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If an individual's life can be traced not by the spotlight one seeks but by the work they quietly shoulder, then Jack Shoenfelt, PGA stands as one of the true craftsmen of the South Florida PGA.
Along with fellow Professional, Karl Bublitz, Shoenfelt enters the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2025, joining a lineage of 51 others who helped shape the identity, values, and excellence of the Section. For someone who rarely sees himself as anything but a “simple Midwestern kid who worked hard,” the recognition feels almost surreal.
“Oh, it was very humbling,” Shoenfelt said. “I called Karl and told him, they must be running out of ideas to have us in there.”
That humility is part of what makes Shoenfelt beloved. But behind the quiet manner is a life in golf marked by grit, stewardship, mentorship, and a work ethic forged long before he ever set foot in South Florida.
An Akron, Ohio native, Shoenfelt grew up in an environment where family mattered, work was expected, and nothing was handed to you. His early jobs in golf as a kid weren’t in the golf shop but on the course itself, mowing greens, cutting hole locations, raking bunkers, doing whatever needed to be done at his friend's family-owned 9-hole golf course.
“We did everything,” he said. “I actually thought I was going to end up being a superintendent.”
Shoenfelt didn’t start playing golf seriously until high school, but earned a scholarship to Malone University in Canton, Ohio.
Upon graduating, Shoenfelt took a job in Akron where the head professional offered blunt advice.
“He told me, ‘Son, you don’t want to get in this business.’ Told me all the negatives. He said, ‘call me tomorrow if you still want the job.’ So I called him. I said, ‘Yeah, I want the job.’”
Eventually tired of the northern climate, with a desire for year round balance, Shoenfelt moved south.
“You’re working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. up there,” he said. “It wasn’t good if you wanted a family.”
Shoenfelt worked seasonally for three years before taking a permanent job in Florida, a move that would shape the next four decades of his life.
Shoenfelt’s professional foundation in South Florida was built at Boca Grove Golf & Tennis Club in Boca Raton, where he spent nearly a decade rising from assistant professional to director of golf.
“I loved Boca Grove,” he said. “The people treated me fantastic. I wouldn’t have left if this opportunity hadn’t come up.”
That opportunity was ownership, the dream he had carried since those teenage years working on his friend’s family golf course.
When longtime PGA Professional and Member of the 2022 SFPGA Hall of Fame Class, Burl Dale sent word he intended to sell Oriole Golf & Tennis Club in Margate, Fl, Shoenfelt saw his future.
Ownership, for Shoenfelt, was never about prestige.
“There’s a million reasons,” he explained. “Being your own boss, doing your own thing. A lot of that came from working at my buddy’s course.”
Today, more than two decades later, Shoenfelt is still the one turning the key in the morning, still fixing roofs and toilets, still doing whatever the facility needs.
“It’s like buying a job,” he said. “But I enjoy coming in every day. I come six days a week.”
When Shoenfelt took over, Oriole had a reputation.
“It was always the lowest-end course around,” he shared. “Known for cheap rates and never closing.”
For 10 years, the goal was simply survival. But slowly, steadily, with careful investment and patience, Shoenfelt rebuilt the reputation.
“About 10 years ago we put in new greens,” he said. “That was huge for us. And we just continue to make improvements. I think we get better every year.”
At the Chapter and Section levels, Shoenfelt didn’t seek leadership roles but rather was put into a position of leadership in the Southern Chapter.
“They just put me on the ballot,” he said laughing.
Once elected, he embraced the work, serving as treasurer, vice president, and president over six years, helping create pro-ams, annual youth summer camps and emphasized participation that reshaped the chapter’s culture.
“We’d have 60, 70, 80 kids in the annual summer camps,” he said. “We went to three or four different facilities in Broward and Dade.”
These programs left a deep legacy that others carried forward.
As far as playing accomplishments, which he certainly downplays saying, “I’m a middle-of-the-road PGA pro,” Shoenfelt qualified for and competed in the Honda Classic, the Doral Ryder Open, and Nike/Web.com Tour events.
