January, February and March may not offer much in the form of playing golf for Kentuckians, but the golf industry was still plenty active during the opening part of 2019.

Golf House Kentucky welcomed its two newest full-time employees with Ethan Fisher, Director of Communications and Marketing joining the team in February while Fernando Molina, Director of Player Development came aboard shortly thereafter in March.

The beginning of March gave us the annual Kentucky PGA Section Special Awards winners where some of the state’s top PGA Members and other figures in the golf industry were recognized for their contributions to the game. Those individuals were as follows:

• Donnie Caldwell, PGA - Golf Professional of the Year
• Nathan Downs, PGA - Assistant Professional of the Year
• Kirk Schooley, PGA - Deacon Palmer Award
• Josh Snider, PGA - Player Development Award
• Mike Finney, PGA - Teacher of the Year
• Jason Eberle, PGA - Youth Player Development Award
• Eric Gilliland, PGA - Bill Strausbaugh Award
• Tyler Caviness, PGA - Horton Smith Award
• Keith Ohr, PGA - Merchandiser of the Year (Private)
• Mike Kehoe, PGA - Merchandiser of the Year (Public)
• John Perdue - Sales Representative of the Year
• John Engle - Media Representative of the Year

The Kentucky PGA Junior Tour did kick off its 2019 campaign in its first year under Ray Moehlman’s leadership with the Kentucky Junior Match Play Championship. The event was marked by having most of its championship matches contested at Valhalla Golf Club. Miles Parroco, Evan Stewart, Weston Wood, Seth Hooe, and Emily Allen claimed victory at the historic facility while Madison Glisson and Jacob Holzer were winners at Polo Fields Golf & Country Club and Quail Chase Golf Club, respectively.