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2025 PGA Jr. League Championship: Why Team Ohio's Birdies Carry Extra Meaning
By Mandy Crow
Published on
In a big-time tournament, birdies matter — but they’ll mean even more for Team Ohio this week at the 2025 13u PGA Jr. League Championship, taking place Nov. 16-20 at PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch West.
That’s because the team is using its championship debut to “pay it forward,” as Coach Chris Yoder, PGA, puts it. Partnering with a local sponsor, Team Ohio is aiming to raise $20,000 for PGA REACH of Southern Ohio, with more than $200 pledged for every birdie they make at the 13u Championship.
“We really wanted to take a different approach and find a way to pay it forward because the game has given us so much,” said Yoder, a PGA of America Professional who serves as the Director of Youth Player Development at Scioto Country Club in Columbus. “Every birdie we make will have an impact through the REACH Foundation, supporting veterans, underprivileged communities and youth golf.”
That pay-it-forward mindset is embedded in the team’s culture. Along with the per-birdie pledges, players have been raising additional funds in creative ways — including spending evenings and days off from school raking leaves around the community for donations.
They also volunteer regularly through Smiling Fore Life, a program that brings the therapeutic benefits of golf to patients at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
“Volunteering is very important to me and my team,” Yoder said. “Through Smiling Fore Life, we’re able to give the kids who are patients at the children’s hospital a distraction from all the challenging things they might be going through and just have fun.”
Having fun is another core value for Team Ohio, even as they prepare to compete on the national stage for the first time.
“Our main goal at the PGA Jr. League Championship is to have fun,” Yoder said. “We really want to stay present — to enjoy the present moment rather than dwell in the past and not think too much about the future. We just want to soak it all in.”
"Through Smiling Fore Life, we’re able to give the kids who are patients at the children’s hospital a distraction from all the challenging things they might be going through and just have fun."
Chris Yoder, PGA
Team Ohio is one of 12 All-Star teams made up of players ages 10–13 vying for the national title at Fields Ranch West. The players have been counting down the days.
“The team started a countdown to the Championship about 35 days out,” Yoder said with a laugh. “Every morning at 6:30 or 7 a.m., my phone is buzzing with texts about it. We’re super excited.”
While Yoder’s team is young, this moment has been years in the making — not because Yoder set out to build a junior golf powerhouse, but because he’s focused on shaping lifelong golfers and building a junior golf community throughout the Southern Ohio PGA Section.
“For me, junior programming is an investment in the future of our game,” Yoder said. “Every junior golfer has that PGA Professional or mentor who got them into the game, who created a fun culture and gave them great opportunities to grow as a golfer.”
Yoder watches one his players during a Championship practice round.
Yoder and his staff have built that culture at Scioto through PGA Player Engagement programming like Drive, Chip and Putt and PGA Jr. League. They created a Drive, Chip and Putt Training Day to help players prepare for upcoming qualifiers. And since launching PGA Jr. League around 2013, Yoder has built a strong developmental league that served as the foundation for an All-Star program.
“Having a competitive team has helped to build our in-house development league,” Yoder remarked. “The competitive pathway gives the kids in the developmental league an opportunity to advance and something to work toward.”
A former Division I high school state team champion from Ashland, a small town in Ohio, and Division I collegiate golfer at Wake Forest University, Yoder understands how transformative team experiences can be.
Team Ohio celebrating after punching their ticket to the National Championship.
“I’ve told the team that they’ll play in hundreds if not thousands of individual tournament rounds over their lifetimes, but for me, the memories I hold the closest are the memories I made playing with a team,” Yoder said. “The kids have put in the time preparing and done the hard work to get to the 13u Championship. Now, it’s time to have fun and let them play golf.”