He also won the SFPGA Senior PGA Professional Championship in 2021, his highest Section playing accomplishment and the one he is most proud of.
When it comes to receiving recognition, that has never been Shoenfelt's motivation. Over his time as a member of the SFPGA, Shoenfelt has been nominated for several annual awards, but has never filled the application out, not wanting to take an opportunity away from someone else.
“One of those awards can help the kids,” he said. “Good for their resume. But I don’t need it. I’m not going anywhere. I’m right where I want to be.”
While that mindset has always been the same, being inducted into the Hall of Fame is different.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Shoenfelt said. “Very humbling. Very honored.”
The South Florida PGA is honored to recognize Jack Shoenfelt as a member of the Hall of Fame not only as a Hall of Fame professional, but as a Hall of Fame person. The kind of person who lifts up others without seeking credit, and builds a community by simply showing up, every day, with purpose.
If a man is indeed known by the company he keeps, count Karl Bublitz as one who reveres the class of elite individuals with whom he will now forever be associated.
Along with Jack Shoenfelt, his fellow classmate for 2025, Bublitz recently was inducted into the South Florida PGA (SFPGA) Hall of Fame, the highest honor an individual can receive within the Section. For a guy who once spent a summer of his youth moving sprinkler heads late into the night from one hole to another at a course in his native St. Clair County, Michigan, there is something almost surreal about sharing the spotlight with a "who's who" among the other 51 SFPGA Hall of Fame members.
"I mean, to know my name is now there with Jack Nicklaus, Jim McLean, Bob Murphy, Bob Toski, and [former PGA of America CEO] Joe Steranka, wow," Bublitz says as his voice trails off.
Achieving immortality within the second largest of the 41 PGA of America Sections is the ultimate byproduct of a career that Bublitz describes in its simplest form and with the highest of ideals. "I'm a servant," he says, "and we, as a team, do not fail. We're not going to lose. The product and experience that we provide to our customers, will not be duplicated anywhere else. Their ROE, the Return on Experience for our customers, will not be beaten."
That mantra of leadership has extended to his commitment to the SFPGA itself, with Bublitz serving as the Section's President from 2019-21 and being named the 2012 SFPGA Golf Professional of the Year.
Bublitz, a PGA of America Member since 1995, is the PGA General Manager for the Collier Rod and Gun Club in Naples, Florida. He is currently assisting with the planning and development of the County's first facility to feature sporting clays, archery, a trail system, and a championship 18-hole golf course, expected to open in 2028.
In many respects, Collier Rod and Gun Club represents the exclamation point for Bublitz, who has worked at five other facilities in South Florida since he made the area his permanent home in 2004. Bublitz got his start in the golf business at Rattle Run Golf Course in Michigan, where those muggy summer nights spent changing the sprinkler heads -- typically from 8:30 p.m. to as late as 1:30 a.m.-- for owner Lou Powers afforded him the opportunity to play the game when the sun came back up.
Yet it wasn't until PGA Professional Dan Hansen offered Bublitz an assistant professional position at The Moors Golf Club in Portage, Michigan, that the vision of golf as a career began to come into focus for him. For it wasn't until then that Bublitz met the man for whom, as he admits, "I owe my success."
When Jim Butler left The Moors to become an assistant professional at The Forest Country Club in Ft. Myers, it created an opening on the staff among assistant professionals. Bublitz then rose in the ranks. And before long, as he would spend his winters in Florida, Bublitz went to work with Butler at The Forest.
Ultimately, Butler saw in Bublitz the myriad of skills he admires in a PGA Professional, and when Butler became the General Manager, he hired Bublitz to be his PGA Director of Golf at Grey Oaks Country Club, the sprawling, 54-hole facility in Naples, where Bublitz oversaw a team of 22 golf professionals.
"Look, I was a kid who could have gone in any direction," Bublitz admits. "I needed mentorship, and Jim was my guiding light. He helped me look at things in a bigger way than just the day-to-day activities, both in my personal life and my professional life. People are everything in this business, and you absolutely want to be around someone like Jim."
