that still need to be worked out.
During our morning meeting session, held in a conference room in RWC’s main casino and hotel building, RJI project architect Bryce Swanson (left) provided some background on the Concord courses and the new layout. The original Monster was designed by Joe Finger, who also crafted the nearby and now-defunct Grossinger championship track, and first opened in 1963. The hotel and its golf courses became hugely popular with all sorts of celebrities, from actors and entertainers to sports stars and politicians. The Monster course reportedly got its name when former tour pro and Concord shopkeeper Jackie Burke, in describing the signature fourth hole, simply said, “It’s a Monster.” The original course stretched out to a whopping 7,650 yards, with the White tees measuring a mere 6,900. By comparison, the new Monster has six sets of tee boxes measuring from 5,050 to 7,327 yards with a par of 72.
After several ownership groups attempted but failed to revive the hotel and golf facilities, Resorts World acquired the property and proceeded to build a main casino and hotel building with several restaurants, an adjacent boutique hotel in which the golf shop is based and the revitalized Monster course. The expansive range and large putting green are roughly the same as before, while some holes have been retained — although the routing has been altered — while other holes are entirely new. RJI presented its plans in 2012; RWC spent 2013-15 in the process of casino license and course construction approvals; and began work on the course, in stages, in 2018-19, with a delay in construction in 2020-21 due to Covid. “Most courses we work on, nobody calls to ask how things are going,” said Swanson. “But this is the first job where we were getting many, many calls — every day — asking us when the Monster was going to reopen.”
Uri Jimenez, the director of golf who hails from Southern California (pictured at podium), and Kyle Bell, a Catskills native who is the head pro, explained that the Monster is part of the greater Troon family of hundreds of golf courses across the U.S. Tee times at the Monster are set 18 minutes apart. Although the course only has daily fees for this season, a seasonal membership package and in-house golf club with private events and reciprocal Troon privileges is planned, along with a golf academy. RWC does have discounts available for top-tier hotel and casino guests. The Monster will host the Metropolitan PGA Team Championship October 7-8. (See a selection of solicited reviews at the end of this Newsletter.)
Our optional competition at the Monster featured the MGWA’s annual Pinehurst Tournament, a modified net, alternate stroke event with 11 twosomes competing. The 2024 champions were Jon Olson (pictured, right) and Dan Berger (pictured, left) with a winning score of 73-9–64. Dave Harmon and Eric Berger placed second with 77-12—65, while Bob Dorgan and Lokesh Reddy came in third with 76-8—68. There was an unfortunate scorecard error after golf that was not discovered until later where a different twosome was originally declared the winner; the error occurred because that twosome was the only one of the 11 teams to not follow the Rules of the Day for registering scores on the scorecards. The appropriate recognition has since been acknowledged. Nearest to the pin winners on the 135-yard second hole were Eric Berger, Eric Anderson, Greg Logan; nearest to the pin at the 151-yard 14th hole were Larry Munck, Mike Beckerich, Andy Lavine.
CENTURY’S BENSEL NOTCHES BACK-TO-BACK ACES
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The odds of a golfer making two holes-in-one in a single round are reportedly 67 million to one. The odds of making those aces back-to-back? Reportedly incalculable. But that is what Frank Bensel Jr., 56, a veteran assistant pro at Century CC, Purchase, NY, did on June 28th in the second round of the USGA Senior Open at Newport (RI) CC. Bensel’s first ace came at the 184-yard third hole, followed by another hole-in-one on the 203-yard fourth hole. He used the same 6-iron on both tees. No golfer has ever had back-to-back aces in a USGA championship and, according to the PGA Tour, no golfer has ever made back-to-back holes-in-one at any Tour sanctioned event at any level. According to the National Hole-In-One registry, an ace is made once in every 3,500 rounds out of 500 million rounds of golf played in the U.S. each year. “I can’t believe that happened,” said Bensel. “It was adrenaline on top of adrenaline. It’s still hard to imagine how rare that is.”
PEOPLE, PLACES, ETC.
