PGA of America Golf Professional Mike Smith Earns PGA Master Professional Designation

The PGA of America has announced that Mike Smith, PGA of America Player Engagement Consultant for the Northeast Region, has earned PGA Master Professional status, the highest educational designation a PGA of America Member can obtain.

The PGA of America is composed of more than 29,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals, and Smith, a member of the New Jersey PGA Section, joins a special group as the 440th PGA of America Golf Professional to earn PGA Master Professional status. He achieved his designation in Teaching & Coaching.

The PGA Master Professional Program is available to those with at least 10 years of PGA Membership along with achieving advanced certification through the PGA Certified Professional Program. The curriculum includes an extensive project based on the specific certification previously acquired by the PGA of America Golf Professional. PGA Master Professional status is earned upon successful completion of the presentation.

The PGA Master Professional program was established in 1969 to recognize PGA of America Members who make a significant effort to improve as golf professionals and maintain the highest degree of excellence for themselves and their operations. The program is designed to ensure golf professionals are prepared to meet the growing demands of the marketplace within the Executive Management, Golf Operations and Teaching and Coaching Designations.

"It's an honor to become a PGA of America Master Professional and be a part of the esteemed group of Master Professionals who have come before me," said Smith. "I want to do right by that community and use the knowledge I’ve gained through both my coaching experience and my PGA of America education to guide other PGA of America Members to reach their full potential.

"In my role as a Player Engagement Consultant for the PGA of America, I'm interacting with the membership daily, whether it's to aid in building their PGA Jr. League programs or helping them grow their teaching and coaching businesses through the use of PGA Coach tools, and I believe being a Master Professional will help me further connect with them as a trusted resource."

Smith graduated from Penn State University in 2005 and earned his MBA from PSU in 2015. Elected to PGA of America Membership in 2009, Smith began his teaching and coaching career as a PGA Assistant Professional at Rockaway River Country Club (Denville, NJ) working primarily with the junior and ladies groups. Even when Smith left the "green grass” side of the golf industry, he continued teaching introductory golf clinics for various corporate groups, in addition to his other duties as the PGA Head Golf Professional at Tour GCX (New York, NY) from 2015 to 2017. 

In his current role as a PGA of America Player Engagement Consultant, Smith is responsible for providing PGA of America Members in the Northeast Region with the strategies and tools needed to better engage their consumers through the utilization of PGA of America products such as PGA Jr. League, PGA Family Golf and PGA Coach. It was the advent of the golf American Development Model (ADM) and PGA Coach in 2019 that inspired Smith to become active in coaching again. Smith is a PGA HOPE (Helping our Patriots Everywhere) instructor, PGA Jr. League Coach, and currently operates programs at the Topgolf Swing Suites at 1776 by David Burke in Morristown, NJ. 

Smith will be part of a team of 17 PGA of America Golf Professionals that will be running in the TCS New York City Marathon November 5, 2023, while raising awareness for PGA REACH, the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the PGA of America. Their goal is to raise $150,000 collectively, which will help support the mission of PGA REACH to positively impact the lives of youth, Veterans and diverse populations through the game of golf.

Smith resides in Morristown, NJ with his wife Caitlin and three daughters Reagan (9), Joslynne (7) and Brenna (4).