Monthly Archives: November 2025
Kevin Hammer Nominated as USGA President
The USGA has announced that Kevin Hammer of Florida has been nominated to serve as the Association’s 68th president.
Hammer’s nomination highlights the USGA Nominating Committee’s 2026 Executive Committee slate, joined by Brenda Corrie Kuehn of North Carolina and Suzy Whaley of Florida, who have each been nominated to serve on the USGA Executive Committee, a volunteer group of 15 people that provides strategic and financial oversight as the Association’s policymaking and governance board.
Leslie Henry of Texas, Bryan Lewis of Michigan, Michael McCarthy of California and Andy North of Wisconsin have all been nominated to serve a second three-year term on the Committee.
The election of Executive Committee members will take place at the USGA Annual Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in New York, N.Y.
Hammer, who will assume the presidency from Fred Perpall of Texas, is a former first-team American Junior Golf Association All-American who played collegiately at the University of Florida and has qualified for multiple USGA championships. He spent 10 years as a member of the Florida State Golf Association Executive Committee, including two years as president from 2020-21. Hammer, who is entering his fifth year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee, currently chairs the USGA’s Championship Committee and serves on the Compensation & Leadership Development, Governance, International Team Selection and Nominating committees.
Professionally, Hammer has been with Merrill Lynch for more than 25 years. He currently serves as the managing director of the firm’s Rubin, Hammer, Eaton & Conrad Wealth Management Group, which manages investments for individuals, families, foundations and professional athletes.
“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Kevin Hammer as the next president of the USGA,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan. “His deep passion for golf, experience and relationships across all levels of the game, and unwavering commitment to our mission make him the ideal person to lead our executive committee into the future. Together, we’ll continue driving the game forward, strengthening its future and deepening its impact.”
Joining Hammer, Henry, Lewis, McCarthy and North in returning to the USGA Executive Committee are: Sinclair Eaddy Jr. of Maryland; Andrew Biggadike of New Jersey; Dianne Dixon of Florida, David Dorton of Georgia; Virginia C. Drosos of Texas; Cathy Engelbert of New Jersey; Jim Gorrie of Alabama; and David Leitch of Virginia.
Per the association’s bylaws, if elected Kuehn and Whaley will each serve a three-year term beginning in 2026, with the potential to be elected for a second and final three-year term in 2029. They will assume seats vacated by Perpall, who will conclude his term as president at the USGA’s Annual Meeting in February, and Courtney Myhrum of Pennsylvania, who will retire after consecutive three-year terms on the Executive Committee.
Kuehn, a native of the Dominican Republic, earned her business degree from Wake Forest University, where she was a captain of the women’s golf team and three-time All-American with six individual victories, including the 1986 ACC Championship. After a brief professional career highlighted by one victory on the LPGA’s developmental Futures Tour, she regained her amateur status and earned her MBA at Babson College.
Her extensive playing career includes appearances in more than 60 USGA championships, including nine U.S. Women’s Opens. She is a two-time runner-up – in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and 2023 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur – and represented the USA in the 1996 and 1998 Curtis Cup Matches and Women’s World Amateur Team Championships, where she also represented the Dominican Republic, in 1986 and 2018. Within her home state, she has twice been named the Carolinas Golf Association Woman Golfer of the Year, with two Women’s Carolinas Amateur and two NC Senior Women’s Amateur titles.
She has been enshrined in the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame, the NCAA Golf Coaches Hall of Fame, the Dominican Golf Hall of Fame and the Dominican Sports Hall of Fame, where she and her father are the only golfers to have been inducted.
Professionally, Kuehn founded Stateside Services Inc., an international export service company that serviced eight countries in a variety of industries. When her father passed in 2005, she took over the family investment firm with the help of her sister. Kuehn has served at the board level at a variety of organizations, including the Corrie Foundation, Las Lagunas Golf Club, Henla Family Office and Valores Leon. She is currently a member of the Carolinas Golf Association Executive Committee and is a strong supporter of junior and women’s golf in her home state.
Whaley, a decorated professional and instructor, is well-known for her innovative leadership and commitment to teaching and growing the game. She was elected president of the PGA of America in 2018 – the first female elected to the position in the association’s history. During her tenure, she guided the Association through the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, launching the $8 million Golf Emergency Relief Fund to support golf industry personnel and spearheading the Back2Golf initiative alongside the CDC to ensure the safe return of play – resulting in record growth in rounds played.
