The PGA Professionals Who Helped Build My Career

Today is ‘Thank a PGA Pro Day’, and I cannot help but think about the PGA Professionals who have played a part in my career.

That is not a small group.

After more than three decades in the golf industry, I could name well over 100 PGA Members who have offered advice, opened a door, provided an example or helped me recognize something in myself that I had not yet seen.

But every career has a beginning, and mine starts with Fred Zahner, PGA.

Fred was the PGA Professional at Canasawacta Country Club in Norwich, New York, when I was growing up. He was my first golf professional, but his influence went well beyond introducing me to the game.

As a kid from a small town in Central New York, I saw through Fred that golf could be more than something you played. It could become a profession, a calling and a life’s work. Fred is now retired and living in the Sarasota, Florida, area, but the example he set remains part of everything I have done since.

Ken Weyand, PGA was the first person to give me a professional opportunity after I moved to Florida in 1996. Ken was at Interlachen Country Club in Winter Park at the time, and his willingness to give a young golf professional from upstate New York a chance helped launch the next stage of my life.

A first opportunity means more than a job. It provides validation. Someone is telling you that you belong and that you may be capable of more. Ken gave me that opportunity when I needed it most.

Steve Lundblad, PGA changed the trajectory of my career again when he hired me as his assistant at what was then Winter Park Country Club in 1998. I eventually spent 13 years there, first learning from Steve and later succeeding him as the facility’s head professional and general manager.

Winter Park became the place where I learned how to serve a community through golf. It taught me that a PGA Professional can be a coach, operator, mentor, marketer, tournament director, problem-solver and public servant, sometimes all in the same afternoon.

Steve gave me the opportunity to grow into those responsibilities.

Brad Turner opened another door when he hired me at the Golf Academy of America in 2012. My years there allowed me to teach and mentor future golf-industry professionals while expanding my own understanding of education, career development and leadership.

The school closed in 2018, but the relationship did not. Brad remains one of my closest friends and most trusted mentors. That may be the greatest measure of professional influence. The position eventually ends, but the relationship and the lessons continue.

There are many others I need to thank.

Joe Hallett, PGA has been a trusted mentor and friend whose guidance has helped shape both my coaching philosophy and my approach to serving the game. Along the way, I have also been fortunate to learn from and work alongside outstanding PGA Professionals including Bob Baldassari, Ted Eleftheriou, Alan Flashner and Casey Bourque.

Each of them has influenced my career in a different way, whether through leadership, friendship, encouragement or simply by setting an example of what it means to represent our profession well.

John Hughes, PGA has also been someone I have admired and learned from over the years.

Ryan Adams, PGA has encouraged me to develop another side of my professional life by helping me grow as a writer for PGA.com. Ryan’s belief in my ability to combine decades of coaching experience with storytelling has created opportunities I never envisioned when I first entered the golf business.

Each of these PGA Professionals entered my career at a different point.

One introduced me to what the profession could be. Another gave me my first chance in Florida. One entrusted me with greater responsibility. Another helped me become an educator. Others encouraged me to keep evolving instead of allowing past accomplishments to define what came next.

That is what PGA Professionals do.

They teach the game, certainly, but they also build people, careers and communities. Often, their influence is felt years after a lesson, conversation or opportunity that may have seemed ordinary at the time.

Looking back, I realize every meaningful chapter of my career has a PGA Professional’s fingerprints on it. They gave me opportunities before I knew I was ready. They challenged me when I needed to grow. They celebrated successes, offered perspective during setbacks and reminded me that our profession is ultimately about serving others.

That is why ‘Thank a PGA Pro Day’ matters.

Behind every successful PGA Professional is another PGA Professional who believed in them first.

I know that is true for me, and I will always be grateful for the many men and women who helped me become the PGA Professional, coach, educator and writer I am today.