PGA of America Member Michael Caldwell Headlines 2025 Philadelphia PGA Awards Class
Lower Gwynedd Township, Pennsylvania (December 20, 2025) — The Philadelphia PGA Section has announced its 2025 award recipients, highlighted by Philadelphia PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year Michael Caldwell, the PGA head golf professional at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware. Nearly 150 award nominations were received for the 2025 awards class, of which the Philadelphia PGA Awards Committee chose nine winners, including:
- Golf Professional of the Year: Michael Caldwell, PGA; DuPont Country Club, Wilmington, Delaware
- Teacher & Coach of the Year: John Dunigan, PGA; Applebrook Golf Club, Malvern, Pennsylvania
- Professional Development Award: Lou Guzzi, PGA; Lou Guzzi Golf Academy, Ambler, Pennsylvania
- Player Development Award: Jon Flint, PGA; Commonwealth National Golf Club, Horsham, Pennsylvania
- Youth Player Development Award: Eric MacCluen, PGA; Applecross Country Club, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
- Merchandiser of the Year – Private Category: Jameson Wallace, PGA; Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) Country Club
- Deacon Palmer Award: Kevin Duffy, PGA; Commonwealth National Golf Club, Horsham, Pennsylvania
- Justin Riegel Assistant Golf Professional of the Year: Derek Feinberg, PGA; Overbrook Golf Club, Villanova, Pennsylvania
- Salesperson of the Year: Conor Grandin; Holderness & Bourne, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Michael Caldwell, the PGA head golf professional at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, has been named the 2025 Philadelphia PGA Golf Professional of the Year. This is the highest annual honor given to a Philadelphia PGA of America Golf Professional, awarded for qualities of leadership, strong moral character and a substantial record of service to the Philadelphia PGA Section and the game of golf.
“Being named the Philadelphia PGA Golf Professional of the Year is a profound honor and the highlight of my career,” says Caldwell. “I am truly humbled to have my name included among the many accomplished PGA Professionals who have received this recognition before me, and those who will follow in the years ahead.”
Caldwell’s tenure at DuPont Country Club has coincided with a period of major growth and revitalization at the club, but his influence extends far beyond facility improvements. He has been a driving force behind reshaping the club’s culture, deepening member engagement, and elevating the professional standards of the golf operation. His leadership philosophy is rooted in relationships, trust, and service—principles he reinforces daily through member play, PGA Professional mentorship, and his hands-on approach to staff and golf program development.
Caldwell’s leadership is especially evident in the evolution of DuPont’s golf culture. Navigating a rapidly expanding and diverse membership, he successfully built trust, established clear expectations, and strengthened bonds between members and the PGA Professional staff. Caldwell and his team played with more than 100 DuPont members through this program alone, illustrating his belief that time spent on the course is the most meaningful path to building community.
Caldwell’s operational achievements are equally significant. Since taking responsibility for the golf shop in late 2019, he has overseen a complete revitalization of the retail operation—modernizing the shop’s aesthetic, elevating brand selection, implementing detailed staff product training, and creating a more efficient and member-responsive special-order process. His “just start” mindset empowered him to iterate, refine, and innovate, resulting in sustained revenue growth, consistently strong margins, and broad member enthusiasm, including the successful launch of a secondary DuPont logo.
His leadership also extends to tournament operations, where Caldwell and his team run more than 150 events annually. From custom-designed scoreboards to standardized major event trophies, he has built a tournament experience that one member describes as “competitive yet welcoming… consistently well-organized, engaging, and memorable.”
A gifted coach and teacher, Caldwell has also been instrumental in expanding and elevating instruction offerings through the DuPont Golf Academy. He helped guide the academy’s evolution from weekly clinics into a comprehensive, year-round development model, culminating in the creation of a season-long coaching program that quickly became fully booked.
Beyond his club responsibilities, Caldwell is an active contributor to the Philadelphia PGA Section as the newly-elected director of tournaments on the Section’s board, where he previously served as District 2 director, and through committee service, and mentoring new PGA Professionals entering the field. His commitment to continuous learning—reflected in certifications, summit participation, and educational programming—reinforces his belief that professional growth is essential for service excellence. Combined with his competitive success on the course and his deep personal connection to the game, Caldwell embodies the very best qualities of a PGA of America Golf Professional.
