MAPGA the Early Years - The 1920's

When The Professional Golfers’ Association of America formed in 1916, the charter members formed seven regional sections which extended over the country: the Metropolitan, Middle States, New England, Central, Northwestern, Pacific and Southeastern. The Southeastern section spanned Pennsylvania and Delaware through Georgia including West Virginia. Philadelphia and Atlanta laid on the perimeter of the section. Of the original PGA founders, Tom Skipper and J. Crabb came from Maryland.

The PGA expanded rapidly throughout the 1920s after World War I. By the end of the 1921 national convention, hosted by the Wardman Hotel in Washington, D.C., the number of PGA sections stood at 18 with Philadelphia becoming a separate section. When the Philadelphia Section formed in 1921 its membership elected Robert Barnett their first President. Four years later, Barnett played a significant role in the formation of the Middle Atlantic PGA after having taken the reins at Chevy Chase Club in 1923. In 1923, the PGA expanded to 21 Sections and then to 23 in 1926.

During the 1920s, three professional golf organizations existed in what is now the Middle Atlantic PGA’s territory: the District of Columbia Professional Golfers’ Association, the Maryland State Professional Golfers’ Association, and a group based in Norfolk, Virginia, about which little is known. The first known reference to the District of Columbia group is in a 1923 Washington Post article lamenting the lack of a local qualifier for the PGA Championship in 1923 because no arrangement existed between The PGA and the local professionals. The author noted that only Columbia’s Fred McLeod, Robert Barnett and Dave Thomson from Washington Golf held "official" PGA membership. However, events transpired that brought the Southeastern PGA Championship qualifier to Columbia on August 31st. Fred McLeod and Robert Barnett made the 1923 Championship field from the six entrants. The Southeastern Section had held its PGA Championship qualifier at Columbia in 1919 and did so again in 1924.

Articles appeared in the 1923 and 1924 "Professional Golfer" outlining the transportation problems in a "Southeastern" Section of such enormous expanse. The Atlanta professionals could not easily make their way to the Richmond - Washington - Baltimore corridor for events. And, they noted that the Middle Atlantic area professionals could easily reach Philadelphia and New York.

In April 1924, at a meeting at Town and Country CC, the District of Columbia Professional Association membership elected Fred McLeod as their first President, and Robert Barnett and Leo Diegel as the First and Second Vice Presidents. A.F. Bergman became the Secretary and Henry West, the Treasurer. At the time, Henry West managed the Washington Post’s Sports Desk and wrote the weekly golf column for the paper. He noted that in a District of Columbia Association meeting the membership discussed affiliation with The Professional Golfers’ Association of America.

Initial references to a Baltimore-based association of golf professionals appeared in an April, 1924, Baltimore Sun article. The "recently formed" association had named William "Willie" Scott, the Baltimore CC professional, as President. Charles Betschler succeeded Willie Scott to the Presidency of the Maryland Professional Golfers’ Association in 1925 and Glenn Spencer served as their Secretary. That group also discussed affiliation with the PGA. Organizationally, they included professionals as far east as Easton where Ken Allen resided as the Talbot CC professional and as far west as Cumberland where Frank Goss held the professional position at the Cumberland CC.

In 1924 newspaper articles about the first Virginia State Open, there are references to a professional golf association based in Norfolk. That group, along with the VSGA Officers and the Richmond Times Dispatch formed the committee which organized and promoted Virginia’s first Open tournament. They staged the "Open" at the original Hermitage in Richmond (now Belmont GC). Elmer Loving from Albemarle CC won. The VSGA and the "committee" continued to run the Virginia State Open through 1933. In 1934, a group of professionals from "Richmond and the eastern region" formed the Virginia Association of Golf Professionals (VAGP) and continued running the Virginia State Open. The VAGP ultimately became the Virginia Chapter of the MAPGA in 1966.

The organizational meeting leading to the formation of the Middle Atlantic PGA took place on March 2, 1925, at "Spalding’s" and Columbia CC. Members of the District of Columbia and Maryland professional organizations along with some Virginians considered their future affiliation. The MAPGA would cover the territory south of Philadelphia through Virginia. The Philadelphia Section sanctioned the formation of the Middle Atlantic Section and the attending golf professionals named an organizing committee composed of Wilfred Thomson from Hermitage CC and two officers from the District of Columbia and Maryland Associations: Robert Barnett and Charles Betschler. The committee’s immediate tasks included meeting with officials from the Philadelphia Section and organizing an election of officers.

Attending the MAPGA’s formative meeting were Charles Betschler, Maryland G&CC; James Roche, Elkridge Club; William Dunt, Sherwood Forest; Alec Taylor, Suburban Club; Glenn Spencer, Green Spring Valley; George Diffenbaugh, Clifton Park; Warner Mather, Henry’s Golf School; and Henry Wanger, Maryland G&CC, from Maryland. The District of Columbia contingent included Robert Barnett, Danny Horgan and William Hardy from Chevy Chase; D’Arcy Banagan and William Malloy, Columbia CC; Arthur Thorn, Town and Country CC; Ted Farr, West Potomac GC; Con Murphy and Albert Farr, East Potomac GC; and Ralph Beach, Burning Tree Club. David Thomson, Washington Golf; Robert McWatt, Hampton Roads GC; Wilfred Thomson, Hermitage CC; and Ronald Auchterlonie, CC of Virginia, made up the Virginia contingent. William Skelly, an unattached professional from Richmond, also attended.

Some time during 1925, Fred McLeod and A.F. Bergman became the President and Secretary of the fledgling MAPGA. Specific information about an election of Middle Atlantic PGA officials in 1925 has yet to surface. Writers for the Baltimore Sun, Washington Star and Washington Post who covered the 1926 MAPGA Spring Meeting at Burning Tree Club, where elections did take place for that year, made references to the 1925 officers. The Baltimore Sun writer noted that Robert Barnett "succeeded" Fred McLeod as President. The Washington Star reporter stated that the membership "re-elected" A.F. Bergman as their Secretary.

In 1925, the MAPGA held its first PGA Championship Qualifier at Columbia. Ralph Beach and David Thomson led the field. On the national level, Robert Barnett from Chevy Chase, Leo Diegel from Friendship and Jimmy Thomson from Hermitage, earned their way into the US Open in the qualifier at Lido on Long Island, New York. Locally, the Washington and Baltimore pros played two sets of inter-city matches. The Baltimore contingent won at Rolling Road and the Washington group won the re-match at Columbia over the summer.

In the spring of 1926, the MAPGA membership elected Robert Barnett their President in the meeting at Burning Tree. Charles Betschler and Arthur Thorn garnered the First and Second Vice Presidents positions. A.F. Bergman continued on as Secretary.

More recent organizational changes include the formation of The Virginia Chapter of the MAPGA in 1966, in large part from what was known as the Virginia Association of Golf Professionals. That same year the Section opened its first office in Bethesda, Maryland. In June, 1972, the Northern Chapter was abolished (after being in existence for only two years), leaving the Virginia Chapter and the "rest" of the Section. The Section office moved from Bethesda to Columbia, Maryland in November 1979. The Virginia Chapter purchased an office in Richmond, Virginia in 1985. In November 1988, the Section voted to reorganize into three chapters, Northern, Central and Southern. On December 1, 1995 the Section chose to vacate its two offices and consolidate operations in Stafford, Virginia. In 2006, the Section completed construction on the permanent home office of the MAPGA located in Stafford. There was a dedication ceremony held at the new office on October 30, 2006.