How Jeramy Curry, PGA, Raised $13,000 in One Day of Lessons to Support Golf's Future Generations

The significance and magnitude behind a PGA of America Golf Professional’s career cannot be overstated.  On a day-to-day basis, there are thousands of men and women who are dedicating their various talents to growing the game. 

One of them is Jeramy Curry, the PGA Director of Instruction at Pinehurst Country Club in Denver, Colorado.  Jeramy has been around golf since the age of ten, and while growing up in the Denver suburb of Arvada, he and his father decided to take up snowboarding and golfing together in the same year. 

“Ironically, we picked two of the toughest sports out there,” says Jeramy.  “But growing up in Colorado, it was always nice to have a winter sport and a summer sport that my dad and I could share together.”  

Jeramy’s love of golf ebbed and flowed like it does for many of us who experience and play the game.  He says it was more of a slow burn that eventually caught up with him later in life. 

“I definitely didn’t love and appreciate the game as I do now,” notes Jeramy.  “I might have played one round of golf in college.  The game sort of re-discovered me after my time at Metro University [Metropolitan State University of Denver].”

After graduating from college, golf found Jeramy once again in the most unassuming of ways.  While working in a restaurant full-time, he reached out to an old friend who worked at nearby Red Rocks Country Club asking for a job, and sure enough, his friend came through. 

“It was at Red Rocks where my love for the game was reignited,” he says.  “I was able to enter the PGA PGM Associate Program, learn more about the industry and really dive deeper into what I’m most passionate about.”

Fast forward a few years, Jeramy found himself opening up his own teaching academy at The Links Golf Course in Highlands Ranch, Colorado – about forty minutes south of downtown Denver. 

“By this time, the pandemic had really settled in and, like a lot of facilities elsewhere in the country, it allowed me to capitalize on the boom that the industry was facing,” says Jeramy.  “I was lucky in the fact that I was exposed to so many different sides of the industry early on in my career.  This showed me what being a PGA of America Golf Professional actually means and allowed me to really hone in on what I wanted to do with my career – I loved it all, but really found an affinity toward teaching and coaching.” 

Now as a five-year PGA Member, Jeramy gets to live out a dream serving the Pinehurst Country Club membership and the very same community where he grew up outside of Denver.  Giving back to the local Denver community through the game of golf is something that Jeramy continues to embody a passion for, and most recently he ran a day-long fundraiser, called “Golf Lessons Fore Charity” to benefit PGA REACH Colorado – the Colorado PGA Section’s 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. 

“It’s actually an idea that I’ve had for about four or five years now,” notes Jeramy.  “In the past, it just never really panned out the way that I wanted.” 

He had his sights set on supporting PGA REACH Colorado’s youth pillar – driving all donations to support local PGA Jr. League, golf-in-schools programs, the Colorado PGA Junior Tour and more.  Jeramy brought the idea to the membership and staff at Pinehurst and they were all in. 

“It was really cool to see how welcoming our whole team was to the idea – it felt like we were really going to knock it out of the park,“ Jereamy says.

But even he couldn’t have predicted the success that would materialize on this special day.

Over the span of eight hours, Jeramy was able to give over 15 lessons and raise almost $13,000 for PGA REACH Colorado.  Structuring his time in twenty-minute increments, he had his calendar packed full with every dollar from his lessons poured back into the golf community he grew up in. 

“I owe a lot of thanks to the Colorado PGA Section staff,” says Jeramy. “They jumped on this idea with me and were all-in from the beginning and helped drive a lot of the behind-the-scenes that came with setting up a fundraiser.”

As the CEO of the Colorado PGA Section, Steven Bartkowski is thrilled to see the momentum Jeramy was able to create for supporting junior golf in Colorado. 

“It is so inspiring to see such a talented PGA Coach and Professional like Jeramy take this initiative to heart,” says Steven. “Through Jeramy's inaugural Golf Lessons Fore Charity, he, his students, and the Pinehurst Country Club membership helped raise critical funds to help ensure that cost will never inhibit one’s involvement and enjoyment of the game of golf.”

To Jeramy’s surprise, he felt he was able to reach a whole new group of members at Pinehurst Country Club – even those who wouldn’t normally come out for a golf lesson. 

“There was definitely a mix,” says Jeramy.  “Maybe it was a less intimidating environment with the 20-minute lessons, or perhaps the cause behind taking a lesson broke down some walls for people." 

Pinehurst Country Club member Sally Bernsten says it was the perfect way for her to receive a couple refresher tips from Jeramy to help her game. 

“When I learned Jeramy would be donating his time to raise money for a Golf Lessons Fore Charity Day it was the perfect opportunity to help a worthy cause,” says Sally.  “It was a win for me and a great way to help Jeramy support other young golfers."

Jeramy’s vision for the future of Golf Lessons Fore Charity is unmistakably epic, yet remarkably refreshing.  What started as a simple idea has turned into a passion project backed by a lot of heart.  He even envisions one day there being a national Golf Lessons Fore Charity Day – where PGA Professionals and coaches can come together and collectively raise money for different causes within their own communities.  He says anyone with the proper ‘why’ can see the same success.

It’s clear Jeramy’s vision and dedication to the game is just one common attribute that unites him with the other nearly 29,000 men and women PGA of America Golf Professionals.  He believes there is good in every facet of the golf industry and that PGA Professionals are on the front lines of delivering that goodness and enjoyment.  

“I think that’s just it – we’re all sort of ‘Swiss Army Knives’ when it comes to the golf industry,” says Jeramy.  “I think our adaptability and willingness to think outside the box will continue to mark PGA Professionals as the true experts of making the game more enjoyable and welcoming for others.”