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Fort Myers, FL – In the spirit of the holiday season, the South Florida PGA Foundation had the great honor of visiting Golisano Children’s Hospital on December 16th to present a check for $126,000. Each year, the SFPGA Foundation raises nearly $900,000 to support the local community through the game of golf.
This contribution was made possible through the second annual West Coast Play Yellow Birdie Bash, held October 13th at The Glades Golf & Country Club in Naples, where PGA Professionals and supporters came together to make a meaningful impact for local families. The Birdie Bash is one of six major fundraising events conducted annually with the support of PGA Professionals across South Florida.
This year’s check presentation brought together SFPGA Foundation Board Members, hospital leadership, patient families, and event participants to celebrate the Birdie Bash’s continued success and its growing impact on children’s healthcare in Southwest Florida.
“The Play Yellow Birdie Bash is truly an amazing event,” said Toni Primeaux, Program Director at Golisano Children’s Hospital. “From the generosity of the PGA Professionals to the incredible support from their members, every dollar raised goes directly to helping children in our community. Seeing that level of passion and impact makes this event truly special.”
During the 2025 Play Yellow Birdie Bash, 24 PGA of America Professionals competed in an 81-hole team challenge, with every birdie backed by pledged donations. The event raised more than $255,000, benefiting both Golisano Children’s Hospital and the SFPGA Foundation.
Play Yellow, founded by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus in partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, unites the golf community to support children’s hospitals across the country, helping the 10 million kids treated annually at CMN facilities.
Donations to Golisano Children’s Hospital directly enhance its capacity to provide world-class pediatric care. As the only accredited children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami, Golisano continues to receive national acclaim, including multiple “Top Hospital” distinctions from The Leapfrog Group.
Since 2022, the SFPGA has hosted six Birdie Bash events, four on Florida’s East Coast and now two on the West Coast. Collectively, these events have generated over $2.1 million to support youth, military personnel, and families throughout the region.
The SFPGA Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the South Florida community. Guided by the SFPGA and its 2,200 PGA of America Professionals, the Foundation leverages the game of golf to create meaningful opportunities and strengthen the communities it serves.
When Will Coleman, PGA got the phone call confirming he had been named the 2025 South Florida PGA Assistant Professional of the Year, his first reaction was simply gratitude. “I was surprised,” he admitted. “Our section is one of the biggest in the country and certainly one of the most competitive for jobs and for talent. I was extremely humbled and grateful to be selected.”
For Coleman, now in his third season as the lead assistant professional at Palm Beach Country Club in Palm Beach, FL, the award represents far more than a resume milestone. It reflects an unconventional journey through golf, marked by late beginnings, reinvention, humility, and a steady commitment to doing things the right way.
Coleman didn’t grow up dreaming of playing golf for a living. In fact, he didn’t even start playing seriously until he was “19 or 20.” What began as a way to pass time during college breaks, hitting balls on the small course at his hometown in Maryland, quickly grew into something more.
“I got hooked on the challenge,” he said. “There was always sort of a problem to solve and something to progress personally. I was attracted to that.”
That attraction evolved into what he calls “the right amount of delusion.” At 30 years old, an age when many aspiring pros are already pivoting out of playing careers, Coleman turned professional.
He earned status on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica where he spent three years competing.
“Golf is very black and white, you're shooting the scores or you're not,” Coleman shared. “I was clearly just not good enough right then.”
He tried chasing it a bit longer, but knew he eventually needed to be doing something more sustainable.
“Anytime your identity is tied up in something and that picture changes, there’s frustration, sadness,” he said. “But every difficulty is an opportunity.”
That opportunity came from Jupiter Country Club in Jupiter, FL, where Coleman had been on staff during his playing years. When he stepped away from competitive golf, the facility offered him an assistant role, his first real entrance into the operations side of the business.
Coleman enrolled in the PGA program, passed his qualifying tests, and immersed himself in the golf industry, though he admits he initially had only a “vague picture” of what his future might look like.
From Jupiter Country Club he moved to Mayacoo Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, where he began to understand that club operations could become a career, not just a fallback.
