Nebraska PGA May 2014 Newsletter by David Honnens

As the “Experts in the Game and Business of Golf” the power of education is the single most important way to help enhance and transform our industry. Many of today’s thriving industries outside of the golf industry have alluded to the fact that there is a strong correlation between the economic viability of an industry and its education attained by those who work in it. It is a priority of the Section to provide meaningful educational opportunities for you to meet these requirements. To review your current MSR status, please go to www.pgalinks.com and login. Under “your membership data” will be your current credits earned and what is still required. To receive MSR’s for your Player Development Program, please complete the “MSR Report Form” and submit it to Nebraska Section Player Development Coordinator, Joe Canny, PGA at jcanny@pgahq.com or by fax 402-489-1785.

What:

Complimentary PGA Online Education

Information:

1 MSR will be received per video and upon completion of the assessments with a 70% or higher. You will be allowed (1) re-take opportunity. MSR credit may be earned only one time for any online MSR course. For the complete list of available online PGA Education, click here.

I wanted to expand our usual Demo Night this spring and try to bring more members out to the club for the night than just the men or women looking to hit or buy the newest clubs being offered. My staff and I came up with an idea of having a “Family Fun Night” at the club. Our goal was to encourage all members and kids to come out and enjoy the night, even the non-golfer in the family. We expanded the night to include a trunk show in the lobby of the clubhouse showcasing 10 different lines of men's and women's clothes and 3 shoe companies. As most of you are aware buying ladies apparel can be a challenge at times so the trunk show gave us some insight into what our lady members are wanting to buy, regarding sizes and styles. We utilized the Nebraska PGA Section’s “Hippopotamus” inflatable target to setup a hitting area on the range for juniors. The staff didn’t stop there - as we came up with a Mini Putt Putt course using some new items we purchased at the PGA merchandise show in January. The final addition to the event was promoting free appetizers for those who came out to partake in the activities. Overall it was a huge success, we had more traffic in all areas at the club and many more kids involved in the whole evening. This added to more sales and a fun evening to kick start the season. Wade Foreman PGA Director of Golf Firethorn Golf Club

Spend less time in the back office and more time interacting with customers by taking advantage of PGA Pro-Motion PGA Pro-Motion is the area of PGA Links which provides communications, marketing and public relations resources that can help you grow your business and the game of golf. PGA Pro-Motion also encompasses the new Creative Resource Center where you can find templates that allow you to customize them for your business or choose from professional materials created for you. The four key areas of this website include the already mentioned Creative Resource Center, Best Practices, Custom Sample Letters and Custom Media Materials. This month we are going to look at each of these valuable member benefits and how they can impact your business. Creative Resource Center At the PGA Creative Resource Center you can customize and download professionally designed marketing materials for your facility. Here you can create print materials for magazines, brochures, flyers, posters and cart cards. Other items you can customize include: 

Email Templates For newsletters and promote specific programs/offers

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Web Banners For your website and web advertising

Videos For public service announcements, golf shop, cart computers and TV commercials 

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Radio Ads

Includes national radio advertisements you can download for use The above resources can be broken down by program type to find the one that fits your need. Materials for programs such as Get Golf Ready, PGA Sports Academy, TEE IT FORWARD can be found along with generic templates for flyers, cart signs and more. Click on the hyperlinks above to view instructional videos on how to use each category.

#1 - Email Newsletter Create your own 4-story newsletter. We'll even provide you with two stories each week from PGA.com.

#2 - Group Lesson Flyer Create & print your own flyers. A great look and easy to produce.

#3 - Cart Tee Time Signs Upload your tee times for the day and the site will provide you with signs for each cart

#4 - One Story Email Need to send a quick email? This template is great looking way to get your message across.

