Write-Up Provided by the Rick Pledl (pledl@mailbag.com) and Wisconsin.Golf
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living or who signs your paycheck. Earning the respect of your peers brings a feeling of pride that can be difficult to fully explain in the moment.
Sure, your kids or your spouse or your parents will tell you you’re great – we’ve all experienced those emotions – but it feels different when praise comes from people who do the same work as you.
Shaun Finley has earned the respect and praise of his peers. Finley, the director of golf at The Oaks GC in Cottage Grove, has been named Golf Professional of the Year by the Wisconsin PGA, one of several awards presented to state golf professionals this winter for 2025. The honors are given to PGA members in the Wisconsin Section by their counterparts.
Finley got word that he had won the award in a phone call with fellow Wisconsin PGA Professional Mike O’Reilly, who leads the WPGA awards committee.
“I was speechless.” Finley said of the conversation with O’Reilly. “It’s truly a special honor.”
“I love this game. I love this profession. I love impacting people. Obviously, this award is a culmination of all that. And it’s also validation of the time and effort – not only that I’ve put into it but also my staff at The Oaks and my family.”
Finley heads the list of 2025 WPGA award winners recently announced by the section. The annual awards highlight the depth and scope of the work done by PGA of America members in today’s complex golf world – including teaching and growing the game, marketing, merchandising and efforts behind the scenes to help other PGA members advance in the profession.
The Golf Professional of the Year Award is perhaps the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Section, and the list of past winners is a litany of legendary state club pros dating to 1973, when the first award was presented to Bobby Brue. The award recognizes outstanding work as an overall PGA professional and qualities such as leadership and strong moral character.
Finley and the others will officially receive their awards at the WPGA’s annual spring meeting at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells on March 3.
Focusing on golf was the career plan for Finley from a young age – ever since he got hooked on the game as a kid thanks to his grandfather. Neither of his parents played golf, but his grandpa did. The fact that Finley grew up across the street from Watertown CC also helped him along once the golf bug bit.
“I was just hooked on golf – I lived and breathed it when I was at the course,” Finley said with a laugh. “I didn’t see myself doing anything else.”
He started his college life freshman year in the Professional Golf Management program at Coastal Carolina University before finishing at UW-Eau Claire. He was a business major at Eau Claire, always intending to pursue the business of golf – at least, once he gave up the dream of being a tour player.
“I played at UW-Eau Claire my sophomore year,” Finley said. “And I kind of realized after that … I knew I could play, but there was another level of (tournament) golf, and I just wasn’t there. But I knew I wanted to be in the golf business.”
Finley worked a couple of winters at southern California facilities before landing an assistant professional job at The Oaks in 2005. He served as general manager and head professional at Watertown CC from 2012 to ’16, but then The Oaks hired him back as the director of golf for the 2017 season and he’s been there ever since.
The 43-year-old Finley has seen the course, which opened in 2003, mature before his eyes. The busy facility along Interstate 94 just east of Madison is an attention-grabber, and it bustles throughout the season with charity and corporate events, league play, junior programming and lots of daily-fee play.
In the winter, three Trackman golf simulators bring other players to the clubhouse, so the bar and grill stays busy, and Finley can keep his staff of golf instructors – led by PGA Teaching Professional Joey Leonard – employed year-round.
It all generates a ton of foot traffic, which is the whole point of running a public golf facility.
“Obviously, where we’re located is a huge draw, with access from Madison and Milwaukee,” Finley said. “But we’re always looking for ways to expand, and this winter has been our busiest yet since we put in the simulators three years ago.”
Finley said having the machines leads to add-on sales, too, as he recently did a club-fitting for a customer who first came in to play some simulator golf. Likewise, simulator players sometimes choose to pursue lessons. And others hit balls all winter long through a pseudo-membership arrangement.
As the director of golf, Finley is tasked with overseeing the entire operation, so he doesn’t teach as much as he once did. But he said he enjoys the varied nature of his current job.
“I love that no day is really the same,” he said. “We always have something new going on, and one of the reasons I love being at a public facility is all the new faces we see. I really enjoy meeting new players.”
Another big part of The Oaks operation is its great golf shop; Finley has won the WPGA Merchandiser of the Year Award for public golf facilities four times, including in 2023 and ’24.
The following are the other 2025 Wisconsin PGA special award winners:
Joaquin Diaz, North Shore CC, Assistant Golf Professional of the Year
Joaquin Diaz, the assistant PGA professional at North Shore CC in Mequon, achieved a career milestone in 2024 when he was elected to Class A PGA of America membership.
The Assistant Award is open to both PGA members and associates, but either way, the award recognizes individuals who exemplify the highest standard of professionalism, including leadership qualities and service to the association and the game of golf.
Diaz oversees the entire outdoor operation at North Shore, including hiring, training and managing more than 35 employees.
“It’s been incredibly rewarding to contribute to the progress we’ve made at North Shore over the past few years and learn from some incredible professionals,” Diaz said.
Tim Boegh, GOLFTEC Madison, Teacher and Coach of the Year
Teaching the game of golf has always been at the core of the PGA of America’s mission, since its founding in 1916, but Tim Boegh lives in the here and now of golf learning.
Boegh is the director of instruction at GOLFTEC Madison and also the 2025 WPGA Teacher and Coach of the Year. Boegh is co-owner of the four Wisconsin GOLTEC locations, and he personally taught more than 1,600 lessons in 2024, plus conducted 50 private fittings.
