Tony Pancake:

5/5 - (1 vote)

April 2019

Writer // Janelle Morrison Photographer // Laura Arick

The PGA of America is the largest working sports organization in the world and is comprised of men and women who are dedicated to serving as experts in the game and the business of golf. The Indiana Section PGA encompasses the entire state of Indiana and has over 600 members, including Zionsville resident and the 2019 Indiana PGA Golf Professional of the Year Tony Pancake.

Pancake and his family are no strangers in the local golf community. Pancake’s wife, Libby, is a member of the Indiana High School Golf Hall of Fame, and all four of their children are avid golfers. Their daughter, Annabelle, is a junior at Zionsville Community High School and a member of the Zionsville Girls Golf team. She has recently committed to Clemson University to play collegiately after graduation, which creates a sense of irony since her father Pancake is a graduate of Alabama University.

A native of Seymour, Indiana, Pancake attended Alabama on a golf scholarship, and after graduating in 1985 with an accounting degree, he landed his first Head Professional Job with Valhalla Golf Club in
Louisville, Kentucky. He worked at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville before taking on Head Professional duties at Baltimore Country Club, a perennial Top 100 private club.

When it was announced that Crooked Stick’s Jim Ferriell was retiring at the end of 2003, Pancake was selected as Crooked Stick’s new Head Professional after a nationwide search. Since that time, he has helped steer the club’s efforts on the national and international stage, hosting events such as the 2005 Solheim Cup, 2007 USGA Women’s Amateur, 2009 U.S. Senior Open, the 2012 BMW Championship, the 2016 BMW Championship and the 2020 Western Amateur.

“We saw the chance to come to Crooked Stick [Golf Course] as an opportunity that we couldn’t pass on,” Pancake said. “I’ve been familiar with the club, having grown up in Indiana and since I started playing
golf. It has always been the highest ranked course in Indiana and hosted major tournaments, and I had played here in different events, both as a kid [at 13 years old] and as a professional. I knew the retiring professional Jim Ferriell well, and that was my initial connection to the club.”

Pancake expressed his gratitude and humble thoughts on being named the 2019 Indiana PGA Golf Pro of the Year. “It’s a tremendous honor,” he stated. “To be recognized by your peers, obviously, is gratifying, but at the same time, I know there are so many people that are as deserving as I was. I just happened to be the one who got their name called this year.”

He continued, “It makes me feel good that people thought enough of me to nominate me and the committee to select me, but any award like this is really a team award, and it’s not [recognizing] any one thing that I do, but the things that I’m able to accomplish, thanks to the support of the club here. The Crooked Stick membership has been great, and I’m blessed to have an incredible staff that allows me the opportunity to do things for me to be considered for an award like this, but I was able to do that because of the support that I have here.”

Crooked Stick Golf Course
“Crooked Stick is the most generous club that I’ve been affiliated with, and I’ve been at some very nice places that do great things,” Pancake said. “However, this club, from the very beginning, has just been very generous, whether its hosting national tournaments or hosting local qualifiers – things like that to promote the game of golf. Specifically, some things that we’ve done in the last 10 years that I think are worth noting are the scholarship programs.”

Pancake explained that the Crooked Stick Scholarship provides scholarships to employees, caddies and youth employees for continuing education at the collegiate level or for trade school certifications.

“Our members contribute to this scholarship fund valued at over $750,000,” Pancake said. “It was started back in the early ‘90s. In addition to that, we have a Junior Development program where we give five area kids an annual membership to be able to play and practice out here and get help with their golf game.These are kids who have a passion for the game and are doing well in school, but they want to play collegiate golf and just need a bit of a boost to get there.”

Crooked Stick also has a Tour Hopeful program where each year, five aspiring PGA or LPGA Tour players can play and practice at the club to improve their game.

“We’ve had eight of our Tour Hopefuls go on to play on the tour, including Patrick Rodgers, Adam Shanks and Danah Bordner, an LPGA member,” Pancake shared. “The club is doing some really neat things to influence the next generation of golfers from the Indianapolis area.”

Pancake expressed his gratitude for hosting the 2012 and 2016 BMW Championships at Crooked Stick. He also explained that it is not just about the game and prestige that come along with the championship that makes it so incredible but the charitable arm of it that supports the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship Foundation.

The BMW Championship raises money for the foundation and provides full tuition to participating colleges and universities.

“Here at Crooked Stick, we’ve had a little over 20 Evans Scholars who were given a full tuition scholarship to either Indiana University or Purdue University,” Pancake stated. “That has over a $100,000 value to these kids, and it changes their lives. These kids are exceptional kids who have done well in school and are serving their community, and this boost that they get from the scholarship sends them on a track that is pretty incredible.”

He added, “We loved having that tournament. It was the perfect tournament for us, given the time of the year, the size of the field, and we had not hosted men’s PGA Tour golf here since the ’91 PGA with John Daly,” he said. “It was great to bring those players in 2012 like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson who’ve played here at Crooked Stick. It was great for us as a club but also great for the community to get a chance to see them play golf and show them some Hoosier Hospitality.”

Pancake discussed that at the heart of Crooked Stick’s generosity and hospitality are the course’s designer and builder, Pete Dye, and his late wife, Alice, who passed this last February.

Tony Pancake: — Tony Pancake standing next to the bronze sculptures of Mr. Pete and Mrs. Alice Dye

“Certainly, Pete and Alice Dye have been great resources regarding the history of the club and what their vision was from the early days,” Pancake reflected. “The Dyes are and were great people. They’re internationally renowned golf course builders and are celebrities, but you would never know in talking with them. Alice was an incredible player. She got her fame early on as a player and then parlayed that into some golf course design where she had an incredible impact of the game. She had a heart and passion for helping people and used golf for that. She was very generous with her time and would provide people opportunities through golf. We miss her, that’s for sure.”

“Since Tony arrived at CS, we have hosted three national tournaments and recruited one of the best Superintendents in the country. His broad experience and fabulous reputation are no doubt a major factor in those successes.”~Don Dunbar, Crooked Stick President