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).
MGWA MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL IS ONGOING
Deadline Approaches for Directory, Mailing Changes
Signups for those who have yet to renew their MGWA membership for 2023 are continuing, with the process of renewals handled online via our association website (metgolfwriters.org).
To access the renewal form, sign on to our website, and then click on the “Membership” button on the top (you must be properly logged in to view the renewal form). There are three primary categories of membership: Regular, Associate and Retired. The eligibility for the categories is listed in our MGWA Bylaws, which can be accessed at our website by clicking on “Member Home.” Dues for 2023: Regular, $95; Associate, $125; Retired, $45. The eligibility for the Retired category, as listed in the Bylaws: “Retired membership shall be granted upon application as approved by the Membership Committee and the Board of Directors to persons who have been members of the MGWA for at least five (5) years and are now retired from active golf journalism.” You must receive approval from the Membership committee to obtain Retired status.”
The MGWA also is seeking New Members and encourages anyone in the association to recommend our group to prospective new members. Several new members already have been added for 2023. New Member application forms are available via the “Membership” button on our website. You do not need to be an MGWA member to access a New Member application. The “Membership” button is openly accessible to all website visitors.
NOTE: If you were an MGWA member in 2022 and have not yet renewed for 2023, please be aware that the online Membership Directory and email address list for News Releases, Newsletters and other mailings from the association will soon be updated whereby only members for 2023 will be included.
MEETING/OUTING SCHEDULE, QUILL & TEE UPDATE
The MGWA Activities Committee continues to work on finalizing our calendar of meetings and outings for the 2023 season, with part of the schedule already confirmed for venues and dates, and the balance “tentatively” in place. We envision six gatherings, as is our norm, with one scheduled each month May through October.
In the meantime, the signup notice for our Quill & Tee Golf Club, the MGWA’s exclusive club without real estate, will be sent to all during the week of April 3rd. Although Q&T renewals and new member applications are accepted throughout the season, April 15th will be the cutoff deadline after which we will deactivate any members who have not renewed and go forward with the Q&T membership for 2023. The April 15th date marks the beginning of the MGA GHIN handicapping season in the Met area. Quill & Tee dues for this season will be $60 per member. Q&T members may also be members of one or more land-based clubs, as well, and several among our MGWA ranks enjoy multiple club memberships.
The Quill & Tee GC, which operates under the umbrella of both the USGA and Met Golf Association, offers numerous benefits, including entry into exclusive MGWA competitions (not available to other members) along with regional and national tournaments; a subscription to The Met Golfer magazine; GHIN official handicapping services. Our first Q&T event, at a venue and date TBA, will be our annual President’s Cup, which is a Net competition utilizing full golf handicaps. Our annual Q&T Club Championship, along with our highly popular Q&T Member-Guest tournament, overlap and are scheduled for Thursday, August 31st, at North Jersey CC, Wayne, NJ. Our traditional autumnal gathering at Bethpage Black course on Long Island is scheduled for Monday, October 23rd, 2023.
MGWA TO HONOR YOUNG FAMILY AT ANNUAL DINNER
The Young family – Cameron, David and Barbara – has been chosen as the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s 2023 Family of the Year. They will be honored at the MGWA’s 71st National Awards Dinner on Wednesday, October 11th, at Sleepy Hollow CC, Briarcliff Manor, NY. The MGWA’s Family of the Year Award honors a family for its contributions to the game and for representing the virtues and ideals of golf and family.
| It is fitting that the Young family will receive this coveted honor at Sleepy Hollow, since most of their lives have been spent there. David, a PGA Master Professional, recently retired after over 20 years as Sleepy Hollow’s Head Golf Professional. He was a member of the PGA of America’s Rules Committee for 18 years and worked numerous PGA Championships and the Masters.
Throughout all those years he coached his son, Cameron, who tore it up as a junior golfer (he was the youngest winner of the Westchester Amateur, the Carter Cup and the Ike Championship, and was the first amateur to win the NYS Open). After playing on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021, Cameron had a stellar first year on the PGA Tour in 2022, notching five runner-up finishes, including at the Open Championship at St. Andrews. He also made a run for the PGA Championship before tying for third, one stroke behind eventual playoff winner Justin Thomas. He played in the 2022 President’s Cup and capped the year off by winning the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer award as their Rookie of the Year. Not to be forgotten is Barbara Young, the family’s matriarch. After a very brief time playing professionally, Barbara operated a mini tour for 13 years, providing playing opportunities for aspiring women professionals. She put her career on hold as Cameron’s talents became obvious, and she became his caddie, his nutritionist and his chauffeur, driving him countless miles as he pursued his golf dreams. |
| “No family could be more deserving of this award than the Young family,” said MGWA President Brian Crowell. “Cameron’s phenomenal success on the PGA Tour is only the latest chapter in a family golf story that started long ago. The story highlights a tremendous, positive impact on all aspects of the game. The Youngs represent the Metropolitan NY area and our many allied Golf Associations with total class. The MGWA is proud to honor them with this award.” |
MOQUIN SELECTED AS DAVE MARR SCHOLAR FOR 2023
Patrick Moquin has been named the recipient of the MGWA Dave Marr Scholarship grant, presented to a graduate journalism student at Columbia University. A Fordham grad with a Bachelors degree in Journalism, Moquin plans to obtain his Masters from Columbia in May 2024. The MGWA has been presenting the Marr Scholarship in conjunction with Columbia University since 2002. Many of the recipients have gone on to distinguished professional careers. Moquin currently is seeking an appropriate summer internship for 2023. If anyone has or knows of a suitable position, please contact him directly at patrickmoquin517@gmail.com.
