During the PGA of America’s Annual Meeting Week at the Association’s new home in Frisco, Texas, Aronimink Golf Club PGA Head Professional Jeff Kiddie, PGA, and Bensalem Township Country Club PGA Professional and PGA HOPE Bensalem Chapter Lead John Carpineta received their national honors, the PGA Golf Professional of the Year award, and the PGA Patriot Award, respectively. Kiddie is the Section’s first-ever national PGA Golf Professional of the Year, while Carpineta, known affectionately as “Johnny C,” is the Section’s first national PGA Patriot Award recipient.

Prior to being interviewed by David Marr III in front of the Annual Meeting delegates, PGA Membership, industry leaders, friends, and family, the PGA debuted short videos highlighting each award recipient and the hard work they have put into their careers, facilities, Section and Association. To watch the videos, click on the below video screens.

Congratulations to both Jeff and Johnny! Both PGA Members have made our Section proud, and will no doubt continue to improve the game, Association, initiatives, and facilities going forward!

About the Philadelphia PGA Section
The Philadelphia PGA Section, covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, is one of 41 geographical managing entities of the PGA of America. This Section manages nearly 900 PGA Members and Associates who are employed at over 590 golf facilities in our region.

Contact: Matt Frey, PGA, Communications Director, mfrey@pgahq.com

Frisco, Texas and Orlando, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2023) – PGA Golf Professional of the Year Jeff Kiddie, PGA; and PGA Patriot Award recipient John Carpineta, PGA; headline the Class of 2023 PGA of America National Awards honorees.

All 13 award recipients were announced at the 2023 PGA Show last week in Orlando, Florida.

“It is exciting for a PGA Section to have one of its members win one of the PGA of America’s national awards, so having two high-caliber PGA Members honored in the same class is incredibly humbling,” said Philadelphia PGA Section Executive Director Geoffrey Surrette, PGA.

Kiddie is the Section’s first-ever national PGA Golf Professional of the Year, while Carpineta, known affectionately as “Johnny C,” is the Section’s first national PGA Patriot Award recipient.

“Both Jeff and Johnny have helped grow the game at their facilities, at the Section level, and nationally, and are truly model PGA Professionals,” Surrette continued. “Our entire Section is proud of what they have accomplished, and are thrilled to celebrate with them this year.”

Jeff Kiddie, PGA, Head Golf Professional at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2023 PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award. This is the highest annual honor given to a PGA of America Professional, awarded for leadership, strong moral character and a substantial record of service to the Association and the game of golf.

A PGA Member for 23 years, Kiddie has spent the past 15 years at Aronimink following a seven-year stint at Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he served as PGA General Manager and Head Golf Professional. Kiddie  was the host PGA Professional during the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, which will also host the 2026 PGA Championship.

A longtime, dedicated leader in the Philadelphia PGA Section, Kiddie has held numerous positions including President, Vice President, Secretary, District Director, Director of Section Affairs and Member of the PGA of America Rules Committee, among others. In 2019, he was elected the 43rd President of the Philadelphia PGA; He served a two-year stint, followed by his current Honorary President role.

A decorated PGA Professional, Kiddie has received numerous awards and accolades, including being honored as the national 2011 PGA Merchandiser of the Year – Private Facilities. He also received the Philadelphia PGA Section’s 2021 Bill Strausbaugh Award; 2016 Horton Smith Award (now the PGA Professional Development Award); 2011 Philadelphia Section Golf Professional of the Year; and is a two-time recipient of the Philadelphia PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year Award – Private Facilities (2007, ‘10).

Since Kiddie became a PGA Head Professional in 2001, a total of 12 of his Assistant Professionals have advanced to become Head Professionals across the country. His passion for the Rules of Golf has led him to become an instructor for PGA and USGA Rules of Golf Workshops. Kiddie is a graduate of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he competed on the golf team.

“This award is an incredible honor and it’s a pleasure to share it with my family and with everyone at Aronimink,” said Kiddie. “I’ve always said that I’ve been incredibly fortunate throughout my career to work with and for great PGA Professionals; there are so many PGA Professionals that I respect and admire who have not been recognized with this award and it kind or it makes it difficult to feel deserving. I only know that I’ll continue to work hard to try and live up to it.

“It has also been a great fortune to spend the last 23 years in the Philadelphia PGA Section. I consider our Section to be the finest in the country. The friendships I have made within our Section have positively impacted me personally and professionally. I’m also thankful to work at an incredible club like Aronimink, where I’m afforded the resources necessary to be successful. The club’s leadership encourages me to be involved in other aspects of our industry outside of Aronimink. Finally, and most importantly, I’m incredibly thankful to have a wife and children who have supported me in all my career aspirations.”