Butler, now the CEO of Club Benchmarking, a leading online management tool that provides key data for clubs, says that Bublitz stands alone.
"I had many PGA golf professionals work for me and with me, and Karl, by far, is the best one on many levels. Karl is the absolute best at customer experience for any PGA Professional who I have worked with in my 35 years of being a PGA Member. He is organized, he's a leader, and he always puts the club members first. Karl trains his staff to be warm and receptive to the customer, and make each member feel that they are the most important person in the golf shop.
"Karl's operations in golf tournaments, merchandising, training staff, business planning and financial performance exceeded expectations on a continuous basis at Grey Oaks. The highest compliment that I can give Karl is if I was starting a facility today, he would be the first person I would call to lead the facility because he is a proven winner."
Rich Ter Haar was the PGA Head Professional for Bublitz at Grey Oaks, and he succeeded his boss as Director of Golf when Bublitz took on the opportunity at Collier Rod and Gun Club.
"I can think of no one more deserving of induction into the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame than Karl Bublitz," Ter Haar says. "His passion for creating the best member experience possible, respect for the traditions of the game, and genuine care for people have defined his entire career. At Grey Oaks, he created an environment where the golf experience is not just about the game itself but about belonging, camaraderie, and shared pride in the club. His leadership raised service standards and inspired his team to embrace excellence every day. Karl has not only achieved great professional success but has also made everyone around him better—through mentorship, friendship, and example. His influence extends far beyond his own club, as he has shaped the character of the South Florida PGA community itself."
So true. In fact, Bublitz worked closely with Geoff Lofstead, the longtime executive director of the South Florida PGA, to frame a comprehensive business plan for the Section, which counts more than 2,100 PGA Professionals in its ranks. And he did so with his term as President coinciding with the devastating effects of COVID-19.
"My whole focus during that time was to help Geoff and his team with whatever they needed," Bublitz says. "Communications was everything, so Geoff and I were on the phone multiple times a day and we stayed in touch with as many of our golf professionals as we could."
Caring for, and mentoring his fellow Professionals, is evident through the more than 20 PGA Professionals who have worked for Bublitz who now have titles of Head Professional or higher. "It's a source of great pride," he says.
His caring for his community shines through with the time Bublitz has spent installing windows and helping with other needs for the Habitat for Humanity homes that the SFPGA, through its Foundation, has constructed in 13 of the 14 counties it encompasses. "We'll get all 14," Bublitz is quick to add.
He talks about culture, which surely will be unmatched when Collier Rod and Gun Club welcomes its members in a few years. Led by Bublitz, ever the servant. That kid who needed direction and got it, and who, as a man, has paid it back in mentoring and caring for others.
And then one day, the phone rings, and you're told that you're going to be up on the mountaintop of your profession. Alongside legends named Jack, Jim, Murph and Toski. And you're thunderstruck. Wow.
"I am so humbled," Bublitz says. "You know, I love what I do, and I want to do it for as long as I can be helpful. Next to having my children, it's the greatest honor of my life to be inducted into the South Florida PGA Hall of Fame. This is it."
This November marks the 10th anniversary of PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) in the South Florida Section, a decade of transforming lives through the game of golf. What began as a single pilot program in 2015 has evolved into a national movement led by passionate PGA of America Professionals committed to serving those who have served.
PGA HOPE, the flagship military program of the South Florida PGA Foundation, introduces golf to Veterans and Active-Duty Military Personnel as a means to enhance their physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being. The six-week program is offered at no cost, using the game of golf as a bridge to healing and community.
The first SFPGA HOPE session took place on November 5, 2015, at The First Tee of the Palm Beaches and the John Prince Golf Learning Center. PGA Professionals Judy Alvarez, Dave McNulty, and Donna White led the way, creating a safe, welcoming space where Veterans could reconnect, heal, and find purpose through golf. Their success ignited something far greater, a national ripple effect of hope.
