Tonya Abbott

Employee, 2012
Gander Golf Club

Tonya was born on April 21, 1968 in Gander Newfoundland. She has lived in Gander her whole life attending and graduating from Gander Collegiate in 1986. Tonya started working at the Gander Golf Club in the summer of 1980 as a Pro Shop Assistant under then Pro and General Manager Derek Webster. She continued in this position until 1989. In 1989 she was promoted to Pro Shop Manager and was responsible for the ordering of stock and the managing of the Pro Shop staff. IN addition, she assisted the General Manager in the running of tournaments and was also involved with the junior program. She was also a key member of the Gander Men’s Invitational Committee, as well as the Gander Ladies Invitational Committee. Her hard work for these tournaments was key to the success of these events.

During the construction of the additional nine holes at Gander, Tonya took an active part in the planning and completion of the project. She was responsible for much of the correspondence with all of the parties involved with the project. In her position, she was required to work closely with the chairman of the back-nine development team.

In 1996 Tonya was again promoted to General Manager of the club, taking on all of the duties of the General Manager, which included overseeing all the staff as well as hiring staff for the clubhouse, working closely with the Greens Superintendent, maintaining the financial records of the club, and she continues in this position to the present. Her responsibilities as General Manager are too numerous to list; however, she has been a great asset to the Gander Golf Club. As you can see, she has been an employee of the club for 32 years. In 2000 she enrolled in the Golf Management Institute of Canada at Glen Abbey. She graduated Valedictorian of her class in 2002.

Tonya has been a member of GNL for 16 years as Central Rep also holding many positions with GNL. This position required much work with regard to the marketing of golf in Newfoundland; she was also a key member of the Board during the consolidation of GNL and NLGA as one organization. Tonya has been a tireless worker for GNL during her 16 years. Tonya’s contributions to the golf industry and to the Gander Golf Club have been of the highest quality and with the up-most professionalism, she is recognized throughout the province as a person who can be trusted and willing to help. Her work has enabled the Gander Golf Club as part of their physical education program. She often has to give instructions to the students on proper etiquette, some rules of golf and sometimes minor instruction on the golf swing. Many of these young people have never seen a golf club or let alone play the game. In addition, a new program has been added for the Special Olympics to give these athletes an opportunity to learn, participate and compete in golf. 

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