Sean Palmer, the general manager and director of golf for the Union League’s burgeoning little empire of Philadelphia-area golf courses, was named by the Philadelphia Section PGA as its Golf Professional of the Year for 2021.
The Philadelphia Section has a tremendously competitive circuit of tournaments each year that regularly produce compelling stories on the golf course. But it is in the day in, day out job of serving their memberships and advancing the game of golf that the majority of club professionals in the Philadelphia Section do their best work.
And the season-long awards in which the Philadelphia Section recognizes the region’s top club professionals are just as meaningful as the one for Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year, if not more so.
Palmer’s award is the highest honor the Philadelphia Section bestows on one of its club professionals and recognizes leadership, strong moral character and service to the Section and to the game of golf.
A PGA member since 2011, Palmer was hired by the Union League, an organization with a storied 153-year history, in 2015 as the director of golf for its new baby, the Union League at Torresdale Golf Club, formerly Torresdale-Frankford Golf Club, designed by the master himself, Donald Ross, that lies within the city limits of Philadelphia.
A couple of years later, the Union League took over Sand Barrens Golf Club in Cape May Court House at the Jersey Shore, did some significant upgrading and rebranded it as Union League National Golf Club.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the Union League officially made it a stable as it took over The ACE Club in Lafayette Hill and rebranded it as Union League Liberty Hill. Palmer was in on the deal to take over The ACE Club from the ground floor.
These days, Palmer is based at Union League Liberty Hill and oversees the entire Union League operation. He gets to do one of the aspects of being a club professional that he enjoys the most, hiring and cultivating young club pros at all three golf courses.
You might be surprised to learn that many of the Union League’s 4,000 members were not golfers when the organization jumped into the golf course business with both feet. Palmer created a lesson program which offered Union League members complimentary private and group instruction once a week. Union League members have received more than 11,000 lessons, an average of 2,100 a year since Palmer first started offering them instruction.
In the less than two years since The ACE Club became Union League Liberty Hill, Palmer has hired more than 10 PGA professionals, more than 160 caddies and handed out 22 caddy scholarships with Union League funding. Palmer has sent five professionals on to positions as general manager or head pro.
“My goal is to mentor (PGA) professionals, golf service team members, caddies and our retail team by making them better at their tasks, work ethic and character by the time they are ready to progress and move forward in their careers,” Palmer told the Philadelphia Section PGA website.
“I follow up with staff members who have left our operation to show I care and have always cared about their best interests. This effort creates a positive team culture that our club benefits from for years to come by attracting high character individuals.”
In 2019, Palmer established the Union League University, which gives the Union League’s golf operation interns the opportunity to benefit from all the Union League has to offer.
A 2007 product of Penn State’s PGA Golf Management (PGM) program, Palmer is the PGM program’s Alumni Board president. In 2019, Palmer was named the Penn State PGM program’s Pride of the Lions Alumnus of the Year.
That same day, Jacob Hoffer, who had recently been promoted to general manager of the Union League National operation, was honored by the Penn State PGM program with its Emerging Professional Award.
Palmer has been very active in PGA REACH Philadelphia, the charitable arm of the Philadelphia Section. One of his most successful initiatives has been a golf tournament held at Union League Liberty Hill that pairs three Union League members with a recent combat veteran. All of the proceeds were donated to the PGA REACH Philadelphia’s PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) program and its veterans. The club plans to make it an annual event.
Palmer also serves as a mentor for PGA REACH Philadelphia’s Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour Diversity Scholarship recipients. He has been coaching Brayden Mitchell (and his grandfather) and was able to supply Mitchell with a new set of sticks with assistance from the foundation.
Palmer was the Section’s 2014 Justin Riegel Assistant Professional of the Year.
David Zimmaro, an assistant pro and junior golf director at Overbrook Golf Club, has been named the Philadelphia Section’s Teacher and Coach of the Year.
The Teacher and Coach of the Year award recognizes outstanding services as a golf teacher, innovator and coach. Zimmaro was the Philadelphia Section’s Youth Player Development Award winner in 2017 and again in 2020.
A Philadelphia native, there aren’t many golf programs, particularly when it comes to youth golf, that Zimmaro hasn’t gotten himself involved in. An early participant in the First Tee of Philadelphia organization, for the last six years Zimmaro has worked with PGA REACH Philadelphia’s Golf in School initiative and First Tee Philadelphia’s School Program, reaching more than 10,000 students in their physical education classes.
