From adjusted tee times to making the call to suspend play, learn how the PGA of America’s Player Engagement team uses Perry Weather to keep the PGA Jr. League Championship Season running smoothly.
At the PGA National High School Invitational in Pinehurst, North Carolina, PGA of America’s Player Engagement Competitions Leader Kristi Egnot was watching players on the course when she got a lightning alert. There was a strike detected just under five miles away, but it wasn’t raining, and there weren’t any clouds.
“We didn’t hesitate,” said Egnot. “We immediately blew the horn.”
With 120 junior golfers on the course, safety comes first – but for parents watching the event, the reason for stopping play wasn’t immediately apparent.
“The parents were like, ‘It’s not raining. Why are we not playing?’” says Egnot.
Perry Weather gave her the information to make the call and provided an easy way for Egnot to show parents the severity of the incoming storms that ultimately delayed the tournament.
“Their safety is my number one priority, and I can show them the data of why we made the decisions we made.”
That moment shows the level of preparation and communication that go into keeping a tournament running smoothly, long before anyone steps onto the course. And for Egnot, that preparation is especially important at PGA Jr. League events, where hopeful young players are competing for the chance of a lifetime – the opportunity to ultimately play in the national championship.
How a smooth tournament gets its start
Perry Weather’s team met Egnot at a PGA Jr. League Regional Championship in St. Albans, Missouri, where 11 teams and 88 players were competing for the chance to advance to national championships.
Egnot runs approximately 10 to 12 events on-site each year and manages about 120 collegiate regional events remotely. Interpreting the weather isn’t her job, but it still affects everything she does. She uses weather data to know when to adjust a schedule, when to contact a local tournament team, and when players need to leave the course and return to play. Ultimately, her goal is just to make a memorable experience for the players.
“If this is the biggest, coolest event they’re ever going to play in, we want them to remember it 40 years from now,” says Egnot.
And accuracy in her role is critical to making that happen for the youth players she oversees.
“It’s a lot to manage,” says Egnot. “We try to communicate as early as we can to our host clubs and then to the players.”
It’s also critical for PGA of America MemberJake Martin, who attended the tournament with his River City players from Big Springs Country Club. He echoes a similar sentiment in regards to putting on large scale events, and dealing with things you can’t control.
“The best preparation is the name of the game,” says Martin. “You have to make sure that you have a contingency plan if the weather goes bad… or make an adjustment on the fly.”
Tournament directors know when to act with coordinated lightning alerts
Between coordinating with the facility, answering coaches’ questions, and keeping play moving, tournament staff need to know when weather requires their attention without constantly checking for it.
Egnot sets her tournament directors in the Perry Weather app to receive lightning alerts for their event locations. For PGA Jr. League, those alerts are configured at 20, 15, and 10 miles. At 10 miles, staff pull players off the course, allowing time for walking golfers to return to shelter.
That kind of visibility also helps staff manage return to play. Egnot can track where lightning activity is building or tapering off, and helps her make the most of her player’s time on the course.
“Every minute counts in a golf tournament,” says Egnot.
And as Egnot experienced at Pinehurst, being able to explain a delay matters, especially when the reason for stopping isn’t always visible to the people watching. Having a record of the lightning activity gives her data to support that conversation and better communicate with parents and players.
“Their safety is my number one priority, and I can show them the data of why we made the decisions we made,” says Egnot.
At Big Spring Country Club, Martin also makes a point of communicating weather contingency plans before an event. That preparation gives players advance notice and staff a shared plan to follow, so they can keep tournament activities running smoothly, even under less than ideal conditions.
“It gave us, as a staff, clear direction as to what we were going to do, at what time if this weather came through,” says Martin.
Organizers stay ahead of schedule changes with weather insights for multiple locations
Egnot can’t be at every tournament she oversees. Instead, she adds the locations of that weekend’s events to her phone so she can receive weather alerts and reach out to the teams running them.
At the time of the interview, she had 10 remote events that weekend. Some weekends, that number can reach 17 to 20.
“It’s a lot to manage,” concedes Engot. She goes on to explain how she still maintains proactive communication across remote tournaments – while still focusing on what matters most, the kids.
“I’d rather get an alert when something’s going on rather than have to sit and monitor weather websites all weekend,” says Egnot. “Saves me a lot of time.”
Martin adds that it’s all about remaining agile.
“Time is a commodity that you have to utilize efficiently,” said Martin. “No matter if it’s 20 people or 120. You want to make sure that the parents are ready to go. You want to make sure that the rules are clear and everything is set up. We want to make sure that they have no idea if there is some chaos going.”
Martin recalls a three-day member-guest tournament where expected rain threatened the schedule, and the player’s time on the green. Using forecast guidance from Perry Weather, his team proactively adjusted their schedule and planned to fit more matches into the first two days.
“If you have that kind of knowledge going into an event, it always helps you make plans for tee times and pairings and execution of the event,” says Martin.
Two days before the tournament, staff shared the contingency plan with players so everyone knew what to expect. Most of the field completed all five nine-hole matches within the first two days, with some players returning Saturday to finish.
It’s that sort of preparation that helps organizations better manage the changes and gives members and guests the tournament experience they deserve.
“It gave us, as a staff, clear direction as to what we were going to do, at what time if this weather came through,” says Martin.
Forecast guidance helps golf professionals adjust the plan.
At Big Spring Country Club, Martin’s planning extends beyond tournaments to afternoon junior matches and lessons. Even a 15- or 20-minute storm can disrupt those activities, leaving staff to adjust and families wondering whether or not to show up.
Martin has emailed Perry Weather’s meteorologists at least a dozen times for guidance. If he has a junior match scheduled for 4 p.m., he can ask how incoming weather might affect that window. He says he typically hears back within half an hour, with an explanation of the forecast and the likelihood of storms.
“They give a little bit more detail as to why this is going to happen,” says Martin.
That guidance helps him decide what to arrange and what to communicate. For a lesson program, he may secure an indoor space so the class can continue. If an activity needs to be canceled or rescheduled, he can give families advance notice.
“It just gives me a better idea of what I’m going to be dealing with,” says Martin.
For Martin, having a plan helps him keep the experience calm for players and families, even when staff are managing constant changes behind the scenes. He remembers advice from a head professional early in his career:
“If everything around you, in your mind, is pure chaos, your goal is to make sure nobody around you knows.”
The bottom line
For the PGA Jr League Championship Season, tournament preparation includes knowing how to respond when conditions change – and how to communicate those changes effectively. Perry Weather gives golf organizations location-based alerts and weather information to support remote tournament teams, make timely safety decisions, and explain critical weather decisions to players and parents.
After all, the goal is to give players a positive experience, whatever the final score.
“I want the team or the person in last place to go home and be just as excited as whichever team or person won,” says Egnot.
With clear information and a plan to share, organizers can spend less time managing things they can’t control and more time making the best experience possible for their players.
