PGA Professional Jaime Sharp from Hailey, Idaho, has been selected by the Rocky Mountain Section PGA as the 2020 recipient of the Player Development Award. Sharp, a 14-year member of The PGA of America has been honored as such to recognize his extraordinary contributions and achievements in the area of Player Development. This award considers the Professional’s “Growth of the Game” leadership commitment at Section and National levels and the impact made at his/her own facility.
As the PGA Director of Golf at The Valley Club in Hailey, Idaho, Jaime continues to work tirelessly to promote the game of golf. He has always run the golf operation with a team mentality and is active in the promotion and nurturing of ideas from the club’s large PGA staff. The Valley Club has a diverse membership which requires a vast menu of programs to fit their needs. The player development programs include “Get Golf Ready”, “Practice with a Purpose”, “Backyard Lessons”, and “Community Play” to name a few. These specialized offerings are in addition to the everyday league and lesson programs offered to all demographics of players. Being a mountain club, Jaime packs in as much as a possible in their short season.
Sharp measures growth and success by simply looking at participation levels. Each of the programs mentioned above consistently generated waiting lists in 2020 and his staff is continually looking to expand the events without sacrificing quality. Jaime never rests on success either. Each of the club’s programs are under constant watch, and if any begin to lose steam, a revamp is certain to occur so that engagement returns as quickly as possible. Sharp is man of method when it comes to approaching a player development problem. He verifies with his team that the problem actually exists and then brainstorm with them to find possible solutions. Jaime devises a metric to measure the “fix”, then re-evaluates by going straight back to step number one. For Sharp, player development is a constant challenge for which he has a passion for and his success is a terrific model for those interested in following.
This is the sixth time Sharp has garnered a Section Award having been honored as the Merchandiser of the Year for private facilities in 2014, the Warrior Award winner in 2018 and 2019, the Professional Development Award winner in 2019, and the most prestigious Golf Professional of the Year Award also in 2019. He will be formally recognized as the 2020 Rocky Mountain Section PGA Player Development Award winner in May of 2021 during the Rocky Mountain Section PGA Annual Meeting and Honors and Awards ceremony.