Happy New Year! My best wishes to you, your loved ones, your respective colleagues, and your facilities for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021. The PNW PGA Section is poised for a successful new year. We have planned for it. On December 14, 2020, the Section Board of Directors held its annual Winter Planning Meeting. In addition to reviewing chapter operational and financial plans for the coming year, discussing Section Committee reports, and evaluating the Section’s current financial position, the Board of Directors reviewed and approved the 2021 Section Operating Budget. While the Section’s Strategic Plan shapes our operational vision and priorities, our budget details how we will prudently administer Member funds to achieve our collective goals on your behalf. I am happy to report that this budget will do that and remain steadfast to our mission.
As reminder, the PNW PGA Section Strategic Plan focuses on six key areas:
- Tournaments
- Player Development
- Employment
- Professional Development
- Community Outreach / Charity
- Governance
The section’s strategic plan establishes the goals for our operations and suggests the activities we might execute to achieve our plans. There is no limit to what we can achieve if we ensure that our focus, our resources, and our energy are in alignment. In everything we do, the Section will always seek to “Serve the members and grow the game.”
In addition to continuing our existing, successful programs, 2021 will witness a deepening of our Member services in key areas. In the area of Tournaments, the section has established a new position to best support operations. The Manager of Tournament Operations was drafted and promoted in partnership with Monte Koch, PGA and, after a successful search, we are proud to announce that Tanner Montgomery, PGA has been selected. Many of you already have a successful relationship with Tanner from his tenure as the Executive Director for the Inland Empire and Central Washington chapters. In 2021, funds will be mobilized to add and ensure additional Section resources to serve the Chapters in a more comprehensive manner.
Chapters in 2021 will enjoy deepened support around sponsorship work, player development opportunities, and media relations and branding services. As we continue to emerge from a COVID environment, I will continue to increase the critical resources each of our chapters need to best serve members in the short and long term. The position Tanner formerly held in service to the Inland Empire and Central Washington chapters had also section-level responsibilities for tournament operations. Those job duties are now removed so that this Executive Director position can devote one hundred percent of his or her attention and energy to the service of our chapters. Look forward to the opening of that position in the coming weeks.
Everything we aim to achieve in 2021 will be to advance our Members and the game. Nevertheless, we still operate in uncertain times so our vision for the year and the plans we have made must also consider flexibility to remain agile in our thinking and our actions should COVID-19 have any lingering impact on our operations. Regrettably, the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2021 Hawaii Pro Am. Pro-Ams, as we all are aware, represent a meaningful source of revenue to the section to fund member programs.
As an example of our flexibility and agility, the Section moved quickly to expand our Pro-Am field size in Vegas, encouraging our very generous sponsor to support the larger event and negotiating an expanded capacity at the host facilities without an increase in rates. Look for the announcement of a prospective second 2021 Pro-Am, to further reinforce the revenue lost due to Hawaii’s cancellation.
Further to COVID protocols, for all the latest, most up-to-date information on the pandemic and directives from appropriate authorities, confidently rely upon our online member handbook.
Online Member Handbook (Section ForeTees)
Notably, the State of Washington has updated their COVID guidance as of January 11, 2021, with other state governments expected to do the same in the coming days and weeks. Despite operating in a challenged, COVID business climate, I expect to modestly increase sponsorships in the coming year. In 2021‒and beyond‒the section is working alongside each chapter to insure that all of us benefit from sponsorship opportunities. This not only means sharing saleable deliverables, but also includes cooperatively sourcing and closing new sponsors. The section can only be as strong as our least successful chapter, and all chapters shall be successful.
As Ben Hogan instructs, “Good golf begins with a good grip.” The PNW PGA is ready for 2021 because the section has a “good grip” on the coming year. I, along with the Section Board of Directors and staff, are confident that 2021 will prove to be a successful year for us all. It is our obligation to afford our members the critical services and resources necessary to ensure our collective success, and we intend to fulfill that obligation.
Should you ever have any questions, never hesitate to contact me.
Frank Talarico, CEO