Everything is coming full circle for Grant McKay, a former SNJGA member, who recently served as the P.J. Boatwright intern for the Southern Nevada Golf Association. He has now taken the role of director of programming and competitions for the SNJGA. –By Brian Hurlburt, Las Vegas Golf Insider.

“Growing up in this town, I just feel grateful to the SNGA and SNJGA to allow me the opportunity to give back to the community that has given me so much,” says McKay, a 4-year varsity player at Coronado High prior to playing collegiately at Trion University in Indiana and briefly at William Jessup College in California.

At Coronado, McKay was all-state twice and helped the Cougars to three region championships. He was won the state junior amateur as part of the SNJGA and finished top 10 at the prestigious Champions Invitational.

“What I remember most about the SNJGA is the friendships that I built and it really taught me how to compete and play under pressure,” says McKay.

While at Trion, McKay earned PING All-Region status in 2017-18, but after a semester at Jessup, be returned home and finished his economics and finance degree at Grand Canyon University. Shortly thereafter he started the internship, which has turned into a full-time role.

“By going through the internship, I saw golf from the other side,” says McKay. “I learned how to nun tournaments, market tournaments and set up golf-related events in community. It really opened my eyes to the operations side of golf. It was really good experience as a player to see how administration works.

“In my new role with the SNJGA, I will be running all of the competitions and ‘Learn to Play’ classes and helping to get more kids into the game. I am looking forward to growing the game of golf. Also, bringing a player’s perspective to the SNJGA will be a big help and allow me to offer input having been on the other side of things.”