John Carpineta, PGA, a Philadelphia PGA Section Member and Assistant Golf Professional at Bensalem Township Country Club in Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2023 Patriot Award. The honor goes to a PGA Professional who personifies patriotism through the game of golf and demonstrates unwavering commitment and dedication to the men and women who have valiantly served and protected the United States of America.  An inspiration to many, Carpineta earned his PGA Membership at 63 years old. Today, at age 81, he remains a driving force in leading the growth of the PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) program in the Philadelphia Section. A U.S. Army Veteran, Carpineta is an advocate for golf programming to be used as a form of therapy for Veterans, and thanks to his efforts, more than 500 Veterans have been positively impacted. Additionally, Carpineta is a staunch supporter of Patriot Golf Day, hosting events annually to support the initiative. Carpineta has been the recipient of multiple awards at the Section level, including Golf Professional of the Year in 2019, the Patriot Award (2017, ‘18, ‘20) and the Player Development Award in 2015. Carpineta has also been instrumental in mentoring other PGA Professionals who have aspirations to be heavily involved in PGA HOPE programming. His commitment to service at the Section level includes being the Co-chair of PGA HOPE Bensalem since 2016, a member of the Player Development Committee since 2016, and an Education Committee member since 2011, among other Section and Chapter committees.

“I am incredibly honored to have received our PGA Patriot Award,” said Carpineta. “While my name is on the award, it should be shared with everyone who has been instrumental with PGA HOPE Philadelphia, including fellow PGA Members Rick Flagler, Gerry Davis, Dan Hoban, Adrienne Hogan, Leila Mackie, Judy Alverez, and many others.”

Our Section staffers, Geoff Surrette, PGA, Courtney Curcio, and Matt Frey, PGA, have helped our Bensalem chapter thrive and taken lessons learned here to eight of our other PGA HOPE Philadelphia chapters.”

“I would be remiss if not to thank those who helped with and supported my nomination: Jack Connelly, Dick Smith Sr., Tom Carpus, Jeff Kiddie, Jeff Hoerger, Jim Bogan, Bill Fox, and Kelly Newhouse. Having a Section full of supportive PGA Professionals has helped our military veterans far and wide.”

2023 PGA of America National Awards Recipients

• PGA Golf Professional of the Year
  Jeff Kiddie, PGA – Aronimink Golf Club – Newtown Square, Pa.
• PGA Patriot Award
  John Carpineta, PGA – Bensalem Township Country Club – Bensalem, Pa.

• PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year
  Kevin Weeks, PGA – Cog Hill Golf & Country Club – Lemont, Ill.

• PGA Golf Executive of the Year
  Bernie Friedrich, PGA – Boyne Resorts – Petoskey, Mich.

• Bill Strausbaugh Award
  Jack Druga, PGA – Life Member – Metropolitan PGA Section – Southampton, N.Y.

• PGA Professional Development Award
  Nick Papadakes, PGA – Onwentsia Club – Lake Forest, Ill.

• Deacon Palmer Award
  Jamie Nieto, PGA – The Preserve at Oak Meadows – Addison, Ill.
• PGA Player Development Award
  Josh Tremblay, PGA – Springfield Golf & Country Club – Springfield, Va.
• PGA Youth Player Development Award
  Susie Redman, PGA – The Woodlands Country Club – The Woodlands, Texas

• Herb Graffis Award
  Southern Texas PGA Section

• PGA Merchandiser of the Year – Resort Category
  Grace Hurley, PGA – Ponte Vedra Inn & Club – Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

• PGA Merchandiser of the Year – Private Category
  Katie Wiedmar, PGA – Winged Foot Golf Club – Mamaroneck, N.Y.

• PGA Merchandiser of the Year – Public Category
  Ian Ziska, PGA – American Dunes Golf Club – Grand Haven, Mich.

For full bios of all 13 PGA of America National Awards recipients for 2023, click here.

The formal National Awards ceremony is scheduled for this November during the 2023 PGA Annual Meeting in Frisco, Texas. The Herb Graffis Award will be presented during the Annual Meeting content that week as well.

About PGA of America
The PGA of America is one of the world’s largest sports organizations, composed of nearly 28,000 PGA Professionals who work daily to grow interest and inclusion in the game of golf. For more information about the PGA of America, visit PGA.com and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About the Philadelphia PGA Section
The Philadelphia PGA Section, covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, is one of 41 geographical managing entities of the PGA of America. This Section manages nearly 900 PGA Members and Associates who are employed at over 590 golf facilities in our region.

