Happy fall!
I think I can say that with confidence this year. It has been a very busy and beautiful golf season in the Pacific Northwest! I suspect there’s a great deal of wonderful golf left ahead of us, as we participate in our chapter and section championships and in the remaining events at our facilities. Hopefully, you are celebrating a very successful season and have made it through the smoke of August.
At Missoula Country Club, I am just starting my budget season. I am sure many of you are entering the same craziness. It’s very hard to forecast in this time with the upcoming presidential election, questions about inflation, and the rising expenses in everything we do. Probably the most challenging for me are the questions around capital spending.
We are also in the middle of our PGA HOPE program at Missoula Country Club. I think it is our favorite event as a professional team at Missoula Country Club. We look forward to it every year. We meet wonderful people, and we get to impact lives with something we love to do. This year our Membership helped us and donated clubs for veterans, to equip them to continue playing the game after the program ends. We have several repeat people and a lot of new faces that are very thankful. I would like to extend a special thank you to the professionals across our section that host REACH programs like PGA HOPE and PGA Junior League. I would also like to thank those professionals that participate in our own section programs like the FREDDY Initiative and PGA JAM. Both of these programs show our dedication to mentoring young people and inspiring them to work in our industry. We are leaders across the country in our efforts to carry out the mission of the PGA of America to serve the member and grow the game.
I am very excited about the upcoming mentoring conference in November. Make sure you register early, as I hear it’s filling fast. I hope to see you in the coming days at the section fall meeting, pro-pro, and section championship. If I don’t, always know that you can reach out. I would love to visit.
Have a wonderful fall!
Chris M. Nowlen, PGA