How PGA of America Golf Professional Morgan Jewell’s Merchandising Vision is Shaping the Future of Golf Retail

Robert Koontz describes himself as a student of golf merchandising. Having worked at public, private and resort clubs, as well as outside the green grass market during his 32-year career, he has made a study of the retail world, seeking out the best brands and building Top 100 Golf Shop-caliber displays – all culminating in being named the 2024 PGA of America Merchandiser of the Year for resort facilities.

“Growing up around the game and being at different facilities, I like the idea of eye-catching merchandising and putting together the best selection for golfers,” says Koontz, PGA of America Head Professional at the Pete Dye Course at French Lick (Indiana) Resort. “I’m always the guy on the golf trip who wants to see the golf shop and bring home new ideas. I’m always learning from others.”

Born in Indianapolis, Koontz grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, where his parents – both avid golfers – were members at the Vincennes Elks Golf Course. Koontz started playing golf around age 5 and was spending so much time at the course by his early teens that PGA of America Head Professional Gene Gilliatte asked if he wanted to do some work around the club.

“It started with cleaning clubs, and soon I was cleaning golf cars and picking up golf balls in the field where Gene gave lessons. It was fun being around the course,” he says. “Gene became like a second father to me, and I wound up working in that golf shop all the way through college in the summers.”

Koontz studied management information systems and computer operations, receiving a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1992. By this time, he had decided to become a golf professional and landed his first job as an assistant at Sultan’s Run, a new public facility in Jasper, Indiana.

“It was a great golf course on a beautiful piece of property and attracted people from all over to stay and play,” he says. “Back in the ’90s, there wasn’t a lot of that going on, especially in Indiana.”

At Sultan’s Run, Koontz concentrated on golf shop merchandising, tournaments and corporate events. He was part of a team that created Southern Indiana’s Best Golf, which put together golf, restaurant and hotel packages designed to make Southern Indiana a regional golf destination.

Around the time Koontz became a PGA of America Member in 1998, he had the opportunity to take his first Head Professional job at Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery, Indiana, a new 18-hole public facility about 30 miles from his hometown of Vincennes.

After a few years there, he decided to venture outside of green grass, taking a position with Chicago-based Natural Golf, where he trained and managed about 125 golf instructors, and later became a manager at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy. Koontz also went on to spend four years as Head Professional at Oak Meadow Country Club in Evansville, Indiana, a private club where he honed his skills working with an active membership and producing memorable member events.

For Koontz, there are a few coincidences – or “full-circle events” – that have defined his career and led to his current success. As fate would have it, French Lick was one of the facilities Southern Indiana’s Best Golf teamed up with in the 1990s, and he got to know the golf professionals there, including PGA of America Director of Golf Dave Harner. For years, he stayed in touch with Harner, who thought of Koontz when the Head Professional job opened up at French Lick’s Donald Ross Course.

There was also a secondary connection: Gene Gilliatte had grown up in French Lick, caddied at the Donald Ross Course as a kid, was hired for his first Head Professional job at the Donald Ross Course and had taken Koontz for day trips there during his years in Vincennes.

“French Lick was a place I had loved all my life, and that connection back in the 1990s led to me being here now, so it’s sort of a nice touch,” Koontz says. “In golf, as in other things in life, it’s always about networking.”

After six years as Head Professional at the Donald Ross Course, he had the opportunity to take over at the Pete Dye Course when PGA of America Head Professional Andy Fortner departed. When Koontz was named Head Professional there in 2021, he was also named Assistant Director of Golf Operations, helping Harner oversee the Donald Ross, Pete Dye and Valley Links golf operations and managing golf merchandising.

Valley Links, the oldest course at French Lick, is a Tom Bendelow nine-hole public course and a great place for an enjoyable nine holes, especially for those learning the game, academy attendees and junior golfers. The Valley Links shop is host to the resort’s teaching academy and Callaway Golf Performance Center, as well as a mix of apparel from Ahead, Callaway Golf and Bermuda Sands.

The Donald Ross Course, which opened in 1917, has a rich history that includes hosting the 1924 PGA Championship won by Walter Hagen. Koontz describes the merchandise mix here as more lifestyle oriented and having a fun vibe, with lines like Sunday Swagger, William Murray Golf, Donald Ross, Puma’s Volition line and FootJoy.

And then there’s the Pete Dye Course, which opened in 2009 and has more of a high-end private club feel. The golf shop, whose smaller footprint sits in the carriage house of the mansion built there in the 1920s, presents a more elevated mix of Peter Millar, Ralph Lauren RLX, johnnie-O and FootJoy.

“It’s a great big puzzle of operations and merchandising, and I love analyzing, building up and putting it together,” Koontz says.

He is proud to bring the Merchandiser of the Year for resort facilities award to not only French Lick Resort, but the Indiana Section. Koontz says the award validates all the work and time he has put into the business, learning merchandising, perusing other golf shops and networking with his fellow PGA of America Golf Professionals.

“Of course, I could not have achieved this award without the work and effort of so many other associates at the resort, especially the golf team that I have the privilege to work with each day,” explains Koontz. “It’s an incredible honor and adds to the drive to be the best.”