Usherwood PGA HOPE Scramble

Sunshine, camaraderie, laughter and golf ruled the day during the 2024 Usherwood PGA HOPE Scramble on Sept. 20. The event nine-hole event was held at Turning Stone Resort Casino’s Sandstone Hollow Golf Course.

The inaugural event on a picturesque early fall day featured a field comprised of U.S. Veterans who participated in PGA HOPE Central New York and employees of Usherwood Office Technology.

Smiling Veterans greeted each other with a hand shake prior to joining their foursome for an afternoon of fun on Turning Stone’s pristine executive course.

“It was a great day and a great event,” said Veteran Brett Hayes, who won Closest to the Pin Award on the 142-yard second hole.

This year, Usherwood was the PGA HOPE CNY Gift Sponsor. Usherwood executives Scott Titus and Lauren Usherwood Tartaglia said Usherwood values the sacrifices Veterans have made for their country and they are committed to supporting Veterans through PGA HOPE CNY.

Thanks to Usherwood’s generosity, every PGA HOPE CNY participant received a CNY PGA Players Card this season.

“Usherwood is proud to support CNY’s Section of PGA HOPE in their efforts to make local Veteran’s lives easier to navigate,” Usherwood said. “With many of our staff having served our country, this cause is very near and dear to the Usherwood family.”

PGA of America Golf Professional Joey Tesori, the PGA REACH CNY Executive Director, acknowledged Usherwood’s contributions to PGA HOPE CNY.

“This event was a pilot program that we cannot wait to keep growing for future years to come,” Tesori said. “Our partners at Usherwood put our HOPE graduates first and because of that, we are tremendously grateful. Thank you to Scott and Lauren and everyone at Usherwood for their forward thinking with this event and for all the veterans who competed to make this day such a special one.”

Also on-site supporting Veterans and the tournament was Sarah Parton from VISIONS Federal Credit Union, the Presenting Partners of all CNY PGA HOPE programs.

After checking in with Veteran Greg Cohen at the starters table, nine foursomes headed out to the course to play a scramble format. One of the featured on-course events was “Beat the Pro” with PGA of America Member Ryan McGinnis (Turning Stone) on hole No. 4.

McGinnis has been actively involved the PGA HOPE CNY program at Turning Stone since 2019. His clinics for military personnel and Veterans had 350 participants last year.

During the post-tournament awards ceremony, PGA HOPE CNY Ambassadors Eric Schuster and Peter Dziedzic spoke about how PGA HOPE is making an impact locally with more than 400 graduates. Schuster indicated the growth of PGA HOPE CNY with five new locations in the CNY PGA Section over the last year with plans to expand near Fort Drum in the future.

PGA HOPE currently has over 215 programs across the US, and serves more than 7,000 Veterans nationally.