Contact: Matt Frey, PGA, Communications Director, Philadelphia PGA Section, mfrey@pgahq.com

I’m hopeful that this message finds you well during our “offseason.” Mother Nature has kept us busier than we usually are this time of year with many days conducive for golf. Hopefully you still have been able to get some of your winter to-dos completed as well as spending valuable time with your families.

For those of you that did not attend the Fall Meeting, you might have missed out on the announcement that John Pillar was appointed as our next District 2 Director for the PGA of America’s Board. John went through the different chairs of leadership on our Section’s Board, which culminated with him serving as our President from 2014-2015. John has also served at the national level as a member of the PGA of America’s Tournament Committee. As the incoming District Director, John attends Board Meetings as an observer until he officially becomes District Director at the Annual Meeting this coming October in Hartford, Conn. We are thrilled to have John represent our Section as well as the New Jersey and Metropolitan Sections. John’s experience and enthusiasm will be a tremendous asset in the board room.

Speaking of the Annual Meeting, this year is an election year for the PGA of America Secretary position.  At the PGA Show, members of our Executive Committee met with the four candidates for brief introductions.  Some of us will be traveling to Atlanta, Ga., later this month for a Super Regional meeting where each candidate will present their campaign agendas. In addition, each Section will be allocated time with the four candidates privately to be able to ask questions in a more personal venue. If you are interested in learning about the candidates, you can click the link below.

Congratulations once again to all of our award winners. It is an incredible collection of talent that is being recognized.  I especially want to congratulate John Carpineta on being named our Golf Professional of the Year. John’s story of becoming a PGA Member is inspiring by itself let alone the incredible work that he continues to do with our military veterans. I am confident that calling John to tell him he won this award will stand out as one of my fondest memories from my time as Section President. The Section is hosting the Annual Awards Dinner at Aronimink G.C. on Sunday, March 15.  We encourage you to attend, especially if you have a friend or co-worker that received one of these prestigious awards.  It is a special night and it casts a great spotlight on some of our Section’s best professionals.

Finally, congratulations to Ashley Grier and Vincent Kabaso for being selected as two of the 15 members of the fifth PGA LEAD class. PGA LEAD was created to identify, mentor and progress PGA Members from diverse backgrounds into volunteer leadership positions in the Association.  Previous LEAD classes have served as a launching pad for leaders both at the Section level and for the national PGA initiatives. With individuals like Ashley and Vincent, I am sure that this class will be just as successful.

We are less than two months away from our Spring Meeting at Green Valley C.C.  The date of the Meeting is Monday, March 30. Spring Meeting registration is currently open as is TPD registration.  We look forward to seeing you all for the meeting.

Sincerely,

Jeff Kiddie, PGA
Philadelphia PGA President

Happy New Year to you!  It has been a few months since our Section’s Fall Meeting. During this time, our board has been busy wrapping up 2019 and finishing our planning process for 2020. In December the board met to finalize the 2020 budget. There are many things that go under consideration in this process and you should be proud of how thorough and thoughtful our staff and board is to make sure we are in the best financial position possible.  

In this year’s budgetary process, we came to the realization that we are not in the position to maintain the dues structure that we have been operating under for over 10 years. Over these past 10 years we were able to operate without a dues increase despite adding new staff members, retaining long standing staff members, buying a home office and absorbing the rising costs of health insurance and other expenses related to operating a business. With those costs continuing to rise, as well as the federal government raising the “standard salary level,” we need to raise our dues to cover these costs. The board unanimously approved to raise the dues five percent for the 2020 calendar year. We applaud Geoff Surrette and his entire team for running the Section for the past 10 years without a dues increase to the membership, but much like our own clubs, if we aren’t raising the dues with the rising costs we won’t be able to continue the existing staff and service levels.

This leads me to a related subject. The Section’s Junior Tour is a major component to our operating income. Over the past two years we have seen a decline in the number of members of our tour. Brian Schulte and his team have come up with an action plan for 2020 to try and gain back some of these lost members, but the reality may be that there is just more competition than we used to have with the growth of tours like the AJGA, IJGT, U.S. Kids and Hurricane Tour. Our tour offers a valuable offering to a cross section of youth golfers with the sweet spot being emerging competitive golfers that are 11 to 14 years old. We will continue to invest and promote the Junior Tour but we need your help in doing this. Whenever possible, please display the marketing materials that the Section provides you. Each of us are given one free membership to give to a youth golfer. Be sure to give this to one of your juniors. We can make an impact on this tour and the financial benefit it has for our Section. If each of us were able to get one new tour member, we would grow the tour by leaps and bounds. The Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour is a great product at a very reasonable price. Please help us succeed by promoting the Tour to your members/customers.

