About the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association

The Metropolitan Golf Writers Association   

Since 1952, the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association has celebrated the great game of golf by honoring the outstanding players, contributors, clubs and organizations that have done so much for the sport.  These initiatives are realized each year at the MGWA’s National Awards Dinner, and we are proud to say that ours is the longest-running  golf dinner in the United States.  The MGWA National Awards Dinner has raised millions of dollars for the Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester Caddie Scholarship programs; the MGA Foundation; the Dave Marr Memorial Scholarship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and other worthy golf-supported causes.  MGWA contributions from the Dinners have helped fund scholarships for thousands of young men and women in the New York metropolitan area.

At each dinner the MGWA recognizes golf’s greatest players, contributors and organizations.  The Gold Tee Award, its highest honor, has been presented to such luminaries as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Patty Berg, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Charlie Sifford, Phil Mickelson, and Ernie Els.  Recent honorees include Fred Couples (2014), Nick Price (2015), Davis Love III (2016), Mark O'Meara (2017), Padraig Harrington (2018), Jim Furyk (2019) and Butch Harmon (2020/21).  In June 2022, the Gold Tee Award was presented to Dottie Pepper.

Many of the sport’s top journalists and commentators have been MGWA members.  Lincoln Werden, the golf writer for The New York Times during the 1950s and 1960s, was the organization’s first president.  Other members, both past and present, include Dave Anderson, Guido Cribari, Will Grimsley, Arthur (Red) Hoffman, Al Laney, Dave Marr, Jim Nantz, Jimmy Roberts, Nick Seitz and Jack Whitaker.  Anderson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of The New York Times, was a long-time member of the MGWA’s Board of Directors.