In the 40-year history of the Utah Section PGA’s Golf Professional of the Year award, one clear trend has developed. Nearly all of the winners are homegrown Utahns, lifelong stakeholders in the success of Utah golf and the impact of the Section.
Marty Bauer is a small-town Pennsylvania native, so he’s a distinctive recipient of the 2025 honor. That background makes his contribution to the Utah golf community and the Section all the more impressive.
Bauer, the Chief Operations Officer/Director of Golf at Glenwild Golf Club in Park City, shares other traits of past winners. Those notably include “a genuine interest in people” in the words of one colleague, and a commitment to helping members of the profession.
And let’s not overlook how Bauer and his wife, Kelly, are about to reach two decades of residence in a state that they have come to love and have no intentions of leaving. They’re immersed in Utah, and are appreciative of being viewed as Utahns, as commended by this award.
In his Utah tenure, Bauer has worked for private clubs in Park City, which have their own demographic of Utah golf. Yet personally and professionally, he has been anything but isolated.
Bauer’s recognition comes after one of his own mentors, Tony Pancake of Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, was named the 2024 PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year. The dots are connectable. The influence of Pancake and others on Bauer’s approach to his job is shown by how he’s always trying to help other professionals advance in their careers.
While serving on the Section Board of Directors in 2020, Bauer received the Section’s PGA Professional Development Award. And in 2024, he earned the Bill Strasbaugh Award, after the definition of that honor was changed to more of a recognition of mentoring.
Clearly, that’s a big part of his game. The Golf Professional of the Year award “simply puts a title on what I’ve known since the day I started working for him,” said Mark Valenti, Glenwild’s Head Professional. “Marty is the kind of leader who shows up for his people in every way that matters.”
Valenti added, “Marty has a unique gift for developing others; he sees potential before you see it in yourself, and he knows how to bring it out with the right balance of trust and encouragement.”
The Glenwild staff directly benefits, but Bauer’s reach is not limited to them. Bauer is a mentor for PGA associates throughout the Utah Section, and he’s proud of the Section’s developmental efforts.
Bauer’s bosses at stops such as Baltimore Country Club and Crooked Stick were so supportive that his attitude about professional development became ingrained, “whether that is (guiding) someone on our team at Glenwild or helping share my experiences with other pros in the Utah PGA and the PGA of America,” he said.
His latest award comes during what Bauer describes as Glenwild’s “busiest year ever.” Amid accommodating the volume of golf played by members, he developed and presented a master plan that was six years in the making to “not only address the infrastructure needs, but also to improve our club,” he said.
The membership resoundingly approved the plan.
2025 Utah PGA Professional of the Year profile written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos courtesy of Glenwild Club and Spa.