United States Seniors' Golf Association

 The United States Seniors’ Golf Association’s founder was Horace L. Hotchkiss. Born in 1842, he died in 1929. He was awarded the William C. Campbell Award posthumously in 2007. Here is what was said at that time: The USSGA owes its existence primarily to the inspiration of one man, Horace L. Hotchkiss. Like many wealthy businessmen of his day, the 63-year old Hotchkiss had plenty of leisure time and found joy in busying himself at his beloved Apawamis Club in Rye, New York. Seeking to gather a group of similarly aged gentlemen (age 60 generated a meager response, so he adjusted the age to 55…a requirement which stands today), Horace invited players from clubs throughout the area for a tournament to be held at The Apawamis Club course, at medal play over 36 holes, with the winner to be known as the first champion of the “Senior Golfers.”

As a member of the New York Stock Exchange, Horace’s many years on Wall Street provided a generous “address book” of associates who would likely be able to play in the tournament which had been authorized by the Board of Apawamis to be held October 10-12, 1905. But disliking the term “Old Men’s Tournament” which was quickly attaching itself to this event, Hotchkiss was quick to steer the name to the more respectable “Seniors’ Tournament”. The invitations sent, the pairings set, and the matches and luncheon arranged, the 30+ players set out for the inaugural Seniors’ Tournament on October 12, 1905, pitting friendly rivals from mostly New York clubs against the course. James D. Foot of Apawamis proved victorious with a score of 179 (and again the next time with a 184).

So popular was the event that reaching the age of 55 became an aspiration instead of a dread! Of course, today’s “Seniors’ Tournament” has gone far be-

yond the borders of the State of New York, with players from all over the United States. And with the birth of the International Team in 1917, the contests crossed still more borders – and eventually an ocean – competing with Canada and Great Britain.

Horace Hotchkiss died in 1929, but what a legacy he left us, the beneficiaries of his vision and determination… the United States Seniors’ Golf Association. He said,

“Golf is probably the most scientific of all outdoor games, requiring as much accuracy of stroke as tennis and far more judgment than cricket or baseball. The fascination which makes it the game of all games is that the mental as well as the physical makeup of the player enters into it; no man excels at it no matter how mechanically correct he may play, unless his personal characteristics are a part of every stroke he makes. No other game requires such a variety of physical and mental adjustments, and no other game gives so complete a measure of the whole man.”

Suggested Reading

United States Seniors’ Golf Association, 1905-2005, by William L. Quirin, pp. 8-24.

Canadian Golfer, April, 1927, pp. 903 et seq.

The Origin and Organization of the Seniors’ Tournament, by Horace Hotchkiss, 1912.

Obituary NY Times, May 11, 1929.