Dear Maryland Golf Community, We wish to inform you that the Maryland Golf Hall of Fame's next induction ceremony is planned for 2026. We...

Maryland Golf Hall of Fame member Jane Fitzgerald is set to be inducted into the Middle Atlantic Golf Hall of Fame. Her induction will...

On April 11, 2024, at Baltimore Country Club, the Maryland Golf Hall of Fame inducted its third class. Brian Fitzgerald, Chairman of the Maryland Golf Hall of Fame, welcomed the crowd of 100+. The eight inductees included Ralph Beach PGA, Emmet Gary, Albert R. Green PGA, Pat Kaufman, Andrea Kraus, William K. Smith, William A. Strausbaugh Jr. PGA, and Jesse W. Sweetser. To learn more about each inductee, click here . A Message from Chairman Fitzgerald: Good evening and welco

William K. (Bill) Smith was born in Peoria, Illinois, and was introduced to golf at 12 when he began playing golf at a public golf course near his home.  Bill graduated from Bradley University in 1963 with a degree in Civil Engineering and moved to Timonium, Maryland, in 1974 to open an office for the consulting engineering firm he was employed with in Hillsboro, Illinois. He joined Hillendale Country Club in 1974, and in 1985, Mr. Smith was elected to the Maryland State Golf

Albert Rudolph Green was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and graduated from Wiley H. Bates High School in Annapolis in 1958. Al fell in love with the game of golf at a young age. When they weren’t caddying, he and his brothers Franklin and Carrolton (Skip) would often sneak in playing time on the U.S. Naval Academy Golf Course. Without any formal lessons, he learned to play left-handed because someone gave him a left-hand set of clubs. After receiving a right-hand set, he seamle

Andrea Kraus was born in Baltimore County, was a graduate of Pikesville High School, and earned a BA in American Studies from Yale before receiving her law degree from Columbia.  She was the only female on Pikesville's golf team and played on the men's team her first two years at Yale.  In her junior year, the Bulldogs initiated women's golf.  She was their first team captain and earned AIAA All-Regional honors.  Andrea was also selected to the All-Ivy Silver Anniversary Team

Ralph Beach's forty years of service and commitment to the MAPGA and The PGA places him amongst the most important figures in MAPGA history. He held the presidential reins twice, once in the 1930s and again in the 1940s.  The MAPGA Professional of the Year Award was awarded to him in 1959. Originally a Virginian, Ralph spent his early years as a caddie at Washington Golf and Country Club, including carrying President Woodrow Wilson's bag in 1916.  He turned professional in 19

The Maryland State Golf Association (MSGA) was founded in 1921 and was admirably run by Officers and an Executive Committee until 1930, when Emmet Gary became the first Secretary. At that time, the Secretary served two roles by today’s standard: the general responsibilities of a Board Secretary and Executive Director. Emmet Gary served as the Secretary of the Maryland State Golf Association until 1961, when he was named Secretary Emeritus until his passing in 1971. Emmet Gary

Pat Kaufman is considered by many to be one of the greatest advocates and leaders of Women's Golf in Maryland . She served as Chairman of the Committee on Maryland Women's Golf   until the MSGA created the MSGA Women's Division in 1995 , where she served as President for its initial four years . The WDCGA has 27 private clubs from the Washington Metropolitan area.  She served as Secretary and Vice President leading up to being President in 2001 and 2002. Pat also served on th

William A. “Coach” Straubaugh, Jr., a native of Baltimore, earned the moniker of “Coach” for his work as a teacher and contributions toward developing and improving educational opportunities for PGA professionals and apprentices.   He began his golf career while a teenager caddying at Bonnie View in 1937. “Coach” Strausbaugh turned professional in 1946 as an assistant to Andy Gibson at the County Club of Maryland. Before arriving at Columbia County Club as the head PGA Profes

Jesse W. Sweetser was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Exeter Academy before entering Yale University in 1919. He received golf lessons from noted Siwanoy Country Club professional Tom Kerrigan.  At both schools, he participated in what was considered a “major” sport, track, and a “minor” sport, golf, but he truly excelled in the latter. As a Yale freshman in 1920, Sweetser took the National Intercollegiate Championship (precursor to the NCAA) at the Greenwich Countr

(Lutherville, MD – January 15, 2024) – 8 distinguished figures in Maryland Golf will be inducted into the Maryland Golf Hall of Fame on...

On April 19, 2023, at Chevy Chase Club, the Maryland Golf Hall of Fame inducted its second class. Brian Fitzgerald, Chairman of the...

John Woodruff Stewart was born in Auburn, New York. He was a graduate of the Darrow School in Lebanon, New York, and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1952 from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where he was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. After leaving college, he served in the Coast Guard as a Quartermaster from 1952 to 1956. Mr. Stewart began his journalism career in 1957 as a sports reporter and later sports editor of The Dispatch and The Herald Statesman

Born in 1896, Spencer Overton was a Baltimore building contractor and Rolling Road Member who was a dominant player from the 1930s to the 1960s. Mr. Overton won four Maryland Amateur Championships: 1936, 1945, and 1954, at the age of 58. He was five times a runner-up in 1937, 1938, 1940, 1944, and 1947 and was three times the Medalist: in 1936, 1942, and 1947. At 58, he had the unique distinction of becoming the oldest to win the Amateur, winning in three separate decades. L

Bobby learned to play golf at Argyle Country Club with a host of good junior golfers and attended Springbrook High School, where he was voted the number one high school golfer his senior year by the Washington Post. He went on to play college golf at the University of Maryland in 1968 and 1969. After college, he had a brief career in professional golf, spending two summers as the assistant golf professional at the Chevy Chase Club and, in between, one season on the South Afr

David A. King grew up in the Philadelphia area and, as a young 16-year-old, finished as the runner-up in the Philadelphia Junior Golf Championship. At the age of 19, he qualified for the 1960 U. S. Amateur. After high school, Dave went to the University of Wyoming, where he played No. 1 for the golf team all four years. Dave came to Maryland in 1965 after earning a Master's degree in Statistics and has won over 100 amateur golf tournaments, including 19 club championships at

One of the early multiple winners of the Maryland Open was PGA Professional, Albert Houghton from Glen Echo, Maryland. Known as the “Silver Fox”, Al was initially exposed to the game when he caddied at the age of 10 for President Woodrow Wilson. In the ’20s, before turning pro, he won several Amateur Championships, including the D.C. Public Links and making it to the semi-finals of the USGA Public Links. Al was Kenwood’s second head professional, serving from 1931-1936 when h

Frank Emmet was born in Boston and graduated from Boston College. He moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland, and became business manager of the Georgetown Preparatory School, where he oversaw the design and construction of a nine-hole golf course. When the course opened in 1927, he invited high schools within a 100-mile radius to compete and thus born a junior golf league. This was the first step in what would become the largest junior golf program of its time in the United States. T

In 1955, John A. “Jack” Emich was elected to the MSGA Executive Committee, serving as Vice President. In 1960 he was elected President for one term. Following his term as President, he was elected Secretary to replace Emmet Gary, who acquired the permanent title of Secretary Emeritus in recognition of 30 continuous years of service. Mr. Emich served proudly until November 12, 1986, when a motion was passed by the Executive Committee to change his title to Executive Director.