News & Events

Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year- David H. Orr, PGA – Campbell University

This year’s Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year is David Orr, PGA, Director of Instruction at Campbell University’s PGA Golf Management program. The Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year award goes to the Teaching Professional who has performed outstanding service as a golf instructor. Emphasizing the past five years of the professional’s career, the professional must demonstrate an impact on teaching and golf instruction in the Section, involvement in junior golf activities at his or her facility and the community, innovative contributions of golf instruction and any articles written for publication.
David Orr, PGA has dedicated his career to teaching and mentoring future PGA Professional through the PGA Golf Management program at Campbell University. Orr called his position at Campbell University “one of the most rewarding experiences in our industry.” The students that Orr has instructed over the past five years have gone on to become successful PGA Professionals all over the country and the world.
In his position at Campbell University’s PGM Program, Orr develops the curriculum for and instructs academic courses like Player Development, Instructor Development, and PGM Internships. Orr also has conducted extensive research in putting for the past four years. He has published multiple articles based on his research on putting. This is Orr’s first award with the Carolinas PGA Section.

CU Alumni Climbing to the Top

Two-thousand and eleven was good year for Campbell Alumni on the golf course. Two of our graduates, Sam Kang and Matt Noel, had great success playing in their PGA Section events.

Sam, a 2003 graduate, had two major wins this season. In September, Sam won the New Jersey PGA Professional Section Championship at Metedeconk National Golf Club by five strokes after shooting 70-68-73 (-5). By winning this event, Sam has been earned the right to play in the 2012 PGA Professional National Championship at Bayonet Black Horse in Seaside, CA. Just five days later, he shot 73-70 (-1) at Crestmont Country Club for a one shot victory in the 2011 New Jersey PGA Assistant Championship. This finish qualified him to play in the PGA National Assistant Championship for a third time. In the New Jersey State Open at Hollywood Golf Club, Sam shot 71-70-69 (-3) to finish in second place. For his great play, Sam was awarded the New Jersey PGA Assistant Player of the Year for the second straight year, and between these three events Sam took home $21,300 in prize.

Matt, class of 2008, found success playing in the Metropolitan Section Assistant’s events. Matt had four top 10 finishes this season, highlighted by a T-3 at the Assistants Tour Championship by shooting 69. Matt was able to drop his scoring average by nearly a shot and a half from 2010. As a result, Matt was awarded the Metropolitan Section Most Improved Player of the Year. Matt won nearly $5,000 in prize money for his performance this season and he is hoping to improve on that in 2012.

Congratulations to these great players and all of our other graduates who were successful in PGA Section events in 2011.

PGA Level 3 Graduates

 The Level 3 Checkpoint and Final Experience conducted by the PGA of America was held on campus over the weekend (Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, September 18, 2011). Congratulations to our 15 Level 3 graduates!
Back Row (left-right): Matt Reagan; Adam Warren; Adam Lash; Charlie Gross; Chris Speaker; Paterick Clark
Middle Row (left-right): John Michael; Dan Soehren; Rob McVicker; Hunter Brown; Greg Hoyt
Front Row (left-right): Evan Vonatski; Joseph Garbowski; Jordan Marks; Zach Cabacoff

Campbell Wins the 2011 Carolina Cup

CU PGA Golf Management students won the 2011 Carolina Cup by 12 shots, with a total of 907. This is the third year in a row the Camels have taken the Cup!  The tournament was held at Lonnie Poole Golf Course, and schools that competed were Costal Carolina University, North Carolina State University, Clemson University, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Congratulations to Paul Howell, Steven Hamby, Charlie Gross, Chris Speaker, Jared Morrow, Andrew Kegarise, Taylor Ray, and Daniel Soehren on the win!