Northern Virginia Amateur
The first Northern Virginia Amateur was held at the Country Club of Fairfax in May, 1974 and was won by Dave Allen of Woodlawn CC. The entry fee is unknown but the 4th Annual Northern Virginia Amateur, held at Westwood CC on June 24-26, 1977 had an entry fee of $15. The event was started by Henry Kerfoot at the request of then Northern Section chairman Jack Redinger. In the early days the prizes were mainly for the winner and runner-up with the next eight finishers getting engraved pewter beer mugs – it was more about the prestige of being a top 10 “finalist” than the prizes. Henry footed the bill for some Champaign for the winner as the only ‘social event” aspect of the tournament. A few years later a dinner was added but the entry fee was kept to under $40.. Henry succeeded Jack Redinger as the Chairman and the event remained fairly unchanged until Gil Fitzhugh succeeded Henry as Chairman. At that point the prize concept changed leading to gift certificates in the pro-shop which helped increase the size of the field. Gil won the Amateur an incredible six times from 1980 to 1992. Tony Deluca holds the biggest span between wins, winning in 1978, then again in 1999. Other multiple winners include Neff McClary and Scott Shingler (3 times), Chip Heyl, Stan Williams and Brian Quackenbush (2 times each).
Northern Virginia A-Team
The A-Team matches were started in 1971. Up until that point, most of the few private clubs in Northern Virginia were actually members of the Maryland State Golf Association and played in the Maryland A-Team matches. These included Washington G&CC, Army-Navy CC and Belle Haven CC. It is believed that the other two private clubs at the time, Westwood CC and Courthouse CC (now CC of Fairfax) may have also participated. The MSGA, however, decided to exclude the Northern Virginia clubs from the MSGA and therefore they could not participate in the Maryland matches. Herman Fink was the Northern Virginia Section Chairman at that time and started the A-Team matches in northern Virginia. Washington G&CC won the first three events from 1971-1973.
Handmacher Cup
The Regional Team matches began as a competition between Richmond and Northern Virginia at the Washington Golf & Country Club prior to the concept of a Sectional Team Championship gaining acceptance. Herman Fink (Sectional Chairman) and Henry Kerfoot (Northern section) along with Richard Smith (Richmond Section) decided to just have a match between the Northern Virginia and Richmond Sections. It went along like this for several years until the VSGA made it a VSGA event, known today as the Sectional Team Championship. Herman Fink started the idea and got his friend, Dr Handmacher also from Westwood Country Club to donate a trophy for a Sectional Team Championship. The winning team still receives the Handmacher Cup. The first match was played at Evergreen CC around 1972 and four sections participated. Jack Redinger from WGCC succeeded Herman Fink as Section Chairman when Herman went on to the VSGA Executive Committee. In the picture below you have Dr. Handmacher and his wife presenting the trophy to the winning North Team in 1981. Can you name all the snappy dressers?
includes Greg Carpousis, Tim Vigotsky, Neff McClary John Cockrill, Bob Gardiner, Glenn Barrett, Chip Heyl, Jamie Gough