By Hank Gola
The Metropolitan Golf Writers Association will honor former Augusta National and Masters chairman Billy Payne with its highest tribute, the Gold Tee Award, when the organization hosts its 73rd National Awards Dinner at Westchester Country Club on October 7. Payne’s selection continues a long Masters Gold Tee tradition. The immortal Bobby Jones was its second winner in 1953, followed by Clifford Roberts in 1974. Seventeen Gold Tee winners have won a combined 38 green jackets.
Payne succeeded Hootie Johnson as chairman of Augusta National in 2006, and over the next 11 years, he enacted numerous changes at the tradition-laden club. He negotiated a TV contract with ESPN that included coverage of the Masters’ Par-3 tournament and granted permission for a video game that featured the course, the logo, and the Masters name. Payne began the Drive, Chip & Putt competition for junior golfers and instituted the junior patrons program, where one Augusta patron could bring a junior (aged 8 to 16) to all four rounds of the Masters for free.
But perhaps the most groundbreaking change under his leadership came in 2012, when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and business executive Darla Moore were invited to become the first women to join the club after 75 years of men-only membership.
A native of Athens, Ga., Payne enjoyed a prolific college football career at the University of Georgia, earning All-Southeastern Conference and All-America honors as a defensive end. Having earned a law degree, Payne became president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2019.
Tickets for the 73rd National Awards Dinner, which supports several local golf-related charities, are available on the MGWA website. The public is welcome to attend.
New York is creating a state junior golf team that will expand the pipeline for elite local golfers, ages 13-18, into the U.S. National Development Program – an initiative launched in early 2023 by the USGA.
Seven states participated in the initial phase of the state team pilot program in 2024. New York now joins a group of 10 new state teams being established in 2025, advancing the USGA’s goal of all 50 states having a team by 2033.
“The opportunity to represent their home state will incentivize each region’s best junior golfers to play more in-state competitions, ultimately strengthening the junior golf programming across the country,” says Heather Daly-Donafrio, USGA managing director, Player Relations and Development.
The program is continuing to expand through close collaboration between the USGA, its Allied Golf Associations – including the three AGAs in New York: Metropolitan Golf Association, New York State Golf Association, and the Rochester District Golf Association – as well as the PGA of America and relevant state junior programs.
Team New York will select 12 boys and 12 girls for its inaugural team in 2026. Team members will participate in programming and receive select benefits. Team selection is conducted on an annual basis; players must earn their spot each year.
The participating states will each establish a committee consisting of representatives from major golf entities within each state as well as regional PGA of America sections. This committee will oversee team selection criteria, which will be published prior to the entry deadline of the first official events of the 2025 championship season.
To be eligible to compete on the New York team, a player must be a U.S. Citizen and a New York State resident. Each eligible player must be 13 years old by Jan. 1, 2026, have not reached their 19th birthday by July 19, 2026, and must not be enrolled in college for the 2025–26 school year. A Handicap Index through the NYSGA, MGA, or RDGA with eligible posted scores is also required.
Announced in February of 2023, the USNDP is designed to ensure that American golf is the global leader in the game by focusing on six key pillars: talent identification, access to competition, national teams, athlete resources, player development and relations, and athlete financial support. The state team program will focus on creating a developmentally appropriate, aspirational pathway for athletes within each state to compete at higher levels of the game, including an opportunity to represent the United States as a member of the USNDP’s National Team led by former Pepperdine Associate Head Coach Chris Zambri.
Shane Littel was caddieing for several members at North Jersey Country Club when an awkward pause turned into a eureka moment.
“One of the members in the foursome was smoking a cigar, and he didn’t know what to do with it when he got to the green, that it was a bad look to just put it on the ground,” Littel recalls. “I was thinking, ‘I’m not holding the cigar. We're going to have to figure this out.’ It took about five minutes to balance his cigar on a tee. And I started to think, ‘Maybe there’s a need for this.’”
Littel, who graduated with a marketing degree from Ramapo College of New Jersey last spring, put his entrepreneurial instincts to work once he got home and told his dad, Gregg, about the experience. They quickly enlisted Littel’s cousin Jacob, an engineer, to build a prototype cigar holder but didn’t pursue it immediately.
“Two weeks later, I was caddieing again at North Jersey Country Club, talking to guys who were there for a bachelor’s party,” Littel says. “I told them about the idea, and they were like, ‘No way. My uncle just had parasites in his stomach. He had to be rushed to the ER from dropping his cigar on the ground.’ I said, ‘If there's ever a sign, this is it.’”
Two years later, “The Cuben” cigar holder is a hit. An ingenious little device that can be put in the ground like or tee or placed on the side of a golf cart, it created some great feedback when Littel displayed the product at this year’s PGA Show in Orlando. It was so popular, he made back his money in four hours. Littel sees it as a perfect giveaway item for golf outings and member- guest tournaments because it can be customized.
For now, it’s available through thecuben.com, although Littel is thinking of more ways to market it. In the meantime, he’s got another project in the works, a social media channel called Question of the Day NYC.
The question, ‘Where do I put my cigar?” has already been answered.