WHO ARE WE?
ACRONYMS ABOUND
Keeping track of the different acronyms and abbreviations surrounding the governing bodies of golf can be a challenge, but
each association plays a vital role in the success of golf in our state.
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the CSGA gives back more
than $325,000 per year to assist
scholarships, organizations and member
clubs with the purpose of benefiting golf in
Connecticut. Keeping track of each of these
associations can be a daunting task even for the
most seasoned volunteers and staff members of
our association.
As of the last count, there are twentyone such organizations with their reaches in
Connecticut that benefit the game of golf
and the CSGA often receives phone calls
to our offices in Rocky Hill meant for these
other organizations. There is often a sense of
confusion about each association’s role and
which to contact with specific questions. The
aim of this article is to provide a little clarity
on some of these organizations and their
individual roles within the Connecticut golf
landscape.
So what is the CSGA and what is its
role? The CSGA functions as extension of the
United States Golf Association and provides
stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut.
The CSGA was founded in 1899 and is the
country’s oldest state golf association. At its
core, the CSGA is an association of member
clubs meaning that the ultimate goal of the
association is to promote, protect and preserve
the best interests of its member clubs.
The United States Golf Association,
founded in 1894 and located in Far Hills, New
Jersey, has the not so simple task of being the
governing body for amateur golf in the United
States and Mexico. The USGA, along with
the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, works to
set worldwide standards of play for all golfers.
A few of the basic functions performed by
the USGA are writing and interpreting the
Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status,
formulating the systems for handicapping
and course rating, performing equipment
testing, and arguably its most visible which
is conducting national championships. The
USGA is structured very similarly to the
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One of the most visible roles of the CSGA is conducting over seventy days of competition and qualifiers each season for it’s
more than 40,000 members, including events like the Connecticut Amateur Championship that boasts a 113-year history of
champions.
CSGA in that it has a Board of Directors
and Executive Committee that set the goals
and policies of the organization and a staff
that works towards meeting and exceeding
those goals. The CSGA and the USGA have
a long standing relationship and the CSGA is
even tasked with assisting the USGA in club
licensing, handicapping and Rules of Golf
education and training, performing course
ratings on behalf of the USGA, and also by
conducting seven qualifiers for six different
USGA Championships.
A common question often asked of
our staff and volunteers is: Am I a member
of the CSGA? The answer is that if you
maintain a handicap index at any of the nearly
185 member clubs of the CSGA than you
are a member of the CSGA. However, we
often get a follow up question to that answer.
“But my handicap index is issued through
the Metropolitan Golf Association; does
that mean I’m not a member?” That leads us
to the next organization and the only other
full service golf association in the state of
Connecticut.
Connecticut State Golf Association 2014
In Fairfield County the CSGA and the
Metropolitan Golf Association overlap in
membership. The large majority of golf clubs
in this area of the state are members of both
associations although a handicap index is only
issued through one of the two associations.
The MGA is one of the largest regional golf
association’s in the country and works in a
similar fashion as the CSGA. The MGA
provides handicapping and course rating
services, conducts some of the oldest and
most prestigious championships in its region,
and has a large foundation that, among other
things, works to promote the game to golf ’s
next generation.
The
Connecticut
Women’s
Golf Association and the Southern New
England Women’s Golf Association are both
membership organizations with the purpose of
providing competitive playing opportunities
to women and junior girls. What many people
do not realize is that all of the members of
these two associations are also members of the
CSGA. Women actually make up nearly 25%
www.csgalinks.org