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1923 - 1929: A Delayed But Succesful Start

PDF VERSION OF CENTENNIAL BOOKLET

Formation of the NYSGA

Founded on August 9, 1923

The history of the New York State Golf Association has been among the most interesting in the United States. Given the state’s outsized role in the beginning of golf in the U.S, one would expect that the NYSGA to have been right there at the beginning. But it took three decades and a high-profile nudge for New York to form its own governing golf association.

The American golf boom teed off in the 1880s in various parts of the country. Like ripples caused by pebbles tossed across a pond, golf expanded first in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states and made its way across the country.

Nowhere were those footholds more solid than in New York, with pockets of golf blooming on Long Island, outside New York City and in a few cities and towns throughout the state. 

By 1894, golf had graduated beyond a fad to 50 clubs in the entire country and had attracted a clientele willing to invest fortunes in time and resources to grow the game. With help primarily from golf professionals — almost exclusively immigrant Scots and Englishmen — who sensed the sweet smell of opportunity, the game started to take hold. 

The United States Golf Association (USGA) was formed that year in Manhattan and started holding its men’s amateur and open championships. Golf clubs, public courses and golf associations were popping up across the country, holding championships, organizing team matches, devising handicaps and providing a structure for the growth of the game.

However, by 1920 the Metropolitan Golf Association, with a multi-state view of its role, had emerged as a premier regional golf association and assumed a leading role in New York’s part in the golf boom. There were other associations and loose alliances in pockets of the state, but nothing rose to a level of governance. New York was, therefore, one of the few states at that time without its own golf association or championship.

It took an early 1923 column by Grantland Rice, generally regarded as America’s premier sportswriter, with an assist by Walter J. Travis, a leader of the Garden City Golf Club and proud disruptor of the already staid world of golf, to get things going. Rice loudly opined in Travis’ American Golfer magazine that New York state should have its own state association and championship. He followed that up with calls to prominent New York golfers.

Famed sports writer Grantland Rice was an early board member for the NYSGA.

Invitations went out to 150 clubs across New York, describing an association whose objective would be to “foster closer and more intimate relations in and among the great body of golfers in this state than is now possible.”

Yahnundasis Golf Club, the founding site of the NYSGA on August 9, 1923

That Aug. 9, at New Hartford’s Yahnundasis Golf Club, delegates from across New York unanimously voted to form the NYSGA, and — wasting no time — hold the first men’s championship later that year. 

Travis and Rice’s home club, Garden City, one of the nation’s most respected courses, offered to be the site of the late October match-play championship.

The first 100 years of the NYSGA were under way. 

Officers
Sherrill Sherman, Utica – President
Irving S. Robeson, Rochester  – 1st Vice President
Ganson Depew, Buffalo – 2nd Vice President
Don M. Parker, Garden City – Secretary-Treasurer

Executive Committee
John M. Ward, Garden City; Grantland Rice, New York City; John F. Nash, Syracuse; Richard B. Emmett, Schenectady; Gardiner White, Glen Cove; Alfred Bourne, Garden City; Clarence Wheeler, Rochester; and Harry Davis, Buffalo.

Ganson Depew of Buffalo, an early leader of the NYSGA and donor of the permanent NYS Men's Am trophy which he had made in New York City by the famed Tiffany & Co. for that inaugural championship at Garden City.

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The First Championship

The inaugural NYSGA Men’s Championship got off to a promising — if sodden — start. Garden City was host to the inaugural championship as the first shots were struck Oct. 24, 1923. Sixty-one golfers qualified over 18 holes for 16 match-play positions. Despite the NYSGA’s emphasis on a state-wide championship, the majority of golfers hailed from the metropolitan area, probably a reflection of both the event’s newness and the challenges of cross-state travel in 1923.

Eddie Driggs from Cherry Valley and Gardiner White, the 1921 Met Amateur champion from Nassau, carded 77s in solid rain to capture the medal. An early featured match included heavyweight White vs. Rochester’s Arthur “Ducky” Yates, a highly regarded former North and South Amateur champion and future (1927) NYSGA titleist, won by White. In the end, Driggs captured the finals in an 8-&-7 victory over Garden City member Clifton Mabon, foreshadowing future NYSGA Men’s Championship wins.

Eddie Driggs Jr. of Cherry Valley (left) and Arthur "Ducky" Yates of Rochester, both claimed early NYS Men's Am titles during the 1920s. Driggs captured the inaugural in 1923, while Yates won in 1927 at Oak Hill's famed East Course.