Among her many accolades, Whaley has been named one of GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America, Golf Digest Top 50 Instructor, LPGA Top 50 Instructor, two-time Connecticut PGA Teacher of the Year, 10-time Golf Digest State Teacher of the Year and U.S. Kids Golf Master Kids Teacher. She earned her Master Professional status from the PGA of America in 2018. She has coached more than 300 junior golfers to the collegiate level and led teams at five PGA Junior League Championship finals. She has been honored with the Walter Hagen Ambassador of the Game Award (2023); Metropolitan Golf Association’s Distinguished Service Award (2019); AJGA’s Betsy Rawls Award (2017); Sports Business Journal Game Changer (2015); and the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun’s Margo Dydek Award (2015). She is a member of the Connecticut Section PGA Hall of Fame (2025), the PGA of America Hall of Fame (2023), Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame (2022), Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame and the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.
Competitively, Whaley played on the LPGA Tour in 1990 and 1993. In 2003, following her win at the Connecticut PGA Championship, she became the first woman since Babe Zaharias (1945) to qualify for a PGA Tour event, playing in the Greater Hartford Open. Among her competitive accolades, she is a three-time Connecticut Women’s Open champion, National LPGA T&CP champion, Connecticut PGA Section champion, Connecticut PGA Club Professional Champion and two-time LPGA Northeast T&CP section champion. She has played in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, LPGA Senior Women’s Championship and PGA Professional Championship.
Whaley, a graduate of the University of North Carolina with a degree in economics, is an advisor for and past president of Golf Nation, a pioneering online and connected TV OTT channel that blends golf lifestyle with video content on a shop-able streaming platform. She also serves as a golf broadcast analyst and commentator FOR PGA Tour Live and ESPN. She previously ran her own coaching business, Suzy Whaley Golf, and was an instructor at Jim Flick Golf Schools before becoming the head golf professional at Blue Fox Run in Avon, Conn. She currently serves on the ANNIKA Foundation Board, is an advisor for Sportsbox AI, and is the honorary chair for the PGA Reach Capital Campaign.
How to Turn Tournament Results into College Opportunities
By Rex Grayner, SVP Business Development, Hurricane Junior Golf Tour
Most players think if they just post a few good rounds, college coaches will find them.
But it doesn’t work that way.
Take Jackson, a high school junior from North Carolina. He played 15 tournaments last year and cut his scoring average by nearly four shots. He hit the gym, worked on course management, and finished top-10 in several strong HJGT fields.
On paper, he was doing everything right.
But by fall, he still hadn’t heard from a single coach.
When his family sat down to review what might be missing, the problem became clear.
He had been collecting results, not telling a story.
Scores Aren’t the Story. They’re the Evidence.
Coaches don’t scroll leaderboards looking for names they recognize.
They look for patterns.
They study how a player handles competition, what courses they’re playing, and whether their improvement is steady or erratic.
A single great round doesn’t make an impression. Consistency, growth, and context do.
The recruiting process isn’t about convincing a coach you’re perfect. It’s about helping them understand who you’re becoming.
That’s what separates a name on a leaderboard from a name on a roster.
What Coaches Actually Look For
Most families focus on scoring average, which matters. But coaches go deeper than that. Here’s what they’re really paying attention to:
- Strength of field. A 75 in a strong HJGT invitational tells a different story than a 72 in a local event with limited depth. Both are important and unique to the story you’re telling.
- Course setup. Was it 6,900 yards with firm greens, or 6,400 yards with lift, clean, and place? Context matters.
- Trendline. Coaches track direction. Are your scores improving across multiple events, or bouncing up and down?
- Finishing ability. They watch how players close rounds. A player who fights back from a rough start shows more value than one who coasts after an easy front nine.
- Composure. Coaches often talk with tournament staff and other players. How you carry yourself can outweigh a single bad hole.
When a coach reviews your results, they’re asking: Can I trust this player in my lineup?
Numbers alone can’t answer that. Your communication and consistency do.
How to Turn Your Results into Opportunity
If your son or daughter is in high school, here’s how to make their tournament performance work for them instead of sitting quietly on a scorecard.
Track your stats with intention. Keep more than total score. Record fairways, greens in regulation, and putts per round. Coaches want to see awareness. If you know what’s working and what isn’t, they see a player who takes ownership.
Create a short tournament summary after each event. Write three sentences that capture what went well, what you learned, and what you’ll focus on next time. This helps parents and coaches spot patterns and gives future conversations with college programs more depth.
Highlight growth, not perfection. When reaching out to coaches, avoid just listing finishes. Add a note like, “After struggling with distance control earlier this year, I’ve been working with my coach on wedge accuracy. Over my last four tournaments, proximity to the hole improved by five feet on average.” That’s how you show development.
Compete in fields that stretch you. A good finish in a tougher event is more meaningful than a win in a weak one. College coaches want to know how you perform when you’re uncomfortable.
Stay visible in quality tournaments. Play in multi-round events, especially those with rankings or larger fields. One-day events are fine for practice, but they rarely move the needle with coaches.
