The 2024 MGA Schedule reveal is officially underway! Director of Championships Chris Gaffney and host Shane Bacon run through the championship season and discuss the events and host sites.
2024 Championship Registration: https://www.mgagolf.org/content/2024-schedule
Welcome everybody to the 2024 MGA Championship preview show presented by doers I’m Shane bacon Chris Gaffney with with us the director of championships for the MGA exciting lineup this year but before we get to 24 I wanted to just touch on a couple of the Championships
From 2023 really good season in 2023 I think you look back at the year and Friar’s head for The Meta amateur was definitely kind of the Pinnacle for the schedule for us but when you look back at the three Majors just a really really good year we started at a brook long
Country Club for the ike Championship your home club uh frier head for the medam and then wrapped up with the Met open at arola so really successful 2023 and I think uh we followed up with a pretty good one in 24 nothing killed me more last year than having to miss out
On the med am I was so bummed out you know work occasionally will get in the way but still never played friars and it’s still got to get it knocked out before we kind of get to all the schedu in the golf courses we have for 24 in terms of the Championships something
Exciting on the schedule us adaptive open obviously has been a great Initiative for the USGA now we’re going to have qualifiers one of them coming to the Met area 2024 is the first time we’re going to have qualifying for the Adaptive open so two successful championships and the USGA really made
It a priority to have uh their format for all other championships a few qualifiers lead into the championship proper so we’re one of six associations hosting a qualifier this year so really excited to be a part and I mean it it’s going to be like you said it’s it’s
Going to it’s going to mimic and mirror what we see with USGA Championship qualifying I mean there’s going to be local qualifying into final qualifying to get into that adaptive championship for this it’s going to be all local qualifying so six qualifiers and really interesting as there’s all different
Yardages teeing areas in play for this qualifier so uh different than the others but that same structure with uh being able to play your way into the championship how pumped was the MGA to be one of those uh associations that got an opportunity to be a part of this yeah
We’re really excited I think it’s rare for an association as old as we are to do something for the first time and adaptive qualifying is just that so uh a bit nerve-wracking big undertaking for us but really excited to be a part of it final stage Us open qualifying it’s
Always on the schedule we know where it’s going to be great Golf Course great host yeah back at Cano Brook this year and always a fun day it’s a special day for us to be a part of 36 holes of golf puncher ticket to the National Championship so really special for us
And I think the cool thing to look at this year is US amateur is going to transition into that same type of form at so they’ll be a local 18-hole qualifier and then a final stage 18-hole qualifier so US Open US amateur both two stages now and for the US amateur will
Be at Weill Country Club for the final qualifier another really great site in Westchester recently hosted New York State amateur so uh two really big ones for us this year on the USGA side and you mentioned the transition in terms of Amer qualifying uh also Med am gets into
The US amiter right gets an exemption straight into the US Amer this year it does and I think really really exciting for us having the champion be exempt into the championship this year so uh a special new thing for us with the Met amateur and then you look at the two
Stages certain players will be exempt into the final stage I think nice to see them continue to build out the US amateur as it gets more and more popular Chris I think the year I qualified for the US Amer they went okay we obviously got to change this for next year we
Can’t just let this guy get into another one but uh I’ll be battling again we’ll see we’ll see what 24 looks like in terms of the qualifying for sure so let’s dive into the senior Vince for 2024 I know you’re kind of getting the going on the championship schedule with
The seniors senior amateur Championship typically kicks off our season so we’ll be at Glenn Arbor this year a Gary Player designed for the championship two-day event 36 holes that’ll kick off the year so you kick it off with the am how about the senior open Senior Open
Comes later in the year right after the Met open so really two big weeks of uh Open Championship golf and we’ll be at the SE Wayne Club who has been a great partner of golf whether it’s our foundation or the championship program Deo EMT design and should be an
Exceptional venue for this Championship it feels like we go through these golf courses on the schedule this year and everyone feels like it’s been designed by a classic designer or a modern designer that does Unbelievable work or it’s been restored to its original existence I mean it’s so cool to see the
Mix of designers with some of the golfes on the schedule in 24 it is and it’s almost hard to find some of the history for the places because you see so many different Architects have their hand on it so even in some of these cases we mentioned one name and there’s a couple
In there but no shortage of great architectural courses out there this year Chris with the MGA how do you go about picking venues for Championship golf because it feel like you do such a great job of kind of pinpointing different areas of the Met area to make
Sure you’re kind of ticking off boxes in certain venues for our major championships and and really for most of our championships we try to rotate so uh between Long Island New Jersey and then that Westchester Connecticut area so it’s the great thing is we we have a nice balance in the championship
Schedule where we kind of hit every region and then you look around at the golf courses that we have here and we end up at some pretty great yeah it’s hard to mess this up I’ll say that the golf courses are pretty unbelievable and
You as you said I mean you talk about an embarrassment of riches I mean this is the best golf in the world in my opinion I totally agreed and I think might be a little biased but when you look at the schedule again this year I think we we
