(November 4, 2024) – Del Kinney, Jr. is the definition of a golf lifer. His father Delmore Kinney, Sr. worked in the game so it was at the young age of four years old that Kinney first began playing the sport that would in many ways shape his life.
Kinney’s father was involved in all aspects of the game from serving as the secretary for the Connecticut Section PGA, to assistant professional at The Misquamicut Club in Rhode Island, to general manager at the then brand new Tunxis Country Club.
“My dad told me that when he was 12 years-old he knew he wanted to be a golf professional. I remember being dumbfounded,” 83 year-old Del Kinney, Jr. said. “I was trying to just get through high school and the idea that somebody could know at that age that that’s what they wanted to do was unbelievable to me. But my dad knew his passion and always went to work with a tie. He was a classic gentleman.”
Around that same time, Kinney began to flourish on the golf course breaking 80 for the first time. Proud of the accomplishment Kinney told anyone who would take a moment to listen. That afternoon Kinney’s father passed along a lifelong lesson that still resonates today, “He pulled me aside in the afternoon and said, ‘You don’t tell anybody. If you’re good, people will know it. So just stifle all the comments that you’re making. You know, we’re proud of you. Nice job.’ Then he left it at that and that has stayed with me.”
Kinney, who lives in Egremont, Massachusetts with his wife Georgette, became so good at golf that he played in college at the University of New Mexico.
Following college Kinney was a regular in local and state events winning his first significant event, the New England Four-Ball Championship, at the age of 35.
“Then somehow I won a lot throughout my 40s,” Kinney the winner of the 1986 and 1990 Connecticut Public Links said. “I don’t know where that came from but part of it was the experience of having played for a long time.”
Kinney, the Dean of Admissions for 30 years at Western Connecticut State University, at the urging of then CSGA president Jock McLean began volunteering for the CSGA in 1985. When he joined the Executive Committee Kinney became the first board member to belong to a public golf course.
“I enjoyed the company of the volunteers and members of the Executive Committee. They were wonderful men,” Kinney stated. “Being able to represent public golf spurred me on and then it snowballed.”
Eventually, that snowball effect led Kinney, a USGA volunteer for 39 years from 1994-2023 and the recipient of the Ike Granger Award for his service, to the CSGA Executive Director chair in 1997. During his four-year tenure, Kinney oversaw not only the 100th anniversary of the CSGA but also ushered in numerous significant changes that moved the organization forward.
Among his accomplishments, Kinney introduced the club representative program that is still in effect today, updated the CSGA logo and website, and introduced a college summer internship program, while also strengthening the organization’s relationships with the Connecticut Section PGA, Connecticut Golf Course Superintendents Association, the Connecticut Women’s Golf Association, and the Southern New England Women’s Golf Association.
“A lot of things were accomplished that we couldn’t have gotten done without his direction,” CSGA president Bill Starkie said at the time of Kinney’s retirement.
The direction that Kinney set is one that is still being followed today. His impact on the Connecticut golf landscape goes well beyond his play on the course, his time on the Executive Committee, or in the Executive Director chair. It is because of that ever lasting impact that Kinney will be inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame.
“I’m not a person that appears on the surface wildly excited,” Kinney said when asked what his induction meant. “But internally, I still can’t quite put my arms around the magnitude of it. Everyone has been nice and offering congratulations. It’s one of those things that’s very difficult to put into words, the importance of it.”
A simple way to put it could be…A life in golf well lived!
Meet the Rest of the 2024 Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame Class:
- All-Time Great Joan Joyce to be Inducted into Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame
- Jack Bracken to Enter Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut State Golf Association functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.