Among some of the other organizations that Zimmaro has worked with include: Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association, the Widener Memorial School, Overbrook School for the Blind, La Salle Academy, AIM Academy, the Bridge School, Fort Dix Military Base, the Department of Justice’s Students for Juvenile Justice and the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.
Zimmaro conducts Overbrook’s Appreciating Diversity and Accepting Adversity weekend.
Zimmaro has been a PGA Junior League captain for the last four years, his Overbrook team going undefeated for three straight seasons and reaching the Philadelphia Section championship last summer. Zimmaro also coached the all-stars from Overbrook’s division last summer.
He has had two of his students advance to the Drive, Chip & Putt regionals at the Pinehurst Resort, one in 2017 and another last summer and three of his students have competed at Pinehurst in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships.
Working with restrictions brought on by the pandemic in 2020, Zimmaro established a “pod system” at Overbrook that drew 105 youngsters to clinics that employed social distancing. The clinics were so popular that 120 youngsters came out for them this year.
Zimmaro never misses a chance to promote the game on television or video, highlighted by an appearance on The Golf Channel’s “Golf Fix with Michael Breed.”
Zimmaro, another product of the Penn State PGM program in 2009, remains active with PGM as part of its mentoring program.
Another of the Philadelphia Section’s most respected pros, Aronimink Golf Club head man Jeff Kiddie, was named the winner of the Bill Strausburgh Award, which recognizes a PGA professional who demonstrates exceptional character, integrity and leadership by teaching and mentoring other PGA professionals.
Since becoming a head pro for the first time in 2001, Kiddie has sent 12 of his assistants on to jobs as head professionals, including four in the last five years. It is not a coincidence. Kiddie has also helped some of his former assistants move on to other careers in the golf industry and others to successful transitions to jobs outside of golf.
Kiddie was the Philadelphia Section president in 2020 and 2021 after serving two-year terms as vice president, secretary and director of Section Affairs. Kiddie was the PGA of America’s District 6 director from 2007 to 2011.
As a member of the PGA of America’s Rules Committee, Kiddie is an expert on the rules of golf. He is an instructor for PGA/USGA Rules workshops. Kiddie has also been a trustee for the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust Fund.
Kiddie has earned just about every award the Philadelphia Section hands out, highlighted by his 2012 Golf Professional of the Year honor. In 2011, Kiddie was named the PGA of America’s Merchandiser of the Year for Private courses, which came in the aftermath of Aronimink playing host to the PGA Tour’s AT&T Championship 2010 and 2011.
Kiddie was also Philadelphia Section Merchandiser of the Year – Private in 2007 and 2010. He was the Philadelphia Section’s 2016 Professional Development Award winner.
Kiddie was also the Justin Riegel Assistant Pro of the Year in 1999.
Lou Guzzi, the owner and director of instruction for the Lou Guzzi Golf Academy at Talamore Country Club, was named the winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Professional Development Award, which recognizes the PGA member who displays commendable contributions to the education of PGA professionals.
Guzzi is the chairman of the PGA of America’s Teaching & Coaching Summit after working with the national Coaching & Player Development Committee from 2016 to 2020. He has conducted dozens of local, regional and national instruction and coaching seminars for PGA professionals.
He has had articles published in PGA Magazine, Golf Magazine, Golf.com, SIGolf+ and Golf Range Magazine.
Guzzi was the PGA of America’s Teacher and Coach of the Year in 2013 after winning the same award in the Philadelphia Section in 2003 and again in 2010. It is the second time Guzzi has won the Section’s Professional Development Award having also received the honor in 2014.
Jeff Breiner, the head pro at the Country Club of Harrisburg and the head of PGA HOPE Philadelphia’s Harrisburg chapter, was named the winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Patriot Award. The Patriot Award goes to a PGA professional who personifies patriotism through the game of golf and demonstrates commitment to the men and women of our armed services.
Breiner comes from a military family, including a father who is a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War. When PGA REACH Philadelphia was launched in 2018, Breiner, with the support of his membership, was quick to establish a PGA HOPE Philadelphia chapter based at the Country Club of Harrisburg. Working in conjunction with local VA hospitals, and VFW and American Legion posts, Breiner conducts clinics for veterans.