Prove it in Spades year in and year out you can be bias that’s part of the job as we transition into the junior events The Carter cup obviously with the work happening at balst upper very excited by the way to see what Gil Hance does there
The lower has been so great in terms of the restoration work there but a bit of a transition for the C Cup this year it it is and I I think you look at uh great venues The Carter cup nothing matches the Carter cup I mean we’re at balol
Each year playing the upper and lower course and then we have these off years with uh construction going on at Bol and we head over to Westchester to Wingfoot anothering by the way I I love that you go ah We’re not gonna work Bol this year we’ll go to Wingfoot instead exactly so
Another tilling has two golf courses uh the Juniors will get to play both the East and the West course at Wingfoot so uh new venue this year but another great place and Carter Cup’s always special for us it’s an Invitational Memorial event for Michael Carter who is a member
At both balol and Wingfoot so really special event for us is that always going to be in in terms of the sister course if you can’t play balst Ro is it always going to kind of transition to Wing foot because of the history there for the most part we did go to Cano
Brook one year another great 36 Hall facility due to uh I think national championships at both golf courses so we do have a third one that comes in the rotation a really really special lineup for that we go from wing for the juniors to an unbelievable host as well for the
Met Junior Sunnydale Country Club is one that’s on the schedule year in and year out really special from an architech perspective you see the work of Seth rer CB McDonald Walter Travis and tilling Hass the superintendent sha Kane keeps the place in Immaculate condition really a an enjoyable Golf Course a lot of
Birdie opportunities out there which bodess well for match play and you look back at the last major event we had there was the Westchester open in 2018 Cameron young won by seven shots and he’s also a past Junior and Carter Cup champion so pretty cool to see the
History there and I think another young star will be punching his ticket this year the the excitement for junior golf right now is at an all-time high at least in my opinion just watching how good they are and how good they can be so quickly uh it must be exciting for
You guys as well we continue to see it with the success of the junior golfers and just the great play throughout the Met area great play Great Golf coures exciting to see the championship venues this year for Met Golf we’ll be back after this break all right Chris what I’m excited about
What I look forward to on the schedule is major championship season great golf courses as always but we start with the ike which is going to be a part of kind of a back-to-back event at the same Golf Course Nassau Country Club will host both the women’s met amateur uh one week
In June and then the following week we’ll host our first major of the year uh the men’s Ike Championship so pretty pretty fun for us as a staff to be at the same venue back to back and uh it’ll be nice to really spend that much time
On the golf course for two major events is it super helpful for you guys to be able to roll into back-to-back tournaments I think about the US open at Pinehurst and you know the slight tweaks you could make week to week but getting a chance to see the same golf course
Both on the men’s side and the women’s side it is we get to really see how the course plays I think when you have a superintendent uh like you do at nasau Country Club they’re able to kind of react to the conditions assuming the weather’s good so it’ll let us learn a
Lot kind of see some whole locations that first week and then uh be able to make some adjustments for the following week and gives us a nice kind of Runway because we’ll want to make the course a little firmer and faster the following week so should be a nice lineup for
Those two weeks Med am last year at an unreal venue as we mentioned off the top Med am going to go to another unreal venue in 2024 headed to Somerset Hills in New Jersey so another course all three Majors founded in the late 1800s so a lot of historic Golf Course courses
And Somerset Hills is arguably one of the most pure tilling has golf courses out there and you look at it it’s a tail of the two NES with the front nine being more open you kind of see it all as you drive in and then the back nine you Wind
Through the Woods a little bit but one one of my personal favorites and a really special venue for The Med amateur I know you guys had a mid am out there out there a few years ago and it can get tricky I mean these these greens are wild they’re everything you want and
More in terms of what a tilling has screen can look like and play like they are and I think it’s the nice thing with the Met amateur we have two rounds of stroke play so for the players you just need to survive day one survive just get
Through and then you get to match play and you’ll get to see a lot of those kind of unique tilling has hole locations that uh you might only want to use in match play and really big year for Somerset Hills it’s actually their 125th anniversary the 122nd playing of
The Met amateurs so really big year for the club as we sit in this beautiful clubhouse at a beautiful perched up you know venue at weeburn excited to be here obviously when the trees start to to bloom a little bit the the leaves come back and you’re going to see this place
Hosting the meta open great great to be here for the meta Open Championship uh we bur Country Club has never hosted it before a historic Club in the area you look around and see a clubhouse the bar around us exceptional Golf Course out there and I think we’re in for a true
Open test this year with how web bur’s going to play what about the met midam this is something I obviously circle on on my calendar as as a newly 40-year-old man out here trying to compete and play some golf yeah so for us we’re headed to manisan River so a little further down
South in New Jersey by the shore last year we were at Country Club of Fairfield so you get a similar experience where weather’s really going to dictate what happens out there you get a good run there could be uh some scoreable conditions but if the wind’s
