The Maryland State Golf Association held its 102nd annual meeting at the Chartwell Golf & Country Club in Severna Park on November 18, 2022. Among the features was the installation of new officers and directors, headed by Ted Florenz, president from Chartwell Golf & Country Club. Florenz becomes the 98th Maryland State Golf Association president and the third to represent Chartwell G&CC. As has been the custom, the meeting was held at the club of the incoming president.
Ted Florenz & Diane Herndon
Message from President Ted Florenz:
“I am honored and excited to be the next president of the Maryland State Golf Association.
Joining Florenz as an officer is Cliff Patterson, Manor Country Club, Vice President. Jack Barse, Columbia Country Club, will remain Secretary, and Diane Herndon, Argyle Country Club, will become Treasurer.
The previously elected directors will continue to serve as directors: Sinclair Eaddy Jr., Jan Miller, Mike Hinkey, Rebecca Krimski, Bob Van Namen, Armando DelToro, Sue Daley, and Randy Woods. Alan Schroeder (Green Spring Valley Hunt Club) and Bill Tignanelli (Winters Run Golf Club) are newly elected officers for three years.
Awards
Bill Smith & John Pauliny
John Pauliny, Hillendale Country Club, became the eleventh recipient of the Dawson Stump Award for his years of distinguished service. He served as the president of the Maryland State Golf Association (MSGA) in 2010 and has been the Treasurer of the MSGA since 2011. Former Executive Director Bill Smith present Pauliny with the award.
Jake Griffin, from Kensington, Maryland, and a member of Argyle Country Club, earned the Player of the Year title for 2022.
Griffin won the Player of the Year with 685 points, 100 points ahead of runner-up Kevin Grady from Rolling Road Golf Club. Griffin won the 102nd Maryland State Amateur at his home club, finished fourth at the Maryland Open, and earned low amateur honors at Manor Country Club.
Vance Welch, from Fulton, Maryland, and a Hobbit’s Glen Golf Club member, earned the Senior Player of the Year title for 2022. Welch won the Senior Player of the Year with 437.5 points, 182.5 points ahead of Tucker Sampson from Manor Country Club. He earned points in the following events: Maryland Senior Amateur, Maryland State Amateur, Mid-Atlantic Senior Amateur, Washington Metropolitan Senior Amateur, and the Maryland Mid-Amateur. Most notably, in 2022, Welch finished second in the Maryland Senior Amateur Championship at The Elkridge Club.
Scholarships
The Maryland State Golf Association Scholarship was organized in 2006 for exclusively charitable and educational purposes, including to award educational scholarships to individuals employed by MSGA member clubs/courses and/or their children, and to students having completed their junior year of high school with a bona fide connection to the game of golf. With additional funding, the MSGA was able to award two additional scholarships in 2022.
Katherine Seal is a freshman student-athlete on the Women’s Field Hockey team at Roanoke College. Katherine formerly worked at Baltimore Country Club as an Aquatics Manager and participated in numerous sports growing up. She has used sports to help navigate challenges and learn valuable strengths about herself. Katherine is studying Health Sciences and hopes to be a Child Life Specialist.
Nicole Butterworth attends the University of Georgia, where she studies genetics to understand the role genetics play in diseases better and make a difference as a doctor/researcher. Nicole played on her high school varsity golf team and was the team captain. Nicole uses her golf strategies in her daily life to tackle her goals by “taking note of potential hazards and their consequences, then reflecting on the action and looking into ways [she] can improve.”
The following students had their MSGA scholarships renewed: Nathan Brice, UCLA; Sarah Rose Craft, University of Georgia; and Tyler Ebersole, University of Alabama.
Dave King & Amanda Deener
The David King Scholarship is awarded annually to a deserving student in the amount of $2,500. The scholarship is funded by Dave King’s financial gift to the MSGA. Mr. King won the Maryland Amateur (1969 & 1971), Mid-Amateur (1987), Senior Amateur (1999), and three Mixed Two-Balls, and was a member of three Bethesda CC State Championship Teams.
This year’s recipient is Amanda Deener, a Junior at Shepherd University studying Social Work and an active Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority member. She is also proud to be a member of Shepherd’s first Women’s Golf Team and is their #1 player. She finished T2 in an NCAA fall invitational tournament last season. Amanda has maintained the Dean’s list each semester, contributing to her team earning the highest GPA among all sports in their conference.
