September 2023
OFFICERS/BOARD
President Dawn Neujahr, PGA
Vice President Mike Schuchart, PGA
Secretary Phil Palmer, PGA
Honorary President Gil Russell, PGA
Board Member Nick Wanderscheid, PGA
Board Member Chris Cover, PGA
District 8 Director Greg Neujahr, PGA
NEBRASKA PGA STAFF
Executive Director/CEO David Honnens, PGA
Managing Director Seth Scollard, PGA
Tournament Director Daniel Palmer, PGA
Nebraska Junior Golf Director/PGA REACH
Programming Assistant—Kurt Karcher, PGA
Operations Manager Renee Tyson
Development Officer Bob Danenhauer
Digital Media Director Brett Renner
PGA REACH Prog. Coord. Nic Latcham, PGA
Looking for your next family vacation? Look no further than the PGA Family Golf Championship set for December 8-10 in sunny California at PGA West!
If you're a fan of watching the world's best players participate in the PNC Championship with their loved ones, then the PGA Family Golf Championship is right up your alley. Chances are, you’ll have more fun on the course together than in front of the screen.
Teams of 2-4 family members, each with at least one adult (ages 18+ as of Dec. 9, 2023) and one junior (ages 10+ as of Dec. 9, 2023), will vie for the national title in a two-day, stroke play alternate shot tournament.
You’ll tee it up together on the iconic Mountain and Dunes Courses at PGA West in LaQuinta, California. A special rate means you can stay just a short walk away at the LaQuinta Resort & Club.
Get all the details, including the schedule of events, and register now!
The final four in Nebraska PGA’s annual Match Play Championship met at Omaha Country Club for a showdown to find our new champion. Supported by the PGA TOUR and Rolex, the season-long bracket began in May with the round of 64 leading us up to Monday.
With one of the Section’s biggest trophies up for grabs, Ryan Vermeer, PGA of Happy Hollow Club took on Andrew Storm, PGA of Shadow Ridge Country Club while Justin Herron, PGA of Oak Hills Country met Judd Cornell, PGA of University of Nebraska Men’s Golf in the semifinals. The matches teed off early in the morning on Monday at the host of the 2021 U.S. Senior Open with two spots up for grabs into the afternoon championship match. In the Vermeer & Storm match, Vermeer, the reigning Nebraska Player of the Year was neck and neck with the 2023 Nebraska PGA Section Champion Storm through 10 holes where they remained all square.
Jon Petersen vs Ted DiGiacomo in the finals of the Senior Match Play Championship.
Jon’s route to the top:
Defeated Joe Sutter 5&4
Defeated Todd Anderson 4&3
Defeated Tim Kruse 7&5
Defeated Ted DiGiacomo 2UP
Brad Bailey vs Jay Cottam in the finals of the Assistant Match Play Championship.
Brad’s route to the top:
Defeated Caleb Malenke 5&4
Defeated Christian Hall 2&1
Defeated Sam Jonell 1UP in 19
Defeated Jay Cottam 2UP
Columbus, NE – 117 professional and amateur golfers from across the country teed it up in the 32nd edition of the Wells Fargo Nebraska Open at Elks Country Club. The tree-lined, tight golf course might appear short and easy on a scorecard, but it demands precision off the tee with thick rough penalizing poor shots.
The field annually consists of the top professional and amateur players across Nebraska and players from across the world that hold cards on numerous professional tours. Both the professional and amateur fields compete for separate purses which adds to the drama of the event as it unfolds. In addition, the annual open championship raises money for college scholarships that are awarded to students in the Central Community College systems.
In the opening round, Michigan’s Beau Breault tied the course record with a 61 (10-under) to tie the Elks CC course record while setting the pace for the rest of the field with the round of the day. One shot behind Breault was Florida’s Andrew McCain with an impressive round of his own
of 62 (9-under). With the first two rounds played through lift-clean-place due to rainy conditions, the flood gates opened, and it showed on the leaderboard. 12 players fired rounds of 66 or better to begin their tournament runs.
