103rd PGA Annual Meeting
and Leadership Session
By Ross Brown - Senior
Being selected to represent the Mississippi State University PGA Golf Management Program at the 103rd PGA of America Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference was such an honor and an experience that I will never forget. Being a leader within the PGM Student Association is something that I took pride in throughout the past 4 years at MSU, and it was great to be able to meet and make connections with the leaders of other PGA Golf Management programs. It was a phenomenal opportunity to be involved with and learn about the governance of the PGA of America and how decisions are made within the PGA. I was able to surround myself with many great PGA Professionals from around the country and industry leaders that I can look up to. I was able to discuss and learn many ways to improve myself as a professional but also to help improve the Mississippi State PGA Golf Management Program and students professionally before we graduate.
There were two topics that were brought up to be voted on during the Annual Meeting that both passed with a 100% passing vote. The first was to allow Lifetime PGA Members to keep their benefits after retirement. The second topic was especially applicable to the group of PGA Golf Management students present. This was to allow non-citizens of the United States to become PGA Members, where before you could just be a “PGA Associate”. This was special to us because we had a student from University of Idaho who was from China and a student from University of Nebraska who was from Taiwan. They were very emotional and very grateful to be able to become a member of the PGA and it was so special for them to be able to be there to watch this happen. This was so great to see that the PGA is moving in a positive way to embrace diversity within
the golf community and the PGA of America. It was also great to see the national award winners and see their stories on how they earned their accomplishments.
A great part of the whole experience was getting out of our suit and tie for a day and playing in a golf outing at PGA Golf Club. Every PGA Golf Management student was paired up with three PGA Professionals from around the country. Most of the players were leaders in their section or held governance positions in the PGA of America. I had the pleasure of playing with Patrick Richardson, Tim Fries and Chip Thomas. Patrick is the Head Golf Professional at Sea Island Golf Club and held a national board member position as District Director of District 13. Tim shared great insight on what it is like to own your golf facility. He is the owner and GM of Glen Oak Golf Course in East Amherst, NY. Tim was also a National Board Director of District 4. Chip is the Assistant Golf Professional at Greystone Golf and Country Club. Chip is a part of PGA Lead, a two year leadership development program created to provide a deep bench of PGA Members from diverse backgrounds who aspire to ascend thru the volunteer leadership ranks of the Association. Each year, up to 15 Class A PGA Members are selected to comprise the
cohort. Spending time with these gentlemen was such a great networking opportunity and I was so glad to be able to surround myself with some great people that day. These
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