September is here!
I hope your season has been prosperous, and your fall is amazing. This time of year is my favorite time of year. Football and golf are going at the same time, crisp mornings and sunny afternoons, and the golf courses are in amazing shape with way less pressure. Hopefully, we have a long and enjoyable fall.
As the golf season slows, the Section governance picks up. There are many topics to cover with the upcoming Fall Meeting, Section Championship, Hudson Cup, Mentoring Conference, and Winter Planning Session in the last four months of the year. It will be a busy season for our Section leadership and staff. I look forward to robust conversations around our tournament program, our Chapter operations, our Section’s Foundation, and governance. This is when we make our plans to improve for the coming year. Thank you in advance to the leadership in our five Chapters and the Section for your time you donate to serve our 1,200 members and grow the game.
Hopefully, by now you have seen the flyer for the upcoming PNW PGA Mentoring Conference to be held November 1st & 2nd at Royal Oaks CC. This is going to be a great opportunity to connect with fellow PGA Professionals, as well as industry leaders. Frank and his team have lined up amazing presenters from around the country. Thank you to TaylorMade and aboutGOLF for sponsoring this event. Please sign up for this awesome opportunity.
It is an amazing opportunity to write my President’s article this week. It is perfect timing for me to talk about mentoring. Like many of you, I became a PGA Professional because of the game’s unique way of creating relationships. Relationships are the crux of why I made this my profession. At every facility I have worked at, I have made lifelong friends, business acquaintances, and the occasional abrasive relationship through conflict. Each of these relationships has shaped my career, and even my life. Hopefully, I have learned from my mistakes and been strengthened by the events shared with my relationships. Several of my relationships have shaped my life more than the rest, the mentorship relationships. These are the individuals that I have looked to for guidance, or I have modeled my behavior like to achieve my success. My father, my stepfather, a teacher or two, my pastor, certain friends, and, of course, my PGA Professionals.
I can look back at my 35 years in this industry, back to when it all started by picking golf balls and cleaning toilets and golf carts at Larchmont GC. I even know the exact experience when I decided I wanted to be a golf professional when Bob Schuyler took me for a ride in his single-engine plane over the Bitterroot Mountain range on a slow September day. That was the start. I also remember the year that I realized just how powerful the game is for developing relationships. It was the year I went to work for Roger Wallace at Polson Country Club. Since then, I have had many mentors in different areas of my career. One of which was a group of leaders in the PNW PGA when I was 31 and I served on the Section board for the first time. The likes of Mr. Blakely, Mr. Doxie, Mr. Huffer, and Mr. Hill helped shape my professional career. I also have had personal mentors along the way that have helped me through difficult times. The greatest mentors are the ones that I think of at a pivotal time and ask myself what they would do. It is humbling if you really think about it. Mentors give you strength, it is lifelong, and it has no price. So, thank you to the mentors in my life.
While I have the pen, and speaking of Mr. Wallace, he retires this month! Roger’s retirement party is September 3rd at Polson Bay Golf Course. After 37 long years at PCC, starting back when golf carts only had 3 wheels, Roger is throwing in the towel. (I had to pause and reflect for a moment after typing that.) I remember many years of playing the old nine with my grandma and grandpa. I remember Roger jumping into action when my grandfather hit a lady in the head with a golf ball a fairway over. I remember the Polson HS Invitationals, where Roger would review the rules and threaten our lives if we cheated. I also remember the first time I played with Roger, the first lesson on merchandising, and the criticism as I spent too much time making the scoreboard for the Lake City Open but revolutionized the scoreboard in the process. I blew his mind! Roger started mentoring me then and still does today. Like many others, he has been there along the way as a sounding board and as a confidant. I would not be the professional I am today without you.
Through the years, like many of you, I have seen Roger Wallace on various stages and many venues in a coat and tie, on national television, and in action leading the PGA of America at every level, or in golf attire interacting with peers, customers, friends, and top professionals in the country, doing his thing, soft-spoken, calculated, poised, and professional. I have also seen him in a t-shirt and hat, with his family and friends enjoying life. I have been learning and impressed all along the way. So, please, send a text to Roger, (406) 212-1263, or email Roger, rwallace@pga.com, and raise a glass this weekend, even if you can’t make it to his party. Thank you, Roger! Thanks for being a friend and a mentor to me, and so many others. You are loved and appreciated. Congratulations on an exceptional career and your retirement. I hope you go to warm places in the cold MT winters, spend time on the beach with Carolyn, spend time on the course with Robbie and friends, and spend a ton of time with Erin and your grandchildren. We wish you the very best. Cheers!
I hope to see many of you at the Section Championship, Pro-Pro, and Fall Meeting later this month!
Have a great September.