In the second round, two names at the top remained the same with both Breault and McCain finishing at 12-under to tie for the lead heading into the final round. Making two of the biggest leaderboard climbs of the day was Indiana’s Dylan Meyer and Andrew Beckler of Kansas as they finished at 11-under par in a tie for third. Finally, the one other player that was able to reach double digits was 2021 champion Matthew Walker of Iowa after back-to-back rounds of 66 (5-under).
It was a back-and-forth battle between two players for most of the final round with McCain and Beckler. Beckler went on a streak on the front nine with birdies on No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 to take the outright lead at 15-under. Standing on No. 7 tee, McCain was two shots back from the leader before he went on a steak of his own. The Florida native made birdies on No. 8 and 9 to close out his front nine but he kept his foot on the gas pedal into the back. For videos and to Continue Reading….
Lincoln, NE – Presented by Nebraska Golf & Turf (Club Car) and Chesterman Co. Coca-Cola, Pro-Am season continued for the Nebraska Section PGA at Firethorn Golf Club on Tuesday following Labor Day. 33 teams of Nebraska PGA Professionals and their amateur partners competed in the two-net best ball format while the Professionals competed in their own stroke-play event. The players were welcomed to the tough Pete Dye design with blustery conditions that made an already challenging golf course, even tougher.
In the Professional-only event, the reigning Nebraska PGA Professional Champion Andrew Storm, PGA of Shadow Ridge Country Club fired the lone under par round with an impressive 68 (3-under) to lead the field. Storm has played fantastic during the 2023 season and that didn’t change this week. His round featured five birdies including three in a row between holes No. 9, No. 10 and No. 11. Three Nebraska PGA Professionals shot even par rounds to tie for runner-up. Sam Jonell, PGA of River Wilds Golf Course, Tom Hearn, PGA of the PGA TOUR and Brady Schnell of Firethorn Golf Club all shot solid rounds of 71.
Join Us In Activating the 29K Strong
We encourage you to share your photos, videos and stories to celebrate why you love this game and help promote who we are as the over 29,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals who drive this industry. Check out how by visiting PGA.org for a social media toolkit.
Ryder Cup Merch Code for PGA of America Members
From now until October 1, PGA of America Members can take 20% off their entire order at the Official U.S. 2023 Ryder Cup Shop with promo code MEMBER20OFF. No minimum purchase required. Limit one use per customer. GET YOUR GEAR HERE
New Course Available on PGA Coach
An all-new course is now live on PGA Coach, and you’re invited to check it out. Characteristics of the Ideal Golf Coach brings together world-class coaches and mentors for teaching moments and roundtable discussions aimed at helping you grow the game, your business and yourself. Find the series in your PGA Coach training dashboard here.
Dear Nebraska Section PGA, Welcome to Fall and I hope you are in the process of wrapping up your events and starting to plan for 2024. It is a great time of the year to play golf, so I hope you have a chance to get out and hit the course with some of your members or customers. It has been another busy season and golf continues to boom off the 2020 pandemic year. I know we all appreciate the staff at your facilities that have worked hard this past season to take care of your customers and grow the game!
The months of October and November are PGA meeting time and I know the Nebraska Section office is working on a fantastic agenda for our Fall meeting on October 23rd at Champions Run. As I write this article, our new COO of the PGA of America will be in attendance, and I am excited for all of you to meet Mr. Craig Kessler. Since his first day in the position last March, he has hit the ground running and is learning all he can about our Association. Over the past few months, we have worked collaboratively to develop a series of focused goals and prioritize projects. We have done this in partnership with our full Board of Directors, the Executive Directors, with our Executive Team and the Senior Directors. He will be sharing this message on how these priorities are going to enhance the member, the game, the business and our people who work for the PGA in Frisco, TX. Your officers will also be attending the District 8 meeting in Des Moines, IA in the middle of October which is a great chance to share ideas and best practices with the other two sections in our District (Minnesota and Iowa). The first week of November will be the National annual meeting down at the new home of the PGA of America in Frisco, TX. This will be a great chance for the entire delegation to see the new property and visit our new home.
