2025 SOPGA Awards Spotlight: Chris Yoder, PGA

For the third time in four years, Chris Yoder, PGA, Director of Youth Player Development at Scioto Country Club, has been recognized as the Southern Ohio PGA Youth Player Development Award recipient. After earning the honor in 2022, 2024, and now 2025, Yoder continues to set the standard for what junior golf can and should look like in both Southern Ohio and across the country.

Over the past decade, Yoder has transformed Scioto’s junior program into a national model of success, rooted in mentorship, camaraderie, and holistic player growth. When he arrived, fewer than 30 juniors participated at the club and there was no representation on Upper Arlington High School’s powerhouse golf team. Today, more than 150 juniors are active, three PGA Jr. League teams thrive, and Upper Arlington has returned to state championship contention, fueled by the pipeline Chris helped rebuild.

Yoder’s impact reaches well beyond Scioto. As a member of the Southern Ohio PGA Junior Golf Committee, he has been a driving force in reshaping the Section’s junior golf identity. His leadership helped launch the Junior Ohio Cup, now the premier junior competition in the state, uniting the best from both the Northern and Southern Ohio Sections. Serving as Vice Captain of the 2024 Southern Ohio team, Yoder’s presence helped juniors embrace the value of representing their Section with pride.

Nationally, Yoder serves as a coach for Team Ohio, part of the U.S. National Development Program. Working alongside legendary coach Therese Hession, he has helped shape training that emphasizes the mental and emotional side of competition, using the USGA’s THRIVE curriculum. His ability to connect with elite juniors and prepare them for the highest levels of play has positioned Ohio as a leader within the USGA’s player development pathway.

Yoder also added considerable depth to the experiences his junior golfers can have through the game of golf. In July, Chris brought a PGA Jr. League team to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus to participate in Smiling Fore Life, an outreach program from PGA REACH Southern Ohio that brings golf to children who are patients at the three Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in the state. Kids from the team spent time engaging with children and patients for hours, helping and encouraging them around a SNAG Golf course. There were cheers, high fives and fist bumps to go along with tons of smiles. Children dealing with illness often face isolation and emotional strain but for a few moments, these interactions were gifts of shared laughter and powerful relief. 

At the heart of Yoder’s success is his commitment to creating a true junior golf community. He converted storage space into a vibrant junior team room complete with a putting green, lounge, and team displays. He established layered player development teams that provide clear and motivating pathways for every level of golfer. Annual team trips, Ryder Cup-style matches against peer clubs, and mentorship opportunities with fitness coaches and sports psychologists round out a program that feels as much like a family as it does a training ground.

Perhaps most importantly, Yoder’s work is guided by values of inclusion, care, and integrity. Inspired by his father’s early experiences with the game, he believes every child deserves a coach who listens, supports, and welcomes them.“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is his guiding principle and that is reflected in the confident, thoughtful young people Scioto produces year after year.

Yoder’s influence extends to fellow PGA Professionals as well. At Scioto, he created one of the country’s first junior golf internship positions, now a full-time Junior Golf Assistant role, offering young professionals a hands-on pathway into the business. He mentors peers across the country who look to replicate Scioto’s success, sharing openly the practices that have elevated his program.

For Chris Yoder, junior golf isn’t simply about swings and scores, it’s about shaping lives. His third Youth Player Development Award is not just a recognition of past success but a testament to his ongoing commitment to making golf a game for all.