1925 & 1930 NYS Men's Am champion, Jack Mackie Jr. (right) pictured with his father who was a founder of the PGA of America and the head golf professional at Inwood CC.

The New York Times concluded that “The first championship tournament of the newly organized NYSGA more than justified itself.” It further wrote that a “strong entry in respect to both numbers and class . . . contended for the title.” 

The NYSGA Open

A sensible extension of the NYSGA’s mission and the fledgling Men’s Amateur championship was the concept of a New York State Open — that is, a competition for both the state’s best amateurs and professionals. The NYSGA decided to conduct the New York State Open starting in 1928, largely funded by the host, Onondaga.

The first New York State Open was intended strictly for residents of New York, but the princely purse of more than $2,000 — well beyond the norm for comparable events — drew an unsolicited contingent of touring professionals from across the country. In a Solomon-like decision, the NYSGA let the foreigners play. Will Klein, a club professional from Long Island, won the two-day, 72-hole event by a stroke over Scotsman-turned-Chicagoan Bob MacDonald.

The 1929 Open was held at Westchester the week before and just down the road from the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, guaranteeing a “Who’s Who of Golf'' quality field that included Billy Burke, Harry Cooper, Johnny Farrell, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen (all U.S. Open or PGA champions). Burke came out on top, his 1-under 287 beating unheralded George Christ by four.

Billy Burke tees off during the 2nd NYS Open conducted by the NYSGA in 1929 at Westchester CC.

The 1930 tournament at Green Meadow in Harrison in late June attracted a good field, including Burke, Wiffy Cox, Farrell and local favorite Joe Turnesa. Farrell captured the top prize with a birdie on the last hole for an even-par 288 and a two-shot victory over Cox. 

Despite featuring major tournament winners and excellent venues, the New York State Open faced strong headwinds. The Great Depression was having its way with professional sports, especially golf, which was dependent on business sponsors. In late 1930, the NYSGA decided to drop the State Open as financially prohibitive, intending instead to focus on amateur events. 

The New York State Open remained mothballed until 1978, when the Metropolitan section of the PGA of America successfully revived the tournament.

Sherrill Sherman

The first president of the NYSGA was Sherrill Sherman, son of U.S. Vice President James Sherman (under President Howard Taft). The senior Sherman imbued his son with a decision to service. Like Theodore Havemayer, the first president of the USGA, Sherman was the right person at the right time. A volunteer to both the NYSGA and his club, Yahnundasis, Sherman was a rock of support for decades to both. 

Sherrill Sherman of Utica, the inaugural president of the NYSGA. Pictured right with Walter Travis, who designed Yahnundasis GC where he was a prominent member.

Sherman remained NYSGA president for just two years, stepping down to assume the role as first vice president under Don Parker, another anchor board member in the NYSGA’s earliest years. Over three decades, Sherman served in every position the organization could offer. Notably, whenever issues rose with other institutions, from banks to the USGA, it was Sherman who made the issues go away. 

In 1956, he said, “Since the formation of the state association I have served continually in different positions, and it has always been a matter of great personal pleasure to have had this opportunity for continued service.” Sherman could have been the poster child for effective board membership.

Furthermore, he was a rare golf administrator who could also seriously play the game. Sherman played in 18 straight U.S. Amateurs, making it to the semifinals in 1915. He was the Yahnundasis club champion nine times over 27 years. In 1941, Sherman captured the NYSGA Senior Men’s Amateur. In a crowning recognition for his contribution to the game, Sherman eventually became a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

Familiar Faces: 

• The winner of the 1929 NYSGA Men’s Amateur Championship was Maurice McCarthy, a Mount Vernon resident who was also the NCAA champion playing out of Georgetown.

• Rochester’s Arthur “Ducky” Yates, one of the more colorful players of New York’s Roaring ’20s, was a former football lineman at Yale who strained the scales at 300 pounds. Yates won not only the 1927 NYSGA Men’s Am, but also the 1925 North and South Amateur Championship and was a semifinalist in the 1931 U.S. Amateur Championship.

• Lee Chase won the 1924 Men’s Amateur in his hometown of Buffalo, winning the title at Orchard Park. He had also won the Florida State Amateur that season, having a winter home down there.

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Written by freelance golf writer Kevin Casey, author of Remarkable Stories of NJ Golf