Golf in Arlington County can’t be discussed for long until Henry Kerfoot‘s name is mentioned.
From the 1940s until his death in late January, Kerfoot was a pioneer in the sport, even during his senior years.
In his younger days, Kerfoot was a standout player at then-named Washington-Lee High School, since renamed Washington-Liberty. Kerfoot played the No. 1 position on the Generals’ varsity golf team for three seasons. As a senior in the Class of 1952, he won the prestigious metropolitan schoolboy tournament championship.
From high school, Kerfoot went on to play in college on scholarship at Wake Forest University, where he was a four-year starter and captain. Arnold Palmer was one of his teammates.
Following college, Kerfoot continued as a top amateur golfer statewide and beyond. He won the club championship at Washington Golf & Country Club five times over four decades. He also won eight senior club championships there.
In 1998, Kerfoot won both the overall club championship and senior championship. At age 55, he won the Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA) senior title.
Rob Ferguson, a club professional at Washington Golf and the head women’s golf coach of the accomplished Marymount University team, knew Kerfoot for 40 years.
“He was a fantastic person,” Ferguson told ARLnow. “He always was great to me. We developed a great friendship, he was a visionary, I always listened to him and Henry really helped me with my career. Before I got the Marymount job, he told me I’d be a good college coach.”
Also on the course, Kerfoot won three Middle Atlantic Golf Association (MAGA) senior crowns and carded the lowest score at the Middle Atlantic qualifier for the 1993 United States Golf Association Senior Open.
Off the course, Kerfoot served as a volunteer to run various high-stakes amateur tournaments and served on the VSGA board of directors.
As a member of the Arlington Jaycees, he held qualifying events for local high-school golfers and took the winners to the Virginia Jaycee Championships in different parts of the state. In 1968, he moved that championship to Arlington.
In 1974, Kerfoot founded the Northern Virginia Amateur Championship (later named in his honor), a tournament that still continues, became MAGA president in 1989 and was a founder of The First Tee of Washington, D.C.
On the course, even into his 80s, Kerfoot continued to play the game and play well and remained a member at Washington Golf.
Kerfoot is a member of both the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame and the Washington-Liberty Sports Hall of Fame.