Few have influenced PGA HOPE’s success more than Judy Alvarez, PGA Teaching Professional at Monarch Country Club and 2019 National Patriot Award recipient, who created the national training curriculum that still guides PGA Professionals today. “We help by reducing isolation,” Alvarez said. “Because of this program, Veterans find the confidence to re-engage with life, to go to the grocery store, the movies, or spend time with loved ones. It’s about helping them learn to live again.”
Ten years later, that mission continues to thrive. As of October 2025, PGA HOPE South Florida has impacted more than 2,000 Veterans across 93 facilities in seven counties, led by 244 PGA Professionals who have conducted 138 six-week, two-hour sessions.
The heart of PGA HOPE lies in the PGA Professionals who make it possible. Each year, the SFPGA Patriot Award honors one such leader.
The 2025 recipient, Scott Kash, PGA Tournament Director at Quail Creek Country Club, has graduated 58 Veterans through four sessions, hosted Basecamp sessions for alumni, and helped raise more than $175,000 for the Home Base Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war. “To have the opportunity to serve those who have served us, there’s nothing more meaningful than that,” Kash shared.
Fairwinds Golf Course General Manager and 2024 SFPGA Patriot Award recipient, Mark Cammarene, PGA, has hosted 11 sessions, impacting more than 180 Veterans since 2018. “Hosting one session led to the effortless decision to continue,” Cammarene said. “Seeing the transformation in participants keeps us coming back.”
Bo Preston, PGA General Manager at The Links at Boynton Beach and 2021 SFPGA Patriot Award recipient, has built a community where Veterans are treated like VIP members. Hosting up to four PGA HOPE sessions each year, Preston launched a league called Hope Has a Home, which has grown from 13 to over 150 Veterans. Preston’s wife, Christina Olivarez, a retired Army Master Sergeant and SFPGA HOPE Ambassador, knows that transformation firsthand. “PGA HOPE helped bring me out of a dark place,” Olivarez said.
“It truly changed my life. Golf clears your mind and lets you forget everything else.”
The same spirit is shared by Pam Elders, PGA Director of Instruction at Boca West Country Club, 2023 SFPGA Patriot Award recipient, and 2025 PGA of America Player Development Award recipient. For Elders, the program is personal; her father served in the Navy. “Getting involved with PGA HOPE was the perfect way to give back,” Elders said. “Many Veterans say this program saved their lives, but the truth is, it’s saved ours too as the Professionals who teach them.”
This sense of connection and renewal is particularly evident during events like the Fourth Annual PGA HOPE Cup, held on October 4th at St. Andrew’s Country Club. The event brought together 72 Veterans and 24 PGA Professionals for a day of camaraderie and celebration. 2022 SFPGA Patriot Award recipient, Jerry Impellittiere, PGA, led his team of Navy Veterans to victory.
Having worked with more than 200 Veterans through PGA HOPE, Impellittiere has seen firsthand the healing power of the program. “The one thing that rips my heart out is the mental health challenges Veterans often face,” Impellittiere, the PGA Director of Instruction at Monarch Country Club, shared. “This little white golf ball we all obsess about is a miracle in many Vets’ lives.”
The same hope carried to the national stage this year, as Todd Frey, a retired Navy Chief and graduate of the Fort Myers program, represented South Florida at PGA HOPE National Golf & Wellness Week. Now a National Ambassador, Frey embraces the same purpose that defined his military career. “Golf became therapy for me,” he said. “Now, I just want others to experience the same healing.”
From one pilot program of 16 Veterans to nearly 30 annual sessions across South Florida, PGA HOPE has become a beacon of healing, purpose, and connection. As the South Florida PGA Foundation celebrates this 10-year milestone, it does so with deep gratitude to the Veterans who inspire, the PGA Professionals who lead, and the communities that continue to make it possible. The next decade promises even greater impact, one swing, one story, and one life at a time.
West Palm Beach, FL - Justin Hicks, Ashley Grier, Tim Cantwell, and Jerry Tucker have been awarded 2025 South Florida PGA Rolex Section, Women's, Senior Player, and Super Senior of the Year honors, respectively, based on the season-long points race.
