The Indiana Section and the Mid Atlantic Section PGA shared
honors for the 2013 PGA Junior League Section of the Year Award. The Junior
League winners were announced in January at the PGA Merchandise Show.
The Indiana Section was not a pilot market for Junior League
in 2012 but managed to field 60 teams in 2013. Executive Director, Mike David
accepted the award for the Indiana Section.
David said that while he was accepting the award he really
had the least to do with the Section winning. He credited Board President Todd
Firestone and the entire Indiana PGA Board of Directors for getting behind the
program and promoting it to the Indiana PGA Members. He also credited the
efforts of Golf Office staff members Roger Lundy, Director of Junior Golf
Development and Stacey Rice, Director of Player Development, for their efforts
in supporting the program.
“Stacey really became our resident expert on the program and
continued to encourage our PGA Members to participate in the program,” stated
David. “She did a tremendous job of organizing and promoting the program and
had a huge hand in our receiving this award.”
David believes the addition of PGA Junior League fit
perfectly into the other junior golf programming that the Indiana Golf
Foundation and Indiana Section PGA offer.
“We have our Boys and Girls Club initiative, our First Tee
NSP Program and now PGA Junior League as our developmental programs”, said
David. “We then move them into our First Tee certifying programs which could
lead to attendance at our Gongaware Ac ademy.
Ultimately we have our Junior Tour for those that advance to the
competition stage.”
David closed his comments by stating that no matter how much
organization and promotion you put into a program, it will not succeed unless
it is ultimately something worth doing. The Indiana Section strongly believes
that PGA Junior League Golf is something worth supporting and feedback from
parents and participants alike has been 100% positive.