The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Local woman heading PGA of America
CROMWELL — PGA Master Professional Suzy Whaley was elected 41st president of the PGA of America at the Association’s 102nd annual meeting last week.
Whaley, PGA Director of Golf at Suzy Whaley Golf in Cromwell, and PGA Director of Instruction at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, succeeds past president X Levy of Indian Wells, California.
A “pioneer in the golf industry,” Whaley is the first woman to serve as a PGA officer in the roles of PGA president, vice president and secretary, and is recognized as one of the country’s top instructors, according to a press release.
Whaley previously enjoyed a five-year tenure at Jim Flick Golf Schools before becoming the head golf professional at Blue Fox Run in Avon in 2002. From 2004 to 2006, she worked as an LPGA golf commentator for ESPN, and began her own instruction and coaching business, Suzy Whaley Golf, after ESPN, the release said.
“Serving the nearly 29,000 PGA professionals as PGA president is the honor of a lifetime and my way of saying thank you for all the PGA of America has given me. I may be the first woman to serve as president, but first, I’m a PGA professional, and I am incredibly excited by the opportunities that lie ahead,” she said in a prepared statement.
“I look forward to helping advance the careers of our members by highlighting the profound impact PGA professionals have as coaches, in operations and sales, and as executives. We’re committed to exploring innovative new approaches to coaching that deliver the experience today’s consumer is seeking,” she said.
Whaley’s resume includes numerous teaching awards, including: Golf Digest Top 50 Instructor, LPGA Top 50 Instructor, two-time Connecticut PGA Teacher of the Year, 10-time Golf Digest State Teacher of the Year, U.S. Kids Golf Master Kids Teacher, PGA Master Professional and five-time PGA Jr. League National Finals Coach. She has instructed more than 300 children to collegiate golf, according to the organization.
“Together, we aim to invite everyone to join a game they can play for a lifetime, so our courses more closely resemble the communities we serve. I am grateful for the trust our membership has placed in me, and I look forward to pursuing these opportunities with optimism, purpose and joy,” Whaley said.
A dual member of the PGA of America and LPGA Teaching & Club Professional division, Whaley was a LPGA Tour member in 1990 and 1993. She famously qualified and participated in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open, becoming the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event, according to the release. This occurred after Whaley became the first PGA of America woman professional to win the Connecticut PGA Championship.
A member of the Connecticut and South Florida PGA Sections, she is the first person to represent both of these sections as PGA president.