(November 12, 2024) – The mid-April sun stretches across the fairway at Stonington Country Club. As the clock ticks slowly towards 8 a.m. the first group of the new CSGA season approaches the first tee for the opening One Day Tournament of the year. Standing there awaiting their approach is Walt Chapman as he has for over half a decade.
A volunteer since 2015, Chapman has been welcoming players to the opening tee at One Day Tournaments since 2019. Chapman has manned his post through cold, rain, wind, and heat. His presence on the first tee has become as dependable as the changing of the New England seasons. For those reasons and many more Walt Chapman is the 2024 Volunteer of the Year.
“There are so many great volunteers and I didn’t know that my contributions were that good in comparison,” Walt Chapman expressed. “But it is always nice to be acknowledged for the work that you do. Obviously, I am a volunteer so it’s something that I enjoy doing.”
In 2014 Chapman retired from Retail America where he was a manager of process improvement. Shortly after retirement and with the encouragement of longtime CSGA volunteer and former president Stan McFarland, “we went down to the CSGA office where I talked to Mike Moraghan and Ryan Hoffman about how I might be able to serve and what roles there were. I got a little bit of an education in that meeting about the kinds of things that the CSGA did.”
Initially, Chapman began volunteering as a member of the course rating team before transitioning to tournament volunteering. It was a short time after that when former
CSGA staff member Marsha Rupp asked Chapman if he was interested in serving as the starter at One Day Tournaments. As the saying goes the rest is history.
“I really did enjoy it from the very first event that I did as a starter,” Chapman reminisced. “I don’t even remember where it was, but I enjoyed it. I enjoy the informality of the One Days. There aren’t announcements on the tee. I get to chat with the players and get to know them, so that’s the part I truly enjoy.”
Chapman’s love for golf had a bit of a rocky start. His father, Bill, worked at Pratt & Whitney and despite never playing golf in his life he joined a golf league with a number of his co-workers and caught the bug. Eventually, when Chapman was around the age of 10 he joined his father on the course, playing often at Goodwin Park.
“He was a terrible golfer, but he respected the game and taught me the basics of the game and etiquette,” remembered Chapman with a laugh. “But I would get frustrated with him. As an example, he couldn’t hit the ball more than 175 yards or something like that. I was able to hit the ball farther than him but he scored better than me and that got frustrating so I quit the game. I said, this is a stupid game and I quit it for a long time.”
Years later Chapman, who in the past has also volunteered for Hartford Hospital and the Wethersfield Social Services, found his way back to the game on a whim. While home from college Chapman and his high school buddies were looking for something to do. Somehow the idea of playing golf came up so the group went to the course and that round of golf changed everything for Chapman.
“I had to go downstairs in the basement before the round and put together a set of clubs,” Chapman said. “I went out there and I discovered a whole new aspect of the game. It’s not just swinging the club and hitting the ball in the hole. It’s being with friends, being in nature, listening to the birds. It struck me that it was really so much more than that competitive stuff. We had a great time that day and I decided I would play some more.”
And play some more he did. At first, he played any course with an early morning weekend tee time. Then he joined Manchester Country Club before moving to Wethersfield Country Club where he would play nearly every day.
Now back at Manchester CC, Chapman has traveled the world playing Pebble Beach and the Old Course among others.
“I fell in love with that aspect of it,” Chapman stated. “I did an awful lot of (traveling). I’ve been very, very lucky to have played more than a quarter of the top 100 golf courses in the world just because I enjoyed the travel and I enjoyed playing golf. It was just kind of a natural thing for me to do.”
Anything golf related comes naturally to Walt Chapman. Whether it is striding down fairways around the world or welcoming players to first tees throughout the state Chapman lives and breathes golf.
“I appreciate giving back (to the game),” Chapman said. “I would even say I live my golf vicariously now. Because I don’t play as much, I’m not as competitive, but boy do I enjoy seeing these guys tee off and hit the ball hard and far down the middle.”
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.
