(December 7, 2023) – Del Weston stood on the 10th green of the Anderson Glen Course at Blackledge Country Club alternating between taking readings with his stimpmeter and diligently taking notes. Weston, a member of Hunter Golf Club, was fully engaged in leading his course rating group around the picturesque Hebron layout.
“Del is an important member of our course rating team,” said CSGA Director of Member Services Bill Bigler. “He spends a significant amount of time helping with our pre-rating preparation by measuring tees utilizing Google Maps and determining mid-season course conditions. His efforts facilitate the rating process by providing better data up front allowing the course raters to capture more detail on site which leads to more accurate ratings.”
It is because of that above and beyond dedication to the course rating process and his willingness to do anything to assist the team including the mentoring of new team members that Del Weston has been named the 2023 Connecticut State Golf Association Volunteer of the Year.
“Winning this award is very much an honor,” said Del Weston who also volunteers as a delivery driver for the Our Lady Queen of Angels Church food pantry. “It is probably the biggest honor I could think of in the last 20 years of my life. It is great. It is nice to join the list of golf course rating legends like Mike Flis who have been honored.”
Weston came to the CSGA four years ago after retiring in 2019 from a 25-year career in education that included time as a high school math teacher in East Haven, as a computer teacher in the Cromwell elementary schools before concluding as a paraprofessional special education teacher at Cromwell Middle School.
“After I retired in 2019 and when my wife and I talked about what I would do after I retired this was kind of the top thing in my mind,” said Weston who had some background on the course rating process thanks to his time on the handicap committee at Hunter GC. “When I sent Bill [Bigler] an email saying I was interested in doing this, and at the time I didn’t know Bill at all, but he responded back right away and said come give it a try and it went from there.”
Weston’s journey in golf started as a 10-year-old in the backyard of his home outside of Seattle when his mom put a club in his hand and he began hitting plastic balls into the barn in his backyard. A short time later he was hitting golf balls into the 200-yard-long field in his yard before eventually graduating to the golf course when he was 12 years old.
In the town Weston grew up in golf was a fall high school sport so until his sophomore year the sport remained a hobby. However, after his freshman year of high school when Weston realized his estimated 5’2” 110-pound frame wasn’t cut out for football he made the switch to golf as his primary sport. Following two years on the JV team Weston broke through as a senior turning himself into one of the top performers on the varsity team.
Weston often found himself on the golf course until he moved to Connecticut from Arizona in August of 1979. Shortly after marrying his wife Cheryl, originally from New Britain, the newlyweds first moved to Kensington before settling in Meriden in 1985. Almost immediately after moving to Connecticut the Westons welcomed their first baby into the fold and it wasn’t long after that, the decision was made to get rid of the golf clubs.
“I decided I had neither the time nor the money for golf [at that time in my life] so I gave the golf clubs away in 1980,” said Weston. That would not be the end of Weston’s golf journey. Fast forward to, “1997 when my wife gave me a set of used clubs and she thought it was time for me to start golfing again. I have been more addicted ever since.”
In 2000 Weston set the goal of playing every public course in the state. Ten years later in 2010, he accomplished that goal.
It was with that knowledge of a number of the states golf courses that Weston a decade later joined the CSGA course rating team and has been a valuable member ever since.
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.