Annually, the SFPGA recognizes a Section, Women's, Senior, and Super Senior Player of the Year, determined by total points earned during Section individual stroke play events, PGA Professional Championships, and participation in the Challenge and Senior Challenge Cup Matches.
For the second consecutive year, Hicks, a PGA Teaching Professional at Stonebridge Country Club, has earned the Section's top playing honor, earning a total of 1,657 points, 213 points better than Michael Kartrude, PGA of The Bear's Club.
Hicks' season was highlighted by qualifying for the PGA Championship by way of the PGA Professional Championship, where he finished in a tie for ninth, earning him entry into his first career PGA Championship.
Less than a month later, Hicks was competing in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club after successfully surviving golf's longest day and qualifying for his eighth Major Championship of his career.
At the Section level, Hicks managed a top-10 finish in all four majors, including a T9 finish to open the season at the Fort Lauderdale Open, a fourth-place finish at the E-Z-GO South Florida Open, a T7 finish at the Bushnell Stroke Play Championship, and a third-place finish at the South Florida PGA Professional Championship to close the season.
Since becoming a member of the SFPGA in 2022, Hicks has taken full advantage of his Class-A Membership, earning two Rolex Player of the Year titles, resulting in two PGA TOUR starts, a Section major title at the 2024 Bushnell Stroke Play Championship, three Corales Puntacana Championship member qualifier titles, and a PGA Championship start.
In her first year as a SFPGA member, Grier, a PGA Assistant Professional at The Legacy Golf & Tennis Club, was named the Rolex Women's Player of the Year, earning 1,487 points, nearly 1,000 points ahead of her closest competitor.
After transferring in from the Middle Atlantic PGA Section, where she became the first female to be crowned the Section Player of the Year in 2024, Grier's talent followed to South Florida, where she managed a T2 finish at the Fort Lauderdale Open which marked her first Section event.
Grier later competed in the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, earning low PGA Professional honors, the first SFPGA Professional to do so in Section history.
Her momentum carried into the South Florida PGA Professional Championship, ending in a tie for fourteenth before capturing the Women's Section Championship title to cap off the season.
The Women's Player of the Year honor only adds to Grier's PGA of America playing career, where she has competed on the U.S. Women's PGA Cup Team in 2019, was awarded the 2020 PGA of America Women's Player of the Year honor, and has competed at four PGA Professional Championships and will make her fifth in 2026.
Cantwell earned his first Rolex Senior Player of the Year honor, narrowly beating Alan Morin, PGA of the Club at Ibis, and the 2023 and 2024 player of the year, by 112 points.
The PGA National Golf Club Teaching Professional opened the 2025 season with a second-place finish at the Florida Senior Open, a top-10 finish at the Fort Lauderdale Open, and a T3 finish at the South Florida Senior Open.
Cantwell then joined 34 other PGA Professionals at the Senior PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club, where he made the cut, ultimately finishing at T58.
Sustaining that momentum into the summer, Cantwell managed a top-15 at all Section majors, including a third-place finish at the E-Z-GO South Florida Open, a T5 finish at the Bushnell Stroke Play Championship, and a T11 finish at the South Florida Senior PGA Professional Championship.
To end the season, Cantwell competed and finished fourth in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, earning him entry into the 2026 Senior PGA Championship for the second consecutive year.
For the fourth time in five years, Tucker of Jerry Tucker Golf has claimed the Super Senior Player of the Year honor, accumulating a total of 1,000 points.
Tucker's season was highlighted by a seventh-place finish at the South Florida Senior Open, an 18th-place finish overall at the E-Z-GO South Florida Open (first in the Super Senior division), and an T8 finish at the South Florida Senior PGA Professional Championship (first in the Super Senior division).
Closing the year, Tucker competed at the Senior PGA Professional Championship and was a member of the Senior Challenge Cup team.
Tucker adds to his historic SFPGA playing resume, which includes six Senior Player of the Year honors and one overall Player of the Year honor.
The Player of the Year is presented by Rolex and is a season-long points race designed to honor the best overall Section, Female, Senior and Super Senior players.
