Source: VT Golf Magazine | Issue: Summer 1995 | Author: Bob Labbance
Synopsis: This article is about the formation and function of the Vermont Golf Association and how it has evolved over the years.
In July of 1900 Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester became Vermont’s first eighteen hole golf course and the championship layout ushered in the second era of Vermont golf. Tomato cans in a pasture had given way to modern green construction and maintenance, and a new standard of play. Encouraged by the success of the first five national championships sponsored by the fledgling United States Golf Association, thoughts turned to a statewide tournament and an organization to administer it here in Vermont.
In 1902 Ekwanok invited all twenty-one of Vermont’s clubs to send their best golfers to the first Vermont Amateur. They also organized a meeting of seven key clubs and formed the Vermont Golf Association, one of the first such organizations in this country. The founding members were the Mount Anthony Club, Ekwankok, Dorset Field Club, Rutland Golf Club, Montpelier Country Club, and two courses that no longer exist. Waunakee in Burlington and Old Pine of St. Johnsbury. Each club was allowed one member on the executive committee, and George B. Worthington of Mount Anthony was elected the first president.
For the past ninety-three years the Vermont Golf Association has provided a wealth of services and excitement to Vermont’s golfers. Today there are fifty-five member clubs and nearly 10,000 member golfers who enjoy the fruits of this volunteer organization’s labor. In the early years the VGA was little more than a local committee from the host club of that year’s amateur tournament; today’s body has taken the responsibility for so many more programs for our state’s golfers.