Contents
- President’s Message
- 2026 Club Tournaments: Save the Dates!
- Senior Exchanges: Schedule & New Registration Process for 2026
- Dinner with Stanford Golf: “Short Game Wins Championships”
- Player’s League: Stanford Men Advanced in inaugural NCGA Competition
- The Ace: Celebrating Holes-in-One
- Treasurer’s Report: Where Your Funds Went in 2025 & 2026 Outlook
- LPGA Event: Fortinet Founders Cup, March 19-22 at Sharon Heights
President’s Message: Welcome to 2026!
We’ve kicked off a fantastic year of playing golf and connecting together at Stanford. On behalf of the Men’s Section Board of Directors, welcome to our nearly 400 returning and new members. We have scheduled 45 events this year including: Club tournaments at Stanford, Senior Exchange events at Stanford and amazing Bay Area golf courses, NCGA competitions, and new events and formats. We hope that every Club member will find opportunities to play. Each month, this newsletter will highlight upcoming events, celebrate our performances and share news about the Stanford golf community. Let us know what you’re thinking!
Thank you and good reading!
Todd Wade
president@stanfordgolfclub.com
EVENTS
2026 Club Tournament Schedule - Save The Dates!
Our full-year calendar is available now. Save the dates for this year’s major championships, our returning and new tournaments, and a new All-Sections Invitational in October. See the complete 2026 Schedule on the Stanford Golf Club Men’s Section website here.
Registration for Club tournaments at Stanford typically opens about a month prior to the event date on Thursdays at 6pm Pacific time. This year’s first event - the Break 50 scramble - will be held on Saturday, March 14th with registration opening on Thursday, February 12. Don’t miss this chance for your team to Break 50 on the Stanford Golf Course.
2026 Senior Exchanges
Back this year with 27 events at Stanford and incredible selection of Bay Area Golf Courses, Senior Exchanges are for golfers ages 50 and older. New this year: registration will still open at Thursday 6pm Pacific time - and a by-popular-demand 24-hour registration window will allow more opportunity to secure your place in line. See the complete 2026 Senior Exchange Schedule, located on our website here.
PERFORMANCES
Dinner with Stanford Golf: “Short Game Wins Championships”
On January 13th, the Men’s Section hosted an event for the Men’s and Women’s Golf team and coaches to talk about the season ahead, competing today at the elite college and amateur levels, and playing the Stanford Golf Course. Women’s team member and Stanford sophomore Paula Martin Sampedro shared her exciting account of winning the 123rd Women’s Amateur in Scotland as well as other highlights of her amazing year in 2025. Stanford Men’s Team senior Nathan Wang talked about transferring to and playing for Stanford. In the wrap-up predictions for ‘26, Nathan rightly called for an NCAA championship for the Women’s team. Men’s Coach Conrad Ray, Women’s Assistant Coach Demi Runas, the entire Men’s team and coaches as well as about 40 members and guests had a memorable conversation and dinner together at Birdies.
Player’s League: Stanford Team Opens Well in inaugural NCGA Competition
The Men's Section for the first time fielded a team in the NCGA's Player's League, a team match play league played at scratch. We joined teams with high-caliber players rounds on challenging courses and spirited but friendly competitions. Special thanks to Stanford’s Head Professional Ron Fischang, who both arranged a well-received opening round at Stanford, but also played superbly in our lead-off spot. In our inaugural season, we tied with Almaden for first place in our group in the regular season, and had the unique opportunity to participate in the Northern California playoffs against 3 stellar teams at Poppy Ridge. Although we did not advance, we clearly out-performed the Vegas line. The three teams we faced in the playoffs had players with indexes from 1.0 at the high end to +5.0 on the low end! Stand-out performances included: Jake Humble (sudden-death birdie on first hole to advance), Andrew Ogilvie (upset win during finals at Poppy Ridge), and Ken Sigel (widest winning margin over his Almaden opponent).
The Aces
Picking up in 2026 from his great play last year, Jake Humble contributed an Ace on hole #4 on January 8th! His approach bounced no more than 2” short on and found its way to the bottom of the hole on a one-hop finish.
CLUB & COMMUNITY UPDATES
Treasurer’s Report: Where Your Funds Went in 2025 & 2026 Outlook
Each year, the Board approves the Club’s budget for the year ahead. Looking back at 2025, the Club paid on behalf of each Regular and Handicap Only member dues for belonging to the NCGA. For Regular Club members, the remainder of member dues went towards supporting Club events and contributions to the Community. It’s worth reinforcing that 100% of event registration fees go towards the direct costs of each event (e.g., food and beverage, purses). This year’s 2026 budget, reflecting an uptick in membership, we expect to increase slightly our funding for Club Tournaments as well as our donations and contributions to the Community. To enlarge chart at left, click here.
LPGA Event: Fortinet Founders Cup, March 19-22 at Sharon Heights
Coming soon! On March 19-22, 2026, the LPGA Tour will head to Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club for the 2026 Fortinet Founders Cup, the first full-field event of the season and the start of a new chapter in the long history of women’s golf in Northern California. Stanford’s Rose Zhang won the event in 2024. For information about volunteer opportunities, please contact Sue Epstein, suehepstein@gmail.com. For information about tickets, please see the tournament website here.
