This month we profile Ryan Cutter, PGA, who was awarded the 2021 PNW PGA Deacon Palmer Award for outstanding performance in the face of a personal challenge. “I have played golf since the age of three. Golf has given me so much to overcome my bilateral amputation at birth that I wanted to give back to the game what the game has instilled in me,” said Ryan of his passion for golf. An accomplished player, he is also an ADM certified PGA Coach and deeply involved with junior golf. He also was recognized as the 2021 WMCPGA Assistant Golf Professional of the Year and the 2021 WMCPGA Youth Player Development Award Winner.
Facility: Green Meadow CC
Hometown: Helena, MT
PGA Member Since: 2019
Can you tell us a little bit about your junior programs?
Junior development is my main objective as a golf professional as that is where the future of the game lies. Our biggest junior program here at Green Meadow is our PGA Jr. League, with 82 participants, that runs from the beginning of June to the end of August. In addition to the Jr. League, I run a junior boot camp, junior camp, and winter junior group lessons on the simulator. In all of my junior programs, I aim for the kids to enjoy their time on the golf course as much as possible. If these juniors have fun playing golf, they will enjoy this game for the rest of their lives.
Who were your mentors in golf?
I was very lucky to have an amazing group of golf professionals to call my mentors. From a very young age Tim Fraley, PGA was my golf instructor. He ran an amazing junior camp that has influenced me to run so many different junior programs. Since I have worked in the industry, Travis Moore; PGA, Jim Robinson, PGA; Derek Mazzoni, PGA; Nate LeBlanc, PGA; Andrew Silvestri, PGA; Chad Carlson, PGA; and Tod Fitterer, PGA have all been an amazing influence on myself as a PGA Professional. Those mentioned are just the ones I have formally worked with/for. There are several others I have not worked with that have also had a major impact on my perspective on work and in life.
Can you tell us about your experience with the 2021 PNW PGA 100-Hole Marathon and what your chosen charity meant to you?
I played 108 holes of golf with Chad Carlson and Tod Fitterer in April of 2021. It was amazing to see how the three of us could play six rounds of golf in about seven hours, while our membership played during their regular tee times. It speaks levels to our membership here at Green Meadow that they let us play through and cheered us on as we did. I chose the Hunthausen Junior Golf Foundation and raised $5,475. This charity means a lot to me as Ray Hunthausen was a previous golf professional here at Green Meadow and passed away in 2010 at just 47 years old. His wife Tori started the Hunthausen Junior Golf Foundation and they award scholarships to local juniors, provide junior golf programs with funding, and are the driving force for junior golf here in Helena, MT. Although the 108 holes were quite difficult for me as a bilateral amputee, the satisfaction of donating that much to the Hunthausen Junior Golf Foundation was more than worth it!
In participating in local Pro-Am and Chapter tournaments, I have gotten to know many other Assistant Golf Professionals throughout the Chapter. I want these other golf professionals to see me and know that if I can become a PGA Professional with my physical limitations, they can do anything they set their minds to as well. I look to inspire people at all levels, not just fellow professionals.