Joshua Tremblay, PGA, of Burke, Virginia was awarded the Horton Smith Award during the 32nd annual Middle Atlantic Professional Golfers’ Association (MAPGA) Section Hall of Fame Banquet.
Tremblay received the award for his dedication to the educational programs throughout the Middle Atlantic Section. This was the third award he received from the MAPGA as in 2010 he received the Junior Golf Leader award and in 2014 was named MAPGA Professional of the Year.
The Horton Smith Award was named after the winner of the first and third Masters Tournaments. Smith was also famous for breaking down the art of putting and obtaining a competitive edge. Symbolically the award imparts special recognition to PGA Professionals for outstanding service and contributions toward developing and improving educational opportunities for PGA Professionals and apprentices.
In Tremblay’s first 15 years as a PGA Member his service to the Section has been a priority. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Middle Atlantic PGA. His previous leadership positions include Section Secretary, Membership Chair, Junior Golf Chair and all the officer positions of the Central Chapter. His time spent on the Section’s Board of Directors has been extremely rewarding and the friendships fostered are ones that aid him every day in his job.
He served as the MAPGA Education Chair from November 2013 through October of 2015. During his tenure, he led the committee to some new programs as well as upgrading traditional events such as the Teaching Summit.
In 2014, Tremblay implemented a series of educational events held in early 2015 called “MSR Mondays” (currently called Professional Development Days) that were comprehensive days of education that mixed the more popular instructional topics with some other less popular but necessary subjects.
For the 2014 Teaching Summit, Tremblay chose Don Frost, PGA as the chair, and Congressional Country Club as the host site. With Chuck Cook, Bob Toski and Dr. Bob Rotella headlined as presenters, the event had outstanding registration numbers.
In 2015, Tremblay and the committee planned another summit focused on more practical applications for our Professionals such as ‘Faults and Fixes’, live lessons and two national presenters in Cameron McCormick and Martin Hall.
Tremblay chaired the 2015 Teaching Summit himself and enlisted the help of Bernie Najar, Trillium Sellers, Erika Larkin and Pat Coyner to round out the presenters for the Summit, which was held at Woodmont Country Club.
Most recently, he served as a panelist during the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show on the PGA Forum Stage alongside Dennis Johnsen, PGA, Rick Murphy, PGA and Will Robins, PGA, with Suzy Whaley, PGA moderating the topic, “Junior Golf Best Practices.”
On a National education level, Tremblay was a panelist for two topics/sessions of the 2016 PGA Youth & Family Golf Summit preceding the 2016 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida.
The first session was on “Using PGA Junior League Golf as your Youth Cornerstone” and the second was centered on how to “Measure and Communicate the Value of Your Youth & Family Golf Business.”
Tremblay attended The Penn State University’s PGM program and graduated in 2002. Upon graduation from Penn State, he started his golf professional career and was elected to PGA membership in 2003.
Since then he has served in various different forms ranging from a Lead Mentor for PSU’s PGA PGM program to current Head PGA Professional at Springfield Golf & Country Club (SGCC) for last eight years. He is the fourth PGA Professional in Springfield’s history.
Tremblay had rather humbled beginnings, playing golf at the age five when his parents took him to Bethlehem Country Club.
It was there he met Fred Ghioto, the local PGA Professional. Ghioto really sparked his interest in the game, alongside another PGA Professional, Wayne Natti who became the Head PGA Professional at Bethlehem Country Club when Tremblay was about 10 years old.
Bethlehem Country Club is also where Tremblay started his first job, at 15 years old, washing golf carts. He won approximately 12 medals through various New Hampshire High School tournaments. He was also the team MVP and Captain in his sophomore, junior and senior years. In 1997, he was selected as a member of the Boston Globe New Hampshire All-State First Team.
He loves playing the game of golf and being around the game with others who truly enjoy golf.
Tremblay considers himself a team player and enjoys helping others reach their own goals, and in return, feel they are both better for the time spent together. He views lessons as coaching, because he feels like he is working with the student on the same team, trying to help them reach their personal goals.
He attributes his success to being able to step into the shoes of a member, a junior golfer and tournament player and look at the operations and programs from their perspective to meet or exceed their needs. He also attributes his success today to his parents, Dennis and Mary Tremblay who proved very instrumental in his decision to play golf and ultimately choose golf as his career path.
Contact:
MAPGA Communications
Jeremy Beale, jbeale@pgahq.com
