Patrick Ronayne has brought many smiles through the PGA Hope program – just ask Daniel Finnerty.

‘I owe it all to Keiser’

Patrick Ronayne was a mortgage broker until the 2008 financial crash. He needed a mulligan on career choices.

He thought about going back to school to become a teacher, until he saw an ad for Keiser University’s golf management program.

“My father always thought golf pro would have been a great job for me,” Ronayne said. “I could be involved in coaching and business in the game I love.”

Ronayne enrolled in Keiser’s golf management program in 2010 and became its 15th graduate. While working an eight-year stint at Piper’s Landing in Palm City, he decided to go back to Keiser in 2015 to earn sports management degree online.

These days, the 39-year-old Ronayne is the assistant general manager at Southwinds Golf Course in Boca Raton. The Wellington resident gives lessons, runs the food and beverage department and is in charge of day-to-day operations.

“I’m the de facto general manager,” Ronayne said. “It’ a great job, and I owe it all to Keiser. I came to Florida after my father had passed, and golf gave me the stability and the direction and the passion.

“I was not the best student, and all of a sudden I’m graduating magna cum laude. Keiser gave me the opportunity to realize a lot of things I dreamed about in my 20s.”

Keiser’s faculty is what sets it apart, Ronayne said. They’ve been there, still doing it.

“Donna (White) was a great player who won on the LPGA Tour. She believes in education,” Ronayne said. “Mr. (Brian) Hughes found a niche at starting a new course ad he saw it from plans to completion three times. Dr. (Eric) Wilson’s singular purpose seems to be to train the professionals of tomorrow.”

Ronayne knows he didn’t join golf at the right time – “they still had a tourniquet on the industry – but that’s no longer the case.

In large part due to COVID-19, golf is booming, an $84 million industry that recently has become more mainstream. Three years into his job at Southwinds, Ronayne is bullish on golf.

“I don’t think there’s a better time to get into the industry than now,” Ronayne said. “There’s so many opportunities with the increased demand of golf and it’s not the traditional sport where you play five hours every Saturday. Drive Shack and Top Golf have helped.”

Don’t expect a quick fix, Ronayne said. Working in the golf business is a lot like learning how to play it – it takes times.

“You have to be patient with it,” he said. “It’s definitely a career you need to learn as you grow. You have to spend time building relationships.”

This mulligan paid off.

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