(November 4, 2025) – For 30 years, Ron Balicki was the preeminent college and amateur golf writer. Working for Golfweek, he covered every young prominent American golfer. Tiger Woods, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler. The list goes on and on.
Born in New Britain on April 6, 1948, Balicki was a star baseball player at Pulaski High School. But for the graduate of Central Connecticut State University, golf would prove to be his calling.
Balicki traveled the world covering golf. He briefly covered professional golf, but it was telling the stories of men’s and women’s amateur players where Balicki found his home.
Said his wife Debbie of over 32 years in 2014 when speaking about Ron to longtime golf writer Jeff Babineau, “His best stories were always people stories.”
Ron Balicki passed away on March 25, 2014, at the age of 65, after a battle with cancer, but to this day, his legacy and impact on the game of golf are still felt. That legacy, which began in New Britain, will be immortalized on Thursday, December 4, when Balicki is inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame during the CSGA’s 2025 Annual Meeting.
In the 1970s, Balicki began his career in the newspaper business, but it wasn’t until 1980, while working for the Florida Daily News, that he covered his first golf tournament. That tournament proved to be just the beginning, as only three years later, Balicki was hired to join the Florida based Golfweek.
“I didn’t know Ron when he came to work for us from the newspaper in Fort Walton Beach, Florida,” wrote Tom Stine, the co-founder of Golfweek, in a 2023 Global Golf Post article. “He was tall, skinny, friendly, enthusiastic, and willing to do anything to help grow the magazine. Ron became our lead competition editor/writer. We told him our goal was to try to have some coverage of every amateur tournament in the country every week – if not a story, at least the scores.”
With that goal in mind, Balicki took the amateur game by storm. He covered college events, state events, and premier summer amateur events. He went anywhere there was a story. He covered every NCAA Championship from 1985 until he could no longer do so. Balicki was a force. Players and coaches loved him, and so did his colleagues.
“Ron was an icon of the college golf game, and there wasn’t a better ambassador for what makes our dynamic so special,” Stanford University Director of Men’s Golf Conrad Ray told the Golf Coaches Association of America after Balicki’s passing.
Ron’s work garnered much recognition. He earned numerous honors from the Golf Writers Association of America, International Network of Golf, and from the Texas Golf Writers Association. In 2010, Balicki became the first non-coach inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.
It has been over a decade since Balicki penned his last words, but his impact on the game of golf is still felt every day. The amateur game would not shine as brightly as it does today without his tireless work.
To sum it all up, in the words of Ron Balicki when he accepted the 1998 Golf Writers Association of America award for best column, “Not bad for a Polish kid from the projects of New Britain.”
Editor’s Note: Information provided by Golfweek, Global Golf Post, and the Golf Coaches Association of America. Photo courtesy of Golfweek.
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.
