WRITER CUP TOURNAMENT
Annual Writer Cup Allows Fabulous Forsgate To Shine By Nate Oxman, Staff Writer
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t makes perfect sense that a yearly competition pitting golf writers from the greater Philadelphia area against their brethren from the New York metropolitan area be staged right smackdab in the middle of the two cities. Fortunately for Chris Schiavone, his Metropolitan Golf Group operates Forsgate Country Club, which just so happens to sit pretty darn close to the geographic halfway point between Philly and NYC. So when a friend of Schiavone’s named Frank Quinn (co-founder of the former McDonald’s LPGA Championship) suggested the idea of a Ryder Cup for golf writers, Schiavone knew he had the perfect spot. In addition to its absolute location an hour away from each city, Forsgate CC, right off exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike, features two championship golf courses. That comes in pretty handy when Schiavone and the staff at Forsgate open the doors of their private palace to the public for a tournament or outing, allowing its membership another option to tee it up. Such is the case each summer when Forsgate hosts the Writer Cup and dozens of
The Par-5 Ninth, known as “Plateau,” perched on a hill guarded by several bunkers
golf scribes, with New Jersey writers joining the Philadelphia/PA team, and Connecticut and national writers the New York team, grind it out on the legendary Banks Course while the membership carries on next door at the club’s Palmer Course. The full-day event, executed with the assistance of public relations and marketing firm On Course Strategies, has been running for 13 years, beginning in the morning with a three-part Individual Skills Competition on Forsgate’s practice facility, where competitors accumulate a score based on their performance on a 100yard closest to the pin contest, a long putt,
Forsgate Country Club – 12th Hole Par 3, known as “Horseshoe”
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tri-state golfer | Fall 2021
and a short putt. Competitors get three attempts at each leg, earning 30 points on the closest to the pin contest for hitting the target green, 50 for hitting a smaller target circle within the green and 100 for holing a shot. Similarly, points are awarded for each putt on the practice green. This year’s skills contest was won by veteran sportswriter Hank Gola of the NY/National team. The talented Forsgate Academy professional staff, spearheaded by Director of Golf Carolyn McKenzie Andrews, followed with a golf clinic and Q & A session on Forsgate’s recentlyrevitalized and expanded practice facility.