PGA Master Professional John Dunigan, the PGA director of instruction at Applebrook Golf Club in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has been named the 2026 Philadelphia PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year for his “outstanding services as a golf teacher, innovator and coach.” A renowned coach, mentor, and educator, he earned his PGA of America membership in 1996, and has worked at other reputable clubs such as Aronimink Golf Club, White Manor Country Club, and Hartefeld National. When he is not coaching his students, averaging over 1,800 hours of lessons annually, Dunigan has made it his mission to teach and mentor fellow PGA Professionals in this Section, and across the country. Over the past five years, he has presented over 50 teaching workshops, seminars, and summits around the country, in addition to being intimately involved with the Section’s teaching and coaching education events. Dunigan is also a published author, writing books such as “Hole It! Master Putting’s Three Essential Skills,” and “Essential Golf,” and appearing in both Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. This is his fifth Philadelphia PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year honor, in addition to being named the Section’s 2018 Professional Development Award, and 2012 Youth Player Development Award recipient.
Lou Guzzi, the PGA director of instruction at Lou Guzzi Golf Academy in Ambler, Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2025 Philadelphia PGA Professional Development Award, an honor he also received in 2014 and 2021. This honor goes to a PGA Member who displays commendable contributions to the education of PGA Professionals. A past PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year (2013) and two-time Section Teacher & Coach of the Year (2003, 2010), Guzzi has shaped the field through leadership roles—including chairing the PGA of America’s Teaching & Coaching Summit Committee—and through an extensive catalog of educational content. He has created several professional development presentations, participated in dozens of Section and national speaking engagements, written dozen of articles for PGA Magazine, Golf Magazine, Golf Range Magazine, and others, and has produced videos that support amateur golfers as well as fellow PGA Professionals.
Jon Flint, the PGA director of instruction at Commonwealth National Golf Club in Horsham, Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the Section’s 2025 Player Development Award. This honor bestows special recognition to a PGA of America Member who has displayed extraordinary and exemplary contributions and achievements in the area of player development. Flint has built a comprehensive, year-round player development structure at Commonwealth—introducing a youth golf intramural league, “Path to Par” seasonal programs, weekly beginner clinics, a fitness program, and family-centered events that have significantly strengthened participation and retention across the facility. A respected mentor to PGA Associates and a collaborative leader within the Section, Flint continually shares best practices, hosts workshops, and contributes to national coaching networks, reflecting his commitment to growing the game and supporting the professional community.
Eric MacCluen is the PGA director of instruction at Applecross Country Club in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and the Section’s 2025 Youth Player Development Award recipient. The award is given annually to a PGA of America Golf Professional who has made extraordinary and exemplary contributions and achievements in the area of youth player development. With nearly 40 years of teaching experience, and a career dedicated to expanding access, confidence, and opportunity for young players, MacCluen has built one of the most impressive youth golf programs in the Section. His programming extends far beyond traditional instruction—he creates welcoming, high-energy environments where beginners thrive, and young athletes gain life skills alongside golf skills. Through free school-based clinics, outreach to multiple districts, partnerships with the First Tee of Delaware, and his Girls Golf Revolution initiative, MacCluen has introduced hundreds of girls to the game, rebuilt and saved high school girls’ teams, and fostered communities where players mentor one another. Parents, students, and fellow PGA Professionals consistently describe him as a coach whose influence changes lives—teaching integrity, leadership, resilience, and belonging as intentionally as he teaches the golf swing. His work has produced scholarship athletes, tournament winners, and, most importantly, young people who believe in themselves because he believed in them first.
