Today, in front of their peers, we recognized our Indiana Section PGA Special Award Winners at our Annual Business Meeting in Muncie, Ind. Congratulations to all of our winners on this well deserved honor.
Merchandisers of the Year – Established 1988
The Merchandiser of the Year Awards recognizes those PGA professionals who have demonstrated superior skills as merchandisers in the promotion of golf. The award is given for excellence in golf shop operations in three categories: Private, Resort and Public/Municipal/Military/Semi-Private. The following criteria are applied to all awards: PGA Member in good standing, credit rating with the industry, overall credit rating and community involvement. The candidates are judged in the following areas: merchandising ability and techniques, inventory levels and turn rate, shop display and attention to detail.
Rob Koontz
Merchandiser of the Year – Resort Award
French Lick Resort – The Pete Dye Course
Rob places a large attention to detail in his merchandising philosophy, which includes creating opportunities through clean, neat displays filled with a well-planned variety of branded products while maintaining the business operations and margins required for a successful golf shop.To maintain a strong grasp on merchandising in the golf industry he relies on studying the retail
world, following & researching lifestyle trends, watching for social trends, building partnerships
and always learning from his fellow PGA Professionals.
Rob trains team members with a mix of product knowledge, display techniques, conversational
skills and the dollar & “sense” of merchandising which he believes creates an exceptional shop experience and a growing percentage of add-on sales.
Jake Peacock
Merchandiser of the Year – Public Award
Prairie View Golf Club
Jake has been the Director of Golf at Prairie View for 9 years. The Club does not have a merchandiser so Jake has taken on this year-round responsibility by directly ordering, receiving invoicing, and merchandising. If he is not directly merchandising, than he is directing his two assistants to the task. Prairie View has orders arriving every two weeks and Jake and his team do a full turnover of the Golf Shop to the Boys State Finals merchandise in June, always unveiling new products after. They repeat this process the last week in September for the Girls State Finals, followed by new fall merchandise.
Prairie View’s philosophy since Jake came back to Prairie View as the Head Professional in 2019 was to offer the highest quality of merchandise and accessories, with the focus being on the member or guests overall experience from start to finish.
Zachary Dryer
Merchandiser of the Year – Private Award
Elcona Country Club
Zachary’s key to success in merchandising have their roots in the relationships that he has built with his customers, vendors, and fellow PGA Professionals who have mentored him.
Zachary believes that It starts with the fellow professionals and mentors, as they have a network of men and women who have a collective lifetime of experience. When he took over the operation at Elcona, the first thing he did was call 4-5 PGA Professionals to seek their opinions and knowledge on what has and hasn’t worked for them. Zachary pays tribute to their openness and honesty that helped pave his way. He also believes that the relationships with vendors and sales reps are vital to a successful operation and that it requires great communication, understanding, and flexibility from both parties to drive sales and create a win-win environment.
Zachary says that the relationships you build with your customers may be the most important keys to success, especially in the private category of this award.
Teacher of the Year – Established 1986
The Teacher of the Year Award bestows special recognition on a PGA golf professional that has performed outstanding service as a golf instructor. Criteria to be considered are: overall performance as a golf professional at his/her facility, service to his/her Section and the Association, leadership ability, image and ability to inspire fellow professionals, use of teaching aids and the ability to illustrate their effectiveness, involvement in junior golf activities at the facility and in the community, techniques for teaching small and large groups, articles written for publication in books and magazines.
Bill Pollert
PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Award
Highland Golf & Country Club
Bill is a 17-year PGA Class A Professional who actively teaches & coaches his membership while also overseeing the management of the entire golf operation as the Director of Golf & Instruction at Highland Golf & Country Club. During his 12-year career at Highland, he has actively taught the entire membership (men, women, juniors, beginners, scratch & competitive golfers, etc.) and has developed a feel & awareness of how to “meet the student on their level”
and communicate in an effective and clear manner that they can digest and understand.
