Frank Talarico
A certain king had a son. Although in his late teens, the son looked very small and bony. His skinny legs, sunken chest, thready muscles, and poor stamina indicated that he needed help. The royal doctor suggested nutritious food and tonics to vitalize the young prince, but nothing worked. He remained weak and under-developed. The king became very worried and wanted a solution.
One day, as good luck would have it, a wandering monk came to the king’s palace. He was given a warm welcome and accommodations in the royal guesthouse. The monk, endowed with a keen power of observation, soon learned of the king’s worry and offered to help the young prince. He asked the king to send for the royal sculptor.
When the sculptor arrived, the monk asked him to carve out a statue of a fully grown up, well-built man. He wanted a full-size statue with perfectly formed muscles and biceps expressed in it. The sculptor followed the instructions and made the statue ready in a short time. “Look here, young man,” the monk addressed the young prince, “you must keep this statue in your room and look at it as often as you can.” The monk then went away.
The young prince, having placed the statue in his room, would look at the statue every day. When he got up in the morning, he looked at the statue. As he walked in and out of the room, he looked at the statue. While sitting, studying, eating, resting, all through the day, his eyes fell on the statue. “Can I too have a well-formed and beautiful body as this?” the prince asked himself one day. He had developed a desire to be what he admired. Soon, he learned how to do physical exercises, how to lift weights, flex his muscles and follow other related rules of body building. Within a few months, the skinny, bony, young man was transformed into a strong, well-formed muscular figure. The statue had transformed a weakling into a strong man. This was accomplished all with just a statue.
Every field of life has a statue, or, better said, a “role model.” Athletes have their “statues,” their favorite idols. Scientists, teachers, accountants, even golf professionals‒everyone has his or her own role models.
The point is not whether you have a role model, but rather what role model you have. Does who you emulate make you a complete person or professional? Does who you look to have the full complement of all your needs? That is how one must select one’s role model. Once a role model is selected, one can’t help becoming formed in a similar manner.
On the evening of Sunday, March 20, 2022, at Inglewood Golf Club, the PNW PGA will be celebrating the most recent class of Section award winners. These winners are each at the penultimate of their respective professional careers. More importantly, each of them have the potential to serve as our own “statues.” We can look to them, emulate them, learn from them, and, with work and determination, succeed like them. I congratulate our 2021 winners for being recognized, for their work ethic, and for providing an aspirational vision to us all. I encourage you all to spend some time becoming more acquainted with these extraordinary professionals.
Equally motivating to us, particularly in the critical area of player development, our past player development grant recipients have done remarkable work. Every year, those professionals innovating and dedicating themselves to growing the game in so many impactful ways offer us all models to consider, adopt and expand in our own ways. I would like to encourage you all to consider making an application for the 2022 Player Development Grants. My sincere thanks, especially, to Ben Foreman at Yamaha for continuing their generous support for this important member and community benefit program. I encourage you all to visit our "player development best practices wiki". I am confident you will find incredible resources and exceptional inspiration.
Player Development Best Practices Wiki
Lastly, I want to personally salute all those PNW PGA 100-Hole Marathon participants who are about to, for the second year, play 100 holes of golf at their chosen facility for the charity of their choice. If you are interested in participating or simply want to learn more, please reach out to Molly Cooper, PGA at:
As always, if I or any member of our exceptional, Section staff may be of any service, never hesitate to contact us.
Frank Talarico, CEO
ftalarico@pgahq.com
Doug Doxsie, PGA
For me, the end of the football season always signals the ramp up to the golf season in the Pacific Northwest. Here we go! Before we know it, golfers will be streaming to our facilities, looking for instruction, playing in golf tournaments, looking for programs to participate in, and the like. Are you prepared to take advantage of this great golf boom and lead the way in your golf community? Are you maximizing your influence and impact using the various PGA programs offered to you?
The PGA of America pours incredible resources into creating programs and opportunities for PGA members to help you bring value to employers, customers, and your community. “How so?” you ask. Let’s look at a few programs available to you to grow your business, influence, and image.
PGA Coach – Go through the simple ADM certification and create a PGA Coach profile. You will be amazed at how many connections will come to you through the marketplace for golfers looking for instruction.
PGA Jr. League – Arguably the most successful PGA program ever, you can’t afford not to run a program at your facility. If you already do, continue to grow it. This is an easy way to build your junior golf programs, get families more engaged, and drive revenue. You can incorporate instruction into your program fee and build revenue for you and your fellow staff.