Jameson Wallace, the PGA general manager Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) Country Club, has been named the Section’s 2025 Merchandiser of Year for the Private Category. The award recognizes PGA of America Golf Professionals working at a private golf facility who have excelled in business and merchandising in the promotion of golf. Overseeing more than 3,000 square feet across the clubhouse shop, fitting center, and a golf range location, Wallace has built a merchandising program that blends boutique-level personalization with data-driven decision making. He invests 30-40 percent of his time in merchandising, while his regular display updates, seasonal refreshes, and clean, organized layouts ensure a consistently fresh retail experience. Under Wallace’s guidance, Chambersburg’s retail operation has grown more than 700 percent since 2009. He previously won this award in 2020, and was the 2008 Assistant Golf Professional of the Year in the Carolinas PGA Section.
Kevin Duffy is the PGA director of golf at Commonwealth National Golf Club in Horsham, Pennsylvania, and the Section’s 2025 Deacon Palmer Award recipient, an honor that he also received in 2022. The award bestows special recognition to a PGA of America Golf Professional who personally displays outstanding integrity, character and leadership, in the effort to overcome a major obstacle in their life. This individual is an unsung hero/heroine at their facility and in their community, who serves to inspire, empower and assist others, both inside and outside of the game. After Duffy’s first child, Molly Rose, was born in 2013, she was diagnosed with hereditary spastic paraplegia type 47 (SPG47), a disease so rare that Molly was the first in the United States to be diagnosed, and only the seventh in the world. While helping his daughter through therapies, Duffy continued his work at Riverton, in his first year as PGA head professional, and remained committed to making sure he exceeded his members’ expectations. Duffy’s son, Owen Patrick, was born in 2021, and unfortunately was also diagnosed with SPG47. To help support those affected by SPG47, the Duffys teamed with another family impacted by the disease to create the non-profit Cure SPG47, with a mission to develop a treatment for the disease. He started a golf outing named “Golf for a Cure,” which has grown into an impressive community event. The event hosts over 200 golfers annually, and has raised over $1.9 million in less than 10 years. Additionally, a gene therapy is in its final stages of development and hopes to go through the FDA approval process in the coming months. Outside his work for SPG47 and career at his facilities, Duffy has also found the time to volunteer for the Philadelphia PGA Section, having served as the District 1 Director, and as a member of a number of committees.
Derek Feinberg, a PGA assistant golf professional at Overbrook Golf Club in Villanova, Pennsylvania., and the Section’s 2025 Justin Riegel Assistant Golf Professional of the Year. The award recognizes PGA of America Golf Professionals who have excelled in business and merchandising in the promotion of golf, and is named for the late Justin Riegel, a past Section Assistant Golf Professional of the Year. Feinberg exemplifies the complete PGA assistant golf professional, excelling in operations, merchandising, teaching, tournament management, and staff leadership while consistently placing people at the center of his work. Guided by values shaped through long-term sobriety—humility, empathy, and gratitude—he leads with calm professionalism and a deep commitment to service. At Overbrook, Feinberg has helped drive a vibrant golf shop, increasing annual sales, expanded youth and women’s golf programming, and played a key role in delivering high-quality member events through thoughtful planning and attention to detail. Beyond the club, he has emerged as a respected Section leader through his service with PGA REACH Philadelphia, and as Section Ambassador to the Wilson-Smith Golf League, where he has helped build nationally recognized recovery-focused golf communities.
Conor Grandin is a sales representative for Holderness & Bourne, and is the Section’s 2025 Salesperson of the Year. This award recognizes a sales representative who contributes to the Section and is involved with sponsoring Section events. They are also respected among their fellow Section clubs and have implemented new ideas to assist growing the game of golf. Grandin manages more than 120 green grass accounts across the region and approaches his role as a trusted advisor—providing consultative guidance tailored to each club’s unique membership rather than focusing solely on sales volume. His deep product knowledge, responsiveness, and willingness to share successful retail strategies across accounts help PGA Professionals strengthen shop performance and enhance the member experience. Grandin has also supported Section professional development by contributing apparel and resources to key events and championships, while his innovative merchandising initiatives—such as holiday microsites, staff apparel programs, event-order incentives, and data-driven retail dashboards—have helped clubs streamline operations and grow revenue.
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 of America Members and Associates who are employed at over 300 golf facilities in our region.Contact: Matt Frey, PGA, Communications Director, mfrey@pgahq.com
