PGA Golf Pro and LI Alumnus Shares Lessons For Life On and Off the Course

By David Stahler Jr.

Late summer brings the start of a new year at Lyndon Institute. It also means a fresh season for the school’s golf team, one that kicks off with what has now become a proud LI tradition. Over the course of three days, LI alum and long-time PGA Golf Pro Jason Prendergast offers “golf school” at St. Johnsbury Country Club, a clinic to help sharpen the team's skills, both technical and mental. 

For the last eighteen years, Prendergast’s school has been a chance for the 1989 graduate to reconnect with his native NEK and his alma mater in a special way. 

Now in his twentieth year as Head Golf Professional at The Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi, Prendergast’s journey from the Northeast Kingdom to PGA Golf Pro and owner of a pro shop in the Deep South is an unusual one.

“I never actually played golf in high school,” Prendergast said. “It wasn’t until after graduation that I first started playing. My then-girlfriend’s father, George Nichols, took me up to the new course in Barton in 1990. From that moment, I was pretty much hooked.”

Between pumping gas at Speedwell and milking cows, Prendergast golfed as much as he could. “I couldn’t afford lessons or a club membership, so I was pretty much self-taught. I read books and watched videos constantly. It took me three years to break a 100.”

In 1997, Prendergast decided a life change was in order. “I asked myself—who has the best job ever? And from where I stood it looked like the golf pro at the St. Johnsbury Country Club. I decided that’s what I wanted for myself.”

At age 26, Prendergast enrolled as a freshman in the Golf Management Program at Mississippi State, one of only four schools in the country with such an offering. “It was a challenge. At that point, I was the ‘old’ guy in a program with a ten percent completion rate. I was also working many hours to support myself—working in the bag room, caddying, anything I could do that was tied into the world of golf.”

Time wasn’t the only challenge. There were cultural differences that came from being a Yankee in the heart of the South’s Bible Belt, though Prendergast’s rural background helped narrow the gulf. “The bigger challenge was the socioeconomic difference as I worked my way into the world of the PGA. For the first time in my life, I was interacting with people with extreme wealth. It was a little intimidating at first.”

After graduation, Prendergast’s fortunes took another turn when he landed an internship at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania under the aegis of the legendary Bob Ford.

“Ford is considered one of the greatest—maybe the greatest—golf pro in PGA history,” Prendergast said. “I was lucky to get interviewed, and lucky to get the job.” 

Though pluck had probably more to do with it than luck when Prendergast approached Ford and made his case for why the legend should take him on. “I was a guy from Vermont and didn’t know you weren’t supposed to just go and ask for things like that. But it worked!”

Prendergast’s experience at Oakmont helped pave the way for a PGA Golf Pro position, first at a club in Florida before returning once more to Mississippi, this time as the Head Golf Professional at the Country Club of Jackson, where he’s been working ever since.

“It’s a dream come true,” Prendergast said, describing his career in Jackson. Besides owning and operating the pro shop and teaching lessons, Prendergast helps oversee the club’s annual hosting of one of the PGA’s forty annual touring events, giving him a chance to play rounds and develop relationships with some of the world’s greatest golfers.

It was a few years into his tenure in Jackson that Prendergast began wondering how he could help his old alma mater. 

“I called Paul Wheeler, who was Athletic Director at the time, and said I wanted to do something for the school. I floated the idea of a scholarship for a golf team member.”

“He said, ‘A scholarship is fine, but what about supporting the whole team? If you helped sponsor the golf program, you could help a whole bunch of kids, not just one.’ I thought that sounded like a good idea.”

Prendergast started with material support—hats, balls, shirts, golf bags. “But at a certain point, I thought, why not come home and do a golf school with the kids? Anybody can give money, but not everybody can do something like this.”

So Prendergast started coming for three or four days in May—golf was a spring sport at the time—to work with the team in addition to helping support the team with funding for needed gear.

“I loved it. I didn’t think it necessarily meant that much to the kids, though, at first. But then one year not long after I started offering the clinic, some of the kids came up to me and said, ‘We’ve got a home tournament tomorrow. Can you come?’

