Meet the PGA Professionals Powering Hazeltine’s Major Championship Stage

When the world's best players arrive at Hazeltine National Golf Club this week for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, they'll find one of golf's most celebrated venues ready for another major moment.

For the PGA of America Golf Professionals who call Hazeltine home, championship week carries an opportunity to showcase the weeks, months, years and, in some cases, decades of commitment behind this decorated championship test.

One grew up attending Minnesota majors as a spectator. Others dedicated themselves to helping golfers improve, competing, and mentoring young players while building the game in their communities. 

Meet three PGA Professionals whose stories help a club like Hazeltine become more than just a championship venue.

Every morning when Kyle Brandt drives through the gates at Hazeltine National Golf Club, he's reminded of how fortunate he is to be at this stage of his career.

Growing up in northwest Iowa, roughly three hours from Chaska, Minnesota, he vividly remembers going to Hazeltine with his father for the 2009 PGA Championship and later attending the 2016 Ryder Cup with a family of his own. Today, the fairways where he once walked as spectators have become his office.

Brandt's journey to Hazeltine started through the PGA Golf Management Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After stops in Iowa, Palm Springs, CordeValle Golf Club (site of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open) and four years at San Francisco Golf Club, he arrived at Hazeltine in 2022. This season marks his fifth year at the club and second major championship, with each bringing a renewed appreciation for what makes this place so special.

Along the way, he earned a place in the second class of the Nebraska PGM Hall of Fame, recognition of both his professional achievements and his connection to the program that launched his career.

During championship week, Brandt oversees the operational details that help a major championship run smoothly while serving as one of the club's primary ambassadors.

“As we prepare to host the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, our team has spent months working alongside the PGA of America and club staff to ensure Hazeltine is ready for the world's best players,” he described. “While fans will see a championship golf course, there’s a ton of preparation that takes place behind the scenes to create a world-class experience for both them and the competitors.”

For a golf fan who once sat in the galleries with his father, he understands that people attend major championships hoping to create memories. Brandt now helps them accomplish that.

Michael Barge joked that he's been teaching golf at Hazeltine for 40 years. Then he paused and realized it’s actually true.

"This is year 40 for me," he said with a laugh.

Barge has witnessed nearly every major chapter in Hazeltine's modern history. From the 1991 U.S. Open through multiple PGA Championships, the 2016 Ryder Cup and now his second KPMG Women's PGA Championship, he has helped generations of golfers develop their games at one of America's most recognizable clubs.

As Hazeltine's PGA Director of Instruction, Barge oversees a thriving coaching operation that includes individual lessons, junior programming, club fitting and instructional clinics. His influence extends far beyond the lesson tee.

A respected teacher throughout Minnesota, Barge has twice been named Section Teacher of the Year. He also received the Minnesota PGA's Bill Strausbaugh Award and the Steve Weidner Award, which recognizes PGA Professionals who go above and beyond in service to the game and their communities.

While coaching has become his professional calling, competitive golf remains part of his story.

Barge, 71, didn't consider himself in his golfing prime until his mid-40s. His persistence eventually led to appearances in five senior major championships, including three U.S. Senior Opens and two Senior PGA Championships.

Those opportunities stand among the highlights of a lifetime in golf.

This week, Barge's focus shifts to growing the game through championship-related programming. He'll help lead corporate clinics, instructional experiences inside Hazeltine's new Performance Center and youth-focused initiatives connected to the championship.

Majors may bring the spotlight, but for Barge, the real reward has always been helping people discover what golf can become in their lives.

Long before Jennifer Huber played the LPGA Tour, taught lessons or became a PGA Professional, she was an 11-year-old girl in Plano, Texas, swinging a cut-down club handed to her by her father.

He saw potential, and so did her first instructor.

That instructor just so happened to be Marilynn Smith, one of the 13 founders of the LPGA.

Smith often shared stories about how golf had taken her to all 50 states and more than 20 countries. For a young Huber, those conversations planted an important seed.

"Golf could be really good for me, and the opportunities the game presented could be limitless if I stuck to it," she remembers with a smile. “Marilynn gave me that belief.”

At the time, the game wasn't especially popular among girls in Texas. In fact, during her junior year of high school, Huber was the only girl on her school's golf team despite attending a school with more than 1,100 students. Still, she continued to develop her game while learning from respected PGA Professionals like Greg Morrison and Randy Smith, gaining an early appreciation for the impact PGA Members could have on players and their careers.

Golf ultimately took her to Southern Methodist University, where she starred collegiately before turning professional. Huber spent five years competing professionally, which culminated in earning her LPGA Tour card and qualifying the U.S. Women’s Open.

But golf had more chapters in store.

After her playing career, Huber worked for renowned instructor Hank Haney during the period he coached Tiger Woods. She also trained under Tim Cusick, now head coach of the PGA Coaching Center in Frisco, Texas, where she learned the art and science of teaching.

Knowing how to swing a golf club, she discovered, was very different from knowing how to help someone else learn.

"He (Tim) taught us how to teach," Huber said. "I understood my own golf swing, but how do you explain it to a beginner? What are the steps?"

As her career evolved, so did her priorities. Huber and her husband raised two children — a daughter who is now 21 and a son who is 18 — and for a period, golf took a back seat to family life.

Then came a move to Minnesota seven years ago.

A local PGA Professional encouraged her to consider teaching, noting the need for more women instructors in the area. Huber accepted the challenge, beginning at Braemar Golf Course just as participation in women's golf surged following the pandemic.

Her lesson book quickly filled, and the experience rekindled something she had missed.

"I was really enjoying teaching," she said. "That's when I knew it was time to finish pursuing PGA Membership."

The timing proved perfect. A conversation with then-Hazeltine General Manager Phil Anderson led to an opportunity at one of the country's most celebrated clubs. Through the PGA of America's reciprocity pathway for former touring professionals, Huber completed her membership journey and immediately immersed herself in the Association.

Today, she serves as a PGA Teaching Professional at Hazeltine, where she continues to coach players of all skill levels while remaining active in PGA events, education programs and tournament competition.

For Huber, the PGA of America has provided more than a credential. It has provided a professional community, continuing education and a network of peers who help her keep growing as a coach.

This week, while the world's best players compete at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, Huber will play a role in the instructional and community programming surrounding the event.

It's a fitting place for someone whose life has touched nearly every corner of the game – junior golfer, college standout, tour professional, mother, coach and PGA Professional.

And it all traces back to a lesson she learned as a child: golf can take you places.