Recently elected with returning Board members Hans Larson, Patrick Lynch and Mike Picciano
GLENVIEW, Ill. – The Illinois PGA is pleased to announce that Ian Grant, Hans Larson, Patrick Lynch and Mike Picciano were recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Professional Golfers' Association of America by members at the Association's Fall Annual Meeting.
Serving for the first time on the Board, Grant joins incumbents Larson, Lynch and Picciano who will serve three-year terms. Grant was elected to a one-year term, filling out the vacant seat by former board member Jeff Perdew following his departure from the Illinois PGA.
Grant is the PGA teaching professional at Oak Brook (Ill.) G.C., where he has worked since 2002. He teaches in the summer at Oak Brook and in the winter at the White Pines Golf Dome in Bensenville, Ill.
Born in Calcutta, India, where his Scottish father worked as an engineer, Grant was raised on the east coast of Scotland in four towns, where he became an accomplished junior golfer in addition to competing internationally in field hockey and track and field.
Grant attended Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he majored in accounting. He then went to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, which is equivalent to earning certification as a Certified Public Accountant. He spent a number of years as a corporate accountant before pursuing his vocation in teaching the game golf. Elected to membership in the PGA of America in 1997, Grant was selected to become an adjunct member of the teaching faculty of the PGA of America in February 1998.
He was the golf columnist with Suburban Life newspapers in the Chicago suburbs from 2004 until 2013, and for the past 14 years he has worked in production support for CBS Sports on a part-time basis covering the Masters and the PGA Championship.
Grant, 62, enjoys working with junior golfers with a focus on getting them to enjoy the game and becoming better players. He recently started a golf academy to work with more accomplished junior players.
He was honored with the 2002 Illinois PGA Horton Smith Award for his outstanding and continuing contributions to developing and improving educational opportunities for fellow PGA Professionals.
Grant lives in Willowbrook, Ill., and is the father of a daughter, Heather, and a son, Jack.
Larson, PGA head golf professional at Westmoreland C.C. in Wilmette, Ill., will begin his second three-year term on the Illinois PGA Board of Directors. He was previously elected in 2012 and the following year was appointed chairman of the Player Development Committee, a role he still holds today.
Born in Danbury, Conn., and raised in Pennsylvania, Larson attended State College Area High School in State College, Pa., where he was a four-year letter winner on the basketball and golf teams. Following high school, Larson entered the Professional Golf Management program at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa., where he earned his degree in 1997.
After college, Larson accepted an apprentice position that led to a PGA assistant golf professional position, at Butler National G.C. in Oak Brook, Ill., where he worked four seasons before earning his first PGA head golf professional position at Fox Run G.C. in Eureka, Mo. In 2004, Larson would return to Illinois as the PGA head golf professional at Westmoreland, where he presently remains.
In addition to local initiatives, the Player Development Committee is involved with national programs that are very successful in the Illinois PGA – “Get Golf Ready,” “PGA Junior League,” and the “Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.” During his tenure, the Committee developed over 25 different programs within the Section.
Larson, 42, has also served on the Illinois PGA Foundation Board of Directors since 2012 and was appointed Secretary of the Foundation in 2013, a role he continues to serve.
Larson has attended educational opportunities at Penn State to mentor and educate PGM students on the role of the PGA Professional. As a result, in 2010, he was awarded the Penn State PGM Alumni Association’s Golf Professional of the Year Award. This past season, Larson was honored with the 2015 Illinois PGA Player Development Award, which recognizes a PGA Professional for extraordinary and exemplary contributions and achievements in the area of player development.
Larson and his wife, Stacy, live in Mount Prospect, Ill., and are parents of a daughter, Genevieve.
Lynch, PGA head golf professional at Cantigny Golf in Wheaton, Ill., begins his second term on the Illinois PGA Board of Directors. During the 2015 season, Lynch was appointed for a partial one-year term on the Board to fill a vacated seat. His current term will be for three years.
Born and raised in Okemos, Michigan, Lynch entered the golf business in 1998 as a golf shop assistant at Cantigny. He immediately became enamored with the diverse nature of the golf business as he worked through several different areas of responsibility allowing him to experience all aspects of the operation. He was elected into membership in the PGA of America in 2005.
In 2008, Lynch was promoted to head golf professional at Cantigny and remains in that role today. In his first season as head professional, he oversaw the construction and operational structuring of the Cantigny Golf Academy, an all-season golf practice and performance center. Over the past seven years, he has fostered the growth of Cantigny’s unique youth golf developmental programs, which includes more than 1,400 junior clinic participants annually, more than 10,000 junior golf rounds at Cantigny’s Youth Links, and a public facility caddie pool of 150, with nearly 2,000 caddie loops annually.
Cantigny has played host to numerous events for the Illinois PGA, Chicago District Golf Association and Illinois Junior Golf Association. Lynch’s career as a golf professional has been defined by a commitment to youth developmental programs, promoting competitive play, and to developing a strong golfing community.
Lynch and his wife, Beth, live in Darien, Ill., and are parents of a daughter, Maggie, and sons, Conor and Michael.
Picciano, PGA head golf professional at Bull Valley G.C. in Woodstock, Ill., began his career as an assistant golf professional at Whisper Creek G.C. in Huntley, Ill. He moved on to Bull Valley in 2002 as an assistant and in 2007 was named the head golf professional, where he remains today. He earned his membership in the PGA of America in 2007.
Born in Endicott, N.Y., Picciano attended Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., where he graduated in 2001 with a degree in business administration and marketing with a concentration in professional golf management.
In 2012, Picciano was elected to his first term on the Illinois PGA Board of Directors. Soon afterward, he was appointed chairman of the Illinois PGA Public Relations Committee. During his time as chairman, the Illinois PGA went through a complete redesign and functionality of its website and has become active in all forms of social media, increasing the Section’s presence on both the local and national stages.
Picciano, 36, will serve a three-year term until October of 2018.
Picciano and his wife, Jennifer, live in Crystal Lake, Ill., and are the parents of daughters, Cecily and Shayla.