While Barber
believes his skills as
a PGA Professional
are still improving,
his peers already
believe he’s a cut
above.
own trail as a PGA Professional – and started teaching young professionals the same lessons Dunham
had taught him.
From Student to Mentor
Despite his youth, Barber jumped into his head
professional role at Lexington Country Club and
became a well-respected PGA member in the Kentucky PGA Section. He earned the Section’s Horton Smith Award in 1981, and served as the Section
president in 1984–85. Barber was named Kentucky
PGA Golf Professional of the Year in 1985, the
same year Meridian Hills had a late-season opening
for a PGA head professional. Barber
got the job, and started his tenure at
the private club on Jan.
1, 1986.
“When I first got to Meridian Hills,
I thought, ‘ This is a place where I could
spend the rest of my career,’ and I still
feel that way,” Barber says. “Early on, I
discovered that the thing I like most
about being a golf professional is that
every day is different. Some days I’m
on the lesson tee all day, some days I
don’t teach at all. Some days I’m in
meetings all day, other days I’m running an outing or playing with my
members. In
24 years at Meridian
Hills, I’ve never finished my to-do list,
and I hope I never do. I find that rejuvenating, and I still wake up and can’t
wait to get to work in the morning.”
As it was in Kentucky, Barber’s
energy and expertise were soon recognized throughout the Indiana PGA
Section. Barber was named Section
Teacher of the Year in 1993, Section
Golf Professional of the Year in 1996
and winner of the Bill Strausbaugh
Award in 2003, while three times earning honors as the Section’s Merchandiser of the Year for private facilities.
Barber also quickly earned a reputation as an outstanding mentor for
young PGA Professionals. By giving
his assistants many responsibilities
and the freedom to experience all
aspects of the job, Barber has attracted
a series of top young PGA Professionals to work at Meridian Hills before
going on to PGA head professional
jobs – nine of his former assistants are
now head professionals at other clubs.
“I promise all my new employees,
not just PGA assistants, that I’m going
to try to help them get a good job when
they leave, and a good golf job if that’s
what they want,” Barber says. But no
matter what, I want to make sure you
leave as a better person for the time
you spent here.”
One of Barber’s former assistants is
Nick Marucci, now the PGA head professional at
Tippecanoe Lake Country Club in Leesburg, Ind.,
and a member of the Indiana PGA Section board of
directors. Marucci worked for Barber at Meridian
Hills from 2004–06, and says the experience was
invaluable.
“The day I started working with Jack he started
preparing me to become a head professional,”
Marucci says. “Not a lot of Professionals will give a
lot of responsibility to their assistants, but Jack
wants you to learn. At Meridian Hills, I did buying
for the golf shop, handled accounts payable, ran the
tournament program and taught 400 lessons a year.
