Thirty Years Later: Sherry Herman Reflects on Her Championship Legacy

Photo Courtesy: USGA/ Fred Vuich

KENILWORTH, N.J. –– Three decades have passed since the New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championship was last contested at Essex Fells Country Club. When the championship returns July 13-15 for its 101st edition, it awaits a venue linked to one of the most dominant stretches in tournament history.  

In 1996, Sherry Herman captured her second of her five New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championships at Essex Fells, successfully defending the title she won the previous summer at Rumson Country Club. The victory served as the cornerstone of a remarkable run that saw Herman win four consecutive Women’s Amateur titles from 1995 through 1998, a feat matched by few in the championships 101-year history.  

While the championship venues rotate throughout New Jersey, certain clubs become forever connected to defining moments. For Herman, Essex Fells is one of those places.  

Looking back nearly 30 years later, she remembers arriving at Essex Fells with a different mindset than she had the year before. Winning changes expectations. More importantly, it changed her motivation.  

“You really don’t want to give the trophy back once you have it,” Herman recalled. “They’re really fun to have sitting at home. When I went to Essex Fells, it was just total concentration. I wanted to win again.” 

Herman’s name appears throughout New Jersey Golf’s championship record books for decades. Along with her five Women’s Amateur titles, she added the 2008 Women’s Senior Championship and later partnered with Helen Bernstein to capture the Women’s Four-Ball Championships in both 2014 and 2016.  

Her five Women’s Amateur titles rank second all-time behind only Hall of Famers Carolyn Cudone and Maureen Orcutt, who each won six. Herman has competed in 32 USGA championships, reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur twice, captured the 2009 North & South Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Pinehurst and later that summer claimed the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship at The Homestead’s Cascades Course in Virginia.  

Despite competing on golf’s biggest amateur stages, Herman has always held the New Jersey Women’s Amateur in special regard.  

“I always thought that it was run like a very professional tournament,” Herman said. “Always very organized and we played at wonderful venues. If you think of Navesink, Rumson and Essex Fells, I mean, they are just great venues I looked forward to playing.” 

Ironically, Herman’s path to becoming one of New Jersey’s greatest amateur golfers almost never happened.  

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Herman was a self-described tomboy who preferred playing sports with her brothers over more traditional activities. Introduced to golf by her father at age 11, she quickly fell in love with the game.  

“I had a natural swing from day one,” Herman said. “It was all-consuming to me.”  

She starred on the boys’ golf team at Wyomissing High School before earning a scholarship to the University of Georgia. It was there, she says, that her game truly began to evolve.  

“I was like a sponge,” Herman recalled. “Whether it was putting drills or chipping drills or whatever, I just took them all in.”  

Although Herman briefly pursued professional golf after graduation, competing on the mini tour in California and attempting to qualify for the LPGA Tour, she quickly realized the touring lifestyle wasn’t what she wanted.  

“I knew I didn’t want that lifestyle,” she said. “My heart wasn’t one hundred percent into it.”  

Instead, Herman became a teaching professional before eventually regaining her amateur status after moving to New Jersey. The timing couldn’t have been better.  

“You have New Jersey Golf, the Met section and the USGA,” Herman said. “You can play so much around here, and the courses are amazing.”  

That opportunity to compete regularly against elite amateur fields proved to be the perfect fit for Herman’s life.  

Beginning in 1995, Herman embarked on one of the greatest stretches the championship has ever seen. Essex Fells played a pivotal role in that success.  

Long known as a course that rewards strategy over strength, Essex Fells demanded the very qualities that defined Herman’s game throughout her career. While today’s competitors arrive with technology capable of producing greater distance than ever before, Herman believes the formula for success hasn’t changed.  

“It’s not always about the driver,” she said. “It’s about putting yourself in the proper position so that you have a good angle into the green.”  

Long before strokes gained and advanced analytics became commonplace, Herman was meticulously tracking her own statistics. Every round became another lesson.  

“I kept every round,” Herman said. “Fairways hit, greens in regulation, number of putts. At that point in my career, I was very focused on hitting fairways, hitting greens and trying to make birdies. I was very focused on my statistics.”  

“If I didn’t hit 14 greens in a round, it felt like a bad day,” Herman remarked. 

That disciplined approach translated perfectly to Essex Fells. Rather than chasing birdies through aggressive play, Herman trusted that consistency would create opportunities.  

During her title defense, little else entered her mind.  

“I was just very focused on my game,” Herman said. “I really didn't take in much noise on the sides.” 

Even the pressure of defending a championship faded into the background. Instead, what she remembers most today are the people who experienced it alongside her.  

Herman remembers seeing her husband following every hole and, unexpectedly, catching a glimpse of her mother watching from behind the trees. 

"She wasn't really that healthy; she couldn't walk,” Herman recalled. “But she came and she watched that one hole, and I think saw me tee off on the next one. It was very memorable.” 

Thirty years later, those moments remain just as vivid as the trophy itself.  

Herman’s accomplishments eventually earned her induction into the New Jersey Golf Hall of Fame in 2020, recognition she considers among the proudest moments of her extensive career.  

“Being inducted into the Hall of Fame was a career highlight,” Herman said. “With the history in New Jersey including the phenomenal courses, the rich golf history for such a little state, is amazing. To be a part of that is just very gratifying.”  

Herman’s competitive journey never took a backseat in her life.  

After stepping away from tournament golf for nearly a decade to help build a successful business alongside her husband, Ben, Herman eventually set sights on senior competition. 

The 2009 Women’s Amateur wasn’t intended to be a comeback story. It was supposed to be a tune-up.  

“I never expected to win that tournament,” Herman said. “It was really just to get my competitive juices going and test my game.”  

Once the matches began, that outlook quickly changed.  

“Once you show up, you don’t want to lose,” Herman said. “The competitive edge takes over.”  

Herman captured her fifth New Jersey Women’s Amateur title at 51 before winning both the North & South Senior Women’s Amateur, and, weeks later, the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Looking back, she still considers that national title the pinnacle of her career.  

Now, as the New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championship returns to Essex Fells for the first time since her memorable victory there, Hermans sees many of the same challenges awaiting this year’s field.  

Essex Fells, she believes, continues to reward thoughtful golf: course management, patience and discipline.  

For the players who will tee it up this week in the 101st edition of the tournament, the blueprint for success may look remarkably familiar. Hit fairways. Hit greens. Stay patient. Trust your preparation.  

It’s the same formula that carried Sherry Herman to one of the greatest amateur careers in New Jersey Golf history, and the same formula that could determine who writes the next chapter in the championship's storied legacy.  

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