RDGA Board member and past President Mike Sorce reflects on his years of volunteer service to the RDGA, left, after being honored with the District’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Wednesday at Locust Hill Country Club. Afterwards, friends, family and fellow Board members such as Wilson Fitch, right, thanked Sorce for his years of service.
| CLICK HERE for a photo album/retrospective of Mike Sorce’s volunteer service with the RDGA |
With a record of volunteer service to the Rochester District Golf Association dating back nearly 30 years, past RDGA President Mike Sorce has devoted untold time and effort to promoting and supporting the sport of golf in Rochester – with no signs of stopping for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, December 20, the RDGA honored Sorce for those years of volunteerism with its’ Lifetime Achievement Award – “in recognition of his outstanding service to the Rochester golfing community.”
The honor was presented as part of the RDGA’s annual Holiday reception for board members, past presidents and special guests and hosted by Locust Hill Country Club. Among the attendees were Sorce’s immediate family and friends – including Joe Colosi, who was a member of the 2009 Williamson Cup-winning team of junior golfers from Rochester, as well as 4-time RDGA District Champion John Kircher.
Sorce began as a tournament volunteer for the RDGA, eventually working his way onto the District’s Board of Directors, where his primary focus was in promoting junior golf in Rochester. By 2000, Sorce became President of the RDGA, initiating activities such as the ceremonial “first tee shot” at the District Championship – as well as coordinating the annual Rochester Williamson Cup team, consisting of four top junior golfers competing against other top junior golfers from areas across the northeast and Canada.
In 2009, Sorce led the RDGA Williamson Cup team – which included an “all-star” lineup of Gavin Hall, Yarik Merkulov, Ben Kircher and Colosi – to only its second Cup victory and first in over 30 years.
By 2011, vacancies on the RDGA Board of Directors led the District to recruit Sorce to once again fill the role as RDGA President, which he did in 2011 and 2012 – becoming the first and only person to serve as District President for two separate terms.
Since then, Sorce has continued to serve on the RDGA Board, while also filling the role of Junior Golf Chair and serving as one of the RDGA’s Rules Officials.For the past five years, Sorce has also served a President of the RDGA Foundation, whose purpose is to raise funds and support junior golf activities in Rochester.
“It’s been a labor of love,” said Sorce. “Working with junior golfers has been most rewarding – we were once junior golfers ourselves…and now, today’s juniors will someday become us.”
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