by Hayden Hundley
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2026 issue of Virginia Golfer magazine. To read the full digital issue, click here.
The Virginia State Golf Association’s Mid-Amateur Championship is one of the association’s most historic championships and, nationally, the oldest Mid-Amateur championship. The event’s 50th iteration will take place in September at Bay Creek Golf Club and Resort in Cape Charles.
No state golf association had established a Mid-Amateur before the VSGA played its first in 1977 at The Homestead in Hot Springs. Wayne Jackson won the first VSGA Mid-Amateur Championship, then open to players ages 35 and older, by 10 strokes. In 2020, Jackson was inducted into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame.
The United States Golf Association added its Mid-Amateur in 1981, which became the first new U.S. golf championship added since the U.S. Women’s Amateur started in 1962. After that, most state golf associations began to follow suit, including the Carolinas Golf Association and the Golf Association of Philadelphia.
Back then, it was very much the new championship on the block, and the VSGA was ahead of the curve.
A WORKING MAN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Keith Decker, who has won a record seven Mid-Amateur Championships dating back to 1990, said the VSGA Mid-Amateur “championed the tournament forward” for the USGA and other state associations.
“The VSGA has a long track record, including the VSGA Mid-Am … for making the other golf associations jealous,” Decker said with a chuckle. “It’s an honor for me to represent the VSGA, and for anybody, when we go out of state.”
Decker reflected on his times playing national events in Virginia and said people would frequently compliment the VSGA’s ability to run tournaments.
“They were jealous of what we were accustomed to at the VSGA, like what other golf associations tried to strive for,” Decker explained. “They hadn’t met them, but they knew the people at the VSGA were doing a tremendous job. The people who have made the VSGA what it is today— when you look at Wallace McDowell and Richard Smith, those guys—they were the founding fathers of the VSGA.”
Now, the VSGA’s men’s golfers consider the Mid-Amateur to be one of the golf association’s four majors, including the State Open of Virginia, Amateur Championship, and Four-Ball Championship. The Mid-Amateur may not have the same glitz and glam of the other three, but the players regard lifting the M.W. “Dyke” Peebles Trophy near and dear for reasons outside of golf.
The championship has long been noted as the “working man’s championship,” a title which the field of players, no matter the generation, has seemingly taken immense pride in.
“All the guys are at least 25 to 30, and they have a full-time job—an 8–5 job,” Decker said. “They normally have a kid or two on the way if they don’t already have one, so it’s a working man’s title.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t an elite list of talented champions, though. Decker named off impressive past champions, including the likes of Tom McKnight, Allen Barber, Matt Chandler, and more.
“I’m proud to say that I played against a lot of those guys and they are tremendous golfers,” Decker said. “I know they hold the tournament in very high regard.”
Eventually, the age requirement to play in the Mid-Amateur was lowered, first to 30, then to 25 in the late 2000s.
THE VALUE OF PRACTICE
Joey Jordan, who won the 49th VSGA Mid-Amateur Championship in 2025, said balancing being the best working professional and amateur golfer he can be is what he’s always wanted for himself.
“Winning that one has a very special place in my heart,” Jordan said. “My dad knows how hard I work at my job and at my golf game, so being able to call him after I got done, letting him know that I birdied the last hole to win, he was over the moon. Truly, I think about which tournament would mean the most to me, and this one really is very much at the top of the list.”
Jordan’s Mid-Amateur win, which is his only individual VSGA title, was initially elusive. The year prior at the 48th Mid-Amateur, he led after the first 36 holes before falling down the leaderboard on the third day.
Jordan said there were “a lot of situations in his career” where he was leading or close to a lead and suddenly found himself out of contention. That started to weigh on him, especially leading up to the 49th VSGA Mid-Amateur Championship.
He took a golf trip to Scotland with his dad to play the legendary Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, and more before winning the Mid-Amateur.
He said that it reset his love for golf and put him in the “right state of mind” to compete for the championship.
After recording a 15-foot birdie on the 18th hole at Poplar Grove Golf Club, Jordan let out an enthusiastic fist pump and joined the exclusive list of VSGA Mid-Amateur Champions.
“Winning on a birdie on the last hole and having … not only my competitors but a lot of my friends standing there waiting to see what was going to happen—and then doing that in front of everyone in the last group,” Jordan said. “That’s literally why you practice: to make those putts when they matter in front of people that you care about.”
PASSING THE CLUB
Forty-three years before Jordan’s emphatic win, 2024 Virginia Golf Hall of Fame inductee J.P. Leigh similarly won his first VSGA individual title at the 6th VSGA Mid-Amateur Championship. Leigh remembered exactly how he sank a crucial putt during his title-clinching round in 1982 at Farmington Country Club.
The greens were faster than Leigh could ever remember at any tournament, even after it rained the night before the final round. The pin placement was on the front of the 12th green, and he had smashed his first putt about 20 feet beyond the hole.
The course was still in sloppy condition, and Leigh’s ball became partially covered in mud once it ran off the green. Leigh figured he could use that to his advantage, and instead of wiping it clean, he left the sticky mud on his ball.
His next putt, which was downhill on one of the fastest greens he’s ever played, lumbered down the hill and right next to the hole. Leigh said securing that putt close to the hole was how he walked away a VSGA Mid-Amateur champion.
Leigh is the oldest living past champion of the VSGA Mid-Amateur and still competes in the association’s Super Senior events. Even with the 43-year gap, Leigh described the Mid-Amateur almost exactly as Jordan did.
Both praised the format and how it allows the working man to play whilst still assembling a competitive and elite field of golfers.
“It was a lot of fun,” Leigh said. “We just love the competition … it’s not just a social gathering. The Mid-Am gave us a very good opportunity for people who were working and older. The people that played in the Mid-Am were competitors.”
Three-time VSGA Mid-Amateur champion David Partridge, who is the only player to have won the championship in three different decades (1988, 1993, and 2006), understands competing against different generations more than most.
“First, that means I’m really, really old,” Partridge joked. “One of the greatest joys has been getting to know outstanding Virginia golfers from multiple generations and watching the game continue to thrive.”
Decker, who hasn’t played in the tournament in over 10 years, still pays close attention to each year’s field. That includes 2020 when Blake Carter—who, like Decker, lives in Martinsville—won the 44th VSGA Mid-Amateur Championship.
“I’m not getting any younger,” Decker said. “I probably don’t have many tournament championships in my future, but it means a lot to me. Records are made to be broken, but I don’t want this one to be broken if I could help it. I would love to hold on to this thing for a long, long time.
“Blake [Carter] is a first-class player, just like Joey [Jordan] is, and I’m sure both of those cats will win several more Mid-Ams because they hold it in the highest regard. It may be the pinnacle tournament.”