Between them, brothers Bob and Joe Alonzi have more than a century of combined experience delivering impeccable playing conditions to some of the world's most demanding golfers.
Both are retired certified superintendents with more than 50 years of experience in the Northeast, and both will be honored by the GCSAA for their contributions to their profession.
Bob, the former superintendent at several clubs, including Winged Foot, and Joe, formerly of Westchester Country Club, recently were named the recipients of the GCSAA's 2026 Col. John Morley Award. They will be formally recognized on Feb. 3 during the Opening Session at the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando.
The award, named for the GCSAA's founder, is presented annually to a current or former superintendent "who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent's profession." They are the first brother duo to win the award.
At Winged Foot, Bob was the host superintendent for the 1984 U.S. Open and 1997 PGA Championship. Joe hosted 17 PGA Tour events and the 2011 Senior Players Championship at Westchester. Both also are recognized for giving back to the industry and mentoring others through the years.
Both were born in Picinisco, Italy, and their family moved to the United States when Bob was 12 years old and Joe was 6. Their introduction to golf came in their teens when each caddied at Taramack Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.
After graduating from Rutgers University and serving in the U.S. Army, Bob worked as a foreman at Taramack before being named superintendent at Rye (New York) Golf Club in 1967. He had stops at Burning Tree Country Club and Fairview Country Club, both in Greenwich, before he replaced the legendary Sherwood Moore — the 1982 recipient of the Morley Award — at Winged Foot in 1984. He left Winged Foot in 1999 for Fenway Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York, where he retired in 2011.
"Hopefully, my legacy will be that I was just a guy who had great opportunities," Bob said in a news release. "I shared everything I experienced. I tried to contribute to research. I think we're all just one big family. This is the best profession in the world, and we're all working toward a goal of perfection. It's not achievable, but you're always striving for it. I just tried to be approachable. I value the hundreds of friends I made in the industry. There's a lot of unity there, and we all share."
Joe took a more circuitous route to becoming a superintendent. He earned a degree in electrical engineering from RCA Institute of Technology in 1971. His first job was working on radar systems for the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark fighter-bomber.
Wanting a job outdoors, Joe joined his brother's team at Burning Tree in 1973 and went back to school at Rutgers. A year later, he was named superintendent at the Huntington Crescent Club in Huntington, New York, before moving on, first to Fenway in 1984, and then on to Westchester in 1992 until he retired in 2015.
Both were very active in the Metropolitan GCSA, with each serving as president and on the board of directors. Each was a recipient of the MetGCSA's Sherwood A. Moore Award, with Bob winning in 1991 and Joe in 2000 — Bob Alonzi in 1991 and Joe Alonzi nine years later.
The family legacy carries on through their sons. Rob Alonzi who succeeded his father, Bob, as superintendent at Fenway in 2011, and remains there today. Joe Alonzi's son, Christopher, is the superintendent at The Summit Club at Armonk (New York). Each also has mentored several former employees who have gone on to successful careers as a superintendent.
"Way too many to count," Joe said. "I'm so proud of all those superintendents out there who worked for me at one point or another. I take that as one of my greatest contributions to the industry. That's how I've tried to give back to the industry, whether they learned from me how to do it right or how not to do it. That's great, as long as they learned something from me."
They will officially receive the award in February at the GCSAA Conference and Show in Orlando.
Click here for a list of past winners.