February March Newsletter

CENTRAL NEW YORK PGA

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2025

INSIDE THIS ISSUE PAGE 3

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE COLLIGAN AT QUARTER CENTURY

PAGE 4

SPRING MEETING INFO PDR OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP INFO

PAGE 5

PGA REACH CNY UPDATES INNAUGURAL BIRDIE BASH

PAGE 6

EDUCATION HUB MEMBER LINKS PDR CYCLE INFORMATION

PAGE 7

JLG DEADLINES JUNIOR TOUR OPENINGS DCP SITES BOOKED

PAGE 8 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

CNY PGA

2025 Tournament Schedule The 2025 season is right around the corner and it can’t come soon enough.

Registrations for 2025 Events will open on Monday, March 10th! We will kick-off the season with our Turning Stone Resort Casino Travel Pro-Am on April 27-28th.

You can register for the Season Team Contest and Section Players Fee now!

Wowelko Speaks at Women in Sports Night PGA of America Golf Professional Brittany Wowelko served as a guest panelist at the Syracuse Crunch Women in Sport Panel on Feb. 22 at The OnCenter. The event took place prior to the Crunch hockey game.

The panel discussed the work and responsibilities as women in sports and athletic fields.

Marathon Team We are pleased to announce that the PGA of America REACH Foundation has been approved

for our 9th consecutive official charity team set to run in this year's TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025! If you are interested, please fill out THIS FORM by Monday, March 17 to be considered!

PAGE THREE | CNY PGA

COLLIGAN COMPETES AT QUARTER CENTURY EVENT PGA of America Professional Dennis Colligan placed first in his age division at the Quarter Century Championship/Half Century Championship in January.

Colligan (Cazenovia Golf Club) shot rounds of 74 and 69 to win the 50-54 age group playing the Ryder Course at the PGA Golf Club. In the Quarter Century A Championship, he finished tied for 17 th overall with his 143 total.

Colligan earned Quarter Century status March 31, 2024.

Dennis had a banner 2024 season. Colligan finished the season with a 71.30 scoring average. He won two events including his fourth career CNY PGA Section Championship. Colligan also placed second at the Senior Section Championship. He has earned Section and Senior Player of the Year honors for the last two seasons.

He will be representing the Section at the 58th annual PGA Professional Championship this month.

PGA of America Life Member and Section Hall of Famer Tom Gorman also competed at the Quarter Century Championship/Half Century Championship. Gorman (The Pompey Club) carded rounds of 80 and 77 on the Wanamaker Course and finished third in his 80-84 age group. He finished tied for 53 rd overall in the Quarter Century B Championship.

25

Spring Meeting of the Membership!

Please save the date to join us on April 21st at the Spring Meeting of the Membership. The meeting will begin at 9:00am at Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Be on the lookout for meeting details and special guests.

BECOME A MEMBER CLUB! Be on the lookout for your Member Club packet in the mail! This program supports PGA REACH CNY. Your contribution is key to growing the game of golf in Central New York. Thank you to those of you who continue your support and we are hopeful more of you will consider participating as we grow this great game with our youth.

CNY PGA Scholarship Congratulations to the 2024 Scholarship recipients Braeden Smith and Jack Tucker!

The application for 2025 is now available on our website and by clicking here.

Students must meet the folllowing requirements to apply: 1. Children, grandchildren, step-children, step-grandchildren of Central New York PGA members (living or deceased).

2. Graduated from High School as of September 1st, 2025.

3. Planning to or attending a college or university as of September 1st, 2025 as a full-time student (graduate students are eligible).

Application deadline is July 25th, at 5:00pm.

PGA Financial Assistance Fund Scholarship We are pleased to announce application for the 2025-2026 academic year is available now.

To be eligible, students must possess a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.4. Furthermore, they must be a child or grandchild of a PGA Member in good standing and not have exceeded the maximum limit of two scholarships during their undergraduate studies. The application can be accessed via this link, https://aim.applyists.net/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fPGA.

PAGE FOUR | CNY PGA

PGA REACH CNY

PGA REACH CNY at the Crunch Save the date for April 12 as the Crunch take on Laval at 7pm. We will be distributing a promo code to use when you buy your tickets.