Best Practices The Best Practices section of PGA-Promotion is where you go to take your programs and facility to the next level. PGA Professionals and Industry Leaders nationwide are sharing their best practices on a variety of marketing topics. You too can upload your own best practices to share your success stories with fellow PGA Professionals on PGA Pro-Motion. Watch industry experts share their knowledge on marketing topics ranging from social media to government relations. Some favorites include “Generating Media Exposure for Your Facility” from award winning public relations firm Alday Communications, LLC and “Advertising Tips” from the PGA News Bureau. Custom Sample Letters This is an area of PGA Pro-Motion that I know has saved me countless hours and helped me generate additional revenue. Writing requests for sponsorships, pitch letters to local media and donation letters is difficult. It is even harder starting from scratch as I have spent numerous hours staring at a blank page trying to figure out how to start. The Custom Sample Letters on PGA Pro-Motion has made my life easy by sharing pre-written documents which allow me to reach out to potential sponsors, send pitch letters to new media contacts and more. Documents are in Word so are easily changed and almost all just require me to insert my name and operation. Sample Letters include: 

Sponsor Letters

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Sponsor Golf Hole

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Sponsor Materials

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Congratulatory Letter

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Equipment Donation Letter  Retirement Letter 

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Pitch Letter Special Awards Letter

Custom Media Materials Today the average family has less time and money for recreational activities while the amount of recreational programs has increased. Golf 2.0 teaches us many things, one of the most important being that the way customers shop has changed and we need to go out and get them. If your facility and programs are going to compete with 5k races, select team sports and other non-golf programming you need to market your facility, yourself and programs to the masses. Writing press releases and media alerts is a great way to do this. The issue is it can be time consuming and difficult. PGA Pro-Motion has solved that issue by creating custom media materials where you can simply insert your club’s information and click send! PGA Pro-Motion has over 25 customizable documents for:  Education  Bios 

Media Advisories

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News Releases

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Tournaments

So next time you have a junior clinic, win a Nebraska Section Award, hire a new staff member or more and would like to get the word out; visit the Custom Media Materials page on PGA Pro-Motion. PGA Pro-Motion is truly a great PGA member benefit which can save you and your team time and money the remainder of this season and going forward. I hope you will take advantage of this wonderful tool and remember that you can always reach out to Joe Canny, Nebraska PGA Player Development Coordinator with any questions.

Scott Holly, PGA Wins Inaugural National Car Rental PGA ProAm Series Event

Omaha, NE. –Area amateur and PGA Professional golfers teed off for the inaugural National Car Rental PGA Pro-Am Series at Champions Run. Professional and Amateur golfers competing in one of Nebraska’s largest ProAm’s of the year were treated to near perfect golfing conditions. Scott Holly, PGA of The University of Nebraska PGA Golf Management Program capitalized on these conditions to post a winning score of three-under-par. Finishing two strokes back of Holly at one -under-par was Shane Zywiec, PGA of Highlands Golf Course. The team competition featured one-net on the front nine and two-net balls on the back nine. It was a shootout with Kevin Drew, PGA of Fox Run Golf Course (Council Bluffs), amateur partners Rick Drew, EJ Hamilton and Bill Roach finishing at an impressive fifteen-under-par. Three strokes back with a strong performance was Brian Steventon, PGA of Quarry Oaks Golf Club, amateur partners Jeremy McHugh, Joe Wolsleger and Rich Buchmann. Click here to read more.

The team competition didn’t finish as close as the professional division but the team of Tom Johnson, Apprentice Professional of Champions Run and his amateur partners; Daryl Johnson, Chris Dreifurst and Wayne Jungeman prevailed after a score of 15-underpar in the two-net of four format, which was good enough for a two shot victory over the team of Troy Harder, PGA of Wayne C.C. and his amateur partners; Kelly Hansen, Don Koeber and Courtney Berg. Petersen and Zywiec were each able to make three birdies throughout their round, however they weren’t able to avoid making three bogey’s. Vermeer wasn’t able to card as many birdies as Petersen and Zywiec but his lone birdie was offset by a single bogey. The Nebraska Section PGA would like to thank Doug Dunbar, PGA of Quail Run G.C. for hosting this event and to Charlie Kiel of Sun Mountain and Matt Cordell of Jani-King for sponsoring this event.