Bill is also a past Indiana PGA Development Award Winner (2014) and served on the Indiana PGA Board of Directors from 2012-2022. Through his time serving on the board and numerous committees, he has played an active role in developing different teaching and coaching seminars, as well as a number of other educational opportunities for Golf Professionals in different skill sets.
PGA Professional Development Award – Established 1976
The Professional Development Award is designed to recognize individual golf professionals for their outstanding and continuing contributions to developing and improving education opportunities for the PGA golf professional. The guidelines for this award are: contributions to educational programs and seminars in the Indiana Section, contributions and assistance toward the development of articles which benefit and relate to education, contributions to building the image of both the PGA golf Professional and the Association.
Patrick White
PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award
Woodland Country Club
Patrick prides himself on a number of things which include providing a superior member and guest experience, growing the game of golf, providing a quality merchandising operation,and being a mentor/leader to his staff. Patrick has continued to grow the game as his staff exceeded 600 golf lessons and club fittings to their Members at Woodland. Patrick has placed a significant impact on Woodlands programs including their Junior Golf Program that included over 125 juniors in camps and a number of juniors in PGA Junior League.
Patrick places an importance on providing a quality Golf Shop Merchandise Operation. He received the Merchandiser of the Year Award in 2015 and continues to provide his members and guests with quality merchandise and hard goods to fit many different sectors of buyers. Since his first year at Woodland in 2014, Patrick has increased the merchandising sales by 135% which he attributes to knowing the members and selecting products and goods that best
serve their needs. Since 2016, their Golf Shop has been featured in PGA Magazine’s MPlus monthly articles five times.
Currently, Patrick serves on the Indiana PGA Board of Directors where he has been the Secretary for the past two years. Prior to his time as Secretary, he served for six years on the Board of Directors as Education Chair (2 years) and Tournament Chair (4 years). Along with the Indiana PGA Board of Directors, he serves on the Indiana Golf Foundation Board, Indiana PGA-IGA Board and Penn State PGM Alumni Board.
Player Development Award – Established 2014
The Player Development Award is designed to recognize a PGA Professional for extraordinary and exemplary contributions and achievements in the area of player development. This award considers the PGA Professional’s growth of the game leadership commitment at the Section and National levels and the impact made at the facility. The following guidelines are used in making nominations: contributions to Section and National Player Development initiatives, quantity, quality and diversity of player development programs, use of Play Golf America tools and resources in the area of Player Development, quality of best practices, including uniqueness of ideas, increase in rounds/revenues, retention and customer satisfaction, and inspiration of fellow PGA Professionals in the area of player development.
Kevin Sopoci
PGA Player Development Award
StonyCreek Golf Club
Kevin worked with PGM University student, Sam Robinson, through the summer in multiple fields to prepare him for becoming a PGA Professional. Kevin worked to train him on the POS system, cart fleet management, managing pace of play, customer service practices with members, driving range maintenance, teaching and club fitting, and regripping. Sam is a Freshman at Coastal Carolina University and is planning on returning to StonyCreek in the Summer to complete his first internship. Sam was also one of Kevin’s Students in his Intermediate Academy Program as a Sophomore at HSE High School. Kevin continually collaborates with fellow PGA Professionals Bill and John Van Valer on teaching methods, club fitting techniques, and day to day operation. The StonyCreek PGA Professional gave over 400 private lessons, conducted 5 club fitting days, coached 3 PGA Junior League teams, operated 4 adult golf leagues, and produced 8 separate junior instruction programs through the year. The team continues to be a leader in Junior Golf in the Hamilton County area.