The MSGA-Women’s Division established the Caves Valley Golf Club Foundation Scholarship In 2017 for $2,000, to be awarded annually to a female student who has completed her junior year of high school and has a bona fide connection to golf. This year the Caves Valley Golf Club Foundation awarded two scholarships.
Marin Moore is a freshman at Dickinson College studying Data Analytics and Gender and Sexuality Studies. She grew up playing golf and was later the captain of her high school varsity golf team. Marin hopes to work as a data analyst for a non-profit organization and combine her fields of study to use data to solve real-world problems and promote parity and diversity where they are most lacking, such as in the golf community.
Hallie Bridgers is a Junior at Alabama State University studying Psychology with a minor in Social Work and is a member of the Women’s golf team. Hallie’s dream is to give back to the golf community by offering underprivileged young boys and girls an opportunity to learn the game of golf.
The Country Club of Maryland Scholarship is awarded to one student who has completed their junior year of high school and has a bona fide connection to golf. This scholarship is funded by the Country Club of Maryland and is awarded annually for $2,000.
This year’s recipient is Sirui Xue, a freshman at Columbia University as an Egleston Scholar. She is majoring in Computer Science and is a member of the Girls Who Code, Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization, Google Developer Students, and Math clubs at the University. Sirui attended the LPGA Leadership Academy in New Jersey this past July, which allowed her “to see the parallels between [her] academics and golf, [and] taught [her] the importance of teamwork and using the power pose to show confidence both on the course and off the course.” She plans to continue pursuing her interests in golf and STEM to motivate younger girls like herself, to be a leader in these fields.
The Hinkey-Benson Scholarship is a Family STEM Scholarship funded by Michael Hinkey and Kathryn Benson’s financial gift to the Maryland State Golf Association. It is designated to provide scholarship assistance to students with a bona fide connection to the golf industry in Maryland and awarded to students who are majoring in or intend to major in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, with a preference towards computer science and engineering students.
Erica Honadel is a Senior at Aberdeen High School who has a passion for mathematics and learning languages. She is trilingual in Korean, Chinese, and English and is learning French. She enjoys golfing, playing piano, swimming, and skiing in her free time. Erica plans to apply to Yale, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon to study Statistics and Data Science and pursue a career with the NSA, or State Department, where she can combine her passions for math and languages while working in a capacity to serve her country.
New in 2022, The Andy Tignanelli Memorial Scholarship was established. Bill Tignanelli funds the scholarship with the purpose of providing scholarship assistance to students with a bonafide connection to the golf industry in Maryland. Two $2,000 scholarships are awarded to one male and one female student. The two recipients are Will Kirkpatrick and Julian Lutz.
Will Kirkpatrick is a junior at Temple University, majoring in Journalism. He writes for Temple University’s radio station and newspaper and worked as an intern at WXPN, the University of PA’s NPR-sponsored station. Will aspires to work for a large company in the field of journalism. He is actively looking for freelance work in journalism and photography.
Julian Lutz has been working in the turf industry for almost five years and currently attends the Rutger Professional Turf Management School. She formerly worked at Caves Valley Golf Club, which has inspired her to work towards becoming a Director of Agronomy at a top 100 golf course in the US and “make her mark” as a female in the industry.
In addition to its scholarships, The Emmet Gary Scholarship is sponsored by the MSGA for $12,000, in addition to the MSGA Scholarships, which is presented annually to agronomy students at the University of Maryland. Many of the students have become golf course superintendents in Maryland and across the country.
Dr. Mark Carroll, from the University of Maryland, spoke about the scholarships’ positive impact on students in the Turf and Golf Course Management program.
James (Jimmy) Danielczyk is a senior at the University of Maryland pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Science. His concentration within this major is Turf and Golf Course Management. Jimmy is a Hereford High School graduate resident of Sparks, Maryland. For the past two summers, he has interned at Rum Pointe Seaside Golf Links in Berlin, MD.
Guest Speaker Andrew Green
Golf Architect Andrew Green of A.H. Green Design/Green Golf & Turf, Inc. spoke about his most recent renovations at Chartwell Golf & Country Club, Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), and The Preserve at Eisenhower Golf Course. Green spoke passionately about how golf courses and architecture should use the land it sits on rather than using machines to manufacture a golf course.
