Dublin, OH – Larry Dornisch, PGA, the Director of Golf at Muirfield Village Golf Club, is the recipient of the PGA of America’s 2020 Bill Strausbaugh Award. This award recognizes a PGA Professional who demonstrates exceptional character, integrity and leadership by way of teaching and mentoring other PGA Professionals.
Dornisch has won multiple awards from the Southern Ohio PGA Section, including the 2016 Bill Strausbaugh Award, 2015 Golf Professional of the Year and 2001-’02 Merchandiser of the Year- Private Category. This well-deserved award is the culmination of a decorated career in the golf industry providing outstanding service to his membership, community and teammates throughout the years.
Dornisch, a 47-year PGA Member and 24-year member of the Southern Ohio Section, has spent his entire career working to have a positive impact on everyone who has the good fortune of working under his tutelage. He has tried to pass on to younger generations what he learned as a young golf professional.
“From an early age, golf professionals had an impact on my life as both role models and mentors,” Dornisch said. “It wasn’t until I went through the application process that I realized their importance.”
Since then, he has made it his goal to mentor anyone who has passed through his facilities. He looks for assistants who will embrace the challenge to excel and grow as professionals to prove they can succeed in the golf industry.
“It is part of our culture here to hire good people and help them move on to greater opportunities,” Dornisch said.
One look at the track record of his former team members shows he has more than accomplished that goal. To date, more than 30 of his proteges have gone on to accept positions as PGA Head Professionals, Directors of Instruction or Club Managers.
“Larry has and continues to mentor the new arriving future of the golf industry and those that are veterans,” Muirfield Village Golf Club General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Nicholas LaRocca said. “He is committed to always helping the greater good of the community.”
Among his contributions to the community, Dornisch has long been committed to hosting events to benefit and raise money for numerous charities, including Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Recreation Unlimited to name a few. He remains highly involved in these events to maximize the club’s ability to raise money for such great causes.
He is also committed to growing the game of golf through youth participation. He was an early supporter of PGA Jr. League and worked hard to host Drive, Chip & Putt regional and sub-regional qualifiers at Muirfield Village.
But none of his numerous accolades or achievements can match the feeling of winning the Bill Strausbaugh award. As a man who has spent his entire career working to put others before himself, this is the crowning achievement for Dornisch.
“Without a doubt this is my greatest achievement,” he said. “It feels great to be recognized by my peers, but more important is that former staff have supported my nomination and communicated their appreciation of the opportunities I provided them.”
He says he still gets calls from former assistants around Thanksgiving every year thanking him for those opportunities. Those calls are every bit as gratifying to him as winning the award is.
Dornisch is set to retire in June 2021 after 25 years embodying the “members-first” mission he and LaRocca set forth when they started working together.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to Larry for his contributions to make our golf operation the best in the business,” LaRocca said.
Luckily for the golf industry, Dornisch’s contributions will live on in the next generation of golf professionals thanks to his never-ending commitment to mentor and challenge his proteges.