The American Junior Golf Association named Bob McNichols of Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, as its 2020 Golf Executive of the Year. The nationwide junior golf organization presented the award at its recent Ping Heather Farr Classic at Longbow.
“I’m deeply gratified and honored to accept this recognition on behalf of the excellent hard-working management team and staff members at Longbow Golf Club who gear up every day for our public play, our card members, visitors and guests to offer the tournament-ready experience and quality conditions throughout the year that we have become known for,” McNichols said in a media release announcing the award. “A vital part of that conditioning and readiness for junior, collegiate, amateur and professional golf events has been our experience for 18 years with the AJGA and the Ping Heather Farr Classic. Our list of past champions reads like a golf Hall of Fame, which it is!”
Longbow has hosted the Ping Heather Farr Classic – named for the LPGA player who died at age 28 after a battle with breast cancer – since 2004. Last year the club hosted the event plus one other, the AJGA Longbow Golf Club Open, which was created to provide more playing opportunities to competitive juniors during the COVID-19 pandemic as other events were canceled.
“I’ve known Bob since he first hosted our Heather Farr tournament at Longbow Golf Club. I don’t know of a more generous or sincere gentleman in the golf business,” AJGA board member Gayle Champagne said in the media release. “I wouldn’t know how to measure the impact he has had on people through the game golf.
“I think he’s happiest when kids from The First Tee or Mesa elementary schools are swarming all over the practice areas. In addition to giving young kids an opportunity to learn the game, he has hosted the LPGA Symetra Tour, NCAA tournaments, Handicapped Golf Association events and fundraisers for many local charities. It’s hard to give enough praise to someone who has done so much but asks for no recognition.”