More details to follow. We hope to see you there!

2025 CNY PGA Birdie Bash On September 15th, 2025, Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital and PGA REACH CNY is excited to announce the inaugural Birdie Bash at Owasco CC! If you have any interest in participating in this event please click here, or reach out to Joe Tesori.

WORKS Fellow Job Posting We are excited to have our posting for a 2025 PGA REACH CNY WORKS Fellowship.

We are aiming for a May 1st start date for this six month fellowship. If you know anyone who fits this opportunity please share this job posting. Or feel free to reach out to Executive Director, Joe Tesori.

PAGE FIVE | CNY PGA

PGA WORKS CNY AT THE PGA SHOW

By Casey Ware

My experience as a Works Fellow has been a great experience. Learning the back end work in golf and seeing all the planning that goes on in the off-season to prepare for the upcoming season to ensure it is successful creates a new perspective and appreciation for the staff on the hard work that they do! I have been very fortunate to be welcomed with open arms by our staff and members as sort of an outsider into their world and it has been great.

Creating promotional materials, establishing budgets, speaking with partners, and being in group calls has expanded both my professional knowledge and skills to make me a more rounded professional.

Attending the show was a great experience and essential to my growth. On Wednesday and Thursday PGA Works coordinators Cameron Dinkins and Iyannei Miranda set us up with the opportunity to network with companies such as Foreall, Club Car, Golftec, and Dunning Golf among others. We had the opportunity to speak with the C-Suite and had a dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy where I was able to have a conversation with the new CEO Derek Sprague. They brought in career consultants that helped with our resume and attended career seminars. It was a great experience and excellent opportunity to help me forward my professional career!

MEMBER INFORMATION OFFICE CLOSINGS The office will be closed Monday April 21st for our spring meeting of the membership.

Please save the date and join us!

PGA MEMBER LINKS CNY PGA Membership Directory Section & Foundation Partners Workday Home Page Workday Help Video Northeast Region Education Hub

PDR CYCLE The NEW PDR cycle period is 6/16/22 - 6/15/25.

Click here to see the PGA Professional Development Requirements chart for ways to earn credits. Check out our new Northeast Region Education Hub for more PDR opportunities.

PAGE SIX | CNY PGA

PGA JR. LEAGUE Player registration for 2025 is now open!!

Parents will begin looking for teams and signing their kids up now!

Please be sure to register your team as soon as possible! Deadline to register as a coach and participate in a multi-facility league is April 21!

Thank you for growing the game!

JUNIOR TOUR Any facility interested in hosting a Jr. Tour Event next season please reach out! We are planning our schedule now!

DRIVE, CHIP & PUTT The stage for the 2026 qualifying season has been set. Thank you to our facilities hosting qualifiers this year, we look forward to another great season! Anybody interested in volunteering at a qualifier please reach out to Brittany!

July 2nd at Timber Banks Golf Club July 7th at Soaring Eagles Golf Course July 18th at Green Lakes State Park July 29th at Teugega Country Club Sub-Regional August 20th at Turning Stone Resort Congrats to Junior Tour player & CNY DCP Qualifier Tommy Goodelle on winning the Regional Qualifier at the Ridgewood Country Club! Tommy will now head to Augusta the Sunday before The Masters to compete in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals!

PAGE SEVEN | CNY PGA

I’m really excited for the golf season to begin! I’m manifesting it just around the corner and pretending this snow is gone!

It's always such a great time of year, and I’m especially looking forward to watching all of our golf professionals work their magic. It’s inspiring to see them grow the game and help players improve, and it’s even more exciting to see the sport continue to evolve and reach new heights.

I’m also ready for the Tour events to amp up so I can hear good stories again instead of those about Syracuse basketball. Can’t wait to get out there and enjoy every moment of the season!

Thank you all for your constant efforts to grow the game!

Brittany Wowelko

“You go through stages in your career that you feel very good about yourself. Then you feel awful, like, ‘Why didn’t I choose something else?’ But overall I’m pretty satisfied that I made the right choice when I decided to be an actor.” -Gene Hackman