Message from Outgoing President Diane Herndon:
“I remember one of my earlier tournaments after joining the MSGA Board. We were at Norbeck holding the Junior Championship. On #17, I noticed a young player, probably around 12 years old, looking for his ball against the OB fence. I helped him, and we found his ball. I asked him if he wanted to know his options since his ball was sort of lodged against the fence. I proceeded to explain how to take unplayable ball relief. He then asked me, if he took unplayable ball relief, that would be for his Eagle, and then the next stroke would be his Birdie shot, Right? I couldn’t help but smile; what a positive way to approach a penalty shot. Leave it to our youth to be so open and positive on the course. I loved his thought process. I’ve tried to approach golf and life in general with an open mind and a positive attitude. I also tried to do so during my tenure on the MSGA Board. So let me just say…. It’s been a great year!
Personally, I have really enjoyed my Presidency. There have been a few challenging situations that occurred, but I tend to enjoy challenges, and I enjoy working with others to fix things and make them right and better than they were before.
I have many of you to thank for our success, particularly my success.
Many of you players were so kind to me and even congratulated me when I was elected. It was very special to me. We strive to put on the best tournaments we can. Thank you for playing in our tournaments and events.
I enjoyed working with the golf professionals in our state. You are all truly gems and talk about professionalism, I don’t think anyone can be any better than our Club pros. I thank you all for the support you give to me and our organization. We can’t do what we do without you. I want to give a special shout-out to KT (Kevin Taylor), who helped us move one of our Women’s tournaments eight days prior to the tournament date. We could not play at the venue we had chosen, so Kevin stepped up and allowed us to play at Argyle. Kevin goes above and beyond in helping the MSGA.
I also want to thank our Board. What a fabulous group of men and women. As the old saying goes, you say “jump,” and they just ask “how high”. I’ve enjoyed working with everyone for a common cause, making the MSGA the best it can be.
Lastly, I have also had the pleasure of working with a fabulous staff at the Maryland State. Kelly, Elisa, James, Kevin, and Grace are the most creative and competent, people I have ever worked with. And, they work using kindness as a guide. I’ve enjoyed all the time I’ve spent with them, and I look forward to working with them for years to come.
We have a lot of great things to come to the MSGA and Ted will talk about those when the time is right. For now, Happy Trails to All of You!!”
2022 Champions
- Men’s Amateur – Jake Griffin (Argyle Country Club)
- Women’s Amateur– Clare Connolly (Chevy Chase Club)
- Men’s Open– Evan Katz (p)
- Women’s Open – Jean Reynolds (p)
- Men’s Senior Open – Kevin Kraft (p)
- Men’s Mid-Am – Kevin Grady (Rolling Road GC)
- Pro-Amateur – Tyler Newton & Jason Ferguson (Maryland G&CC)
- Women’s Mid-Am – Elisabeth Herzfeld-Rice (Clustered Spires GC)
- Men’s Senior Amateur – Tom Winegardner (The Cannon Club)
- Women’s Senior Amateur – Amy Phelan (Worthington Manor GC)
- Junior Boys – Thomas Chalfant (Bethesda CC)
- Junior Girls – Irene Kim (YOC)
- Father Son – Clive & Aaron Williams (Woodholme CC)
- Men’s Four-Ball – Tanner Briele & Aaron Williams (Woodholme CC)
- Men’s Senior Four-Ball – John Stroop & Bob Digby (GC at South River)
- Mixed Two-Ball – Liza & Henry Blue (Elkridge Club)
- Two-Woman Team – Kimbra Benson & Renee Hatcher (Breton Bay G&CC)
- Two-Woman Mid-Handicap – Tisha McCoy & Mary Kay Mosch (Eagle’s Nest CC)
- Men’s Team Championship – Baltimore Country Club
- Women’s Team Championship – Congressional Country Club
- Men’s Senior Team Championship – Hayfields Country Club
- Mid Atlantic Junior Invitational – Virginia
- Senior Challenge Matches – Maryland
- International Mid-Am Team – Maryland
- Poindexter Cup – Maryland
- Mid-Atlantic Challenge – Carolinas
Thank you to Chartwell Golf & Country Club, Rob Agresti (Head Golf Professional), Emily Tipton (Director of Events), and Richard Marr (General Manager) for a great evening.
