The mission of the Virginia State Golf Association is to promote the game of golf and serve the needs of golf in Virginia.

The VSGA is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization.

In 1904, under the leadership of James Hume of Norfolk Country Club, the first statewide golf tournament in Virginia was organized with the following clubs competing: Lakeside Golf Club in Richmond, Roanoke Country Club, Hampton Roads Golf and Country Club and Hume’s Norfolk Country Club. Norfolk provided the first Virginia Cup, won by Lakeside who defeated Hampton in the championship match.

At the dinner following the competition, officers were then elected to oversee the next year’s event, headed by R.P.C. Sanderson of Norfolk. These clubs resolved to play the event annually, thereby creating the Virginia State Golf League to promote golf through interclub play and to establish guidelines and procedures for governing the game of golf in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thus began one of the oldest golf associations in America.

By the time the first State Amateur was played in 1911 (which was won by William H. Palmer Jr.) the organization had changed its name to the Virginia State Golf Association. The first State Women’s Amateur Championship was contested in 1922, with Mrs. J.W. Zimmerman of Lexington capturing the championship. Through the years, other notable VSGA championship winners have included Donna Andrews, Vinny Giles, the late Chandler Harper, Curtis Strange, Bobby Wadkins and Lanny Wadkins, among others.

Since those early days, the VSGA has grown from four clubs to more than 300 today and from a fledgling tournament-based association to a professional full-service organization. The VSGA today remains largely volunteer-based and works diligently to honor its mission, and “promote and serve golf in Virginia” through its member services.