Petersen and Vermeer Capture 2014 Mizuno Pro/Assistant Championship

Omaha, NE. –One of the largest fields in recent years ascended on Jani-King/Sun Mountain Pro 3 Am at Oak Hill C.C. for the 2014 Mizuno Quail Run Pro/Assistant Championship. Jon Petersen, PGA and Ryan Vermeer COLUMBUS, NE – The of Tiburon G.C. teamed up for arJani-King/Sun Mountain guably one of the most impressive Pro-3Am proved to be very performances in the long history of exciting in the professional this event finishing at 21-underdivision as even par was the par. On the day, Petersen and Vermeer combined for magic number. Jon Petersen, 18 birdies and two eagles in the 36-hole best-ball forPGA, Shane Zywiec, PGA and mat. Finishing a distant second at 11-under-par was Ryan Vermeer all tied with an even par 72 to best the field Scott Harmelink, PGA and Nick Wanderscheid, PGA despite strong morning winds at of Green Valley G.C. James Kinney, PGA and Mark Quail Run G.C. Even par was one shot better than Stava, PGA of GolfTEC Omaha rounded out the top Ryan Norman, PGA who finished at one-over-par and three finishing at six-under-par. Click here to read alone in fourth place. more. Nebraska Section PGA | 610 J Street, Ste 10 | Lincoln, NE 68508 | Ph: (402) 489-7760 | Fx: (402) 489-1785 | www.nebraskapga.com

Nebraska PGA 2014 Tournament Schedule Date Jun 2 Jun 9 Jun 16 Jun 23 Jun 26 Jun 30 Jul 7 Jul 8-9 Jul 14 Jul 21 Jul 26-27 Aug 4-5 Aug 11 Aug 11-12 Aug 18 Aug 25 Sep 2 Sep 12-14 Sep 22 Sep 29 Oct 13

Tournament All Star Pro Golf / E-Z-GO Pro - Scratch Platteview Country Club - Bellevue, NE Laser Link Pro-3AM Kearney CC - Kearney, NE National Car Rental Foundation Pro-Am Happy Hollow - Omaha, NE Pro/Junior Championship Field Club of Omaha - Omaha, NE Nebraska JR PGA Championship (12 & Under) Jim Ager Memorial GC - Lincoln, NE HCIS Pro - 3 AM ArborLinks - Nebraska City, NE Siouxland Golf Charities Pro - 3 Am Whispering Creek - Sioux City, IA Nebraska JR PGA Championship (13-18) Wilderness Ridge - Lincoln, NE Golf Fore The Troops Firethorn GC - Lincoln, NE Club Car Pro-Pro York CC - York, NE TaylorMade 36 Hole Pro - 3 Am Green Valley GC - Sioux City , IA Nebraska PGA Professional Championship ArborLinks - Nebraska City, NE Nebraska Assistants Championship Wilderness Ridge - Lincoln, NE NE PGA Senior Professional Championship Wilderness Ridge - Lincoln, NE TaylorMade/adidas Pro-3 Am Oak Hills - Omaha, NE E-Z-GO Facility Championship Shadow Ridge CC - Omaha, NE All Star Pro Golf Team Championship Beatrice Country Club - Beatrice, NE Wells Fargo Nebraska Open Elks Country Club - Columbus, NE Nebraska PGA Cup Series Championship Quarry Oaks - Ashland, NE Nebraska PGA Rookie/Veteran Challenge Wild Horse Golf Club - Gothenburg, NE Club Car / Cutter & Buck Pro-3 Am The Country Club of Linco - Lincoln, NE

Info Info Info Info

Registration Register Closes Tomorrow Register Closes Thu Jun 5 Register Closes Thu Jun 12

Info Info

Info

Info Info Info Info

Info

Opens 10/02/2014

Info

Local Qualifiers Saturday, June 7, 2014

Highlands Golf Course

Lincoln

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Eagle Hills Golf Club

Papillion

Friday, July 11, 2014

Riverside Golf Club

Grand Island

Sub Regional Qualifier Saturday, August 16, 2014

Eagle Hills Golf Club

Papillion

We are happy to announce the launch of another digital tool this week-- a digital complement to the printed PGA Appointment Calendar, the PING On-Line Scheduler. This new tool will be live on PGALinks.com and enable members to insert National and Section events and programs into their personal digital schedules. The printed PING calendar will continue to exist, but this tool will provide Members the ability to add these events directly to personal Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or iCal calendars. The goal is to save time and energy for our PGA Professionals. This is the first step for this tool. Future enhancements will include mobile optimization and additional features, but our primary objective is simplicity. Click here to check it out and enjoy the new feature.

