2023 PCMGA Most Improved Player Mike Clune
Howie Tiger
The PebbleCreek Men’s Golf Association (PCMGA) has named Mike Clune its Most Improved Player of 2023. The official announcement was made at the Presidents Cup tournament on Jan. 18.
As background, Mike grew up a Coast Guard brat and never lived in any one place for more than four years. He went to high school in Elizabeth City, N.C., and graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in business administration.
He spent 25 years of his career in the restaurant and bar business. He had owned and managed Togo’s Too (now called Squirrels), a tavern with food and live music in Corvallis, Ore. He moved to Boise, Idaho, and owned a business called Vista Deli & Catering. Finish carpentry was always a hobby, so he then created a construction company building new homes and doing remodeling projects. He did this initially in Boise and then in Palm Desert, Calif.
Also while in Boise, Mike had a side business doing horse boarding. That led to becoming a member of the National Team Penning Association. Team Penning members compete in two events (Team Penning and Team Sorting). Team Penning has three riders on horseback who work as a team to move three numbered cows from one end of the arena to a pen on the other end without bringing any incorrectly numbered cows across the foul line. Team Sorting is a team of two riders in two 50-foot round pens, moving 10 cows in numbered order from one pen to the other. In both events the fastest time wins.
Mike was the son of an avid golfer, but he played only five or 10 times a year, mostly to join his dad and two brothers in a foursome. He did not play regularly until he and his wife, Melinda, moved to PebbleCreek in 2021. Now, Mike plays three or four times a week and if not playing, he practices parts of his game.
In 2023, Mike improved from a 15.9 index to a 9.5. He attributes his improvement to playing regularly, practicing daily and great instructions from Dennis Downs.
The PCMGA uses the United States Golf Association (USGA) method to determine who the Most Improved Player is. The formula used is a ratio that encompasses the handicap index at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. The higher the ratio, the better the improvement.
A card credit for $25 will be awarded to Mike for his achievement.
Congratulations to Mike for a great season! Go get ’em cowboy!