Eric Gilliland, PGA: A True PGA Professional, Mentor, Community Supporter, and Father

View Eric's Golf Professional of the Year Video Highlight

By Libby Gilliland

My dad has been at Audubon since before I was born (I'm 23). So simply put I don't know life without my dad being a golf professional or without Audubon County Club. I grew up on the golf course and in the pro shop, many of our family dinners taking place in office chairs and in golf carts.

Audubon really was our home and still is. It was really clear as I grew up how important being a golf professional was to my dad. Of course he loves the sports, but his passion for his work shined through most while he was teaching, running tournaments, merchandising, and leading his staff. His work ethic is truly like no one I have ever seen before. I would know because I inherited many of his attributes, and he still works circles around me.

He has a strong passion and meaning behind what he does. My dad is a giver. He works hard for his family to provide, for his staff to give them an exceptional work environment, for his members to present the best county club experience possible, and for his community to leave a lasting impact. He is exceedingly humble so I'll say it for him, Audubon County Club and the Kentucky golf community would not be what it is today without him.

I don't think I've ever been out in public with him without someone noticing him and saying hi. He is known statewide for his impact in the Kentucky golf landscape and it goes to show that his everyday work isn't just touching his members and his immediate staff, it stretches beyond the state of Kentucky.

His reputation is so strong simply because always he shows up. In his presence, attitude, love for the people around him. He shows up for his staff to develop them to be leaders, he shows up for his members, and he shows up for his Kentucky section. He loves playing in tournaments, hosting tournaments and being involved in whatever ways he can to strengthen the golf community in Louisville and beyond.

He is a teacher at heart. His students are so loyal to him because of the attentiveness and genuine care he has in each one of their journey's. He is the best version of himself when he gets to be on the course teaching and seeing his students improve.

He's an incredible swing coach but what really stands out to me about him as a teacher is the impact he has had on the junior golf program at Audubon. Nowadays, junior golf initiatives are everywhere but as I was growing up, the junior golf programming Audubon had because of him was an example for every course to follow.

He was out teaching junior programming nearly every morning & night in the summers. He ran programming for all ages, and the common theme was that every day, kids were on the course smiling ear to ear learning to play because of him. From short game to driving, he had a way to make every clinic engaging for each kid, which is not an easy thing to do.

Many of the kids he taught, me included, went on to play competitively and continue to play into their adult lives. He taught them, as he taught me that golf is so much more than a sport. It's a community that you can be a part of forever.

His teaching quickly expanded to coaching as I grew up and decided to continue playing competitively. He coached my high school team and continued to be my swing coach through my college career.

I went to school in Philadelphia, so he wasn't physically there to fix my swing at any moment, but anytime I needed a hand he was there on Facetime or was analyzing a swing video over text. That's just a small example of how dedicated a coach he is. Not just for me, but for all of his students.

Several years ago, he took on a new student, Delaney Shah, who was playing for the University of Louisville and needed a new coach. He developed a strong trust with Delaney through the end of her excellent playing career at Louisville. Enough so that they still work together to this day as she competes professionally on the WAPT tour. Delaney has become a true part of our family over the years and their student/coach relationship is a great example of my dad's commitment to being a teacher.

At the end of the day, his students aren't just a golf swing. He wants to know their story and build a good foundation to see them improve so they can enjoy the game forever.

Beyond teaching the golf swing, my dad is an exceptional leader and teacher to his staff. Growing up in the golf shop I always knew that the staff was part of our family.

As staff came and went through the years, one thing always remained the same and that was the close-knit community that was built in that pro shop. My dad always wants to see his staff members succeed beyond their time at Audubon. Yes, he teaches the day to day operations at the club but he has a focus on bigger picture skills to succeed in the industry.

His teaching works. Almost every one of his former assistant professionals is working as a head professional or in some section of the golf business, myself included.

I started officially working in the golf shop in my junior year of high school. I stayed in my role through covid which was both extremely difficult and incredibly rewarding all at once.

During covid, we had a staff of three people, including myself and my dad. We were out sanitizing golf carts every morning and constantly adapting to keep our members safe. Looking back on that time, in a weird way I'm so thankful for it. There was something so special about spending those days with my dad and seeing the joy on our members' faces knowing they could still play the game they loved.

That's just the way he is, he will do whatever it takes to put a smile on the face of a golfer.

I could write about the man he is and the woman he has raised me to be all day. He's my role model for so many reasons but a big part of who he is, is what he has been through.

When I was five years old, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. I remember waking up one morning and walking downstairs to find my parents gone and my grandma standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting to tell my brother and I that my dad was in the hospital with cancer.

At five years old I didn't know what cancer was, but I could understand the gravity of it when I visited him in the hospital. He didn't look like he usually did but he mustered a faint smile to tell me he was okay.

The next thing I remember was him walking in the door of my childhood home and running to hug him. I knew in that moment that I wasn't going to lose my dad.

He had been through major surgery to remove the cancer but had finally made his way back home to his family.

While he recovered, I sat by his side each day. We were all together as a family again and there's not a day that goes by that I'm not beyond thankful he's here with us today.

Years after his diagnosis, he was asked to play in a charity event called 100 holes with some other local golf professionals. 100 holes in one day seemed tough, but my dad didn't hesitate to accept and he asked me to caddy for him.

We had so much fun that day and started to think about how we could use this idea to support our own local charity.

The next year, we started our own version of 100 holes to support the Colon Cancer Prevention Project, a nonprofit organization in Louisville, Kentucky that support colon cancer patients and survivors and works to educate the local community on colon cancer awareness and prevention.

Today, we are preparing for our 13th annual 100 holes event. We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for colon cancer prevention and since our inaugural event, Kentucky has  moved from one of the worst states for colon cancer fatality to a state that is setting an example of prevention for the whole country.

We are beyond thankful for all of our supporters and are so fortunate to be in a position to provide outreach and support for the Colon Cancer Prevention Project through our event.

We took a cause we were passionate about and combined it with our love for the game of golf to make an impact in our community.

My dad took a terrible life experience and turned into something that has saved lives in our state. That's the man my dad is - selfless and always turning negatives to a positive.

When he won the Kentucky Professional of the Year award this year, I was lucky enough to be there among his peers and colleagues and it’s a moment I will never forget. It's rare that you get to be in a room with all of the people who have impacted your career and say thank you. My dad is one of the funniest people I know but he doesn't often wear his heart on his sleeve.

Seeing him up on that stage with tears in his eyes was a testament to how much he cares about his career as a golf professional. This Kentucky golf community is his family, our family, and we are blessed to be a part of it.