The 2020 season will be an exciting season of championship golf. The Philadelphia PGA Section will host its sixth PGA Championship (1938, 1942, 1958 and 1962 PGA Championship, 2003 Senior PGA Championship) when the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship comes to Aronimink Golf Club.  Part of the responsibility in hosting these championships is for Section members to serve as volunteers for the event. Bob Hennefer, Director of Section Affairs, is our Volunteer Chairman. He will be sending out communications to complete his roster of volunteers. Please try to make yourself and/or your staff members available to volunteer. With another championship coming in 2026, we want to show the PGA of America that we are energetic and engaged PGA Professionals that want our Section to shine.  

The plan is to write a monthly message to keep you informed of what is new in our Section. Feel free to reach out directly to me or Geoff Surrette with any comments or questions. All the best for the start of your New Year and hopefully you are enjoying some downtime.

Sincerely,

Jeff Kiddie, PGA
President
Philadelphia PGA Section
jkiddie@aronimink.org

Malvern, Pa. (August 28, 2023) — Reigning Philadelphia PGA Professional Champion Brian Bergstol of Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort in Shawnee on Delaware, Pa., teed off in the second pairing of the tournament and finished with a 5-under-par 66 to win the 2023 Jack Jolly & Son Championship at White Manor Country Club by one stroke over Merion G.C.’s Joanna Coe, PGA. The tournament is a Philadelphia PGA Rolex / The Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year event.

Bergstol had a steady round, making six birdies, and only one bogey, but had to wait for the rest of the 126-person field to finish before declaring victory. In addition to the Jack Jolly & Son title, he will be defending his Low PGA Professional title in next week’s Silvercrest Cup finals and the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, September 11-13.

While Bergstol’s score held the entire day, several PGA Professionals made a good run to tie him. Behind Coe, 2023 PGA Professional Champion Braden Shattuck, Rolling Green G.C., finished in third place at 3-under-par, followed by five PGA Professionals in a tie for fifth place at 2-under-par: Steve Sanderson, Saucon Valley C.C.; Andrew Cornish, Cedarbrook C.C.; Anthony Sebastianelli, Rolling Green G.C.; Ryan Rucinski, Wilmington C.C.; and Ross Brown, Fox Hill C.C.

There was a logjam atop the Senior Division, with four PGA Members tying for first place at even par: Eric Kennedy, Overbrook G.C.; Rich Steinmetz, Spring Ford C.C.; Mike Moses, Concord C.C.; and Barry Dear, Golf Academy at Blue Heron Pines. Five others tied for fifth place, one stroke back: John Spina, Philadelphia Cricket Club; John DiMarco, Legacy at Woodcrest; Dave McNabb, Applebrook G.C.; Jeff Kiddie, Aronimink G.C.; and Pete Lovenguth, Sandy Run C.C.

Mike Moses topped the Super Senior Division with his even-par round of 71, bettering John DiMarco by one stroke. PGA Life Member George Forster tied for third place at 2-over-par with Greg Farrow, Deerwood C.C. Wilmington C.C.’s Bob Lennon, PGA, rounded out the top five at 3-over-par.

The Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) also hosted a concurrent event, with Bergstol taking the top prize. Andrew Cornish and Anthony Sebastianelli tied for second place three strokes behind Bergstol, followed by Zach Barbin, Chesapeake G.C., at 1-under-par, and Trevor Bensel, Sandy Run C.C., at even par.

To view the full 2023 Jack Jolly & Son Championship leaderboard, click here.

The 2023 Jack Jolly & Son Championship’s title partner is Jack Jolly & Son Inc., and is supported by Jani-King, KM Golf Sales, Ohana Farm LLC, and the PGA Tour. The Philadelphia PGA Section and its PGA Professionals thank our host, White Manor Country Club, their members, management, host PGA Professionals, and staff, as well as our partners, as the event would not have been possible without their support.

About the Philadelphia PGA Section
The Philadelphia PGA Section, covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, is one of 41 geographical managing entities of the PGA of America. This Section manages nearly 900 PGA Members and Associates who are employed at over 590 golf facilities in our region.

Contact:  Matt Frey, PGA, Communications Director, mfrey@pgahq.com