Blown it’ll be tough last year could not have had a better finish yet had Brad Tilly Mark castanza in a playoff two of the best mid-ams in the country and heading down to Jersey for this one should be a really good venue for Country Club of Fairfield is just an
Unbelievable spot the mid am always a great event so fun to watch you know we talked about junior golf off the top but the compe aess of midam golf right now I mean you talk about it feeling so much different than it did in the early 2000s
With what midam golf not just was and existed as but the competition within it I mean you talk about somebody like Brad Tilly a buddy of mine I mean Tilly can compete in a US amiter he could qualify for US Open I mean that’s the level of
Golf we’re seeing with the mid AMS these days it is and I think as you see more professionals come back with amateur reinstatement you’ve seen a huge reinvigoration in the mid- amateur game both Mark and Brad came back had tried to professional back on the amateur side
And it’s really bolstered what the midam game looks like and especially you look at our area right now there’s a lot of guys who are buying for USGA championships the US midam and wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them do it in the next couple years we’re going to
Take a break and be right back we welcome you back to the MGA Championship preview show touched on the the majors touched on the seniors touched on the Juniors so many great events on the schedule in 2024 let’s touch on a couple in the fall one of
Those being the feral and event I’ve played in in the past at stanwich historic golf course with crazy greens and it’ll be a third year there for the Ferell stanwich has been a great host we’ve had a tough run weatherwise early on but hoping for a great day this year
And frell’s a special one it’s an Invitational a national event something different on the calendar for us and you have the women’s midm Med’s midm and men’s senior divisions in there as well so really a fun event for us at the end of the year it feels like an enormous
Golf event and it’s so cool that it’s International along with being obviously an imitational the the club has done an unbelievable job really getting this event off the ground and it’s great for us to partner with them to run it and their their hospitality is really
Unmatched and golf course is as good as it gets another course with Bentgrass greens that can get really Speedy in October and you look at two years so far we’ve had some great Champions and last year we had a an international winner for the women’s division a local winner
For the men’s midam and then a national winner for the men’s senior so kind of exactly what we would hope to see for that event where you still have plenty of local representation but it’s a high ranked International wagger event have a lot of people flying in for it I mean I
Think that’s the thing that really blew me away in year two was seeing some of the names on the list of invitations it’s just crazy to think about you know it’s later in the season you’ve had a long year you’ve played all over the country and then you come here for this
Event I mean it’s really grown in Prestige quickly in its existence it has and it’s nice for us to interact with a whole different group of players and and really to see a club in our area member Club be able to show off that kind of met area Hospitality for an
Event like this is always special and seeing the reaction of the players coming from outside of the area to see what this place is like and what the hospitality is like is something else I wear my vest a lot by the way my faal
Vest gets a lot of play you know I’m a logo guy great logo at Sandwich what about the international matches because I know I know that the Mets going to be headed to Paris France potentially at the end of the year if you play some great off the team is headed there and
They’re following up uh the first victory in 31 years for the French American challenge so they’ve got a lot of big shoes to fill this year for the first time in a long time and headed to Fontan blue Golf Club in Paris so it should be a good one and it’ll be a
Benchmark for a lot of players to try to make that team this year yeah you got a trip to Paris and you get to play a little bit of golf internationally very very cool and just so many great events in 2024 with so many great golf courses
I know we touched on a few but do any stand out to you or is there one you’re the most exciting to get to in 24 Public links always jumps out for us as you’ve seen certain events go by the wayside over the years we continue to put a lot
Of emphasis on our public golfers and had a really great turnout last year and we returned to Spook Rock Golf Course in Suffern uh I think a lot of players who aren’t from that area don’t know the golf course but really a fun one right at the foothills of the ram Ramapo
Mountains and uh they always get in great condition for the championship so really excited for that one and Chris just a few more of the events on the schedule for 24 a few to look at we have the women’s public links championship at Beth Page yellow the father and son will
Be played at Springdale and then the parent and child heads out east to Nissa qua Golf Club three more to look forward to we have the long drive championship at Beth Page Polo Field the virtual inter Club Championship and then the senior Masters Championship which will be at Southward ho and exceptional aw
Tilling has golf course as we wind down this 2024 MGA Championship preview show just give people an idea of where they can go to look at the schedule events where they can sign up all those good things the schedule will be available on mgagolf.org all registration opening
March 1st so everybody can go there our social channels will have everything uh promoted as well I’ll be hovering on on the laptop on March 1st making sure I get into the events they fill up fast I mean you got to dive in there quickly
And if you’re not in obviously you get a chance to play the qualifiers which are well-run as well so exciting just a reminder March 1st the day you can start to register for these great championships we are excited for this 20 24 season this has been the MGA Championship preview show presented by
Doers
1 Comment
Nicely done Shane & Chris. Looks like an incredible year!