Hey everyone! My name is Grant Johnson and I will be the NCCGA President for 2017. I’m extremely honored and excited to be working with the Nextgengolf staff to help put on more than 100 regional tournaments, 2 National Championships and many other events throughout the year. I’m really looking forward to meeting as many regional coordinators, club presidents, and golfers across the country as I can.
I am a junior at the University of Maryland where I am majoring in environmental science and policy, with a minor in environmental economics. I am originally from Menlo Park, CA, a small town just south of San Francisco. I grew up playing the Stanford University Golf Course (shout out to the Stanford club team), and played varsity golf all 4 years in high school.
I knew I wanted to continue playing golf in college, and whether or not a school had a club team played a big role in my application process. I ultimately decided to come to Maryland for its beautiful campus, proximity to Washington D.C., and great sports teams—and I guess having a golf course on campus didn’t hurt either.
I got involved with the NCCGA in the fall of 2014 as a freshman, and after traveling to Dancing Rabbit for Nationals that semester I fell in love with what club golf had to offer.
I have since played in every regional tournament except one, competed in 3 total national championships—Dancing Rabbit, Glade Springs, and Disney—and served two years on our team’s executive board. I just finished up my term as team president in which we won 3 out of 4 regional tournaments and won our region in back-to-back semesters.
Besides playing club golf, I am relatively involved on campus and in my community through my extra-cirriculars. I am a die-hard sports fan and you can find me at almost every Terps basketball and football game, I am a founding member of my school’s chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, I am a student tour guide and have led over 100 tours in my 3 years at Maryland, and I work part time in the undergraduate admissions office on campus.
During my term as NCCGA President, I am looking to continue to help grow the NCCGA by working with as many club presidents as possible to offer recruiting, fundraising, and team branding tips that helped me as team president.
I am also looking to market the NCCGA as a viable alternative to playing D-2 or D-3 golf in college by reaching out to high school coaches and players and providing them with information on all that club golf has to offer.
The NCCGA has shaped my college experience in numerous ways and I am really excited to give back this year and help make it as strong as possible. I can’t wait to meet other players from across the country that share a similar experience as me and I encourage anyone who wants to share their story, ask any questions or provide feedback to reach out to me, as I am happy to listen and chat.
**Grant Johnson is the NCCGA President for 2017. He can be reached on Twitter @NCCGAPresident or via email president@nccga.org.