News

JAMESVILLE, N.Y. -- As the NYSGA prepares for the year ahead, our President Henry Fust expresses his thoughts in the following message to association members:

Dear NYSGA Members,

Entering my second term of presidency, I am proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past year, and am honored to continue leading the association throughout 2023; which marks our organization’s centennial anniversary.

Before I dive into the upcoming golf season, I’d like to briefly look back on a few highlights from 2022.

The NYSGA continues to make strides with its regional and district partners. We successfully renegotiated our agreement with the Buffalo District and will continue to support their efforts to increase the quality of player experience at their district events. We also formalized a working relationship that has been in place with the Syracuse District for many years. This new arrangement now provides their association with additional revenue and resources that will continue to enhance the quality of their tournament experience and increase scholarship fund reach. The NYSGA staff also initiated the formation of a local golf association in the Capital Region. Finally, we added a new full-time position to our staff, Manager of Regional Associations, to manage these relationships and help support their tournament schedules.

The 2022 New York State Men’s Amateur was hosted by my home club, Onondaga Golf & Country Club, here in Syracuse and the championship was a major success on all fronts. Our club management and staff were very helpful and accommodating. The membership was also incredibly supportive, with many members volunteering, caddying or spectating throughout the championship week. We made some early progress in our new foundation membership program, which will enable us to directly support participating club employees along with additional deserving students each academic year.

Now, as we look ahead to 2023 there is a lot of exciting news to share. This season we will be celebrating the NYSGA’s centennial anniversary. In August of 1923, the association’s founding members gathered during a tournament hosted at Yahnundasis Golf Club in Utica and decided to form a state association and conduct a sanctioned, annual state championship for men. Our association has evolved in many ways since those early years, and we are proud to share and celebrate our history throughout this upcoming golf season.

Our 100th state amateur will head to Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle for the first time and the prestigious Westchester host venue highlights a great 2023 championship schedule. We also plan to hold an official celebration during this year’s NYS Men’s Senior Amateur at Yahnundasis Golf Club.

Due to growing interest and a steady increase of entries into our NYS Men’s Four-Ball over the last few seasons, our Executive Committee has made the decision to split up both the amateur division and senior division fields this year to allow more players in each of the two championships. Thanks to our partner Turning Stone Resort, each field has their own course to compete on during the tournament week, which will allow us to nearly double the size of both fields. This is a modification that has been discussed for several years now and we are looking forward to finally implementing these changes.

Additionally, and for similar reasons, we will be splitting the NYS Men’s Super Senior off from the NYS Men’s Senior in 2023. We’ve seen enough of an increase in entries for the older division to break them up and increase the field sizes for each championship. Going forward, these changes will also allow our staff and volunteers to support both of these individual championships at a greater level.

In regards to our committee, we have three exceptional contributors who have stepped off the executive committee at the start of the new year, including Joe Enright, Warren Winslow and John Cooney. Both Winslow (2018-19) and Enright (2020-21) were recent presidents and paved the way for my presidency and what I have been able to accomplish so far in this role. They are all Senior Rules Officials and will continue to lead our volunteers out on the golf course each season.

Conversely, I’d like to welcome Rich Weber of Brookfield Country Club back to the Executive Committee. He previously served in this capacity from 2017-21, and we are happy to see him back in this role.

I look forward to the monumental year ahead complete with our centennial celebration, 100 th Men’s Am, along with many other exciting tournament host sites scheduled across New York State throughout the summer and fall.

Best regards,

Henry Fust
President, NYSGA

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Click here to view a full list of NYSGA Committees and their membership.

Click here to view a list of past NYSGA Presidents.