Happy April!
My name is Dan Harrington and I am a candidate for Secretary of the Pacific Northwest Section PGA.
I am beginning my 22nd season as a golf professional and 17th as a PGA member. My golf life started as a summer golf and pool junkie at Link Hills Country Club in Greeneville, Tennessee. This led to my participation on both junior and high school golf teams in Austin, Texas. I was fortunate to play on a team that qualified for the 1985 Texas State Golf Championships. After graduating in Austin, I moved to Washington and began attending Western Washington University in the winter of 1987, playing my first cold and wet golf season of my life for Ron Hass, PGA. After a few more years playing for Western under Dean Russell, PGA, I got a coat and tie job at Farmers Life Insurance as an underwriter. Four years later, I returned to my original and true passion by taking a job as the non-member head professional at Taylor Creek Golf Course in Maple Valley. Additional experiences as assistant at Fairwood G&CC and Meridian Valley CC led to my hire as the head professional at Meadow Park Golf Course. Since turning professional, I have served on several Chapter and Section committees, played in hundreds of pro-member and professional events, and have been a community leader at each stop in my career.
My wife of 21 years Tricia and I have two fantastic children, Ryan 9 (Mr. Baseball) and Rachel 6 (my future golfing meal ticket). I am honored to have served the 400+ golf professionals of the WWC-PGA as President for the past year and a half. I am equally proud of the Chapter Board and the numerous golf professionals working hard provide learning and playing opportunities for kids in our golf communities.
My motivation in running for the Secretary position is threefold:
I am Listener more than a Talker, which allows me to be a better communicator. Because our Section stretches more or less from Brookings, Oregon to Fairbanks, Alaska and Ocean Shores, Washington to Billings, Montana I believe that communication is essential to our Section functioning effectively and successfully. As your Secretary, I will be available to listen and absorb your suggestions and ideas first, then communicate a written plan to put some of these into action over my time in office.
Continuing to be a leader and innovator of our local, regional, and national Player Development programs. In late-2012, I was at the forefront in bringing the PGA Junior League Golf to the Section when I created the four-team “South Sound” league in Tacoma. Further strengthening this program, in concert with Get Golf Ready, Golf In-Schools, and Military rehabilitative instruction curriculums are at the core of my leadership focus.
I have a well-rounded job and life experience set. In my lifetime I have worked at private, public, municipal, and upscale daily fee facilities. This knowledge and experience set is beneficial because it allows me to be your advocate in the Section boardroom, no matter what type of facility you hang your hat at. I have also spent time working with allied associations and fellow professional organizations to further enhance our position in the golfing community.
I look forward to providing more communication in the ForeWord Press and hope to get a chance to meet and speak with you at your Chapter meetings this fall. If you have any questions, I can always be reached by email: undrpar1@yahoo.com or by cell 253-249-1001.
Respectfully,
Dan Harrington, PGA
Head Golf Professional
The Home Course – DuPont, Washington