2023 – A Year in Review

UBGA’s 2023 Year in Review
As usually, we kicked off the year with our 2nd Annual Black History trip. UBGA hosted a trip with 12 golfers to Florida, February 28- March 4th, playing on 3 golf courses.
UBGA representatives delivered presentations at the Martin Van Buren High School's Career Day in Queens NY on March 30th.
UBGA officially kicked off our golf season on April 1st with our ongoing monthly Golf Training Academy sessions. The Golf Training Academy took place the first Saturday of each month through October. The Golf Training Academy sessions are designed for new golfers (in an effort to increase expose to the sport) and inexperienced golfers. Children and adults are welcomed.
In an effort to support the next generation of black golfers, UBGA adopted Ariel Collins, an extraordinary 13-year-old junior golfer from Georgia, raising in $1,500 donations to help with her golf expenses.
June 23- June 25, we hosted our 3rd Annual Juneteenth Summer Golf Trip at Crystal Springs Resort, Vernon Township, NJ. UBGA hosted 20 golfers.
On July 31, UBGA hosted our 9th Annual Scholarship Fundraising Golf Classic, at Harbor Links Golf Course awarded 8 selected high school seniors with a total of $6,400. From 2016-2023, UBGA has awarded $44,600 to 60 students.
The African American Golfers Digest, published an article about our 9th Annual Scholarship Golf Classic and Ariel Collins, August, 2nd.
Preparing for our 3rd Annual 2024 Black History trip, in September, we selected Puerto Rico as our destination. A return to Florida was ruled out due to the state's position on DEI. We planned on hosting 16 golfers February 26th - March 1st, 2024, playing the following courses: Rio Mar Country Club, Ocean and River Courses.
Preparing for our 4th Annual Juneteenth Summer Golf Trip, in September, we selected Atlantic City as our destination, June 20th - June 23rd, 2024 we will be playing the following courses: Twisted Dune Golf Club and Harbor Pines Golf Club.
The Black Employees Resource Group of Madison Square Garden invited UBGA president, Vernel Bennett and VP of Marketing, Brian Lawrence to the Hip Hop Forever – 50th Anniversary celebration on September, 15th.
During the 2023 season we played 40 rounds of golf, in three states (New York, New Jersey and Florida).
The 22 golf courses that we played on were:  Harbor Links (LI), Harbor Links Exec. Course (LI), Kissena Park G C (Queens NY), Douglaston (Queens NY), Marine Park (Bklyn NY), Forest Park (Queens NY), Crystal Springs (NJ), Pelham Bay/Split Rock (Bronx), Dyker Beach (Bklyn), Bethpage Blue (LI), Clearview (Queens), Pine Hollow Country Club (LI), Scarsdale Golf Club (NY), Mutton Town Golf Club (LI), Pelham Country Club (NY), New York Country Club, The Vineyards Country Club (LI), Massapequa Park Golf Couse (LI), Van Courtland Park Golf Course (Bronx), Disney Palm Golf Course (FL), Disney Lake Buena Vista Golf Course (FL) and Forest Lake Golf Course (FL)
UBGA supported 13 golf clubs and organizations.  Jamaica YMCA, Harlem YMCA, Bethel AME Church Inc., Shinnecock Golfer's Association, (CSA) Council of School Supervisors & Administrators, (CCC) Christian Cultural Center, (Omega) 3L Foundation & Nu Omicron Chapter, Local 372 NYC Board of Education Employees, St. Paul AME Church of Rockville Center, Mid-Island Golf Club, United Black Men of Queens Foundation, Inc., Pink Cans 4 Cancer, and NAACP Jamaica Branch.
Our President, Vernel Bennett, was invited to speak at The Place in Laurelton (Queens) NY for their Networking and Mixer event on November 9th.
UBGA hosted our annual holiday party for our members and their guests, at Thomasina's Catering Inc, located in St. Albans NY on December 14th.
UBGA donated $1,540 worth of toiletries to the Holiday Inn Men’s Shelter in Queens for the holiday season.
At year’s end:  We had 87 members  18 new members joined this year  Our membership reaches across the globe in ten locations: New York, New Jersey, Missouri, North Carolina, California, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Delaware, and Ghana (West Africa)