VALDOSTA — The pro shop has a new design, new equipment and a new PGA golf professional. Welcome to the new Valdosta Country Club.

The renovations to the clubhouse were completed earlier this year, a project that was kick started when the new PGA professional, Cary Brown, took over Dec. 1.

“We completely renovated it, all the way down to the sheet rock,” Brown said. “So everything in there is new. We want to be a very accommodating, family oriented country club.”

Now, the newly redesigned pro shop has huge windows that allow anyone to get look at the course while shopping some of the top brands the shop offers, like Titleist, Foot Joy and Cutter and Buck.

“That was one of my main focuses when I got here,” said Brown. “I wanted to make sure the Club was able to have, what we feel, the finest clothing store in the Valdosta area. That is something that is important to me. I love merchandising, I love buying, and it is a big part of what we do as PGA Professionals.”

Along with revitalizing the pro shop, Brown has also made it his mission for the Country Club to emphasize junior golf, something Brown said the Club is looking to do.

“I feel like we just have really good junior programs,” Brown said. “That is the return the Club is looking to do. We are looking to getting back to taking care of our juniors, taking care of our kids and getting back our junior tournaments.”

Brown’s initiative to place an emphasis on junior golf has worked as more youth golfers have come forward for lessions. But Brown hopes to expand the junior golf program even more.

“I look to be a leader for junior golf and I look to expand the Club’s position in that arena,” Brown said. “We are just going to try and grow that position as much as we can.”

At the end of July, VCC will also host the GSGA Junior Sectional Golf Tournament, which will feature some of the top  junior talent from the area.

“It will have close to 200 kids,” said Brown of the event. “It is going to be large tournament. We are just trying to continue the Club’s stance, and that is a member’s stance, to support junior golf.”

To date, there are currently 30 regular participants in the Club’s Junior Club program, but with the passing of the new amendment and the departure of Chris Dixon from Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, that number should increase.

“It takes a grass roots effort and obviously Chris Dixon at Kinderlou had a great program and his departure to Tifton is definitely going to leave a void in our area,” Brown said. “He will certainly take a few kids up there with him, but we are excited about the opportunity of possibly capturing some of those children.”

Valdosta Country Club is also becoming a hot bed for high school tournaments too. This year, Valwood hosted its golf tournaments at the Country Club, along with Valdosta and Lowndes. The club also hosted the David Dean fundraising golf tournament for Valdosta State.

“We host all of their tournaments,” said Brown when talking about the relationships with the local area high schools.

While junior golf being a key emphasis for Brown and Valdosta Country Club, so it keeping its current members happy and satisfied with what the Club has to offer. In fact, Brown and the Club just recently help a Club Championship. The championship was the first at VCC in 10 years and was widely accepted as 80 golfers participated in the event.

“The support for that was overwhelming,” Brown said. “That was something, during my interview process, that I was very excited about restoring. That is something that our area, and especially the Club, is so fortunate to have. It is not every day that you get to have a club that has been a part of your community for 100 years and in 2017 we will be coming into our centennial, which is super exciting.”

Brown came to Valdosta Country Club after serving as the assistant golf professional at the Country Club of Columbus, his native hometown. Brown said that when the Valdosta position became available that he and his family were looking to relocate and that they “fell in love with the city.”

“We loved the aspect of getting to relocate to a South Georgia town,” Brown said. “And obviously, Valdosta Country Club has a lot of history and that sort of intrigued us. It was basically love at first site. Besides the three exits you pass on the way to Orlando, I didn’t really know much about Valdosta.”

Brown, who graduated from Auburn University after playing junior college baseball, was one of more than 75 applicants that applied for the Valdosta Country Club position. To Brown, his prior experience at “storied” Country Clubs helped him stand out during the interview process and land his first-ever head PGA professional position.

“Having the great opportunity to work under great professionals and to be mentored under really good golf professionals helped me get through the interview process,” Brown said. “I’ve been very blessed and I feel very fortunate to be a golf professional.”