![\"Kingston](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Williams.jpg\")
Kingston school teacher Brian Williams watches a putt roll on the par-3 ninth hole on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, during the men’s club championship final at the Woodstock Golf Club at Woodstock, New York.\nRick Remsnyder\/Daily Freeman<\/p>\n
WOODSTOCK, N.Y. \u2014 Scott Dean was engaged in a tight match for the Woodstock Golf Club men\u2019s club championship with Brian Williams with just a few holes remaining in the 36-hole final on Sunday, Aug. 23 at the picturesque nine-hole private club. But he had another thought in the back of his mind too.<\/p>\n
While he was trying to hold off a late challenge by Williams, Dean couldn\u2019t help wondering when his wife, Alice, was going to arrive on the golf course.<\/p>\n
Dean was happy when she finally got to the course in the final stages of the match and took a seat in the cart next to him. After Williams evened the match by winning the 34th hole with a conceded birdie and the 35th hole with a par, Dean struck a 6-iron to within 45 feet on the par-3 36th hole and two-putted for par.<\/p>\n
Williams, who missed the green right, chipped to about 16 feet. Needing to can the par putt to send the match into extra holes, he slid his putt by the left side of the cup to give Dean a hard-earned 1-up victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI missed it on the high side,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI played a little too much break there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the third Woodstock men\u2019s club championship in the past four years for the 72-year-old Dean. Though Dean has a total of 25 club titles during his illustrious amateur career (22 in western New York at the Attica Golf Club), he said this one was very special because of his wife\u2019s recent health issues.<\/p>\n
Kingston school teacher Brian Williams watches a putt roll on the par-3 ninth hole on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, during the men’s club championship final at the Woodstock Golf Club at Woodstock, New York.
\nRick Remsnyder\/Daily Freeman<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels indescribable to have here with me today,\u201d Dean said afterward as he loaded his clubs into his car. \u201cMy wife has been in the cart the last three wins I\u2019ve had here. She brings me good luck. It\u2019s very special to have here with me again. I kept looking for her and making phone calls. I was looking around the crowd and thinking, \u2018Where is she? Where is she?\u2019 Finally she showed up on the 16th tee and I thought, \u2018Whew. Now I can play.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean has been a dominant player at the Woodstock Golf Club after he returned to the area after retiring from 39 years of service in law enforcement in 2019. He and his wife moved into their new home in West Hurley in June 2020.<\/p>\n
An Onteora High graduate, Dean studied law enforcement while attending SUNY Ulster. He was also the Most Valuable Player on the SUNY Ulster golf team coached by the late Mike Perry.<\/p>\n
While he started working as an assistant pro at Woodstock under the late Jim \u201cHutch\u201d Hutchins in 1975, Dean eventually moved out of the area to work in the Department of Corrections in 1981. After 27 years of service and rising to the rank of lieutenant, he retired to take a job with the U.S. Marshals Service in 2007 and worked there for 12 years.<\/p>\n
Now Dean admits he spends nearly all of his waking hours working out to stay in shape and practicing to keep his golf game where he wants it to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife will second this,\u201d the 5-foot-10 Dean said. \u201cI work out seven days a week. I eat extremely healthy. I live on peanut butter and nuts. I weigh 152 pounds and if I gain any weight I don\u2019t eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean also feels fortunate to have recovered from his share of injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had three major back surgeries the last six or seven years, I\u2019ve had three rotator cuff surgeries the last 14 years and left elbow and right wrist surgery,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to have all these surgeries and come back. A lot of guys have these surgeries and don\u2019t come back. I work very hard and I\u2019m over here hitting balls into the (practice) net every day. Golf is my life. It has been forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean made five birdies in the first 18 holes, including three in a row from the 14th through 16 holes during the morning round.<\/p>\n
Even though Williams only had one birdie in the first 18 holes of the match, he managed to withstand Dean\u2019s birdie barrage and take a 1-up lead on the 18th hole with a par.<\/p>\n
Both men shot 1-over-par 71s over the first 18 holes of the match.<\/p>\n
Dean took a 2-up lead through 27 holes after carding a 1-over 36 to Williams\u2019 4-over 39.<\/p>\n
Dean, however, could never shake Williams, a 55-year special education teacher at Kingston High, who was looking for his first club championship in his golfing career.<\/p>\n
\u201cKudos to Brian Williams,\u201d Dean said. \u201cHe\u2019s an extremely tough competitor. He\u2019s got game. He\u2019s got a gorgeous swing. He\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams said he felt better about this year\u2019s performance in the final against Dean. A year ago, Williams lost to Dean 6 and 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to play better, but that was better today than last year,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHe made more birdies than me. That\u2019s where I fell short today. In 36 holes, I think I only had two birdies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Kordal edged Barry Weiner 1-up in 19 holes for the first flight championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WOODSTOCK, N.Y. \u2014 Scott Dean was engaged in a tight match for the Woodstock Golf Club men\u2019s club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44,913,56,914],"class_list":["post-54890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-golf","tag-new-york","tag-sports","tag-ulster-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}