Team Connecticut’s coach shows that a junior golf journey can lead to mentorship and a career in the game, not just results.
If your junior golfer has ever wondered whether golf can be more than a scorecard, meet Alex Cavaliere. The Team Connecticut coach at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield was a PGA Jr. League player himself not long ago, and some of the 7-year-olds he remembers from those days have since played on his 17u teams.
Per PGA of America, it was Past President Suzy Whaley, then a PGA Jr. League coach, who encouraged Cavaliere to join the team as a kid. After graduating from Penn State’s Professional Golf Management program, he started working under Director of Golf John Dipollina in 2022 and went straight into coaching. He has led Lyman Orchards’ 17u All-Star team since 2023.
The program is big. Lyman Orchards was the third-largest PGA Jr. League program in the country last year, with more than 400 kids taking part year-round, from total beginners to some of the best juniors in the state. Cavaliere told PGA of America he once paired one of the state’s top players with a kid who could barely get the ball airborne, and both got something out of it.
Dipollina says the impact shows up off the course, too. He watched Cavaliere connect an incoming freshman with a senior from the same school, both Jr. League alums, and now they greet each other in the halls. He also sees former players come back asking for jobs as coaches and staff.
On the course, Team Connecticut finished eighth at the 2025 17u Championship, then won its 2026 Regional on September 20 at Cranberry Valley Golf Course in the rain. It came down to the last hole and a must-make putt from Braydon Hutwagner. Six of eight players returned, including Ryan Glen, now a freshman at Assumption University, who looked into NCAA eligibility rules and got his college coach’s support before playing the All-Star season. Newcomer Joshua Kim, a longtime individual competitor, joined after teammate Justin Paek convinced him to try the team format. At the 2026 17u PGA Jr. League Championship, Team Connecticut finished sixth, per PGA of America’s results.
The Hub’s view, and this is our opinion: the best thing in this story isn’t the finish. It’s that Lyman Orchards is producing golfers, college players, coaches and employees from the same program. When Ryan calls his coach “a reliable friend” who still makes time for him at college, that is development you can’t see on a leaderboard.
So what does this mean for your family? Look for programs where your junior is mentored, not just entered into events. Team formats like PGA Jr. League are a good place to find that. And if your golfer is already in college and wants to play an outside event, follow Ryan’s lead: check the eligibility rules and talk to the college coach first.
See how Connecticut’s juniors stack up in the JGH Rankings.
PC: Hayley Wilson, PGA Junior League