2022 Co-Golf Professional's of the Year John Panek, PGA

2022 Iowa PGA IPGA Co-Golf Professional of the Year

John Panek, PGA

John Panek of Davenport Country Club, PGA General Manager has been named the 2022 Iowa PGA Co-Golf Professional of the Year. Panek is responsible for managing complete operations of one of the premiere private clubs in the state of Iowa. He has increased membership by over 10% in the past year and assisted the club through a management transition by becoming Interim General Manager for a short time. He has now taken on a new role at the club as PGA General Manager and has created a new culture where teamwork was the key to their success.

Panek was quotes on what winning this award means to him, “It is an honor to be named the 2022 Co-Iowa PGA Professional of the Year. To be recognized by your peers for this award is truly humbling. This award, most certainly, isn’t possible without the incredible support of my family. I have been blessed for so many years to work for the best membership and work with the finest team of employees at Davenport Country Club.” competing in five PGA Professional National Championships; 2007 Iowa PGA Match Play Champion; participated multiple years on the Iowa Cup Team; and won numerous Iowa PGA Section events over the years. He’s chaperoned multiple member travel opportunities both domestically and internationally giving members a chance to interact and build lasting relationships with other DCC members.

He continually supports the golf shop in merchandising endeavors with sales expected over $400,000 in 2022 and has created a new bonus plan where objectives and goals were the driving force behind change for the betterment of the employees and the club. Through outstanding teamwork with the membership and golf course superintendent, they are now the #1 course in the state of Iowa and the #73 classic golf course in the United States according to Golfweek Magazine.

Panek has served on the Pleasant Valley Educational Foundation Board which awards over 100 scholarships annually to Pleasant Valley High School graduates. Tournament successes has included He has served on the Iowa PGA Board of Directors for three terms and elected as the Iowa PGA Tournament Chairman for two terms. Many of the tournament programs that are still in use today were developed during that tenure. Panek has taught at the Iowa PGA Junior Academy numerous times and consistently and continually supports the Iowa PGA by attending section tournaments. He has assisted the Iowa PGA by gaining additional sponsorship dollars for the tournament program and supports the Iowa PGA Foundation often bringing several teams from Davenport Country Club to the Foundation Pro-Am event.

He currently leads a team of 115 employees to provide the very best services and experiences at a private club and leads the development of a long-range plan with several committees and the Board of Governors. He has recently assisted in the presentation of the first phase of a master plan: a $6 million project, to the membership. He has made the pool operation a strength in 2022, which was a weakness in year’s past and hired a new Pool Manager to oversee all aspects of the pool operation, leading to better service and experiences for members and their guests. Panek has provided new educational experiences for the F&B employees.

He has the privilege of leading a team of one PGA professional and three registered PGA associates at Davenport Country Club. They all inspire each other to do what is the very best for Davenport Country Club. For the past six seasons they have had many PGA associates at the club and for each of those years, they been fortunate to have hired female associates to their team. This has made an extremely positive impact on their membership, especially for their ladies and youth programs.

Panek encouraged former assistant golf professionals to apply for other PGA Head Golf Professional positions. One is now the Head Golf Professional at Short Hills Country Club and another now works as the Director of Operations for Troon Golf. Several other former assistant golf professionals have gone on to be wildly successful in other careers adding to their individual accomplishments.

Panek has personally provided instruction to some of the very best young golfers at Davenport Country Club, including Marshal Lamb (UNI), Erron Vandemore (Dayton), Jack Kennedy (Drake), Erika Holmberg (Drake), Nathan Tillman (Western Illinois) and Ethan Blomme (16 year old Junior Golfer).

Todd Fowler, PGA Teaching Professional at Golf Galaxy - Davenport, "Mr.

Mr. Panek has done an absolutely phenomenal job at DCC over the last several years. Starting as Head Professional and working up to Director of Golf and now as the General Manager, he has been instrumental in providing the club services, supported course redesign, and developed golf programming that is second to none through instruction and activities. His staffing strategy is incredible for top notch service, club fitting, player development and retail. He has also spear-headed the use of Davenport CC as a facility played for important Iowa golf events like IPGA Professional Championship, State Am, US Am Qualifying and many outings and events to help important philanthropic causes like Boy Scouts and the Genesis Hospitals. Davenport CC just received a high ranking from Golfweek Magazine Best Courses, and this would not have been possible without John. He is active in traveling with members to play golf and has always been a strong competitor in Iowa PGA competition. It is my privileged to nominate John Panek for IPGA Golf Professional of the Year.”

Panek has won the Assistant Golf Professional of the Year in 2002 and Private Merchandiser of the Year in 2011.

On behalf of the Iowa PGA Members, Associates and Iowa PGA staff we congratulate John Panek as the 2022 Iowa PGA Co-Golf Professional of the Year.