F R O M T H E D I R E C T O R
Jeff Adkerson,
Director, PGA Golf Management Mississippi State University
2
he end of the year is special in so many ways – a celebration of the Holiday Season, time with family and friends, watch Mississippi State play in another
T
in a bowl game, welcome new graduates into the fraternity of PGA Golf Management alumni, reflect on the events of the past year, and anticipation for what awaits in the upcoming year. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!
As I reflect on 2013, two things come to mind: what a year, and a year of change. The program celebrated several new milestones this year. The first milestone occurred as the result of a successful 2012 for graduate Rod Perry, as he earned PGA Player of the Year honors.
This marks the first national award for one of our graduates, and the first player of the year honor for any PGA Golf Management graduate. Following his award presentation at the Professional Championship at Crosswater Golf Club, Rod accomplished another milestone in winning the PGA Professional National Championship.
This honor also qualified him for the PGA Cup team, which retained the Cup this past September.
We also celebrated our first Quarter Century PGA Professionals in Sean Cracraft and Blane Merritt. Both earned this distinct honor this fall, and have been great ambassadors of our profession and our program.
While “change” often has a negative association, that is not the case this time. The PGA Golf Management team worked diligently to find ways to enhance the student experience and increase the skill set of graduates entering the work force. Changes in our curriculum are providing more focus on golf instruction and growth of the game initiatives as well as providing students with more opportunities to give golf lessons. We also restructured some of the content delivery in a few courses to allow
for more hands on learning at the MSU Golf Course .
Another area of noticeable change occurred in our player development program. All students (including those who have passed the PAT) are now required to complete weekly drills with a quantifiable outcome and maintain a maximum scoring average in our tournament series. We have seen tournaments average 83 players with a tournament scoring average of approximately 81. This is a 60% increase in average tournament participation while maintaining a consistent scoring average in year over year comparison.
We also made minor changes in our recruiting efforts, methods for retention of current students, and eligibility requirements to remain in the program.
The most noted changes occurred in our staff. We celebrated the retirement of Elaine White this summer! Ms. E worked at Mississippi State for 28 years, with over 20 years working with the PGA Golf Management program. She dedicated her career to helping so many achieve their goals and we