Communicate your progress regularly. Send short updates to coaches you’ve already contacted. Include a recent highlight, a new score trend, or your next event schedule. Keep it conversational and genuine. The goal isn’t to sell. It’s to build a relationship.
Balance your schedule. You don’t need to play every weekend. You need to play smart. Mix HJGT Majors, Invitationals, and College Prep Series events with a few local and regional tournaments that fit your goals. Quality over quantity every time.
A Coach’s Perspective
Last month, I spoke with a Division I assistant coach who’s recruited dozens of players with HJGT tournament experience on their resumes.
He told me, “The kids who communicate the right way stand out immediately. They know where their game is trending, they understand what they need to work on, and they’re not afraid to talk about the bad rounds. That honesty makes me want to keep watching.”
That’s the key. Coaches are drawn to players who demonstrate awareness, not perfection.
A bad round that leads to a good conversation is often more powerful than a medal.
Building Your Story Starts Now
If your player is a freshman or sophomore, this is the perfect time to start. Don’t wait until junior year to build a resume that tells your story.
Every event, every stat, every note you take becomes a piece of the narrative.
For juniors, now’s the time to fine-tune how you present it. You’ve gathered data. You’ve learned what you can handle under pressure. The next step is communicating it effectively.
That’s where most families struggle. They have the information. They just don’t know how to package it.
The Takeaway
Tournament results are the foundation of recruiting, but they only matter if someone sees what they mean.
Help coaches connect the dots. Show them the growth between rounds, the maturity between events, and the player behind the numbers.
When you turn results into story, you turn effort into opportunity.
Next Step for Families
If you’d like help building that plan, the HJGT Player Development Team offers complimentary sessions to review your schedule and suggest events that best fit your college goals. Schedule Your Free Session Here →
Metedeconk National G.C. Awarded 2029 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball
Metedeconk National Golf Club, in Jackson Township, N.J., has been chosen by the USGA as the host site for the 2029 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. It will be the first USGA championship contested at the club.
“We’re proud to bring a USGA championship to Metedeconk National Golf Club for the first time,” said Mark Hill, USGA managing director of championships. “Metedeconk’s commitment to excellence and its championship-caliber design will provide an exceptional experience for players and a worthy test for the game’s best amateurs.”
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Roger Rulewich, Metedeconk National first opened its doors in 1987. When the 1,200-acre plot was purchased by Richard and Herb Sambol in the 1970s, it was intended for residential development. The Sambols planned to also build a golf course as an amenity to draw investors to develop houses on the land. As the project progressed, Richard Sambol – with the inspiration of Jones – changed the plans from a housing development to a championship-level golf facility that features 27 holes.
“Metedeconk National Golf Club is honored to host its first USGA championship, and we are looking forward to partnering with the USGA to provide a world-class event for our competitors,” said club president Robert DiLeo. “On behalf of our members, we are excited to welcome the world’s best amateurs to our exceptional club.”
The golf course, which can be stretched to more than 7,400 yards, features multiple teeing options and several water hazards, hallmarks of a Jones design. Located less than 30 miles east of Trenton, the layout winds through marshland and lowland pine forest, providing both beauty and strategic challenge.
This will be the second U.S. Amateur Four-Ball conducted in the state of New Jersey, and the first of back-to-back Four-Balls to be played in the Garden State. The Ridgewood Country Club, in Paramus, will host the 2030 championship, and earlier this year, Will Hartman and Tyler Mawhinney won the title with their 3-and-1 victory over Evan Beck and Dan Walters at Plainfield C.C., in Edison in the final match. The duo became the fourth set of teens in championship history to win the title.
The championship will also be the 66th USGA championship in the state. In 2022, Sam Bennett ousted Ben Carr, 1 up, to win the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club. Michael Thorbjornsen defeated Akshay Bhatia, 1 up, to claim the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol G.C., in Springfield. One year prior, Sung Hyun Park shot 11-under 277 to capture the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National G.C. (Old Course), in Bedminster.
The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball was first played in 2015 and in 2025, the championship received 2,482 entries (sides). The championship is open to amateur golfers whose Handicap Index® does not exceed 2.4. A starting field of 128 sides (256 players) will play two rounds of stroke play, with the low 32 sides (64 players) advancing to match play. Five 18-hole rounds of match play will determine the champion. The champions are awarded an exemption into that year’s U.S. Amateur, which in 2029 will be held at Inverness Club, in Toledo, Ohio.
The stroke-play co-host venue for the championship has not yet been announced.
Future U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Sites
2026 – Desert Mountain Club (Cochise Course), Scottsdale, Ariz.
2027 – Erin Hills, Erin, Wis.
2028 – Chambers Bay, University Place, Wash.
2029 – Metedeconk National Golf Club, Jackson, N.J.
2030 – The Ridgewood Country Club, Paramus, N.J.
2037 – Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort
