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Trade In From the PGA
Don Rea Jr. Elected 44th President of the PGA of America
By Jesse Dodson, PGA
Published on
PGA Master Professional Don Rea Jr. was elected the 44th President of the PGA of America on Nov. 7 at the Association’s 108th Annual Meeting at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Rea will serve a two-year term, representing the more than 31,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals. A Member of the Southwest PGA Section, Rea is the Owner and Operator of Augusta Ranch Golf Club, a public golf course, in Mesa, Arizona. He succeeds John Lindert, Director of Golf at the Country Club of Lansing (Michigan), who served as President from 2022-24.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve, alongside our Officers and Board of Directors, the more than 31,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals of our Association,” says Rea. “Our Members and Associates are serving millions of golfers through this amazing game every day. I’m incredibly proud of the lives we impact collectively along the way, shoulder to shoulder with our 41 PGA of America Sections. It is our top priority to serve our PGA of America Golf Professionals and provide resources to allow them to thrive and continue to lead as experts of the game.”
Succeeding Rea as Vice President is Nathan Charnes, PGA, the General Manager and Director of Golf of WingHaven Country Club in O’Fallon, Missouri, and a member of the Gateway PGA Section. Eric Eshleman, PGA Director of Golf at the Country Club of Birmingham (Alabama), and a Member of the Alabama-NW Florida PGA Section was elected the new PGA of America Secretary.
How it works
Every two years, the PGA of America gathers for the Annual Meeting to elect a new Secretary. Delegates representing each of the 41 PGA Sections vote on Secretary candidates who've campaigned. Similar to a popular vote, the Secretary candidate with the most delegate votes is elected. They then serve four two-year terms as Secretary, Vice President, President and Honorary President.
Get to know Don Rea Jr.
A PGA of America Member for 22 years, Rea was elected PGA of America Secretary in 2020 and Vice President at the 2022 PGA Annual Meeting. He served on the PGA of America’s National Board of Directors from 2016-19. Elected as President of the Southwest PGA Section from 2013-14, Rea also has served on the Boards of Directors for the Southwest PGA Section, National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) and the Arizona Tourism Alliance.
While on the PGA Board of Directors, he chaired the Junior Golf Committee, which created the American Development Model (ADM) for golf, and the PGA Jr. League Committee. Additionally, Rea served on the Chief Operating Officer Search Committee and currently serves on the Chief Executive Officer Search Committee.
Rea earned PGA Master Professional Status in 2024, the highest educational designation a PGA of America Member can obtain. Rea currently serves on the Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association Board of Directors to promote the golf and hospitality industry and help educate the public and Arizona legislators on golf industry water usage.
Rea spent nine years as a minor league baseball umpire, ascending to Triple-A. In addition, he umpired several spring training games for Major League Baseball.
Get to know Nathan Charnes
PGA of America Vice President Nathan Charnes, PGA, is a second-generation PGA Golf Professional from southern Indiana. He played college golf at the University of Evansville, graduating in 2001, then passed the Playing Ability Test (PAT) and became a PGA of America Member while spending a short period working in the Indiana and Kentucky sections. In 2004, Charnes and his wife, Eva, moved to St. Louis, where he became PGA Head Professional at WingHaven Country Club in O’Fallon, Missouri, ascending to General Manager and Director of Golf in 2011.
For the past 20 years, Charnes has been involved extensively with the PGA of America, both locally and nationally. At the local level, he served as the Education Chairman for the Gateway PGA Section, which led to him serving on the Gateway PGA Board of Directors from 2011-18.
His national involvement grew when then-PGA of America President Allen Wronowski asked Charnes to join the National PGA Membership Committee, one of five national committees on which he has served. He was later elected to the PGA of America Board of Directors as District 7 Director (Gateway, Midwest and South Central PGA Sections), serving from 2019-21, followed by his election to Secretary in 2022.
Charnes is a seven-time Gateway PGA Section Award recipient, including the Section’s 2012 and 2022 PGA Golf Professional of the Year. He played a critical role with the creation of the PGA of America REACH Foundation, which originated in the Gateway Section while Charnes was serving as an Officer; he was recently selected to serve as a Life Trustee for PGA REACH Gateway.
Get to know Eric Eshleman
PGA of America Secretary Eric Eshleman is the PGA Director of Golf at the Country Club of Birmingham in Alabama, and a Member of the Alabama-NW Florida Section.
A PGA of America Member for nearly 30 years, Eshleman has held numerous leadership roles within the PGA of America, serving most recently as the District 3 Director (2021-24), overseeing the Alabama-NW Florida, Gulf States and Tennessee Sections. He served two-year terms as Secretary, Vice President, President and then Honorary President for the Alabama-NW PGA Section (2012-19).
In 2019, Eshleman received the national PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year Award, the highest annual honor given to a PGA of America Member.
Well known as a teaching professional for students such as Davis Thompson, Graeme McDowell, Patton Kizzire, Paul Dunne and the 66th U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Eshleman was honored by the Alabama-NW Florida PGA Section on several occasions. He received the Section’s PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award (2010, ‘17), the Teacher of the Year Award (2000, ‘04), the Bill Strausbaugh Award (2011) and Youth Player Development Award (2014).
Six new PGA Board Members elected
The PGA of America Board of Directors is composed of the Association’s President, Vice President, Secretary and 19 Directors. The Directors include representatives from each of the Association’s 14 districts, three Independent Directors, an At-Large Director and a member of the PGA Tour. New District Directors are elected by their representative PGA Sections.
Six new members of the PGA Board of Directors, including a new Independent Director, were also sworn in:
- District 3: Tim Basel, PGA – Mississippi State University Golf Course,
Starkville, Miss. (Alabama-NW Florida, Gulf States, Tennessee) - District 6: Keith Clark, PGA - Broadmoor Country Club, Indianapolis, Ind. (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin)
- District 7: Sean Hanna, PGA - Loch Lloyd Country Club, Lenexa, Kan.
(Gateway, Midwest, South Central) - District 11: Scott Ashworth, PGA - Manele Golf Course, Lanai City, Hawaii (Aloha, Northern California, Southern California)
- District 12: Dale Morgan, PGA - Austin Country Club, Bee Cave, Texas (Northern Texas, Southern Texas, Sun Country)
- Independent Director: Terry Clark - UnitedHealth Group, Chief Marketing Officer; Optum, Chief Marketing & Customer Officer (3-year term)
