Fall has arrived! I am always excited for this time of year. The weather is awesome, and the colors as the leaves turn make for some breathtaking views in the Pacific Northwest. I hope you all are getting some personal time on the course or downtime with family as this crazy season ends. 2022 has been a non-stop busy year posing many challenges at our facilities.
Let me begin my presidency by thanking Howie Pruitt for his service the past two years. Howie has helped our Section navigate through very tumultuous times in his term as President. He has done a wonderful job leading our Board, unifying our Chapters, and delivering on our promises. Our Section is now very relevant at the National level, and we are poised to make positive impacts to the game and service to our members because of Howie’s leadership. Thank you, Mr. Pruitt.
To all those that made it to Tacoma, thank you for supporting the Pacific Northwest Section Merchandise Show this past weekend and participating in the fall meeting. It was a pleasure to see those in attendance. If you were not able to be there, you were missed, and you missed two great education opportunities. I would like to thank Frank and his team for an excellent job with a challenging event. Circumstances causing the event to be held in September put a great deal of pressure on our staff. You are all amazing! Thank you to the many vendors that participated in the show. It was great to see you. The business of golf is booming, and I know it was an awkward time to have a booth at a show. It was nice to hear the show was a success in growing accounts and booking orders for you all.
I would like to thank our two candidates that are in the midst of a bid for Section Secretary. Chas Holmes and John Grothe are volunteering for an eight-year commitment to leadership in our Section. Voluntary leadership is a selfless and generous gift to each of us and our organization. It comes with a commitment to hours of work for the good of our PGA members, our facilities, our golfing communities, and the betterment of this great game. “Serve the Member and grow the game” is the mission of our Section and our Association. Our staff looks to leadership to understand the needs of the Section Member and make decisions that drive our success. These two gentlemen will do just that. I wish them both the best of luck, knowing we are in great hands with either of them as the next Section Secretary.
As your new Section President, I am excited to work with Frank and his team to continue to prosper. Under Frank’s leadership we have increased our sponsorships by nearly $1M! We have increased purses in our majors, grown our business, and improved our Section operations. Frank has driven the success down to our members through the support of our Chapters and our programs. I will continue to move forward on this road to success with our Section leadership. We will continue to develop our Section Foundation, provide innovative programming for our membership, and excel as partners with our National leadership.
In closing, I want to implore you to get involved with your Chapter. This is the business planning time of year for your leadership. Each Chapter is planning events for next year, developing budgets, and setting strategic objectives to benefit our PGA Members—you. Volunteer for a committee and help Player Development, Professional Development, Tournament Operations, or any other of the committees that push our success. We are the best Section at doing so many things. It is driven in large part by the success of our Chapters.
Chris Nowlen, PGA