For the past eight years, one of the most successful PGA Jr. League Coaches in America is right here in South Jordan. Darci Dehlin-Olsen has been coaching and instructing young players for years at the Glenmoor Golf Club, a course she also played as a youth. She has now been named a winner of the PGA GameChanger Award for her work in advancing youth golf.

“We have the largest youth golf program in the state, and we’ve hit the benchmarks we set for the number of leagues and so many kids earning scholarships,” she said. “So we’ve become a gamechanger in that way. It’s pretty awesome.”

During the PGA Show in Orlando earlier this year, she was recognized along with 105 PGA of America Golf Professionals and LPGA Professionals. Since the program’s inception in 2019, the 25 largest PGA Jr. Leagues nationwide earn the GameChanger designation. Dehlin-Olsen has won it the past two years.

“The GameChanger Awards are a meaningful way to recognize the PGA Jr. League coaches who consistently go above and beyond to enrich the lives of families in their communities,” said Steve Tanner, senior director of player engagement for the PGA of America. “Their passion, leadership and dedication play a vital role in creating positive experiences that extend beyond the course.”

“Utah definitely has a lot of youth sports,” Dehlin-Olsen said, “and the area around Glenmoor is experiencing a lot of growth with new move-ins. Since we went through the Save Glenmoor project in 2017 (the course was considered being closed for developers, but the community fought back to save it), there’s been a great outreach to provide something for everyone, and I’ve always been focused on helping our youth.”

She loves Glenmoor, where she grew up playing, where her husband and daughter play, along with both youth and adults. On Women’s Sports Day in 2025, she saw huge numbers of female golfers, who now make up almost 50% of all players on the course. When she first started at Glenmoor, that number was between 10 and 15%.

High school teams from Herriman, Bingham and Mountain Ridge call it their home course, and many of the players on those teams have been taught by and trained with Dehlin-Olsen. She said the growth in girls’ golf in particular has exploded. When the sport was first introduced into Utah high school sports a few years ago, some players were added to teams just by showing up. Now, she said there is a tryout procedure where at several schools, some girls are cut to get teams to the 8 to 10 player limit.

“So to have a girl try out for high school golf–it’s really rewarding, and fun to see all of them apply for scholarships,” she said. “And the sport continues to grow in popularity across the board. We have over 500 men in our men' s league out here, and our ladies’ league is the largest it's ever been. Things are just bustling. We’ve got a little bit of everything out here.”

One concern that all golf courses are facing is the issue of water usage. Dehlin-Olsen said that so much technology goes into course maintenance now, and course superintendents are constantly schooled on conservation and preservation of water.

“There’s a misconception,” she said. “Golf courses actually consume less water than homeowners and development areas. The computer systems are programmed so you only put in the amount of water that comes out during the day. Golf courses are called the bad guys when it comes to watering, but it’s actually the other way around. We help conserve and keep things cooled down.”