History_________________________________ Section Origin

H I S T O R Y O F T H E S E C T I O N S E C T I O N O R I G I N

Championship Trophy Presentation - Tournaments dominated the early years of the Section. In 1949, Del Kinney (right) won the Connecticut PGA Championship at Norwich Golf Club. Here he accepts the Hartford Times Trophy from Section President Lou Galby. On left is runner up Wally Cichon.

The Connecticut Section of the PGA of America was the 23rd of the 41 PGA Sections. The section had humble, but proud beginnings. The PGA gave the section its charter in 1933 after a series of meetings that took place in the spring of that year. In March of 1933, a group known as the Connecticut Professional Golfers’ Organization (Connecticut PGO) met at George Siebert’s golf school in Avon, Conn. This group went on record as being opposed to any affiliation with the New England Section PGA, but favored petitioning the National PGA to form a Connecticut Section. This meeting was a prelude to a statewide meeting soon to be held. The forming of a Connecticut Section, it was pointed out, would permit the playing of bi-weekly tournaments for Connecticut golf professionals and include all the advantages of the present Connecticut PGO for the “paid brigade.” A new Section would permit professionals of the state to have their own qualifying round for the PGA Championship, whereas it was then necessary for them to seek a qualifying place around Boston, Mass., in the New England Section PGA. In attendance at this decisive meeting were the following professionals and guests:

PROFESSIONALS GUESTS

Willie Whalen (Willow Brook) Joe Stein (golf salesman) Ernie Doering (Middletown) William J. Lee (golf writer) Charley Nicoll (Sunset Ridge) C.S. Henderson (golf writer) Syd Covington (Hartford) Jack Williams (New Haven) Herb Armstrong Capt. C.H. Perkins (Wampanoag) Bill Martin (Manchester)

Arthur Reid (Farmington) Graham Reid (Farmington) Barney Gunshimman (Willimantic) Joel Smith (Wallingford) George Siebert (Avon) Clarence Booth (Wethersfield) Bob Smith (Indian Hill)

C.H. Perkins, who served in the British military and was influential in forming the Canadian PGA in 1922, was one of this early group’s most prominent leaders. Shortly after that historic meeting at Avon, the Connecticut PGO reversed its decision when it held its annual meeting at Shuttle Meadow Country Club, hosted by Professional Val Flood, at the end of March. This later move came as a result of the full disclosure of the New England Section PGA’s plan presented at the annual meeting by Worcester Country Club’s Willie Ogg (former NEPGA president) and Robert Pryde, Secretary of the Connecticut State Golf Association. Ogg and Pryde outlined the plan as follows: The New England Section PGA would establish eight separate Chapters: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Greater Boston, Cape Cod and Western Massachusetts.

Each Chapter would have its own tournament schedule, its own officers and its own qualifying round for the PGA Championship. The New England Section PGA Board of Directors would operate under a governing body composed of the President and Treasurer of each of the eight Chapters.

Because the plan was presented in such clarity and simplicity, the Connecticut PGO changed their minds. What the Connecticut professionals wanted most chiefly was their own tournament schedule and this was exactly what was assured under this proposed re-organization.

Events continued to unfold and in early April of 1933, a Connecticut PGO delegation attended the New England Section PGA meeting and returned with the assurances that all demands would be met. A Connecticut PGO meeting was called for and held at the Hartford Hotel Bond to seek approval for the New England Section PGA, Connecticut Chapter plan. During the time of these developments some opposition had arisen since some members of the Connecticut PGO were not and could not, become members the PGA of America under any classification because they did not sell golf supplies at their clubs.

At the Connecticut PGO meeting arguments concerning the new affiliation as a Chapter of the New England Section had boosted the temperature of the smoke-filled meeting room. Despite the acrimonious meeting, the state’s paid brigade voted unanimously to adopt the plan outlined by Pryde and Perkins, then President of the Connecticut PGO.

PGA Membership Card- PGA of America Membership Certificate belonging to Del Kinney from 1935 shows the original logo.

At the end of the meeting, Perkins was elected as the first president of the Connecticut Chapter, while Pryde was named Honorary President. The entire roster of Chapter officers and directors elected were as follows:

OFFICERS Cap Perkins, President (Wampanoag) Joel Smith, Vice President (Wallingford) William J. Lee, Secretary (golf writer) Syd Covington, Treasurer (Hartford) Robert Pryde, Honorary President (CSGA) DIRECTORS

George Siebert (Avon) Jack Williams (New Haven) Don Canausa (Suffield) George Ferrier (Ridgewood) Barney Gunshinnan (Willimantic) Ernest Doering (Middletown) Also present were: Tom Donahue (Stonington), N.M. Williams (Plymouth Meadow), Bill Martin (Manchester), Bob Smith (Indian Hill), George Hunter (Meriden), Meredith Nickel (Tumble Brook), Frank Convey (Highland), Clarence Booth (Wethersfield). This relationship with the New England Section PGA did not last very long. In May of 1933, the newly formed Connecticut Chapter of the New England Section PGA voted to petition the National PGA to receive its own Section charter and to divorce itself from the New England Section PGA. Officers of the Connecticut Chapter were dissatisfied with the lack of co-operation. From the original eight Chapters that were discussed, only Connecticut and Western Massachusetts formed Chapters. The misunderstanding of Connecticut’s plans were made evident following the New England Section’s PGA Championship at Metacomet Country Club held earlier in the month. Several professionals in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts said they were not notified of the New England PGA Championship at Metacomet nor the popular team matches. In the summer of 1933, the PGA of America officially chartered Connecticut and Western Massachusetts as the “Connecticut Section.” Since its charter was enacted, the Connecticut Section has governed it activities by a membership-elected Board of Directors.