My term as District 8 Board Representative will be ending at the annual meeting in November and looking forward to handing the reins over to Mr. Joel Burger, PGA from the Minnesota PGA Section. My hope is to introduce him at the Spring meeting in 2024 and I know he will represent us well. Thanks for all you do for the great game of golf and see you at Champions Run on October 23rd!
Sincerely,
Greg Neujahr, PGA District 8 Director
We are excited to announce the Mountain & Midwest Virtual Education Series launch. This series will be two-fold:
Education Series
• Member/Associate-focused educational opportunities will be delivered once a month, on the first or second Wednesday, October through April.
• The M&M Team will lead the series and be augmented by guest professionals from across the 6 M&M Sections as well as nationally recognized subject matter experts.
Associate Support Network
• Associate and supervising professional-focused membership journey/ education support meetings are delivered monthly on the third or fourth Wednesday of the month beginning in October and continuing all year.
• There will be morning and afternoon sessions to allow for schedule flexibility.
• Each session will be hosted by Sirene Blair and she will be joined by the M&M team as well as representatives from the Membership and Education departments at PGAHQ.
Please click HERE to visit the M&M Regional Education website for more information and how to sign up!
DONATE HERE
The Section Staff spent some time with the newly introduced 20232024 PGA WORKS John & Tamara Lundgren Scholars Program Recipients out of the UNL PGA Golf Management Program!
Learn more about the future leaders of our industry HERE.
Introducing our PGA HOPE Nebraska Squadron. Led by our national Ambassadors, this group will play a vital role in recruiting Veterans, planning graduate events and pushing the program into the future.
Team Redemption gets it done with a team score of -5 (139) at Oakland Golf Club!
Unbelievable playing by Trevor Gutschewski, Jackson
Benge and Tye Treadwell!
Elkhorn’s Trevor Gutschewski fires an impressive 67 (-5) to win the first event of the series.
Three junior golfers from Nebraska have qualified for the 2024 Drive, Chip & Putt National Final which will be held next April at the Masters Tournament!
We’re so proud of these three and the hard work they put in to make this happen. Such an amazing opportunity ahead!
Your spring/summer PGA Jr. League season may be ending, but it doesn’t mean the fun has to stop any time soon!
With students across the country heading back to school, it’s vital you get your fall leagues on their calendars now! Publish your fall program as soon as possible and make sure you’re communicating with previous players as well as families with ties to your facility and your community. Click here for tools and tips to get the word out. As a reminder, the $99 GameChanger membership fee the kids have already paid is good all year long. The longer into the year they play, the greater value they get from their membership fee! You are still welcome and encouraged to charge a fall coaching fee to drive revenue. There are plenty of creative ways to keep the fun of PGA Jr. League rolling this fall and winter.
“The value of a fall PGA Jr. League program is substantial for both our golf professionals and the facility. In addition to our coaching fees, the kids and parents take more lessons, buy more equipment and increase our food and beverage sales.”
—Chris Knevel, PGA Director of Instruction
Westwood Country Club, Northern Ohio
“Our indoor simulator league provides the opportunity to have a PGA Jr. League program with no rainouts, no conflicts in schedule with club events, plus games that finish in 90 minutes. The juniors love the interactive digital experience, and the parents often stay and cheer on their kids.
—Scott Barla, PGA, Owner Barla Golf Academy
Indianapolis, Indiana
Counting all the reasons you can’t have a fall program?
Player Engagement Consultant Kim Shafer offered a few solutions in this month’s issue of PGA Magazine.
Ready for your next season?