PGA Family Cup – A natural progression from PGA Jr. League, this program is now available to all PGA members and provides an opportunity for you to engage parents of juniors and new golfers in a fun, family-oriented team format.
Drive, Chip & Putt – Consider hosting a prep clinic or at least promote your juniors to attend a local qualifier. Think how rewarding it would be for one of your own junior golfers to be at the Masters.
PGA Reach Programs – The mission is to positively impact the lives of youth, military, and diverse populations by enabling access to PGA Professionals, PGA Sections, and the game of golf. The various arms include PGA Hope, PGA Works, PGA Jr. League, Folds of Honor and more. These programs help you grow the game and reach potential new golfers who might not otherwise have the opportunity.
Golf Retirement Plus – Created years ago, this is still a wonderful opportunity for you to earn retirement contributions from vendors administered by AIG. All it takes is a phone call to AIG to review what contributions you might be eligible for and how to create or add to an existing account.
Sagacity Golf – This free service provided in partnership by the PGA of America and Sagacity Golf is available to every daily-fee and semi-private facility with private club support coming in 2022. Your custom PGA Operations Benchmark can give you the clearest picture of overall facility performance in your marketplace. Check it out, it’s free and can be a valuable tool for your facility.
Member Assistance Program (MAP) – Through provider New Benefits, you have access to a variety of services like mental wellness, legal services, identity recovery, financial assistance services, childcare services, elder care services and more. More information on what is available to you as a PGA member can be found at PGA.org under the Benefits and Tools area.
These are just some of the leading examples of programs and offerings available through our association. More information on all of these programs is available on pga.org. As you get ready for the season, view it as a report card. Are you maximizing the tools available to you? At my private facility, we participate in most of these programs, but we have identified that we can increase our use of PGA Family Cup, Golf Retirement Plus, Folds of Honor, and Sagacity PGA Benchmarking in 2022. What about your facility?
Have a fantastic 2022 golf season and I always welcome any questions, suggestions, or comments as your District 14 Director!
Doug Doxsie, PGA
Seattle Golf Club
PGA District 14 Director
425-681-8889
doxpga@msn.com
Molly Cooper, PGA - Director of Tournament & Member Programs
Tanner Montgomery, PGA - Manager of Tournament Operations
We are excited to kickoff the 2022 Pacific Northwest PGA tournament season next month with the Holcomb-In-One Las Vegas Pro-Am (thank you Grant Holcomb) and the Pro-Assistant Championship at Inglewood GC after the successful Pelzer Golf Hawaiian Paradise Pro-Am in January (thank you Craig Pelzer).
We have some updates we wanted to share with you to help prepare you for the upcoming tournament season.
First, if you have not yet made your playing tournament schedule, please check it out and map out your schedule! Also, as you are making your calendar for next year, keep in mind our five-year schedule.
https://www.pnwpga.com/2022-tournament-schedule
https://www.pnwpga.com/tournaments/future-tournaments
New this year is a slight change to our exemption entry deadline. Players/teams that are on an exemption list for an event will now have two weeks once registration opens to register for the event before their spot is no longer guaranteed (this does not include the Senior Oregon Open or the Pacific Golf & Turf Pro-Am which have different exemption guidelines). To see if you are exempt for our events, please check out:
2022 Exempt Pros
2022 Exempt Senior Pros
We have a new hole-in-one sponsor for a $10,000 potential prize. Jared Bouchey along with Farmers Insurance has created the Farmers/Jared Bouchey Hole-In-One Challenge.
See rules and eligibility for earning the cash
We are excited to share that we are expanding the field for our Senior Oregon Open Invitational, which we are celebrating our 20th year with Wildhorse Resort & Casino as a sponsor. Thank you to Mike Hegarty, PGA and Wildhorse Resort & Casino for their continued support of the Section and the Senior Oregon Open. Teams will play both the Wildhorse Resort Golf Course and the Birch Creek Golf Club during the event this year.
Senior Oregon Open Invitational
The 2022 PPC will be played at Manito Golf & Country Club in Spokane, Washington which, just like us, are celebrating their Centennial. Gordon Corder and his team at Manito G&CC have some fantastic plans to make this event special, you do not want to miss this one! In addition to the tournament proper there will be an optional 4-man pro-pro event on Monday with Pro Shop Barbeque cooking up all sorts of delicious food. They will be cooking for us again after round one and round two. Should be a fun and tasty week! More information on the incredible week we are planning will come later.
