The Utah Section of the PGA has awarded Promontory’s Director of Golf with a prestigious award.
The Utah Section of the Professional Golf Association awarded Promontory director of Golf Ryan Kartchner with the professional of the year award. Finalists for the award were selected within a committee and then sent out to peers for voting. Kartchner said that winning the award was an honor especially considering those who have won the award before.
“If you look at the list of the guys that have won the professional of the year award many of them are part of the Utah Golf Hall of Fame and there’s a few of them that are in the National Golf Hall of Fame. It’s unbelievable, it’s kind of the highest honor they can give you from your peers. Like I said it was kind of a total shock to me. I put in a lot of work but it’s definitely a team award. What I’ve done with my staff here. Then also Promontory’s wiliness to support the growth of the game and hosting events and things that we’ve done here this last year.”
Kartchner explains why he was given the award.
“They look at not just how well you do your job but it’s kind of over and beyond. I hosted some really nice junior events. One of the biggest one was the Rolex Junior World Championship which is the biggest tournament for girls 18 and under in the United States, and one of the biggest in the world actually. We had 72 of the best girl golfers in the world, again not just nation but in the world, and compete on our Dye Canyon course for that championship. It was really well received, and it gave some really good notoriety. Not just to Promontory and Utah PGA but for golf in Utah it was really good and it made us really shine. They loved coming to Park City and it really was a good experience for all the kids that were able to make it here.”
In addition to leadership within the section Kartchner helped organize some local junior championships and the regional “Drive, Chip and Putt” competition where kids could qualify to compete in Augusta the Sunday before the Masters. In addition to his work at Promontory’s two golf courses Kartchner is also the head girls golf coach at Corner Canyon High School in Draper. The Chargers have won three straight state titles. He says Promontory golf is looking forward to another great season.
“We are hosting kind of the junior major championship for the Utah section junior series. We’ll host all the kids who have won tournaments in the summer. We’ll host them again in Promontory on our Dye course we have a couple of other little events and just the season at hand. I work hard trying to create some other golf opportunities for my members here at Promontory just because we are a little bit short of a season as you know with the snow that we have. So, we do a bunch of events outside where I travel with the members and try to take them places. We’re taking a handful of our members back actually to watch the Masters tournament in April, so I know I have a lot of members really looking forward to that and so we’re going to have a great time there. We’re just looking forward to the upcoming season.”
That’s Promontory director of golf and winner of the Utah PGA professional of the year award Ryan Kartchner.
