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P G M SS N E W S By Michael Bonicelli PGMSS President
“We had a great tournament season this fall with a lot of young talent leaving their mark on the leaderboard.”
It’s that time of year again when the fall semester winds down and students scatter across the country for Winter Break. It has been an exciting semester for the PGA Golf Management Program at UCCS and there are many things to look forward to in the coming future. Most students are working hard to write cover letters and finalize resumes in hopes of obtaining an internship. Mollie Sutherland’s office always seems to have a line going out the door. When you’re younger, leaving your friends and family for internship never seems that bad as you’ll be back in three to six months but you last internship is
different. As I get ready to head off to Kansas City for my last internship (and hopefully first assistant position) I often think of those that I won’t see on a daily basis, particularly those other PGM students I have spent the last four years with. I encourage you all to reach out to another UCCS PGM alumni this holiday season and get in touch with someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a while. The phrase “it’s all about who you know” is especially relevant in the golf industry and who better to know than your classmates. We had a great tournament season this fall with a lot of young talent leaving their mark on the leaderboard. With
larger class sizes and good players, the entry level PGM students came on strong. Several of the qualifiers for the Southwest Showdown come from the Intro Class and hope to bring a victory back to UCCS. The Southwest Showdown is a two day tournament held in Las Vegas that brings four PGM schools together for friendly competition. Last year’s president, Dan Ferg, is owed a lot of credit for establishing the event and we hope it becomes part of PGM tradition. UNLV is the defending champion but students from UCCS, ASU and NMSU hope to take the title home. The event takes place March 15-17th; the host course has yet to be determined. Cont. on page 4
of those grueling Checkpoint weekends. The downside for the community is that some of the watering holes in the area are missing the high sales volume that mysteriously appeared on those weekends. Kudos to Ed and his students for their perfect record on the very first test. The PGA is singing his praises, and so am I! I have some personal news as well, concerning a side of me that not many of you know much about. In September, I was identified by a national
magazine, Accounting Today, as one of the 100 most influential accountants in the United States. Now, you won’t find Accounting Today at the newsstand in airports or anywhere else, but it is the leading news outlet for the accounting profession, which numbers at least 1 million in the U.S. Not bad. All along, you just thought I was an old guy who loved golf but couldn’t play it so well. Now you know why…
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We’re also way ahead ourselves! As of the second week in December, we have admitted 21 students, a milestone we didn’t reach last year until April! Further, we have another 35 active applications. Within the whole group are students from 16 different states, including California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming, as well as Colorado.
In addition to higher numbers, we are also seeing higher grades and test scores but lower handicaps. Everything is going in the right direction. Of course, if you know of any prospects within your circle, we hope you’ll talk us up and encourage them to follow in your footsteps. Another bright spot has been the PGA’s new curriculum that Ed also talks about. Although each section seems to be, shall we say, more “rigorous,” we really like the idea of testing our students at each step of the process instead
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