Youth Player Development Award – Established 1989
The Youth Player Development Award (formerly the Junior Golf Leader Award) is designed to pay recognition to a PGA Golf Professional who is a leader in junior golf, reflects the qualities and ideals of those who work with our nation’s youth, and provides opportunities and experiences for juniors to learn and play golf. The following guidelines are used in making nominations: contributions to junior programs and the events in the Indiana Section, involvement in the promotion and development of junior golf at the facility and also within the community, support of Indiana Junior Golf programs, overall image, service and leadership in the area of junior golf, overall integrity as an individual and acceptance by junior golfers as a person of outstanding character.
Chris Clemens
PGA Youth Player Development Award
Indianapolis Golf Academy
Chris has placed an emphasis on growing the game at every level of junior golf by providing to programs such as PGA Jr League, First Tee-Indiana, Junior Golf Tours, Volunteer Services for school, free programming for juniors, and Drive, Chip & Putt. In his role at the Indianapolis Golf Academy, Chris promotes strong relationships with his students, families, community, and other PGA Professionals by sharing ideas and promoting the programming of fellow professionals. Chris continues to promote a Game of Life First (GOLF) mentality creating healthy and happy lifestyles.
Bill Strausbaugh Award – Established 1979
The Bill Strausbaugh Award is presented to those PGA members who by their day-to-day efforts have distinguished themselves in the field of club relations, causing dramatic improvements in employment conditions in their local Section and/or the PGA of America. The following guidelines should be used in making a nomination: length of service as a chairperson, committee member or worker on club relations and employment, or as a resource person in these areas, level of activity, i.e. number of calls made to golf facilities, contacts with professionals, employers on employment matters, etc., involvement in education efforts relating to club relations and employment by either writing or speaking on a Sectional or National basis, involvement in the development of data and statistics, materials or programs used either Sectionally or Nationally on club relations and employment activities, any other positive and significant contributions to PGA employment.
Todd Smith
Bill Strausbaugh Award
PGA of America
Mentoring PGA members and associates is something that Todd does every day. During 2022, he had 830 unique interactions with members and associates. These interactions included career planning, negotiating contracts, job searches, and building relationships. Todd worked directly with six members negotiating their contracts, twenty-two members with career planning and forty-five members in job searches this year. His daily routine includes enhancing the personal and professional lives of PGA members and associates. Todd does follow-ups with members to help them keep their careers moving forward. Through years of experience and leadership in the Indiana Section Todd has been able to generate relationships
based on trust and respect. Todd is dependable, honest, and genuinely cares about his peers’ well-being.Todd has been a member of the Indiana PGA section since 1987. He has served on the Indiana PGA Board of Directors and the National PGA Board of Directors. He also served as the Indiana Secretary, Vice-President, and President. He has been a member and chairman of numerous Indiana and national committees. Todd also represented the Indiana section in 5 PGA Championships and the PGA Cup Matches. Todd is very actively keeping PGA Members and Associates updated on employment opportunities and career advancements through many social media outlets and podcasts. Todd also writes articles on employment for the PGA Magazine and section newsletters.
Deacon Palmer Award – Established 2014
The “Deacon Palmer Award” bestows special recognition on a PGA Golf Professional who personally displays outstanding integrity, character and leadership, in the effort to overcome a major obstacle in their life. This individual is an unsung hero/heroine at their facility and in their community, who serve to inspire, empower and assist others, both inside and outside of the game. This award was first given in 2014 to Arnold Palmer in honor of his Father who the Award is named after.
Tony Clecak
Deacon Palmer Award
The Legends Golf Club
Tony has been a PGA Member for 52 years, serving as president of the Indiana Section PGA in 1983 and 1984. He has won every Indiana PGA Award there is including the Bill Strausbaugh Award, Teacher of the Year Award, Junior Leader Award, and he was the 1985 Indiana PGA Golf Professional of the Year. He was also the 36th Master Professional of the PGA, where there are currently over 300 in total and he was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 2014. Tony was previously the head golf professional at Harrison Lake Country Club in Columbus for 26 years. He was in a terrible auto accident 5 years ago and has quickly rebounded and now teaches golf lessons a few days a week at the Legends Golf Club.