Gary Sassu has built up quite a golf legacy in Bristol.
After a tremendous college golf career at Stetson University, Sassu came home to the Mum City and became the golf professional at Chippanee Country Club. On Thursday, Sassu was named Connecticut Section PGA 2018 Golf Professional of the Year.
“Gary has been a longtime Section member who consistently demonstrates the qualities and values of this award, the highest honor that can be paid to a PGA Professional,” said section president Ian Marshall in an article supplied by the Connecticut PGA and written by esteemed golf writer Bruce Berlet.
Sassu was assistant golf professional to Leo Chizinski from 1983-84 at Chippanee before taking over as head pro in 1985, according to the Berlet story.
Sassu was inducted to the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, according to his BSHOF biography. He was also selected for the Ed Lodovico Award by the Bristol Tramps in 2009. The Ed Lodovico Award recognizes those who have been involved in athletics and promoted or managed sports teams in Bristol.
Sassu was an All-CCIL pick for golf in his senior season at Bristol Central High School in 1975 after learning to play the game at Pequabuck Golf Club. He went on to play at Stetson University, where he lettered for four seasons and had the team’s lowest stroke average as a sophomore, junior and senior. Sassu was the team MVP as a senior.
Sassu played the Greater Hartford Open, now the Travelers Championship, in 1987, and he also played in the PGA Championship in 1991. His greatest gift to the game, however, has been the lessons he has instilled in those who came to him to learn how to play.
“My greatest passion is teaching young golfers how to play the game,” Sassu said in the Berlet story.
He was honored with the 2004 Connecticut PGA Junior Golf Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to the promotion and development of junior golf around the state.
Sassu will be honored at the Golf Professional of the Year Dinner on Saturday, Aug. 14, at Chippanee Country Club.