Update on eligibility:
Per PGA of America, Life Members are not eligible to advance but the Tournament Committee with Board approval voted to allow Life Members to play (just not eligible to advance).
2022 PNW PGA Professional Championship
Last, we would like to take this moment to announce the Professional Captains at the Hudson Cup Matches this October at Tacoma C&GC. They will be leading our teams once again to victory against the amateurs!
Please help us welcome:
74th Hudson Cup Captain – Chris Griffin, PGA
31st Senior Hudson Cup Captain – Mike Gove, PGA
Let’s make this an amazing 2022 tournament season! Please reach out if you have any questions.
Molly Cooper, PGATwo separate Player Development Grant Programs are available to support Pacific Northwest Section Members and Associates. Our goals are to provide as many grants as possible, with a maximum of $1,000 per grant. We will focus on enhancing your programs rather than fully funding them.
At the end of the grant we’ll have two requirements. First, provide documentation in the form of receipts on the use of the funds and second, write a short one-page “Best Practice” on your program that we can share with other professionals on our website (feel free to take a look at the best practices to get some ideas). We also created a Best Practices Wiki where you will be able to easily search best practices by program type and more!
Applications for both programs are due no later than March 25, 2022. Please email to:
The Pacific Northwest Section is proud to join with our friends at Yamaha to present the YAMAHA PLAYER DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM. This initiative, launched in 2015, reflects both our commitments to growing the game of golf in the great Northwest.
This opportunity is open to all Pacific Northwest Section Members and Associates in good standing who seek funding to help support their own Player Development programs. This program is focused on ADULT programming. Our approach will be specifically broad and we encourage you to think outside the box. Our goals are to provide as many grants as possible, with a maximum of $1,000 per grant. Do you need funding to buy rental sets for your beginner classes, do you need funding for a meet and greet reception to introduce Get Golf Ready, do you want to offer scholarships to potential students to pay half of their registration fees, do you need part of the cost of a booth at the Home Show? The list could be endless. The Committee will consider all requests and your applications will help us expand our vision on what programs should be considered.
The Pacific Northwest PGA Junior Golf Fund is also proud to bring to you the YOUTH PLAYER DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROGRAM. This initiative reflects the commitment of the Junior Fund Board to growing Junior Golf in the great Northwest. Donations to the 1% Club have contributed greatly to this program. Our goals are to provide as many grants as possible, with a maximum of $1,000 per grant.
This opportunity is open to all Pacific Northwest Section Members and Associates in good standing who seek funding to help support their own Player Development programs. This program is focused on JUNIOR programming. Do you need funding to buy Junior sets for your beginner classes, do you need funding for your personal Golf in Schools program, do you want to offer scholarships to potential students to pay half their registration fees, do you need funding for Snag equipment? The list could be endless. The Committee will consider all requests and your applications will help us expand our vision on what programs should be considered.
Monte Koch, PGA of America Employment Consultant
Click here to access the PNW PGA job postings
We are all feeling the Crunch of Inflation - Be Proactive Today about Your Compensation Keeping Up!
That’s right, in 2022, the SSA will be giving a 5.9% COLA for recipients. That is added to the 1.3% that was in place in 2019 and the 1.6% that was in place for 2020. You’ve seen the comp for entry level roles in our business go up over the past 3 years...has yours? It’s time to do something about it.
As of 10/29, we are here as a Section: 45.12% (393 completed, 478 incomplete) #21 of 41 Sections. The more of us who complete the profile, the better data I will be able to provide to any PGA professional, facility, etc. who needs it. Knowledge is power here...so do it for yourself and your peers.
Please don't hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions or difficulty in completing your profile. Thank you for your contribution to this important tool used to impact compensation for you and your peers!
Complete your Compensation Profile Survey now >>
Regards, Monte
Feb 20-22 @ The Coeur d'Alene Resort
Earn up to 16 PGA Required MSR’s/AMP Education credit for Associates!
March 20 @ Inglewood GC
March 21-22 @ Inglewood GC
You Can’t Make This Up—Rules of Golf Situations That Have Happened at Your Club
Feb 16 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Presented by Kathy Brown, PGA
Sponsored by Open Rounds
Leveraging Relationships: Taking Advantage of Networking in an Impactful Way
Feb 16 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Presented by Barb Trammell, PGA and Molly Cooper, PGA
Women's informal webinar