On Veterans Day each year, the Country Club of Harrisburg is open to any veterans who want to bring a foursome.
Breiner is another previous winner of the Justin Riegel Assistant Pro of the Year Award having received the honor in 2011.
Justin Rinas, the owner and director of operations at the Skramble House of Golf in Horsham, was named the winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Player Development Award.
Rinas opened the doors to his unique indoor facility, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 and it was quickly embraced by the golfing public.
The majority of his membership of more than 200 golfers have seen their handicaps go down. Rinas’ facility also hosts events to try to reach women, youth and disabled golfers as well as beginners and non-golfers.
There is a relaxed atmosphere at the Skramble House of Golf with golfers allowed to work on their games while wearing some non-traditional golf attire like sweatpants and hoodies.
Christopher Young, a teaching pro and Junior Golf Coordinator at Philadelphia Cricket Club, was named the winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Youth Player Development Award.
Before the pandemic broke out, Young established an afternoon program for beginning young golfers known as 30 and 3 at the Cricket Club. Designed for youngsters ages 6 to 17, the program includes a 30-minute instructional session followed by three holes of golf and it has been a big success.
Young also splits the group into six squads based on skill level. Players can advance among the squads, which promotes upward movement through the program based on improvement.
Young also has been a mentor to younger pros at the Cricket Club. He has served on the Section’s Youth Golf Committee for the past two seasons after serving on the Instruction Committee from 2016 to 2018.
Mike Wood, the director of golf at Saucon Valley Country Club, was named the Philadelphia Section’s Merchandiser of the Year at a Private course.
Merchandiser of the Year – Private recognizes a pro working at a private facility who has excelled in business and merchandising in the promotion of golf.
Wood assumed control of all of Saucon Valley’s merchandise buying responsibilities in 2018. He has developed policies and procedures that have maximized the performance of his staff and his redesign of floor plans and imaginative use of the space he’s working with have been validated by a rise in sales.
Wood utilizes three core partners each season in the areas of men’s and women’s merchandise, which frees up the rest of the staff to concentrate on new lines and categories. He has also put a bonus system in place that rewards his team with a focus on the merchandise concession.
Saucon Valley’s Old Course will play host to the U.S. Senior Open in June for the third time. If you take a trip up to Bethlehem to watch the best senior players in the world, you can pay a visit to Wood’s pro shop for some 2022 U.S. Senior Open swag.
Eddie Perrino, the head pro at Eagle Rock Resort near Hazleton, was the Philadelphia Section’s Merchandiser of the Year at a resort facility.
The Merchandiser of the Year – Resort award recognizes a pro working at a resort facility who excels in business and merchandising in the promotion of golf.
Perrino, who has been a PGA professional for nearly 30 years, has had a simple philosophy since taking over the merchandise operation at Eagle Rock in 2015: Provide the highest quality merchandise at the best possible price.
When making merchandising decisions, Perrino considers his PGA pros, golf representatives and customers as all integral parts of the relationships that create a successful operation.
Jeremy Marino, an assistant pro at Applebrook Golf Club, was named the winner of the Justin Riegel Assistant Golf Professional of the Year Award.
The award is newly renamed this year to honor Justin Riegel, who was the head pro at Philmont Country Club when he was tragically killed when a tree crashed into the cart shed at Philmont during a severe weather event in the spring of 2020. Riegel was one of the Section’s most popular club pros among his colleagues when his life was cut short.
Marino joined the pro shop at Applebrook in 2007 and runs the club’s tournament program. Marino believes a club pro should be visible to members and guests as much as possible. Marino makes himself available to volunteer at fundraising events for the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust.
Marino, like Palmer and Zimmaro, is another Philadelphia Section award winner who is a product of Penn State’s PGA Golf Management (PGM) program. Marino is a Class of 2004 graduate.
Jerry McGoey, a sales representative for Titleist, was named the Philadelphia Section’s Salesperson of the Year, which recognizes a sales representative who contributes to the Section and is involved in sponsoring Section events. The Salesperson of the Year is respected among clubs throughout the Section.
A 26-year golf industry professional, McGoey works through Titleist University’s online modules to educate both Titleist staffers and club pros on the latest developments in golf equipment and custom club-fitting.
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