Diane with her husband, Doug Penner
Jane Everett
Diane Penner had an amazing week in Palm Springs for the PGA National Club Championship. It was a dream come true for Diane playing in this event in December 2025. The three courses were beautiful, tough, and long. The PGA puts on a fantastic tournament—announcing every threesome on the 1st and 10th tees daily. Every detail of the tournament was outlined in advance—practice round times, pairings, yardages, hole locations, grass types and cutting heights, and conforming clubs and balls. The PGA had a Player Welcome Reception/Dinner and a Sponsor Cocktail Hour that was for players, spouses, caddies, and immediate family members.
Diane was able to play all three courses in practice rounds the three days before the tournament. Her husband, Doug, played the Celebrity Course with her, and their son, Kevin, played the Pete Dye course with her in the practice rounds.
The highlight for Diane was having their son, Kevin, caddie for her. It was nice to have Kevin caddie for her as he had gone through Q-School back in 2013 and had played both of the PGA West Courses—Pete Dye Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament Courses. Kevin’s ability to help Diane read the greens was a huge help. She would pick a spot on the green and he would say, “hit it just to the left of that mark or yes go right over that mark.” He was amazing in keeping track of the carry for each of her clubs and calculating to the front of the green or where she needed to land the ball. Kevin helped her with club selection every day. Diane said she had a lot of lay up holes to prevent from going into the deep bunkers.
Diane and Kevin felt she played better than what her score reflected on day 1 on the Pete Dye Stadium Course (which was getting set up for the PGA American Express Golf Tourney on Jan. 25, 2026). She shot a 95. The good news was the fact that she avoided every bunker on that course. Diane played well on day 2 at Indian Wells on the Celebrity Course shooting an 84. The Celebrity Course is the most scenic course with a lot of flowers. It has narrow fairways and smaller greens. Her family (husband, Doug, daughter-in-law, Brenna, and 15-year old grandson, JP) all came out and followed her on the back nine holes at the Celebrity Course. Diane and Kevin had a very early morning tee time on the final day of the tournament, which was on the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course. She did not hit the ball as well on the final day and shot a 95 while making par on all four of the Par 3’s that day. She went into five bunkers that day but managed to get out of all them the first time. One was 30′ deep on the side of the green and she was excited to get the ball out and onto the green.
Diane said they made some great family memories on the golf course, celebrating an early Christmas together and celebrating their son’s birthday. She was amazed how her son kept her calm, and felt she couldn’t have done it with him.
She met and played with some wonderful women across the United States. There were women from 47 states who competed in the tournament and Diane finished tied for 47th.
She was pleased with a top 50 finish out of 78 players and was one of the oldest (64 years) in the Senior Women’s division (age 50-64) with 60 women being younger than herself. Many of the women have competed in this annual tournament for several years now. It was an awesome family experience that Diane said she will cherish forever.