CONNECTICUT SECTION PGA
Connecticut Section PGA Office Moves to South Glastonbury
T
he Connecticut Section PGA, one of
41 sections of The PGA of America,
has moved to Glastonbury, Conn..
Having recently celebrated its 80th year
anniversary, the PGA Section serves over
360 golf professionals in Connecticut and
Western Massachusetts. The business of the
Connecticut Section PGA Golf Foundation,
Inc., which provides funding in the form of
grants to initiatives and programs serving
youth and special needs throughout the golf
community, will also be conducted from
this location.
The PGA Section, which has partnered
with the Connecticut State Golf Association
to share office space in the Connecticut Golf
House in Rocky Hill for the past 25 years,
sold its share of office space to the CSGA
in December 2013. The move
allowed the five staff members
to design the office space to
accommodate the needs of a
modern office, while maintaining
some old world golf shop aspects
into the comfortable space.
PGA Section Executive
Director Tom Hantke stated,
“The leadership within the
golf industry is collectively
focusing on bringing the game
more mainstream. With respect to that
objective, having our office on Main Street
is important to highlighting the player
development initiatives and programs our
PGA Professionals are delivering at their places
of employment and promoting within their
respective communities.”
The Connecticut Section PGA’s new
address is: 931 Main Street, Carriage House,
South Glastonbury, CT 06073; phone:
860-430-2302.
City of Hartford Golf Course Properties Consulting
I
n January, the Connecticut Section PGA
and the City of Hartford agreed to enter
into a Golf Course Consulting agreement.
For the next two years, the section will be a
consultant for the operations of the City’s
Goodwin Park and Keney Park Golf Courses.
PGA Professional Patrick Aldrich was hired as
Golf Properties Consultant to serve t he City
of Hartford as its Director of Operations.
The city is taking steps to revive its
ailing golf courses, which have fallen into
disrepair over the last few years. Mayor Pedro
Segarra, who signed the contract, stated,
“Delivering the services Hartford residents
expect and deserve is critical to us becoming
one of America’s Best Capital Cities. Restoring
these golf courses is a step in that direction and
I’m pleased to be working with experts like the
Connecticut PGA to make sure best practices
are followed every step of the way.”
The section’s role includes, but is not
limited to, counseling and advising the City
on all aspects of facilitating the selection of
operators for Goodwin Park Golf Course in
2014 and Keney Park Golf Course in 2015.
The goal is to bring the business of golf
oversight into City Hall and the responsibility
of the accounting into City Finance.
Suzy Whaley Candidate for Secretary of PGA of America
T
he Connecticut Section PGA Board
of Directors officially nominated
PGA Professional Suzy Whaley as a
candidate seeking the office of Secretary of
The PGA of America. In late 2013, Whaley
completed serving a three-year term as the
District 1 Director on the Association Board
of Directors. She is only the third PGA
Professional from the Connecticut Section in
its 80-year history to seek the national office of
Secretary, a position that inevitably leads to the
position as President of The PGA of America.
Not only is Whaley seeking to become the first
Connecticut Section member to serve as an
Association officer, but also she is looking to be
the first woman PGA Professional in that role.
Voting will take place at the Annual Meeting
76
of the Association that takes place on Saturday,
November 22, 2014, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Whaley has spent over half her twelve
years as a PGA Member in the service of the
section as a member of the Board of Directors
and the chairperson of four committees. She
has been honored twice as the section Teacher
of the Year.
In her first year as a PGA Member
in 2002, Whaley broke barriers within the
Association by winning the Connecticut
PGA Championship, making her the first
woman PGA Member to win one of the
41 section championships and earning her
an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2013
Buick Championship (now the Travelers
Championship).
Connecticut State Golf Association 2014
www.csgalinks.org