The PGA Master Professional Program was established in 1969 to recognize PGA of America Members who make a significant effort to improve themselves as golf professionals and maintain the highest degree of excellence for themselves and their operations. As of press time, 478 individuals have achieved PGA Master Professional status since the program began. For more information about the program, log on to PGA.org or email PGAMEMBEREDU@pgahq.com, or call 866-866-3382 and select option 6.
The highest designation a PGA of America Golf Professional can achieve is PGA Master Professional status. The program was recently updated as part of the PGA Certified Professional Program to provide additional support to those hoping to reach this rarified achievement. Pursing this designation allows applicants to study in the career path they’ve chosen – Executive Management, Golf Operations or Teaching & Coaching – and, after being employed for 10 years, an individual can apply for the PGA Master Professional program through the PGA Education department.
Once in the program, candidates will serve as a mentor to five PGA Certified Professionals while being assigned a mentor of their own from the roster of current PGA Master Professionals. We recently talked with PGA Master Professional Andy Weissinger and his mentor, PGA Master Professional Lisa Miller, about what it takes to complete the curriculum and how having a mentor helps the process.
Miller, the 2006 Bill Strausbaugh Award recipient and winner of multiple awards in the Iowa PGA Section, became PGA Master Professional No. 329 when her Golf Operations thesis on retailing was approved in 2005.
“At the time, I was the merchandiser and marketing manager for four municipal golf courses in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” says Miller, now a PGA of America Life Member and the Scholarship/Grant Chair for the Iowa PGA Foundation. “Through my PGA Master Professional thesis, I developed a five-year strategic business plan improving profitability of merchandise sales and justifying its value to the city administration.”
Miller’s plan converted the “silo” merchandise buying practices and individual sales strategies among Cedar Rapids’ four municipal courses into a collective buying group with universal sales strategies. Implementing the plan increased the department’s profitability by reducing cost of goods sold by 26 percent, proving to the municipality that sales of merchandise at public golf courses was not an expense, but rather a profitable practice and service to provide.
“Completing my PGA Master Professional education was both personally and professionally rewarding,” Miller says. “After becoming the first woman PGA of America Member in the Iowa PGA Section, becoming the first woman to earn Master Professional status in the Section enhanced my career through a promotion to PGA Director of Golf for the City of Cedar Rapids, where I managed the business and agronomy operations for all four of our golf courses. It also enhanced my instructional role as an adjunct faculty member for the PGA Professional Golf Management program, in which I taught for 25 years.”
Miller has since helped mentor 15 PGA Master Professional candidates, including Weissinger, who earned PGA Master Professional status (No. 436) in 2021 with an Executive Management thesis that was similar in some ways to Miller’s thesis.
“My PGA Master Professional project was a five-year strategic business plan,” says Weissinger, the PGA of America General Manager at Eaglewood Golf Course at Virginia’s Langley Air Force Base. “The strategic plan put together all aspects of the business and focused them in the same direction to achieve the mission and vision in a positive, professional culture.”
As he worked on his PGA Master Professional thesis, Weissinger spoke frequently with Miller, often exchanging emails to review his work in progress.
“I reviewed, questioned and provided positive reinforcement for each phase of his thesis,” Miller recalls. “Andy was motivated and welcomed suggestions. I challenged him to use the Master Professional project process to develop a vision for his members and realize the value of business planning in all phases of the golf course operation.
“Andy completed a thoughtful and quality Master Professional thesis in four months, and he has become the leader in military golf course management and is relied upon for his training expertise.”
Weissinger’s thesis was put into place at Eaglewood with strong results, and his strategic plan is now in use around the world.
“The implementation of this long-term strategic plan has revolutionized our business at both Eaglewood on Langley Air Force Base and in Air Force golf,” says Weissinger, the 2022 Middle Atlantic PGA Golf Professional of the Year. “This plan has become the template that all Air Force golf courses around the world are encouraged to follow, and has enabled us to hit all of our benchmarks and achieve all of our goals as we work toward our mission and vision.”
Weissinger says Miller’s mentoring was impactful in multiple ways as he completed his PGA Master Professional thesis.
“Lisa was an invaluable resource throughout the entire process” says Weissinger. “Her experience and mentoring through the development of this plan was key to making it something that would be easily implemented in a way that allowed us to be successful as a team. Her encouragement to help keep my eyes on the mission and vision through every department in every area of the operation was key. She was able to shepherd me through the process in a way that reminded me this was not just an assignment that was being worked to completion, but a plan that could and should be implemented to revolutionize my potential and success both at my facility and in my professional life.”
As it turns out, this wasn’t the first time Miller had guided Weissinger through a pivotal moment in his PGA of America education.
“It was a full circle moment when I let Lisa know that she was one of my instructors in my initial Golf Professional Training Program (GPTP) journey over 25 years ago,” Weissinger says. “To have her as my mentor throughout this Master Professional process was a very fulfilling experience for both of us, as she helped me reach the top of the mountain of PGA Education that I began a quarter century ago.”
Now, as PGA Master Professional, Weissinger is helping others on their path toward their own Master Professional status. He encourages his peers to take the time and make the effort to reach the Association’s highest education status, and knows that Master Professionals like Miller and himself will be ready to help.
“Never pass up an opportunity to better yourself and invest in yourself,” Weissinger says. “We spend our time and money on things that are important to us. What could be more important to us than us? We should always strive to be the best we can be to reflect well on ourselves, our families, our facilities and the Association we have chosen to align ourselves with in our careers.”
