On April 3, 2012 the Connecticut State Golf Association announced New Haven Country Club, in Hamden, as the venue for three major championships in the next decade. New Haven Country Club will host the 2013 Connecticut Amateur, 2018 Connecticut Open, and 2022 Connecticut Open.
“The CSGA is thrilled to be coming back to New Haven Country Club for these championships,” said CSGA Executive Director Mike Moraghan. “New Haven has always embodied and embraced the very best in competitive golf, and we are confident that once again this partnership will produce great championship events.”
New Haven Country Club was founded in 1898 and is a founding member of the League of Connecticut Golf Clubs which later became the Connecticut State Golf Association. Yale professor Theodore Woolsey is credited with being the driving force behind the club’s incorporation and much of its early development including the purchase of an expanse of farmland beside Lake Whitney in Hamden. New Haven has enjoyed a rich history of membership that includes Eli Whitney III, Henry Sargent, Walter Camp, and U.S. President, William Howard Taft.
“New Haven Country Club is very pleased to bring the 2013 Amateur and 2018 and 2022 Open to our club and the greater New Haven community,” said Dr. Michael Kim, Golf Chairman at New Haven Country Club. “We look forward to hosting these prestigious championships and sharing with the rest of the region our club of which we are so very proud.”
The 2013 Connecticut Amateur will mark the sixteenth time, the most by any Connecticut club, that the state’s top amateurs have come to New Haven Country Club to crown a champion. The Connecticut Amateur, first played in 1899, is one of the oldest amateur championships in the country and is open to any amateur belonging to a CSGA member club with a 6.4 handicap index or less. The most recent Connecticut Amateur at New Haven was the 103rd playing of the event in 2005 won by Tim Kane of Simsbury Farms Golf Course.
New Haven has also hosted the most Connecticut Open’s with the 2018 and 2022 Open being the eighth and ninth contested at New Haven. The 2022 Open will also coincide with the 100th anniversary of New Haven’s golf course redesign by two-time British Open Championship Willie Park, Jr. that officially opened on Memorial Day in 1922. The last Connecticut Open held at New Haven (2002) marked the most dramatic finish in recent history with Jim St. Pierre from Woodbridge Country Club winning a seven-hole playoff over two-time Connecticut Open Champion Frank Bensel from Century Country Club in Purchase, NY.
About the CSGA
The CSGA functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and is based at Golf House in Rocky Hill. The CSGA is an association of 183 member clubs of which 79 are private and 104 are public facilities.
The mission of the CSGA is to promote and preserve the best interests and true spirit of the game of golf by serving its member clubs and their golfing members. The CSGA annually conducts over seventy days of competitions for golfers of all skill levels and is highlighted by the Connecticut Open, Connecticut Women’s Open, and Connecticut Amateur Championship.
