January Newsletter

CENTRAL NEW YORK PGA

JANUARY 2025

INSIDE THIS ISSUE PAGE 3

2024 SPECIAL AWARDS & HOLIDAY BANQUET RECAP

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CONGRATS! PDR OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP INFO

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PGA REACH CNY UPDATES HOPE 4 HEROES THANK YOU

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OFFICE CLOSINGS MEMBER LINKS PDR CYCLE INFORMATION

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JLG WEBINAR DEC 9 JUNIOR TOUR OPENINGS DCP SITES BOOKED

PAGE 8 PGA JLG SIMULATOR MONTH

PAGE 9 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

21st Annual

Players of the Year presented by Rolex Section& Senior: Dennis Colligan (Cazenovia GC) Women: Brittany Wowelko (CNY PGA) Assistant: Robert Larsen (Onondaga G&CC) Junior Girls: Kamryn Yerman, Frankfort

Special Awards

Junior Boys: Michael Stilwell, Whitesboro

The 21st annual Central New York PGA Special Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame Ceremony was held at Drumlins Country Club on Dec. 5. The event celebrated the 2024 Hall of Fame inductees, Bruce Martins and Joe Lanza, as well as recognizing the Section’s 2024 award winners including Golf Professional of the Year Linda Mulherin, PGA Master Professional.

After a buffet dinner, CNY PGA CEO and PGA REACH President Alan Seamans, PGA served as the evening’s emcee. The ceremony was presented by Turning Stone Resort Casino, New Penn Golf Cart Leasing Co. (Frank “Red” Costello), and Satch Sales Mobile Solutions.

In attendance were Section supporters: Paul Pinckney and Dave Neuser from Empire Golf Cars, Jeff Kelley from Titleist, Steve Wineburg from Bernards Custom Logo and Trey Walewski, PGA from Under Armour.

Many Special Award recipients were first-time winners in their respective categories. They gave meaningful speeches while also thanking their families, friends and mentors for being a part of their golf journey.

Celebrating our PGA Members

Golf Professional of the Year: Linda Mulherin (Drumlins Country Club) Teacher/Coach of the Year: Ryan McGinnis (Turning Stone Resort Casino) Player Development Award: Jon Fowler (Stone Creek Golf Club) Professional Development Award (Education): Michael Discenza (Cortland Country Club/Le Moyne College) Bill Strausbaugh Award (Mentoring): Sean Dadey (Drumlins Country Club) Youth Player Development: Michael Hogan (Oswego Country Club) Patriot Award: Jason Harris (Tioga Golf Club)

Merchandiser of the Year *Public – Jay Turcsik (Mark Twain Golf Club) *Private – Dennis Estes (Cavalry Club)

Associate Professional of the Year: Dylan Plis (CNY PGA) Kyle Siegel (Beaver Meadows Golf Club) *Resort – Eric Lorenzetti (Turning Stone Resort Golf Salesperson of the Year: Trey Walewski Casino) (Under Armour/Meadowbrook Golf Course)

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Congratulations Dylan Plis, PGA! Join us in congratulating our Tournament Director Dylan Plis, as he was elected to membership on January 6! Congrats Dylan, you are an invaluable resource to the PGA and we look forward to what’s surely going to be a bright and successful future!

BECOME A MEMBER CLUB! It’s not too late! 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.

CNYPGA Education Open Forum - “Lunch with a Pro” January 27, 12pm- 2pm (2 PDR) Dashers Corner Pub - Homer, NY Register Here - $35 (includes any entree off the menu and a soft drink) Join your peers and friends for a bite to eat, some camaraderie, and casually trading ideas and best practices. This will be the first of a series of open forum lunches where we will trade best practices and ideas with peers. In future forums to be held in February, and March a topic(s) will be provided for discussion; our January program will not have a topic, just a good time to catch up with friends and discuss anything relevant to you and your business.

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

Thank You!

Thank you to all of our Members and Associates who donated and shared our HOPE 4 HEROES Campaign. We are still waiting for final numbers from PGA REACH but your contributions will help us fund as many programs as possible this summer!

PGA REACH CNY More than 50 Bellevue CC members donated approximately 4,000 pounds of gently used clothing for PGA REACH CNY to give to the Mary Nelson Foundation for families in need.

The clothing drive ran from Oct. 31- Dec. 7 and was spearheaded by Bellevue Head PGA of America Professional Dan Steinsdoerfer.

The generosity of the Bellevue membership left Steinsdoerfer in awe.

“Their response to this drive, it gave me chills,” he said. “To be able to donate like that and know you are helping people in need, especially during the holiday season, it was quite amazing. You can’t really put it into words to tell you the truth.”

Bellevue, PGA REACH CNY support non-profit “PGA REACH CNY and the Mary Nelson Foundation give a huge thank you to the leadership at Bellevue and their membership,” Tesori said. “We are so grateful to have the members and staff rally around such a great cause for our local community.”

Bellevue CC has been a staunch supporter of the PGA REACH CNY initiatives. In addition to the clothing drive, Bellevue has hosted the PGA HOPE Pro-Am Tournament for the last two years. Bellevue will be to host to the event in 2025.

PGA REACH CNY night at the Syracuse 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!

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MEMBER INFORMATION OFFICE CLOSINGS The office will be closed January 20-24 while the staff attends the PGA Show. We will re-open on January 27 at 9am.

We plan to bring back all of the latest and greatest news in the golf business to share with you all!

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.

Northeast Region Education Hub PDR CYCLE IS ENDING SOON! 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! Thank you to all that attended our Webinar Dec 9. If you missed it but would like to tune in, please click below for the recording.

Click here for Webinar recording Click here for presentation Looking to continue JLG in the winter? Check out the next page for how you can join JLG’s “simulator month” this February!

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 We have finished scheduling our qualifiers for the 2026 Qualifying season! Thank you to all who have reached out! Be on the lookout for our schedule soon.

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!

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A new twelve chapter book in the series of life. Days have started to get longer and the excitement of a new season is here!

The PGA Show is just around the corner and I love the energy at Orange County Convention Center in January. We tend to come back rejuvenated and inspired for the season to come. This year I hope to hold on to that feeling for as long as I can. I get this extraordinary opportunity to work in a business I’ve been passionate about most of my life, and it’s important to me that I show that passion every day that I can.

Although George’s summer didn’t end up exactly how he pictured it, I say we proclaim this the summer of the Central New York PGA and all make it the greatest we’ve seen yet!

Happy New Year and thank you all for your constant efforts to grow the game!

Brittany Wowelko

“I proclaim this: The summer of George!”

-George Castanza