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Mottola Receives IAGA Distinguished Service Award

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (November 8, 2017) -- The IAGA honored longtime Metropolitan Golf Association Executive Director Jay Mottola with its Distinguished Service Award, on November 7 at the 51st Annual IAGA Conference in Phoenix, Ariz.

Mottola, 67, of Tarrytown, N.Y., served as the Executive Director of the MGA for 34 years, from 1982 until 2016. He first joined the MGA as a field team member in 1977, which led to a full-time position as the Deputy Executive Director in 1980. Two years later, at the age of 31, he was promoted to Executive Director.

Mottola guided the MGA throughout perhaps its most prolific period in history. Highlights during his tenure include the expansion of the organization’s extensive service program, the launch of The Met Golfer, the creation of the MGA Foundation and the construction of “Golf Central” as a home for the MGA and a number of other area golf organizations. He received the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016.

Mottola also worked closely with the United States Golf Association (USGA) throughout his entire career. He received the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award in 2009 in recognition of his 25 years of volunteer service to the Association. Mottola chaired the USGA’s Handicap Procedure Committee from 1999 to 2004. He was also instrumental in the creation and growth of the USGA’s GHIN service and in the effort to bring the U.S. Open to Bethpage Black in 2002.

Mottola has also been active on national boards, serving on the Board of the National Club Association and the Executive Committee of Golf 20/20. He is an officer with The First Tee of Metropolitan New York, and played a lead role in establishing the chapter in 2001 with the MGA Foundation as a founding partner. He is a longtime member of the Westchester Caddie Scholarship Fund and MGWA Board of Directors.

Prior to his MGA tenure, Mottola worked for a major accounting firm in New York City before entering the coaching profession. He joined the men’s basketball staff at Lafayette College, his alma matter, where he is a member of the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the basketball team. Mottola, who also attended The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, next served as a full-time assistant for the American University program, before his childhood friend, former USGA Executive Director and MGA Communications Director at the time, David Fay, recruited him to work for the MGA.

Today, Mottola is actively involved with the MGA and MGA Foundation as a senior advisor. He served as IAGA president in 1987, as well as on a number of committees before and after his presidency.

The IAGA Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize individuals or groups whose actions have fostered the IAGA objectives as stated in its bylaws: “to promote and conserve the best interests and the true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions.” It is the organization’s highest honor. The selection criteria includes the demonstration of superior or innovative administrative abilities, excellence in information exchange and dialogue between golf administrators and golf organizations.

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