2019 Utah PGA Award Winner Highlight: Jon DeBoer

The Utah Section PGA Assistant of the Year Award was given to Talisker Club at Tuhaye Assistant Golf Professional Jon DeBoer, and for good reasons.

DeBoer focuses on people first, business second. He realizes the game we all love is filled with people that love the game. If those people are taken care of, then his job is done correctly.

When asked what he focused on professionally this year he said, “This season was a transition. Our club went through several significant changes… I focused on continuing the traditions of service while helping to communicate to our membership the new story of our development group. I helped more on the business side of the transition and I think that added value to what golf professionals do for their clubs. Also, I tried to step out from behind the counter to greet people. When I was focused last year on the business I spent way too much time looking at the computer instead of the people who are in front of me. Pro tip of the day: Always make sure your documents are on “auto-save” so you can step away at a moment’s notice.”

It is this mindset of a people-first focus that makes DeBoer the PGA professional he is today and just one of many reasons it is no surprise that he won the Assistant of the Year award for all he’s done in 2019.

“The award reflects an acknowledgment of all assistant professionals within our section,” DeBoer said. “I’ve worked for some amazing head golf professionals throughout my years and hope they know this is a product of their influences.

“Going forward this is just a benchmark in my progression and I hope to improve on the quality and consistency of my efforts,” he continued. “I know the level of professionalism in the other award recipients and other candidates; I feel I need to earn the award more now than ever going forward for them.”

DeBoer has been in the business since 1994, elected to PGA Membership in January of 2018 and at Tuhaye for the past-five seasons.

“I might still be an associate if I hadn’t recently married in 2015 and found a wife who told me to ‘get it done!’” he said.

“Many remember the travel to PGA schools. My first school occurred in Portland, Oregon. One hundred apprentices in the Downtown Hilton were greeted by the administrator. He set the rules for the week, the expectations and the consequences. He then straightened his bowtie and said, ‘Anyone who wants to make it through this week should probably stay away from Jon… Jon, would you stand up?’ Thanks Doug Vilven, I got 93 business cards before the end of the day.”

DeBoer, like many, worked for Vilven and was influenced by his happy demeanor, work ethic and professionalism that a PGA professional should have.

“I enjoy the sense of community that exists within the membership.  If I needed support in anything—professional or personal—the group of PGA professionals that were there for me is humbling.  I am proud of how PGA members look to enrich the game, the business and the people who are part of golf.  I am part of other professional groups but the Utah PGA Section has grown to becoming a family over my career.”