Your delegation is just returning from the 103rd PGA Annual Meeting where your representatives participated in the governance of our association. Two resolutions passed, and we said thank you to District 14 Director Don Rea as our own Doug Doxsie formally became a member of the PGA Board of Directors.
Thank you, Don Rea, for your four years of service. You served our Section, the Southwest Section and our association well. We value your friendship and look forward to seeing you in the future. Doug has already been working with your leaders to encourage our National body to enhance their efforts to serve the members. You’ll see great things from Doug in his three-year term on the Board.
Resolution 1 and 2 both passed easily. Resolution 1 removed the US Citizenship requirement for membership from the Constitution. With golf becoming a global game and the association expanding into the global arena, this move will only enhance our appeal to those working in international positions. Resolution 2 involves the transfer to the Life Member – Active classification. With its approval, all NEW transfers to Life Member – Active will require members to have completed the entrance education requirement before transferring to this classification. In our current structure, the only Class A members who have not completed this requirement are those who have spent their entire membership as A-3’s.
Your Section and Chapter Boards are hard at work this winter approving Business Plans, Budgets and preparing to deliver on our mission of “Serving the member and growing the game.” Now is the time to reach out to your Chapter or Section officers to share your thoughts. Their job is easy when they know what all 1,200 of our professionals are thinking. Oregon met on the 10th, Central meets on the 18th, Inland will gather on December 4 and the Section will convene on December 9-10. Western Washington and Montana also have plans in process.
Thank you all for participating in the Special Awards process in your chapter. Whether you nominated your neighbor or completed a bio, you are the key to identifying the best among us. The Section Committee begins work on November 16, working through the difficult task of reviewing the winners from the five chapters in each of our nine awards. They will read the bios, go over the analysis by the chapter committees and do additional research. You can be confident that this group will identify the outstanding professionals among these chapter winners. The Board will have final approval on December 10. Look for the winners to be announced once each has been notified.
The 2020 schedule has been updated a couple of sites and you can count on more soon. The dates are solid, we just need a few more course board approvals: https://www.pnwpga.com/tournaments/2020-tournament-schedule/
Sponsors are key to both our Section and Chapter operations. Please take a few minutes this winter to send a thank you email to these important partners. The Section and all five Chapters have a list on their websites. Send a few or email them all…..your efforts make a difference. Find a complete list of Section Tournament sponsor contact information on the online member handbook: https://web.foretees.com/pnwpga/
Congratulations to all of you for bringing our compensation survey number back up to be a very powerful tool for our PGA Career Consultant Monte Koch. Local data is instrumental in helping all of us improve our compensation. Also, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our many captains, the Pacific Northwest Section was the #1 Section in PGA Junior League participation with 3,395 kids participating at the local level. That’s both growing the game and growing revenue at your facilities. Nice work!
If you have college age children or grandchildren, be sure to check out the PGA Financial Assistance Fund Scholarship. The application process opens later this month on pga.org, please apply. The Pacific Northwest PGA Junior Golf Fund also uses this same application for the Bunny Mason Scholarship process, so two chances for your family.
Thank you all for a great 2019. We are already off to a positive start to 2020 with Hawaii and Vegas sold out. We look for great things next year with all of you playing and promoting the game!
Have a great off-season. Rest a little. Plan for PGA Junior League, help us promote Drive Chip and Putt and watch your email for new opportunities to enhance your career and compensation.
Jeff Ellison, PGA