“It was always just a natural evolution,” he said. “Show up every day, do good work, be a good person, and it's gonna carry you forward.”
That mindset guided his next step to The Club at Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter, FL, a move he made intentionally. After a successful stretch there, another opportunity came calling. Through connections made in the Chapter and within the Section, Coleman was introduced to Palm Beach Country Club, where he interviewed and was hired as the lead assistant professional. He has thrived in the club’s service-oriented environment.
At Palm Beach Country Club, Coleman oversees hard goods, manages tournaments, teaches, and focuses on relationship-building within a small membership that plays just 12,000 rounds a year.
“We’re really a service-minded operation,” he said. “It’s a lot of face time, a lot of interactions, a lot of relationship building.”
His maturity from entering the industry later than many of his peers has also shaped who he is as a leader within the operation. Working alongside a younger head professional, Coleman sees his role as both supportive and complementary.
“We might be at the same experience level, but my age and life experience give me a different viewpoint,” he explained. “I think he trusts me 100 percent in a support role and if I’m thinking the same way he is, then I’m on the right track.”
Another element of Coleman’s recent career has been his leadership of the Southeast Chapter Assistants tournaments, a role he stepped into somewhat unexpectedly.
Nick Beddow, PGA, who preceded him in the role, asked if Coleman wanted to take it over. “I’d love to say I had this grand intent to contribute, but it was more like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’ll take it.’”
But the role quickly became meaningful.
“It’s been a chance for me to play a different role within the chapter,” he said. “Coming from a playing background, it was always about ‘How does this benefit me?’ Now it’s about service, providing tournaments and venues for assistants to compete and meet each other.”
He also acknowledges that the role allows him to mentor younger professionals, something that comes naturally at this stage in his career.
“When you're a 25-year-old assistant, a volunteer position doesn't sound that attractive,” he said. “But I’ve played all the golf I need to play. Let me give a little back. If I can help steer someone in a direction that benefits them down the road, I’m extremely happy to do that.”
When notified about the award, Coleman felt the recognition reflected the totality of his journey, one defined by steady growth, evolving goals, and an embrace of service.
“It means a lot to be thought of for this recognition,” he said. “I’m grateful someone thought I was deserving of the award.”
Naples, FL - The South Florida PGA capped off its 2025 tournament season today at Wyndemere Country Club in Naples, Florida, with the SFPGA Pro-Lady, welcoming a sold-out field of 100 players.
The home team from Wyndemere Country Club, led by PGA Head Professional, Alex Derksen, and amateurs, Kitty Kemp, Judy Lanfrit, and Tammy Escott, secured first place honors with a score of 2-under, 70.
Wyndemere defeated the team from The Country Club of Coral Springs, led by PGA General Manager Corey Henry and amateurs, Ivy Henry, Claire Menard, and Ivania Arrechavaia, and the team from Hunter’s Run Country Club, led by PGA Assistant Professional Ralph Garofano and amateurs Lori Kirsch, Tammie Harris, and Gail Boyce, in a scorecard playoff.
Henry and Jon Buddenhagen, PGA Head Professional at Hole-In-The-Wall Golf Club, finished in a tie for first in the low professional division at 3-under, 69. Henry managed only one bogey to go along with four birdies, all coming on the back-nine, while Buddenhagen tallied four bogeys but recovered with five birdies and an eagle.
This year’s event welcomed 25 teams of an SFPGA Member or Associate and three female amateurs competing in a best ball of four on the par 4’s & 5’s and two best balls on the par 3’s.
The 2025 SFPGA Pro-Lady hosted at Wyndemere Country Club was supported by XXIO. The team at Wyndemere is led by PGA General Manager Ron Parris, PGA Director of Golf Kyle Gailloreto, and PGA Head Professional Alex Derksen.
When members walk into the Boca West Country Club golf shop, they’re greeted by more than apparel, equipment, and displays. They’re met with an energy shaped by intention, creativity, and a standard of hospitality that reflects the vision of Travis Wehrs, PGA. That vision, cultivated over two decades of learning, leading, and innovating, has now earned him recognition as the 2025 South Florida PGA Merchandiser of the Year – Private Category.
