Rickie Fowler and Tony Joyce
at a celebrity golf event at Miami Beach Golf Club in June 2014
The Golf Life of Tony Joyce
The love of golf is in my blood.
From early childhood the game of golf was presented to me as an essential element of a good life. I remain eternally grateful to both my Father and Mother for this guidance and direction.
My life-long love of golf began with my Father teaching me to play as soon as I could walk. At the age of five I played my first complete 18 holes.
One of my first regular chores was changing the metal spikes on his golf shoes. This was often done on Saturday & Sunday during our ritual of watching the weekly golf tournament or Shell's Wonderful World of Golf on television.
Golf was of major importance to the entire Joyce Family. A few highlights:
* As a teenager my Father, a life-long golfer with a single-digit handicap, frequently caddied for W.C. Fields & Walter Chrysler in the late 1920s at Deepdale Golf Club on Long Island.
* Like my Father and at his direction, I learned the finer points of golf as a teenage caddie. I caddied for several summers at Ridgewood Country Club in Bergen County, New Jersey, designed by A.W. Tillinghast and site of the 1935 Ryder Cup.
* My Father was one of thirteen children - all golfers. Our annual family reunion was always held at a country club; we took over the entire course and clubhouse for the Annual Joyce Family Golf Tournament & Cookout. My Uncle Arthur was always the Master of Ceremonies, and as his apprentice taught me how to organize and manage the tournament, officiate the scoring, and coordinate all related festivities.
* My Uncle Jimmy once shot a 63 at his home course in Huntington, Long Island; the driver he used that day was ceremoniously placed with him in his coffin at his funeral.
My lifetime of involvement with golf spans the spectrum of the game. My corporate golf experience began in 1983 organizing a golf conference for Paine Webber executives at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia while I was assigned to the Wall Street headquarters of Paine Webber in New York.
After creating, coordinating and managing countless corporate and social golf events in the United States and abroad during my Wall Street career, I was invited to be the Founding Tournament Director of the Blue Tee Day Celebrity Golf Tournament.
A charity event initiated in 1998 at $5,000 per foursome, Blue Tee Day was an integral part of the Royal Caribbean Classic on Key Biscayne, FL, a tournament held by the PGA Champions Tour. I recruited Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta as my lead celebrity. The tournament quickly grew into an annual success with many Heisman Trophy winners and other celebrities participating.
My Blue Tee Day achievement led to my Super Bowl VIP Committee appointment in 1999, with responsibilities for promoting and staging the $15,000 per foursome Super Bowl VIP Golf Tournament, also on Key Biscayne.
Other highlights include having attended all four Major Championships. I was invited to be the 18th Hole Captain for the U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot in 2004, a challenging and exceptionally rewarding experience. Other Winged Foot memories include playing both Winged Foot courses many times, once playing the ‘front 10’ of Winged Foot East in three over par.
I also enjoyed exceptional access to the best golf venues anywhere as a member of the Nyackers, the golf society within the New York Athletic Club [ NYAC ] located at 180 Central Park South, where I was a 25-year Quarter Century Club member. Of historical note, the NYAC was founded in 1868 and enjoys the reputation as the finest athletic club in the world. Winged Foot Golf Club was originally built & owned by the NYAC until the late 1920s, when it was sold to a group of NYAC members. The two clubs continue to share the same 'Winged Foot' in their respective logos.
I have belonged to private golf clubs in the United States and Ireland, including Doral, Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo and Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale, Ireland. I have enjoyed guest privileges at many prestigious clubs in eight countries, playing extensively in Scotland and Ireland, as well as Germany and France. I have played all over the United States from Hawaii to Vermont.
Though never lower than a 9 handicap, I have managed to break 80 in three different countries. This included a 79 from the tips at the elegant Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Breteche club in Paris, site of the prestigious Trophee Lancome tournament on the European Tour - doing so with a mixed set of old, beat up rental clubs! While playing the oldest and most historic course in Germany - the Golf und Land Club in Berlin founded in 1895 - I recorded eight consecutive pars in the middle of the round yet still only managed an 80! That last stroke irks me to this very day.
Possessing all this golf experience and knowledge, I ultimately created a golf advisory service named HedgeTour, offering comprehensive golf tournament and conference services to corporations and charities, with an initial focus on the Hedge Fund industry.
My intimate relationship and love affair with my beloved Doral Golf Resort began in 1995 as a member of the Club at Doral for ten years. Also from 1995, I was a marshal on the 18th green during the PGA tournament at Doral for 12 consecutive years. Most recently I enjoyed the honor of being invited to serve as the first Doral VIP Golf Concierge. During my four years in this key role I was on duty for approximately 750,000 rounds of golf by golfers from all over the world. Thus, my capabilities per all elements of golf operations and management are both broad and deep. My Doral experiences en toto rank among the most satisfying of my life.
Which brings us to my lifetime golf goal: Shoot my age - scoring somewhere between 68 at age 68 and 72 at age 72. I have a precise plan in place to achieve this goal. | 