“I had a flight home that day, so I told them I couldn’t. Then I started thinking about it and decided to rebook my flight a day later. I didn’t tell them I was coming—I simply showed up, and it was so cool to see the look of surprise on their faces. One of the kids came up to me afterward with a big smile and said he’d just shot the best round of his life. He was so thrilled to share that with me, and it felt really good to know I’d helped make a difference.”

Aside from missing a couple of years due to COVID, Prendergast’s school has been an annual experience for the team.

“I told Paul [Wheeler] I only had one rule. I’d give money and time, but in exchange they had to promise to turn no one away, no matter how many wanted to join the team. I’m doing this in large part to help grow the sport I love so much.”

The last couple of years have been made even more special by another PGA professional and LI alum—Jay Cobb, class of 2015 and a “graduate” of Prendergast’s LI golf school—joining the multi-day clinic. Cobb, who now works as a PGA Pro in Virginia, cites Prendergast as the spark that led him down the path he’s on today.

“I approached him at the end of the clinic my junior year. By then I knew golf was what I wanted to do with my life, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Jason encouraged me to check out the program he’d attended at Mississippi State, and I ended up enrolling. It was a great experience.”

Cobb ended up working with his mentor—first during a nine month internship and after graduation as an Assistant Golf Professional at the Country Club of Jackson for two years before striking out for Virginia.

“I was thrilled when Jason asked me to rejoin him a couple years ago for golf school. Giving a new generation of LI kids a chance to learn more about golf the way I did is important to me.”

Knowing he helped make a difference in Cobb’s career trajectory means a lot to Prendergast and speaks to his own time as a student at Lyndon Institute. “After all,” he said, “that’s what stands out about LI for me. What I remember most is the handful of teachers—people like Rick Cameron, Doreen Yerkes, and David Williams—who showed an interest in me and made a difference in who I became. Those people gave me a lot and made me realize we’re nothing without other people.

“That’s one of the reasons I want to give back,” Prendergast added. “I tell the team at the end of each year of golf school—when you get out there in the world and have made it, I want you to come back and give back to the school. It doesn’t matter how. One of the kids said he wants to go into science and become an engineer. I said, ‘Okay! Then why not aim to one day work for NASA? And when you come back to LI, maybe your golf school will be a new science lab.’ I want them to understand that everybody has something to share.”

Senior Tanner Carpenter, who’s been participating in golf school for the last three years, says Prendergast’s enthusiasm is infectious. “I don’t particularly golf that much outside of being on the team, but every year I look forward to his visits.” 

For Carpenter, it’s less the golfing tips and more Prendergast’s passion. “With certain people, you can tell they love what they do. On the last day, he gives a big speech. Even if you’re not Tiger Woods, by the end of it you feel like you could be.”

Team captain and fellow senior Ryan Hall has enjoyed all four years of golf school. “I think it’s pretty awesome these guys come from that far away to spend those afternoons with us. The chance to work with professionals is hard to beat.”

Hall is especially grateful for the skills he’s picked up. “They really focus on the short game, which is so important. They make sure it's on point.”

As captain, Hall also loves Prendergast’s whole-team approach. “In competition, only six golfers may end up traveling to match, but Jason makes sure he works with every single player on the team no matter what their skill level is.”

Members of the golf team aren’t the only ones grateful for Prendergast’s contributions. For Head Coach John Lantange, golf school is a powerful way to get the season rolling.  “One of the things I look forward to most each year is having these PGA professionals come back early in the season to work with our athletes,” he said. “The knowledge and enthusiasm Jason and Jay bring to the program is immeasurable.”

“Jason’s generosity over these past eighteen years has been phenomenal,” said Director of Athletics Eric Berry. “I appreciate the resources he’s given the school both with his time and his charity. Jason and Jay epitomize what Lyndon Institute alumni are all about—caring and dedicated to the Maroon and White forever.”

Prendergast is currently working on a memoir about his journey to becoming a PGA Pro with hopes of publishing in 2024.