PGA of America past president Suzy Whaley has been named captain of the 2025 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team. She will lead a roster of 12 boys and girls as they compete against Europe in the 13th Junior Ryder Cup at Nassau Country Club and Bethpage Black on Long Island September 23-25. The Junior event takes places in conjunction with the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black scheduled the week of September 22-28. Whaley is a member of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame and Connecticut Golf Sports Hall of Fame and received the Met Golf Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2019. The U.S. holds a 7-4-1 advantage in the Junior Ryder Cup matches. . . U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has named Webb Simpson as one of his vice captains for the 45th Ryder Cup matches at Bethpage Black in 2025. Additional vice captains will be announced . . . Hunki Yun has been named executive director of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and the ASGCA Foundation, based in Brookfield, WI. Previously, he has been an administrator at the USGA, and a writer/editor at Orlando Sentinel, Golf Digest, GOLF Magazine and LINKS . . . Paramount CC, in the Rockland County hamlet of New City, NY, is readying a proposal for the governing Town of Clarkstown requesting permission to build 247 housing units on 31 of the club’s 217 acres, according to LoHud.com. The club is owned by the Mandelbaum family of New Jersey, a real estate entity. Formerly known as Dellwood CC, Paramount’s course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1920 by Paramount Studios film mogul Adolf Zukor. Recent renovations were handed by architect Jim Urbina . . . In advance of the 2024 Olympic Games taking center stage in France, the International Golf Federation announced that the men’s and women’s competition in 2028 will be held at Riviera Country Club when the Summer Games visits Los Angeles for a third time (1932, 1984, 2028) . . . Northwell Health, based in New Hyde Park on Long Island and billed as New York State’s largest healthcare provider, has signed on as the official healthcare provider of the Metropolitan PGA section and Met PGA Foundation . . . NEW MGWA MEMBERS: Sam Borden, ESPN, samborden@gmail.com . . . Derek Crisler, ESPN, derek.crisler@espn.com . . . Bob Pruyne, RSP Golf Services, rspesq@gmail.com . . . Michael McGowan, Garden City Golf Club News, mfmcgowan64@gmail.com.
A Selection of Monster Golf Reviews
“Liked the course. Being 1.5 hours away is great. Wish the greens rolled a little bit faster and truer. Wish there was more water to drink offered out on the course. Will like to see how the course grows in next year!” — DH
“I thought the course was nice, but I wouldn’t pay $255 to play it on a Saturday. It’s not that special. Also, the whole shuttle situation was a major pain – there’s parking at the golf club, why do they make you leave your car somewhere else on the property and then wait for a shuttle? After lunch, we waited probably 20 minutes outside the [main casino] building for a shuttle and it never came. We eventually had to walk to the Alder building to get one and were worried about missing our tee time.” — JP
“I can understand the pricing and the marketing for a certain type of resort and casino customer they are looking to attract. I can see coming up to Monticello for an overnight stay, play golf, have dinner, win some money in the casino. Overall it would be worth the trip.” — MC
“— Superb service – From the attendant wiping down your clubs on the range, to the courtesy carts driving you to the top of the hill and even the cold towels at the end of the round, we felt this was first-class resort treatment. The courtesy shuttle from the Alder is well run and appreciated both for its size and efficiency.
— The “clubhouse” where you assemble the carts and players feels like an afterthought. A larger/nice bar & grill there would make a world of difference, as would some degree of locker room. A certain level of graciousness & style is always appreciated after a nice round at a first-class facility.
— Perhaps someone like Dave Pelz, David Leadbetter or others would be interested in having golf schools or mini-camps at the resort. If they have any land leftover from what were the other courses, they should put it to work in conjunction with a golf school. I would love to arrive at a facility like the Alder and find it has a golf school connected to it. That could turn it into [an even more worthy] golf destination.
— The course itself is very pretty with lovely views on several holes. We very much liked the elevation changes on many of the holes and the bunker placement for the fairways presented some terrific risk vs. reward challenges to consider. The subtle undulations on several of the fairways meant you had to think before you hit.
— The tee boxes were in great shape and we loved the graduated nature of them with tees being coordinated to one’s handicap. Having six levels, including one for the ladies and high handicappers/seniors, made the course playable for a very mixed level of players in the same foursome.
— The greens were challenging and uniform in speed but lacking “lushness.” The bunkers were well thought out and the sand was wonderfully consistent. Overall, very well done.
— Two problems: The change from the front nine to the back nine is confusing; No one in our group could get their own GPS to synch with the actual course layout. Skycaddie and Golfshot Plus were useless. Fortunately, the GPS on the carts is just fine.” — RM
Editor’s Notes: The shuttle vans from the Golf Shop in the Alder Building to the course take less than two minutes, but shuttles from our morning meeting in the main casino building were frustrating and intermittent with the large size of our group . . .We never really understood why RWC does not provide ample parking and a larger service building at the course, and has opted instead for the shuttle system, which works well from the golf shop location in the Alder Building.