Matt Palsenbarg, who teaches at the Northview Golf Academy in Surrey is the 2013 winner of the $1,000 Jim Gibson Scholarship.
Palsenbarg was recognized for his volunteerism and dedication to furthering his education to benefit others.The $1,000 award, which honours the late Jim Gibson, a renowned volunteer in B.C. golf, is given annually to a PGA of BC member who gives back to the game.
Palsenbarg spent thousands of dollars of his own money to take educational courses in the United States and has brought back that knowledge to Northview, where he has helped hundreds of kids become better golfers and community members. Palsenbarg is leader of the PGA of BC's Professional Development Program, which features a $2,000 first-place prize for the PGA of BC professional who collects the most points in a variety of categories, from tournament appearances to volunteer time to education to serving on a board or committee.
Palsenbarg has invested time and money into his education, via TPI and Vision54 and other seminars. He has also presented at PGA of BC education seminars and has worked closely with BC Golf as a provincial coach for the last 5 years.
Palsenbarg has focused his time in the last four years towards junior development and growing the game initiatives. As the Director of Instruction at Northview for the past 3 years, he has secured a great facility for PGA of BC members to work out of.
"We allow golf professionals to shadow the work we do at the LAB and our programs are an open book online for anyone to look at," said Palsenbarg. "Speaking, playing, coaching, and doing education in my mind is leading by example.
"I have been at Northview for my whole career as a professional and I didn’t get what I have by waiting. I worked hard and grew my teaching business. I created business plans and did presentations to get the owners to buy in to my vision. I went and got the education I wanted, I got the job with BC golf that I wanted and I got the dream job at Northview that I always wanted."
Since taking over the Academy 3 years ago, the junior program has grown exponentially, from 10 kids in the LAB 3 years ago for the 12 month coaching program to 42 players in the LAB and 30 kids in an afterschool learn to golf program.
In addition, three years ago, there was no summer golf camps, but in 2013, Palsenbarg's team put through more than 110 kids through the camps, up from 50 the year before. Palsenbarg's LAB also sponsored a local elementary fair which had 4,000 people through it, with more than 400 kids trying out golf and a physical literacy obstacle course.
Congratulations to Matt Palsenbarg for all his work helping grow the game of golf and his worthy win as 2013 Jim Gibson Scholarship recipient.