This new PGA Member benefit was launched the first week of May and is part of a revamped PGA of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Member Merchandising Program, designed to provide members with PGA logoed apparel from top manufacturers at a significantly lower cost than in the past. PGA Members can now buy product with the PGA of America, PGA Master Professional, PGA Professional, and PGA Certified Professional logos just above cost. For the first time, Members will be able to buy PGA Championship and Ryder Cup logoed product, year round, through the same program. To check out the store online click here and use your PGALinks username and password for entry.

valuable access to the newest golf innovations, fashions and expert instruction," said PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua. "Additionally, Cascata Golf Club will be a spectacular host facility for the day-long schedule of new golf programs during the The PGA of America is once again conducting the PGA Golf Management Summer Experience, a 4-day PGA Demo Experience." Click here to continue reading. program offered to students interested in a career in golf that includes the following: 

Engagement in team building activities with other students with similar educational goals

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Sample key courses required to obtain the PGA Golf Management designation

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Receive enrollment information and a campus tour Instruction from PGA of America and PGA Golf Management University Program staff, students and alumni

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Participate in golf activities

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Opportunity to live in a university residence hall

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Preview of university life

This year’s sessions will take place at Eastern Kentucky University and Mississippi State University. Click here to learn more about this opportunity.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The PGA of America and PGA Worldwide Golf Exhibitions will launch an all-new PGA Fashion & Demo Experience (formerly the PGA Expo), August 18-20, 2014, exclusively for golf industry professionals and golf lifestyle apparel retailers at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas and Cascata Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada. The new upscale fashion merchandising, product testing and professional education event will build upon the former event's most successful programming and offer new and improved business and retail connections.

The new PGA Magazine app for iOS and Android was introduced in January at the PGA Merchandise Show. The PGA Magazine app is updated daily and contains PGA Best Practices, PGA Section News, a PGA Leaderboard for national and Section tournament results, PGA of America News, the PGA Membership Directory, a PGA Clubfitting Library, PGA Lesson Tee and Rules Talk articles. The use of the PGA Magazine app allows PGA Members and apprentices to gain access to thousands of PGA Professionals and to communicate and share ideas, best practices and news in a whole new way. To download the PGA Magazine app for iPhone or iPad, visit the Apple App Store by clicking here. To download the app for an Android smartphone or tablet, visit Google Play by clicking here. To login to the password-protected app, use your PGALinks username and password.

PerformanceTrak has moved the reporting deadline from the 22nd to the 24th of each month. Below are some resources you may find useful. Why Use PerformanceTrak PerformanceTrak Home Page

"The new PGA Fashion & Demo Experience offers a modern, sophisticated marketplace where PGA Professionals and industry executives will have

June Birthdays Peter B. Hagen, PGA 6/2 Nicholas S. Shanahan, PGA 6/3 Brad Kai, PGA 6/4 Doug Schultz, PGA 6/4 Chris W. Wiemers, PGA 6/4 Ryan C Bloomberg, PGA 6/6 Greg D. Johannesen, PGA 6/10

Jonathan W. Casey, PGA James T. Rolls, PGA James R. Weaver, PGA Mark L. Christensen, PGA Jeff Porter, PGA Daniel Zadalis, PGA James M. Kinney, PGA

6/11 6/19 6/25 6/26 6/27 6/27 6/30

STAFF David Honnens, PGA Executive Director dhonnens@pgahq.com

Thomas Harmon, PGA Tournament Director tharmon@pgahq.com

Joe Canny, PGA Junior Golf Director/ Player Development Coordinator jcanny@pgahq.com

Renee Tyson Operations Manager rtyson@pgahq.com