VETERAN MGWA MEMBER ALEX YANNIS PASSES AWAY
Alex Yannis, 84, a longtime MGWA member who spent three decades working for The New York Times, died last December 14th at a residential hospice in New City, NY. A native of Kartharitsi, Greece — who affectionately and smilingly called himself “The Greek” in the third person — covered soccer all over the world and Met area golf at all levels for many years. He retired from The Times in 2004 and then went to work as a starter at Blue Hill GC, Pearl River, NY. His first wife, Joan (nee Weber), died in 1998. He is survived by his second wife, the former Guoquin Zhang, and by a son, John. For more: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/alex-yannis-who-chronicled-soccers-rise-in-us-dies-at-84/.
PEOPLE, PLACES, ETC.
Belated congratulations to MGWA member Drew Greenland upon capturing the 2022 men’s club championship in a 36-hole finale at Rockrimmon CC, Stamford, CT . . . Tom Cunneff has been named editor of The Met Golfer magazine. He is based in Charleston, SC. Contact info: phone, 310-482-1630; email, tcunneff@gmail.com. A segment of his bio on LinkedIn states: “Author, editor and communications specialist with strong background in diverse media including magazines, digital, books, broadcast and marketing.” Cunneff reports to Met Golf Association Director of Communications Helen Farrelly, editorial director of the magazine. For story suggestions or other information regarding The Met Golfer, contact Farrelly at 914-909-1191, hfarrelly@mgagolf.org . . . Michael Davis (left) has been appointed Director of Instruction at The Summit Club, Armonk, NY. A David Leadbetter protégé and former associate of top golf coach Chris Como, Davis’ work background include the GC at Purchase, NY, and Olde Florida GC, Naples. Davis brings with him impressive credentials in computer science, digital marketing and technology, and biomechanics . . . The New Jersey State Golf Association has established the New Jersey Women’s Open Championship, a new competition that will showcase women’s championship golf. The 36-hole stroke play event is open to female amateur golfers from New Jersey and professional female golfers, regardless of residency. The inaugural tournament will be conducted at Montclair GC, West Orange, NJ, on June 21-22, 2023, over the club’s Second and Third nines . . . 
Colin Burns (below), who left Winged Foot GC at the end of last season after a 30 years-plus as GM, has been appointed COO of the fledgling Apogee Club in Hobe Sound, FL. The new private facility is planning three signature golf courses, two clubhouses, a high technology performance center, 40 club-owned villas for overnight stays and more. Apogee partners include Michael Pascucci, who developed Sebonack GC on eastern Long Island, and Steve Ross, owner of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Media contact for The Apogee Club is MGWA member Pete Kowalski, pkowalski1524@gmail.com . . . Pleasant Valley CC, Sutton, MA, which hosted 32 PGA Tour events 1965-1998, has been sold by the Magill family to a local private consortium for $4.1 million . . .Jack Burke Jr., former assistant pro at both Hollywood GC, Deal, NJ, and Winged Foot GC, Mamaroneck, NY, and former head pro at Metropolis CC, White Plains, NY, turned 100 years old on January 29th. Burke is the oldest living Masters champion, having won the event in 1956 . . . PGA LIFETIME AWARD: Stephen Szurlej will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism by the PGA of America on May 17th during the PGA Championship at Oak Hill CC, Rochester, NY. Szurlej served as Golf Digest’s Senior Staff Photographer for nearly 30 years. Born and raised in New Jersey, Szurlej now splits his time between Danbury, CT, and Port St. Lucie, FL . . . The Golf Architecture of Donald Ross, by author Bradford A. Becken Jr., is available in hardcover and in an eBook version from Amazon. Published by the MGWA member Mike Beckerich’s Classics of Golf (www.classicsofgolf.com) company, the eBook sells for $49.95. The prolific Ross is credited with 420 course designs and redesigns, of which 370 exist today in the U.S. and Canada. A portion of sales will be donated to The Donald Ross Society Foundation and The Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, NC . . . Due out soon from Routledge Publishing: Unpacking Depth Sport Psychology: Case Studies in the Unconscious, written by longtime MGWA member Dr. Tom Ferraro (152 pages, $35.96). Available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Good Reads, Open Library, Bookshop.com, elsewhere. Ferraro is a psychoanalyst and pioneer in the field of depth sport psychology and works with some of the leading golfers on the PGA and LPGA tours. His work has been published in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, others . . . The website golfcity.com has posted video featuring Westchester County public courses Saxon Woods, Hudson Hills, Dunwoodie. Operated by cousins and co-founders Mike and Frank Fasano, the site plans to add features on Westchester’s Maple Moor, Mohansic and Sprain Lake courses . . . Among pro tour events in the Met area this season: LPGA Cognizant Founders Cup, May 10-14, Upper Montclair CC, Clifton, NJ; LPGA Mizuho Americas Open, June 1-4, Liberty National GC, Jersey City, NJ; PGA KPMG Women’s Championship, June 22-25, Baltusrol GC, Springfield, NJ; LIV Golf, August 11-13, Trump National GC, Bedminster GC. The USGA Mid-Amateur is scheduled for September 9-14 at Sleepy Hollow CC, Briarcliff Manor, NY . . . NEW MEMBERS: Peter Cleary, vp-sales/major accounts at LTN Global Communications, an outfit that provides live event transmission services for NBC Sports, CBS Sports and DirecTV, peter.cleary@ltnglobal.com . . . Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest, stina_sternberg@discovery.com . . . Stephen Hennessey, Golf Digest, stephen_hennessey@discovery.com . . . Andrew Bowyer, The Hoboken Girl/Coyne PR, andrew.peter03@gmail.com . . . Chris Brienza, Golf PR, crbrienza@gmail.com . . . Donna DeMarco, WMGA Executive Board, vpmarketing@wmga.com . . . Paul Ziomber, Paul Ziomber Golf, zsquad224@optimum.net.