“This award affirms my belief that learning and teaching in golf is a lifelong pursuit,” Boegh said.
Brian Bishop, Maple Bluff CC, Bill Strausbaugh Award
Brian Bishop, the head PGA professional at Maple Bluff CC, won this year’s Bill Strausbaugh Award, which honors PGA members for efforts in mentoring their fellow professionals and continuing contributions toward professional education.
Five assistant golf professionals that Bishop has employed and mentored have gone on to be hired as head professionals. On top of that, Bishop has a personal connection to Strausbaugh through his old college instructor Jerry Hogge, who was himself mentored by Strausbaugh, a legendary PGA professional from Maryland who worked during his long career to improve working conditions for fellow professionals.
“Mr. Strausbaugh’s name is always held in high regard in the PGA, and to be honored with an award bearing his name means a lot, especially because of my connection.”
Brenden Locke, GOLFTEC Wisconsin, PGA Professional Development Award
Brenden Locke, another GOLFTEC Wisconsin facility owner, is this year’s WPGA Professional Development Award winner. The award recognizes individuals for their efforts in educating other association members.
Locke recently completed an 18-month term on the PGA of America LEAD Committee, which is a leadership development program created to identify and mentor members from diverse backgrounds. He also serves as the Wisconsin Section representative on the PGA of America’s new task force for mentoring young associates studying to become PGA members.
Rob Elliott, Rob Elliott Golf, Player Development Award
The Player Development Award is essentially the WPGA’s “growth of the game” award, recognizing efforts to expand golf opportunities to more players. The 2025 winner, Rob Elliott, also won the award in 2020.
Elliott, a former president of the Wisconsin Section who operates Rob Elliott Golf in Pewaukee, is deeply involved in PGA Hope, a free program for veterans and active-duty members of the military taught by PGA members trained in adaptive golf. Elliott offers discounted lessons for all veterans through his golf academy, where he also offers sessions for junior players.
Travis Becker, TPC Wisconsin, Youth Player Development Award
Travis Becker has forged a reputation as a top-notch golf instructor for players of all ages, winning numerous awards for his teaching, including from the WPGA. This year, he’s won the Youth Player Development Award, and the numbers back up the honor.
Becker, who moved to TPC Wisconsin in Madison prior to the 2023 season, is a sought-after coach among junior players in southern Wisconsin and anybody else looking to improve their swing. The move back to Madison a couple years ago brought him back home in a way, as Becker spent 17 years earlier in his career at the old Cherokee CC, now redeveloped as TPC Wisconsin.
In 2024, his junior students won more than 50 times on the various Wisconsin PGA Junior Foundation tours, and 20 of them were recognized on various all-state teams. Fourteen of his players received college golf scholarships this year.
Becker has also won the WPGA Teacher and Coach of the Year Award four times since 2015.
Derek Guzman, Sand Valley Resort, Patriot Award
Recognizing dedication to the men and women of the U.S. military is the aim of the WPGA Patriot Award, and Derek Guzman, the head PGA professional at Sand Valley Resort, is a fitting recipient thanks to his efforts with veterans.
Guzman helped coordinate and was the lead instructor for two Next18 Golf Camp sessions at Sand Valley, which are four-day wellness camps for veterans and first responders that combine golf instruction, mental health resources and peer support.
“This award reminds me that we belong to the PGA of America,” Guzman said. “It’s in our name that we’re proud to be American and serve Americans.”
Scott Walecki, Brown Deer Park GC, Public Facility Merchandiser of the Year
It was a record-setting season for sales in the Brown Deer Park golf shop in 2024, thanks to a few innovations by head PGA professional Scott Walecki and his staff, including apparel inspired by local breweries and throwback pieces harkening back to the much-loved Greater Milwaukee Open, formerly held at Brown Deer.
Merchandise sales are an important piece of the budgetary picture at public golf courses like Milwaukee County’s Brown Deer, and Walecki’s success last season has earned him the WPGA Merchandiser of the Year Award for public facilities.
It is one of three annual WPGA awards presented to members based on their hard work running “the shop.”
Jamie Christianson, Horseshoe Bay GC, Private Facility Merchandiser of the Year
Jamie Christianson earned the nod as Merchandiser of the Year for private facilities, where the name of the game is catering to members and guests. Christianson, the head PGA professional at Horseshoe Bay GC in Door County, has overseen an impressive jump in shop sales since his first season at the club in 2019. Numbers have doubled over that time.
“Winning this award means a great deal to us as a team at Horseshoe Bay,” Christianson said, stressing the team outlook in his shop.
Danny Rainbow, SentryWorld, Resort Facility Merchandiser of the Year
Danny Rainbow of SentryWorld is a familiar name as Merchandiser of the Year for resort courses. This is Rainbow’s fourth award for merchandising from the Wisconsin Section, and he’s also the national 2025 Resort Merchandiser of the Year as recognized by the PGA of America.
Sales in the SentryWorld shop increased by more than 25% in 2024 over ’23, the season when SentryWorld hosted the U.S. Senior Open Championship.
“I’m proud of the way that our team at SentryWorld has continued to elevate the entire property,” Rainbow said, “and build it to a must-play golf destination in Wisconsin.”