The Southern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame honors the people whose influence on the game outlasts the careers that first made them known. Established in 1997, the Hall of Fame recognizes PGA of America Golf Professionals whose excellence as players, leaders, mentors and stewards of the game has left a lasting imprint on the Southern Ohio Section. Their careers span generations, but each shares a common thread: a commitment to the game and the people within it that helped shape the Southern Ohio PGA’s history.

Dave Bahr, PGA

Few Southern Ohio PGA Professionals have combined a long and successful career in the industry with sustained excellence as a player quite like Dave Bahr.

For decades, Bahr has been one of the Southern Ohio PGA’s most accomplished competitors, building a résumé that includes the 2026 Southern Ohio PGA Senior Professional Championship, three Southern Ohio PGA Professional Championships and multiple appearances in the PGA Professional Championship. His ability to contend has endured across different stages of his career, including his transition into senior competition.

But the numbers tell only part of the story.

Bahr has spent his professional life serving golfers and facilities throughout Southern Ohio, including a lengthy tenure at Maketewah Country Club. As a PGA Professional, he has balanced the countless responsibilities that come with leading a renowned club while continuing to hold himself to the highest standard as a player.

That commitment to competition has made him a familiar presence on Southern Ohio leaderboards for years. And when the opportunity has presented itself, Bahr has repeatedly proven capable of winning against the Section’s best.

Few PGA Professionals can point to a career that has lasted as long and remained as competitive.

His induction into the Southern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame recognizes both sides of that career: the professional who built his life in the game and the player who spent decades proving he could compete with anyone.

For Dave Bahr, those two things were never separate.

Larry Dornisch, PGA

Larry Dornisch spent his career at one of the most recognizable clubs in golf, but his influence was never confined to the gates of Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Over the course of a distinguished career as a PGA Professional, Dornisch became a trusted leader within the Southern Ohio PGA and one of the Section’s most respected representatives. His work at Muirfield Village placed him at the center of one of golf’s great institutions, but the respect he earned throughout the profession came from the way he carried himself and the people he served along the way.

Dornisch’s career was recognized repeatedly by his peers. He was named the Southern Ohio PGA Golf Professional of the Year in 2015, earned the Section’s Bill Strausbaugh Award in 2016 and was honored twice as Private Merchandiser of the Year. In 2020, he received the PGA of America’s national Bill Strausbaugh Award, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the game and his commitment to service.

Those honors speak to a career of remarkable breadth, but Larry’s greatest contribution may have been the standard he helped establish for the professionals who followed him.

He represented the Southern Ohio PGA on one of golf’s biggest stages while remaining deeply connected to the Section and the people within it.

Some careers are remembered for where they take a person.

Larry Dornisch’s is remembered for what he left behind.

Joe Cardenas, PGA

Joe Cardenas’ journey into golf began far from the country clubs and championship fields that would eventually define his career.

Growing up in South Texas, Cardenas came from a poor background and first found his way into the game as a caddie. After joining the military, he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where an assignment that began as service as a paratrooper eventually led him to the golf course. There, he began giving lessons and helping operate the facility.

“It was all luck and my best memory,” said Cardenas. “One thing led to another and I had a great career at Lancaster.”

Great career might be an understatement. Lancaster Golf Club and Joe Cardenas go hand-in-hand. That’s what happens when you spend 35 years at one facility, from 1966 through 2001. Along the way, he became a fixture in Southern Ohio golf as both a player and professional. He served as President, Vice President and Secretary of the Columbus Chapter while also serving on its Tournament Committee.

His competitive résumé was equally impressive. Cardenas won the Greater Cincinnati Match Play Championship in consecutive years in 1967 and 1968, competed in four PGA Championships and one U.S. Open, and later qualified for the 1999 Senior PGA Championship. He was also a four- or five-time Columbus Chapter Player of the Year.

But perhaps the best window into Cardenas’ career is found in his favorite part of the business: teaching. He took particular pride in helping golfers who arrived with little natural talent develop into players for life.

For a man who always considered himself lucky to have found golf, Joe Cardenas spent a lifetime making sure others were fortunate enough to find it, too.

Steve Lambert, PGA

Steve Lambert understood the golf business from the ground up.

Sometimes quite literally.

A Purdue University graduate and accomplished collegiate player, Lambert earned a degree in agronomy before beginning his professional career at Fowler’s Mill in Chesterland, Ohio. His understanding of golf courses eventually took him to Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, where he worked on the construction and design of the facility before assuming responsibility for its golf operations. It was there that Lambert expanded his professional credentials, becoming one of the relatively few professionals to hold membership in both the PGA of America and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

That uncommon background would become one of the defining characteristics of his career. Lambert played a role in the development, construction or operation of several prominent Southern Ohio facilities, including Shaker Run, Beavercreek Golf Club, Yankee Trace and Walden Ponds. He also provided his expertise on projects such as Aston Oaks, just west of Cincinnati.

His career eventually included leadership roles at facilities throughout the region, including NCR Country Club, where he served as Director of Golf and was instrumental in returning NCR to the major championship stage and the 2005 U.S. Senior Open.

But Lambert’s influence was never limited to the courses themselves. Over more than five decades in golf, he helped shape the careers of PGA Professionals, superintendents and others throughout the industry, sharing the knowledge he had accumulated across virtually every facet of the business.

Steve Lambert built golf courses. He ran golf operations. He developed people.

And throughout Southern Ohio, those contributions remain part of the foundation he left behind.