Elmsford, NY (July 30, 2026) – Siwanoy Country Club has been named as the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s 2026 Club of the Year. The award will be presented at the MGWA’s 73rd National Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, NJ, site of the LPGA Mizuho Americas Open. Judy Rankin (Gold Tee Award), Mike Whan (Paul Dillon Distinguished Service 
Award), Damon Hack (Lincoln Werden Golf Journalism Award), Ted Heins (Mary Bea Porter Award) and the LaCava Family (Joe, Joe IV and Lauren) are among others who will be honored at the Dinner.
The MGWA’s Club of the Year honors a Met area club “for upholding the spirit and traditions of golf through energetic support and consistent dedication to the game.” The Met area is especially blessed with numerous renowned clubs, and Siwanoy now takes its place among a prestigious list of previous MGWA Club of the Year honorees, including Winged Foot GC, Bethpage State Park, Sleepy Hollow CC, North Jersey CC, GlenArbor GC, last year’s winner, Southampton Golf Club, and the first recipient of this coveted award, Baltusrol Golf Club.
Siwanoy’s origin traces back to the very beginnings of American golf when in 1900, a group of enthusiastic Mount Vernon golfers, tired of the long trolley ride from their home to the course they were playing in Tuckahoe, decided to establish their own course closer to home. They leased the Glover Estate, which was situated on Mount Vernon’s outskirts, and the club was formally incorporated in 1901. Its first clubhouse and nine-hole course opened later that year. After much debate, the name “Siwanoy,” representing a Mohican tribe who lived on the western Long Island Sound, was chosen for the new club.
The lease on the original site expired in 1903, and the club relocated and built a new nine-hole course designed by Willie Dunn. Ten years later, the club moved once again to its current location on the Bronxville/Eastchester border, with an 18-hole course designed and built by renowned course architect Donald Ross, and recently restored to capture the original Ross look and feel. Now celebrating its 125th anniversary, Siwanoy’s members enjoy numerous amenities including tennis and paddle tennis, gourmet dining, private guest accommodations and private event spaces in the recently redesigned (in 2020) 38,000 square foot clubhouse.
Siwanoy has hosted numerous prestigious MGA championships over the years, including the Met Amateur, Met Senior Amateur (three times), Junior Amateur, Met Open and Women’s Met Amateur. However, the club is best known for hosting the very first PGA Championship, won by Jim Barnes in 1916. Uniquely Gene Sarazen and Johnny Farrell, both major championship winners, caddied in that event.
“Siwanoy has been synonymous with golf history for over 100 years,” Hank Gola, MGWA president, remarked. “To play it is to be transported to the era of Long Jim Barnes and Donald Ross. The course deserves a coveted place among the greatest in our area as does the club as an integral part of the game.”
Formed in 1952, the MGWA has celebrated the game of golf and promoted golf journalism since its inception. Its signature event, the MGWA National Awards Dinner, has been one of the highlights on the golf calendar since its very first Dinner was held at Toots Shor’s Restaurant in January,1953. Over the decades, the Dinner has honored – and been attended by – some of the greatest names in the sport: Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, JoAnne Carner, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Nancy Lopez, Tom Watson and Annika Sorenstam, to name just a few. This highly anticipated event is supported by golf’s leading organizations and corporate supporters, Met Area clubs and club leaders, as well as local and national golf media. Through the Dinner and other events, the MGWA has had a significant philanthropic impact in the Metropolitan New York area, raising millions of dollars for local Caddie Scholarship programs, the MGA Foundation, and the Dave Marr Journalism Scholarship.
Click here to purchase tickets to the Dinner. For more information, view this one-minute video or contact Robin Sauerhaft, MGWA Executive Administrator, at: rsauerhaft@mgagolf.org.
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