VACAVILLE, Calif. – The Northern California Section of the PGA is pleased to announce that Andy Nisbet, PGA Director of Instruction at Las Positas Golf Course & the GRIP Junior Golf Academy in Livermore, Calif., has garnered the 2013 Junior Golf Leader Award. Nisbet is being recognized for his dedication and leadership in developing a wealth of exciting and educational golf programs for juniors. Most golf facilities have innovative programs and fun events for all ages and skill levels in which young people can participate.
Junior Golf can be rewarding for the whole family. “With kids in golf, many parents learn golf and in turn many families learn to play golf together,” said Nisbet. “Junior Golf is something that I am extremely passionate about.
“Andy has been a tremendous contributor to Junior Golf, creating a variety of inviting programs for young people and teaching golf professionals how to get started on this track,” said NCPGA Awards Chairman Ted Mattila, PGA.
Nisbet believes his major contribution this year has been working with the NCPGA Section and PGA National in growing the PGA Junior Golf League. On top of many innovative programs for to encourage juniors to play and to educate PGA Professionals on the benefits of forming a junior golf program at their facility, his team won the PGA Junior League National Championship in 2012.
Getting a GRIP on Junior Golf
Nisbet developed a program called GRIP, which currently has 175 kids enrolled. GRIP is based around individual goals and mentoring for kids. The program has a dynamic called, “GRIP Focus” which is a colored hat system much like the belts in karate. As a student reaches practicing milestones, they achieve different colored GRIP hats signifying what level they are on. This dynamic has encouraged students to practice more diligently and with more focus.
His community involvement has been based around the Tri-Valley Middle School (TVMS) Golf League, with 14 schools in the league. He manages the entire TVMS Operation as a volunteer, which encompasses more than 200 kids in the local area.
He also started the US Kids Golf Bay Area Junior Golf Tour a few years ago and it has since grown it to be the largest local tour in the country, averaging 185 juniors per event.
Nisbet began another creative program entitled, “Race to Pebble Beach” tournament series. This series involves low entry fee 9-hole tournaments where kids amass points over the series. They are broken into the older boys (PGA Division), younger boys (Web.com Division) and girls (LPGA Division). At the end of the series, the top three junior golfers are awarded a round at Pebble Beach Golf Links. He picks the 4th person on who best represents the leadership in the program.
This year he developed and ran a PGA Prep League in the spring structured much like PGA Junior League Golf. These leagues have enabled kids the ability to play, “team golf” and learn the values of teamwork.
Lastly, Nisbet developed “College Golf 101”, a program that has allowed kids and their families to better understand the college golf recruiting process.
Educating Golf Professionals
Nisbet is recognized as a leader in US Kids Golf (USKG) on many fronts. He wrote a “How To” Guide to growing USKG Tours around the country, as well as a marketing guide for USKG Tours. In 2012, the US Kids Golf Foundation recognized Nisbet as the “Tour Director of the Year”. He was also selected as a US Kids Golf Top 50 Master Teacher. For the past five years, he has been involved in the planning, operating, and logistics of the US Kids Golf World Championships in Pinehurst, the largest junior event in the world amassing 1,600 kids for a two-week period.
At the Section level, he ran a “How to Run a Junior League” seminar and has communicated with many local professionals in being the liaison for the growth of the league out west. He also spoke at the 2012 NCPGA Annual Meeting about junior golf and how it can have a positive effect on golf courses.
Every month he speaks to Athletic Directors in middle schools around the San Francisco Bay Area and distributes a newsletter that goes out to more than 1,000 people.
Nisbet is among 19 recipients of the NCPGA’s 2013 Annual Section Awards. Section awards are given to PGA Professionals and industry leaders who have excelled in the game and business of golf. The NCPGA will recognize its 2013 Annual Section Award winners on Sunday, December 8 at the NCPGA Special Awards Ceremony & President’s Dinner at Contra Costa Country Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif. This event, a highlight for the year, will be held the evening prior to the NCPGA Annual Meeting. There are more than 200 golf professionals and industry leaders expected to attend. E-Z-Go Textron is a presenting partner and PGA Resort and Spa and the Northern California Golf Representatives Association is a supporting partner of the Awards Ceremony & Annual Meeting.
About the Northern California Section of the PGA of America (NCPGA)
Organized in 1920 to promote interest in the game of golf, the birth of this association was heralded as an important step to the advancement of the game in this district. The Northern California Section is one of the forty-one designated Sections of the PGA of America, the world’s largest working sports organization. With over 1,100 dedicated PGA Professionals and apprentices at over 500 golf facilities in Northern California and Northwestern Nevada, the association continues to have a positive impact on the game of golf and communities both regionally and nationally. For more information, please visit www.ncpga.com.
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