Leadership highlights theme of season opening event.

(Lafayette Hill, Pa.) – Despite the roller coaster ride which has led to unseasonably cold weather in the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia PGA held their annual Spring Meeting on Monday, April 4 at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. This year’s annual meeting brought together more than 300 Philadelphia PGA Professionals all wanting to shake off the cobwebs of the winter months and look forward to the season ahead. Before the members could get to the tournament season’s opening event the Section had business to conduct including presentations from the Section’s Executive Committee, recognition of our special award winners, addressing the state of the game through member breakout sessions, and hearing from distinguished guest speaker Rear Admiral Brad Williamson.

As the doors closed to start the 2016 Spring Meeting, Clark Luis, PGA (Valley CC) once again gave a stirring rendition of the National Anthem to get things underway. After Luis, John Caprinteta, PGA (Bensalem Township CC) gave the meeting’s invocation before yielding the podium to Section Executive Director Geoffrey Surrette, PGA to discuss the business at hand. After Surrette shared information of the state of the Philadelphia PGA each member of the Executive Committee followed suit giving updates on each area of the Section. Ultimately the meeting concluded with a presentation from Section President Ian Dalzell, PGA (Huntingdon Valley CC). Dalzell spoke about what everyone as PGA Professionals must continue to do to ensure growth of the game as well as personal growth as a PGA Professional.

A couple of new wrinkles for the 2016 Spring Meeting were featured key-note speaker Rear Admiral Brad Williamson, Commandant Joint Forces Staff College and the member breakout session. As a non-PGA presenter, Admiral Williamson was able to speak to the spring meeting attendees on the importance of leadership in an organization. Throughout his career, Admiral Williamson has witnessed firsthand the trickle-down effect a leader has on his/her employees and how this can positively affect the organization as a whole.

Following the key-note address, the members in attendance were broken up into smaller groups in order to come together to address the state of the game from their perspective. Although they may all be PGA Professionals, these smaller groups enabled the members to interact with new faces while sharing their best practices and personal concerns for the game moving forward.

Although the special award winners were formally announced in late January, the Spring Meeting was the first opportunity for them to be recognized in front of their peers. Each of this year’s award winners were announced by Director of Section Affairs Patrick Shine, PGA (Commonwealth National GC) before posing for a photo with Section President Ian Dalzell, PGA. However, the Spring Meeting was just the start of this year’s special award winner’s public recognition. All award winners will be honored at a special ceremony to be held at Huntingdon Valley Country Club on Sunday, November 6. The ceremony will be open to all members and will feature a formal awards presentation. For the complete Special Awards release.

On a special note, Bob Hennefer (Indian Spring CC) was surprised to learn he had been selected as the 2016 Conrad Rehling Award recipient. The award, named in honor of Conrad Rehling, recognizes a PGA Professional who continually gives back to individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities.

After the meeting attentions turned to golf as participants teed it up in the Section’s first event, the Spring Meeting Pro-Pro Scramble. Because of the size of the field participating, separate events were held at both host facility Whitemarsh Valley CC as well as The ACE Club. However, no one team was able to pull away from the field at either venue. With a low score of 9-under-par (63) seven teams shared the top spot at Whitemarsh Valley while at The ACE Club a four-way tie at 12-under-par (60) led the way. Tournament Leaderboards

The Section will continue tournament play on Monday, April 18 when Commonwealth National Golf Club hosts the season’s first points event, The Callaway Golf TPD Championship.