The Pacific Northwest Section Merchandise Show takes place this Tuesday and Wednesday in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center. We’ve seen great support from our vendors with our return to Portland–and all we need now is your support of those very vendors. The golf business is unique here in the great Northwest. We are all in this together so please support our vendors and buy, buy, buy at the Show!
A big thank you to Tara Tokonitz, PGA and everyone at TopGolf for hosting the Pro-Vendor. It was all about fun–and that is was! The champions and holders of the title belt are David Kass, PGA and Cody Johnson. The belt will be in Cody’s booth!
Join us Wednesday morning at 7:30 for the Annual Meeting and our report on fulfilling the 2019 Business Plan. Traffic is always an adventure, so join us before the meeting for a hosted breakfast thanks to Craig Pelzer and Pelzer Golf Supplies. I’m old enough to have worked with Craig’s dad, Fred, many moons ago. Two of our great supporters!
The 2020 schedule is up on our web page and will be updated as we land those last few sites. Scott Leritz recently confirmed Royal Oaks will host our Senior PGA Championship next year. Thanks Scott. Letters are out on all events, so stay tuned.
Our final event of the season kicks off Thursday with the 71st Hudson Cup Matches and the 28th edition of the Senior Matches. This is an amazing tradition and we look forward to seeing the best in the Northwest compete at match play at the always-challenging Arrowhead Golf Club. With match play the players may just see a couple of those hole locations we usually avoid! Watch live scoring of the matches starting Thursday.
As we close 2019, we must thank our sponsors–Section, Chapter and National–for all they do to make our programs successful. Much of the benefits you see are a direct result of the generous support we receive from so many people. Look at the sponsor page on our website and reach out to a few of our sponsors and just say thanks. It really helps.
It was an impressive year in the Section with our support of local and regional charities. The chapters stepped up their support and, based on the conversation in the board room, you will see additional local support in 2020. I’m also pleased to share that our Folds of Honor support is well-placed. While we generate a very impressive $200k each year, Michael Haywood of the Folds shared that this year 97 scholarships totaling $474,000 were awarded to recipients right here in our Section. That’s 97 kids who know that we value the sacrifice their families have made. Thank you all for making this possible.
Have a great fall and please never hesitate to call us in the Section or Chapter offices and let our terrific staff help you maximize your benefits of PGA membership.
Jeff Ellison, PGA
CEO, Pacific NW Section PGA