Special Awards Feature
Crediting the Community, Young Accepts the Youth Player Development Award
Team photo: Montrose High School Boys Golf Team at 2020 CHSAA 4A State Championship, left to right: Noah Richmond, Rocco Manuel, Assistant Coach Tom Young, PGA, Jake Legg, Jordan Jennings (State Champion), Head Coach Steve Skiff and Assistant Coach Cory Jackson
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he Youth Player Development Award recognizes a Colorado PGA member who is a leader in junior golf, reflects the image and qualities that juniors can emulate, and provides opportunities and experiences for juniors to learn and play golf. Congratulations to Tom Young, PGA, Head Professional at Black Canyon Golf Club at Montrose, for being this year’s award recipient! Young grew up on the golf course in Montrose and graduated from CSU in ’89 with a degree in Construction Management. He helped build golf courses all over the world for 20 years. In 2009, when the economy crashed, the career of building courses also crashed. Young’s hometown course in Montrose needed a Superintendent. With his knowledge of courses, he got the job and excelled, so much so that when need arose for a Head Professional, he was asked to fill that position. It was fun for Young to go from building golf courses to maintaining them, to running them.
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Young enjoys the Montrose community, the partnerships created there and working with juniors. In 2019, he helped coordinate efforts between three golf courses in town to join forces and create a junior golf program that would benefit the three courses, the community and most importantly, youth golfers. They created the Montrose Junior Golf Alliance (MJGA) and ran a nine-week summer program held every Thursday. Assistant Coaching is also a role Young has held at Montrose High School for five years. They have won Regionals five years in a row. Montrose won the team state championship 3 years in a row, with a #1 player winning the individual title. This year, senior Jordan Jennings won the 4A Individual Championship for the first time, and the team took third. Young values being a part of the kids’ lives and seeing them succeed.
The SUMMIT