Last night, the Indiana Golf Office welcomed Jeff Cook and Alan Schulte, PGA into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame. The event was held at Meridian Hills Country Club in Indianapolis. Inductees were joined by family and friends to celebrate this special occasion.
Jeff Cook was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. He began playing competitive golf his freshman year of high school when he joined the Warren Central men’s team. There, he was named to the IHSAA All-State Team two years in a row (’79, ’80). His team finished second in the state his junior year, and he capped off his senior year with a second-place individual finish at the State Finals.
Cook attended Indiana University where he was a member of the men’s golf team for four years. Following his graduation in 1984, Cook began competing in Indiana PGA events. The first of many victories came in ’85 at the Indiana Southern Open. The following year, he won his first of four PGA State Open Championships. He followed with additional victories in ’88, ’89 and ’92. Cook is one of only five players to have won the State Open four times. He is also a four-time runner-up.
Cook turned professional in 1987 and soon joined the Asian Tour where he competed for three years (’88, ’89 and ’96). In 1990 Cook played on the Ben Hogan Tour. Cook wasted no time and won his first title in his first year on the Tour at the 1990 Ben Hogan Greater Ozarks Open with a 9-under par finish. Cook participated on the Ben Hogan Tour (Nike, Buy.com) for 11 years and spent one year on the PGA Tour (’93). His best finish on the PGA Tour came at the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic in ’93 when he finished 17th.
Cook, who now resides in Carmel, has retired from playing on the Tour. However, as the Director of Tour Operations for Mizuno, he remains involved with some of the best players in the world.
Unlike Cook, Alan Schulte did not grow up in Indiana, but instead Oneonta, New York where he attended a small, rural high school with just 34 kids in his graduating class. He was the only golfer in his entire school, so he never had the opportunity to participate on a team. Luckily, with the help of his teacher, he was granted entry into the high school state tournament, and from there, his golf career began.
In 1980, Schulte won his first state-wide event, the New York State Junior Championship. He went on to attend Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia on a golf scholarship. There, Schulte won back-to-back Conference Championships (’84, ’85) and qualified as an individual for the USGA Amateur Championship.
Upon graduation, Schulte worked at a few golf courses in New York and Florida and relocated to Indiana after visiting an old college roommate in the area. In 1991, Schulte moved to Fishers and worked as a golf professional at Hillcrest Country Club. In 2002, he became the Head Professional at The Hawthorns Golf and Country Club.
While working as a Head Professional, Schulte continued to play competitively and proved to be a front-runner. He won back-to-back Indiana PGA Open Championships in ’05 and ’06, was a two-time Indiana PGA Professional Champion (’00, ’05), a PGA Southern Open Champion (’04), and Indianapolis Open Champion (’06), and a three time Indiana PGA Assistants’ Champion (’98, ’01, ’03).
His tremendous tournament play earned him several state accolades, including two Indiana PGA Assistant Player of the Year titles (’01, ’02) and six consecutive Indiana PGA Player of the Year titles (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07). In 2006, Schulte had a stint on the PGA Tour, qualifying for the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club, where he competed alongside the world’s best professionals.
Although Schulte is now out of the golf business, he continues to play in Indiana golf events. He currently works at Shepherd Insurance in Carmel as a New Business Coordinator.
Additionally, our junior, PGA, IGA and IWGA Players of the Year were recognized. Those players included: Aidan Gutierrez and Macy Beeson (Prep Tour Players of the Year), Kyle Sanders and Kristen Hobbs (Junior Tour Players of the Year), Ethan Shepherd, Peyton Snoeberger, and Kristina Kniesly (Junior Program Players of the Year, Craig Bowden (Omega Indiana PGA Player of the Year), Dave Carich (Omega Indiana Senior PGA Player of the Year), Tucker Guisewite (Omega Indiana Assistant Player of the Year), Sean Rowen (IGA John K. David Player of the Year), Terry Werner (IGA Senior Player of the Year), Julia Potter and Erica Shepherd (IWGA Alice O'Neal Dye Co-Players of the Year).
Thank you to everyone for attending. And a special thank you to Meridian Hills Country Club for hosting and Bud and Bloom Florist for donating beautiful centerpieces for our event.