Perhaps no individual has had more impact on the development of junior golf in Texas than Mike Ray. As executive director of the Southern Texas PGA from 1987 to 2017, he guided the formation of the Junior Tour, Prestige Tour, Junior Links, and Little Linksters, increasing annual participation to more than 3,400 juniors per year through over 400 tournaments, making it one of the most robust junior programs in the country.

Ray’s journey as a junior golf advocate began in Borger, Texas, where he grew up playing the game with his family at the golf course run by his father’s employer, Philips Petroleum. His passion for playing golf culminated as the medalist in the 1978 Texas State High School Championship. After a year of junior college, he received a scholarship to play for the University of Oklahoma for three years. Following graduation, Ray was hired as the golf professional at Waterwood National Golf Course and later went on to become the head golf professional at the Woodlands Resort and Country Club. At the time, the Houston Golf Association was running the PGA Tour’s Houston Open tournament at the Woodlands and Ray’s skills as a leader were soon discovered. In 1987, he was offered the role as assistant executive director of Houston Golf Association, which also included the duties as executive director of Southern Texas PGA.

When Ray took the helm of STPGA, it had a budget of under $100,000 and conducted one junior golf event in Houston. But he saw the potential for more significant impact throughout southern Texas and expanded STPGA junior programs into Austin, Beaumont, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. By the time Ray left his role at STPGA, the organization had an annual operating budget of over $4 million, had established a 501(c) 3 foundation receiving $400,000 in yearly donations, hosted over 22,000 junior rounds of golf and awarded $1 million in student scholarships.

Ray’s impact on junior golf extends beyond southern Texas. To provide a showcase for advanced junior golfers around the state to get noticed for potential college opportunities, Ray helped establish the Legends Tour and the Texas Junior Golf Alliance, a partnership between the STPGA, NTPGA, and Texas Golf Association. He was also a founding board member of First Tee Greater Austin, which was instrumental in developing the life skills curriculum used by the First Tee programs around the world. 

Today, Mike Ray is still honing his professional service as he is on staff at the PGA of America headquarters serving as Regional Director, Member and Section Business Operations. Mike and his wife, Sheryl, live in Anna, Texas, and have three sons Justin (spouse Vanessa), Nathaniel (spouse Ryan), and Blaine, and are the proud grandparents of Jack.

Born 11/4/59 Borger, Texas