TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Jon Paupore
Golf Digest has consistently recognized Jon Paupore as one of Utah’s top golf teachers. In 2025, the magazine’s honors became more specific, and the panel’s selection matched the Utah Section PGA awards committee’s judgment.
Paupore, Director of Instruction at Red Ledges Golf Club in Heber City, is the Section’s Teacher of the Year. And in the first year when Golf Digest named a No. 1 teacher in each state, Paupore was chosen for Utah.
Having first received the Section’s award in 2014, Paupore has widened his influence in multiple ways since then. He built a year–round teaching facility at Red Ledges, developed more expertise in technology and equipment and evolved his scope more toward working with elite players. That includes several members of the University of Utah’s golf program in a rise to national prominence, after Head Coach Garrett Clegg reached out to him.
Even so, one of Paupore’s strengths remains his “teaching style that fits well with every type of player,” said Isaac Brown, a Red Ledges Assistant Professional.
John Johnson, the club’s PGA General Manager, added, “His ability to connect with any golfer makes him special.”
In 2025, Paupore supervised 12 junior golf schools at Red Ledges, accounting for 212 participants. That volume reflects how Paupore is “also a great mentor and teacher of teachers,” Johnson wrote in endorsing him for the Section award.
Paupore recognizes that Utah features a lot of excellent teachers. So “to be singled out amongst some of the best instructors in the Mountain West is something special,” he said. “We all go out and try to make the game better and make people better.”
In that sense, as much as he enjoys seeing his elite players win collegiate and professional tournaments, he remembers himself as a 7-year-old kid, hitting a soaring 7-iron shot for the first time. “I was hooked from there,” he said. “When you see someone else have that moment, see the spark in any golfer, it’s kind of cool.”
YOUTH PLAYER DEVELOPMENT AWARD: Justin Gereau
Justin Gereau can easily see himself in the faces of the young golfers he works with in Logan.
After all, he once was one of them, walking to Logan River Golf Course on summer mornings and becoming immersed in the game. He wants the Cache Valley kids of this era to have that opportunity and create similar memories for themselves.
He enjoyed playing with his father and grandfather, and then his love of golf took hold in the kind of programs he now conducts at Logan River.
“The experience of being around kids my age; that’s what really stuck with me,” said Gereau, the winner of the 2025 Youth Player Development award in the Utah Section PGA. “I’m sure a lot of people that ended up in the profession have the same story.”
That’s true, but their careers have not necessarily taken shape at their hometown facilities. Gereau believes he participated in the second junior golf camp overseen at Logan River by Head Professional Jeff John, the Section’s Past President. Gereau got involved on the teaching side of the course’s summer programs in 2012. He became a lead coach for First Tee Utah in 2017 when Logan River joined the network, and he earned PGA membership in 2022 as a full-fledged assistant professional.
“What sets him apart is his natural demeanor that makes kids feel valued and good about themselves and what they are doing,” said Paul Pugmire, CEO/President of First Tee Utah. “It’s easy to see that they love him.”
Gereau has worked with about 300 children In these eight years, with many of them following Utah’s Junior Golf Road Map into levels of competition. He’s now working with 20 students who hope to play golf for one of Cache Valley’s five high schools. And he loves the feeling of aiding in the growth of Utah golf.
“If I can contribute to a young person finding their love for the game,” he said. “I have done my job.”
2025 Utah PGA Youth Player Development Award and Teacher of the Year profiles written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson, Red Ledges Golf Club and Gereau family.