For Wehrs, the Director of Golf at Boca West, the honor is meaningful because it celebrates retail excellence, and it acknowledges a lifelong passion rooted not in spreadsheets or inventory, but in style, personality, and connection.
“One of the reasons I got into the golf business was the retail and the clothing,” Wehrs says. “The way you can show your personality and how golf drives fashion, it’s really meaningful to me.”
Wehrs’ path to one of the industry’s largest private club retail operations began far from resort-style clubhouses. He grew up on a small farm outside Lincoln, Nebraska, running hurdles and pole vaulting rather than playing golf.
Golf wasn’t in the plan, at least not yet. After two years at the University of Nebraska, Wehrs felt drawn toward something bigger. With family in Southwest Florida, he moved to Fort Myers, unsure where it would lead but certain he wanted a career centered on people and hospitality. Soon after arriving, he opened the Yellow Pages and began calling golf courses.
“I wanted to work at a golf course because I wanted to showcase my personality,” he recalls. “I wanted to meet people and be in the hospitality space.”
One call led to Olde Hickory Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida, where he was hired in outside operations in 2000. It quickly became more than a job. He moved into the golf shop and discovered the business side of the game, including customer service, merchandising, and relationship-building that would define his career.
Olde Hickory lacked a dedicated retail director, and the responsibility fell to whoever had the passion for it. That was Wehrs.
“None of the professionals there really enjoyed retail,” he says. “I was always looking for a way to differentiate myself.”
He began meeting with vendors, studying color palettes, designing headwear, and helping redesign the club’s brand mark that lasted for decades. That early exposure to buying, branding, and merchandising philosophy laid the foundation for everything that followed.
Even though Wehrs was just 23 and had not earned his Class-A PGA Membership, the Olde Hickory board made a bold decision, naming him the Head Professional.
“They said, ‘OK kid, we’re putting all our eggs in one basket. Are you ready?’” Wehrs says. “I knew I wasn’t going to fail.”
During this time, he completed his bachelor’s degree at Florida Gulf Coast University through night classes.
Wehrs made the board's decision look good, as he spent 11 years as Head Professional at Olde Hickory.
He then moved to Fiddlesticks Country Club in Fort Myers, and ultimately to Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, where his passion for retail innovation found its ideal platform.
With more than 6,000 members and a stand-alone retail building at Boca West, opportunity was everywhere and Wehrs embraced it.
Holiday Bazaars became full-ballroom shopping events. Demo days evolved into “Golfapalooza,” a multi-vendor experience he describes as a “demo day on steroids.” Seasonal sales, brand partnerships, and curated collections expanded dramatically.
But the most significant shift came in hard goods.
“I felt there was a big hole,” Wehrs says. “Members wanted someone they trusted recommending golf balls, wedges, irons, everything.”
The solution was hiring Jacob Huizinga, a former Florida State Amateur champion, as Boca West’s dedicated club fitter.
The impact was immediate. In his first year, Huizinga completed nearly 500 fittings. Hard-goods sales jumped from roughly $600,000–$700,000 annually to over $1 million.
Still, Wehrs emphasizes, it was never about revenue.
“The goal was creating hospitality around club fitting, offering a boutique experience.”
That experience includes a state-of-the-art fitting studio, advanced loft-and-lie technology, in-house regripping, and meticulous follow-up communication.
Alongside service expansion came a renewed focus on brand identity. Boca West’s hibiscus logo has become a defining visual, one Wehrs believes could be globally recognizable.
“When you see that hibiscus, you think of Boca West,” he says. “This is one of the finest facilities in the world.”
As the Director of Golf, Wehrs oversees more than 230 staff members, including agronomy, golf operations, and retail. His leadership philosophy is simple: be present.
“I spend the first couple of hours every day interacting with the team,” he says. “Being visible and being a servant leader matters.”
He asks about families, weekends, milestones, focusing on seeing staff as people first.
“That connection allows us to rely on each other’s strengths, especially when things get heavy,” he says.
Being named the 2025 Merchandiser of the Year is meaningful, but Wehrs views it as a reflection of his team.
“I’m surrounded by incredibly gifted, hardworking people,” he says. “I feel really fortunate.”
