Of the 13 PGA of America national award winners for 2024, three are from Indiana.

That includes one with ties to Jackson County.

Tony Pancake, a 1981 Seymour High School graduate, has been named this year’s Golf Professional of the Year, the highest annual award given to a PGA of America professional. It’s awarded for leadership, strong moral character and a substantial record of service to the association and the game of golf.

The Professional Golfers’ Association of America is one of the world’s largest sports organizations, composed of PGA professionals who work daily to grow interest and participation in the game of golf, according to pga.org. Recently, the number of golf professionals in the country topped 30,000.

Pancake, 60, is the director of golf and club operations at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel.

Patrick White, a former assistant of Pancake who is the head golf professional at Woodland Country Club in Carmel, encouraged Pancake to apply for the honor. White received the 2023 PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award for the Indiana Section.

“As a section winner, you’re automatically eligible to apply for the national award, and he came to me and said, ‘I’m a young guy. I really don’t have any chance to win, but I think you would make a great candidate. Would you consider filling out the application?’” Pancake said.

He had done that two other times and was a finalist, so in June 2023, he filled out the application. After learning he made the finals, he had to fill out a more in-depth application in September.

He said the award means a lot because the awards committee consists of his peers.

“When you think about it, it’s overwhelming,” Pancake said. “I certainly didn’t feel worthy of it, I can tell you that. I know how many great golf professionals there are out there. I’m no better at my job than they are at theirs.”

He said the award is the result of nearly 40 years of working in golf and the relationships he has developed.

“The people that have helped me along the way, I’ve had so many great mentors, and I’ve been blessed to work at great clubs and then had really good people working with and for me who have gone on to successful careers,” he said.

The other 2024 national award winners from Indiana are Robert Koontz with Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort in French Lick, PGA of America Merchandiser of the Year – Resort Category, and Crystal Morse with The Legends Golf Club in Franklin, PGA of America Player Development Award.

All 13 winners were recognized Jan. 24 during the 71st PGA Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. They will receive their awards during the 108th PGA Annual Meeting from Nov. 4 to 8 at Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pancake said he considers this honor a team award.

“This happened because of so many other people helping me, and at the top of that list is my wife, Libby,” he said.

Libby, who is originally from French Lick, accompanied Tony at the PGA Show.

“We’ve known each other since we were teenagers. We actually met at a junior golf tournament at the Seymour Elks,” Tony said. “Libby has been around golf her whole life, and so she understands what my job is like, what my life is like and she has just been such a great support system to me. We have four children and five grandchildren, and they are obviously all an important part of this, as well.”

Those who influenced Pancake early on include Mike Laughner, who was the golf pro at Seymour Country Club; Bob Krietenstein, who was his coach at Seymour High School; Bill Nolting and Gary Myers, who were members of the country club; and Tom Jones and Larry Cooper, who were his basketball coaches at SHS.

Pancake was 12 the first time he played golf, and that was at the country club. He was visiting his mother in Seymour that summer, and the next year, he moved there to live with her.

“Just how it all happened is something that I could have never predicted. As I look back, you can just kind of see God’s handprints all over it,” he said. “I loved all sports as a kid. I was a basketball player there at Seymour, and I loved being a part of that team, but just the individual sport of golf and the challenge of it was just something that I was really drawn toward. I loved being outside in the summertime and just working on my game.”

He said he has very fond memories of the country club and the people there.

“Mike Laughner was the golf professional, and he just really encouraged me to play,” Pancake said. “He gave me a job and let me work out there, so I was there all day in the summertime, and when I wasn’t working, I was practicing or playing, and when I wasn’t practicing or playing, I was working in the golf shop.”

Pancake said Nolting and Myers took him under their wing and helped him out.

“Both of them really were encouraging to me with just being around the game, and I really admired the way they carried themselves and how successful they were, so they were great role models for me, as well,” he said.

During Pancake’s senior year at SHS, the Owls were ranked No. 1 in the state for most of the season and competed in the state finals.

“Bob Krietenstein, he was a great coach and someone who really encouraged me and challenged me to get better with my game,” Pancake said.

As his game improved quickly in high school, Pancake said his goal was to play in college and then play professionally.

“Jerry Pate was my favorite player,” he said. “He went to the University of Alabama. That’s where they offered me a scholarship to go there and play, and so I just thought for sure I’m going to be the next Jerry Pate.”

Once he got to college, however, Pancake said he found out there’s a whole other level of play he hadn’t seen before.

“I quickly realized that I probably wasn’t going to have a career on the PGA Tour, but I still loved the game and loved being around it, so during my college years, that’s when I figured out, ‘Hey, I want to be a golf professional,’” he said.

His first position was in North Carolina under legendary Golf Digest instructor Jack Lumpkin, where he worked as an assistant.

After two years there, Pancake got his first head professional job at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, which hosted the 1996 PGA Championship.

He then worked at Hurstborne Country Club in Louisville before being named head professional at Baltimore Country Club in Baltimore, Maryland.

Then he returned to his home state, serving as head golf professional at Crooked Stick from 2004 to 2009 and in his current role since 2010. In season, he said there are nearly 100 employees.

“Every day is different for me, and I do so many different things during the day that my job is always very exciting,” Pancake said. “Throughout the day, I’m giving golf lessons to people, helping them with their game. I’m spending time with junior golfers and not just helping them with their game but kind of investing in their lives the way that people did for me when I was a junior golfer and just trying to help them grow up and mature in a real positive way.”

He also runs tournaments, hosts club and national events, deals with golf course conditions and plays golf with members.

“I really like that variety or unpredictability of my day,” he said. “I love just being outside on the golf course or on the range. The other thing is I get to deal with people. Trying to help them have a more enjoyable day, a more enjoyable experience is just really something that I enjoy doing.”

Pancake has served PGA of America for more than 30 years at both the section and national levels, including being named to the PGA of America board of directors in 2018.

Throughout his career, he has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades, including the Kentucky PGA Section’s PGA Golf Professional of Year in 1992 and the Indiana PGA Section’s PGA Golf Professional of the Year in 2009 and 2019.

He also is one of Golf Digest’s top 10 teachers in Indiana, and he is an accomplished player. He has qualified for four Section Challenge Cup teams, was a quarterfinalist in the Section Match Play Championship, qualified for a PGA Professional Championship and was the winner of the 2015 Indiana Senior Open Championship.

“When I was in high school, my friends made fun of me for playing golf, but now, they call me up and say, ‘You were right’ because now, they all play golf,” he said, laughing. “That’s a sport you can continue playing your entire life.”

Crooked Stick will host the U.S. Senior Open Championship in 2028, and Pancake said he wants to continue working at least that long.

“I’ll be 65 years old then, and I’m sure I’ll continue to do something with golf even after that,” he said. “But as far as my full-time role at Crooked Stick, I would say it will go at least until then, and then I’ll just reevaluate at that time.”