Brad Demo is leaving the zoysia fairways of Alvamar to pound the pavement for the PGA of America.

Demo starts Dec. 15 as executive director of the Professional Golfers’ Assn.’s Midwest Section, where he will be responsible for heading up a group that includes more than 300 golf pros from Hays to Springfield, Mo.

As executive director, Demo will be responsible for boosting fundraising and sponsorship efforts – something he’s worked on during his 20 years at Alvamar Golf Course in Lawrence, including the past 16 years as the public course’s director of golf.

“Twenty years is a long time at one company,” Demo said this week. “For 20 years, it’s been a wonderful run.”

The PGA has 41 sections nationwide, each charged with providing a “grass roots” network for coordinating play of amateur golfers with the PGA’s members. Through the efforts of directors such as Demo, sections conduct regional tournaments, sponsor clinics for junior golfers and provide continuing education and programs for PGA professionals and apprentices.

They also strive to build financial backing for such events and programs, Demo said, by visiting with businesses large and small to line up sponsorships.

Last year the Midwest Section had less than $50,000 in sponsorships, Demo said. He’s already set a goal of at least $100,000 for 2006.

Brad Demo, director of golf operations at Alvamar Golf Course, is leaving the public course after 20 years to become executive director of the Midwest Section of the PGA.

“After that, the sky’s the limit,” Demo said. “It’s fun work. If that means I’m spending an afternoon playing golf with the CEO for Sprint, that’s a great day.”

Don’t ask Demo whether he’s already set the tee time.

“No comment,” he said, laughing.

Demo’s decision to leave didn’t come as a surprise to Beverly Billings, president of Alvamar Inc., which owns the course. Demo had been president of the PGA Midwest Section in 2001 – the year the section bought its headquarters building in Blue Springs, Mo. – and has been serving on the board for several years.

When the section job opened up with the planned retirement of Jon Jacobson, who had established the section in 1985, Demo went through the interview process and landed the job.

“He beat out a lot of quality candidates, but it wasn’t a surprise – knowing the skills and quality of human being that he is,” Billings said. “He’s a very unique human being, and we’ve been very blessed to have had him for as long as we did.”

Alex Eichman, hired by Demo as the course’s head golf pro, will remain at the course. Alvamar Inc. officials have not yet decided how to proceed with finding Demo’s replacement, Billings said.

At the PGA, Demo’s relying on a handshake agreement for now – work on a contract stalled after the PGA’s national office in Florida faced a hurricane-prompted shutdown – but already he’s getting to work. Calls from friends, supporters and potential sponsors are pouring into the Alvamar Pro Shop, where he started working before becoming an assistant golf pro in 1986.

It’s a place where he’d played collegiate golf as a member of Kansas University’s golf team, coached the KU women’s team to a Big Eight Conference Championship and went to work overseeing all of the course’s golf activities: coordinating starters, lining up lessons, organizing tournaments and keeping the snack bar running. His staff ranges from two or three in the off season to 30 to 35 in the spring and summer.

Course use peaked with 44,001 rounds in 1992, Demo said, and play is on pace for 36,000 to 38,000 rounds by the end of this fiscal year, which ends in March.

With the job change, Demo’s new office will be in Blue Springs, but he acknowledges that there’s “talk” of selling the place and finding a new home.

“I’d be happy there, but if it’s moved to Lawrence I’d be thrilled,” he said.

Either way, he’ll be spending much of his time on the road, reaching out to golfers and their supporters in communities such as Hays, Hutchinson, Emporia, Manhattan, Topeka, the Kansas City metro area and others in western Missouri.

“We’re going to try to do our best to build solid business relationships with the golfing community,” he said. “I look forward to the challenge, and that’s definitely what it is: a challenge.”