The Junior Tour of Northern California will launch its sixth season this spring thanks to the tremendous support of Peter Cazzolla, president and CEO of Capital Insurance Group. CIG is the title sponsor of the Junior Tour of Northern California for a third straight year. The Junior Tour of Northern California is a partnership between the NCGA and Northern California chapter of the PGA.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Peter Cazzolla
Member Club: Tahoe Donner Occupation: President and CEO of Capital Insurance Group in Monterey Fam- ily: wife Kathie; daughters Kerri and Jennifer; grand- children Christian, Aellie, Kaili Education: University of Miami; majored in management, minored in economics Favorite golf course: Pebble Beach Index: 16.0 On why he supports junior golf: I guess it goes back to me liking to give back. I was an athlete who played all the major sports, and even while I was playing, I was coaching, trying to help the kids. From a golf perspec- tive, when that opportunity arose, I thought it really was a good opportunity to give back to the kids and the community.
With grandson Christian
Goals for the Junior Tour: We are also title sponsor of the Langley (an NCPGA golf and social fundraising event that is designed to honor the game’s legends). Through our affi liation with the Langley and the NCGPA—the NCPGA and NCGA both had junior tours. At one board meeting, we were thinking that maybe we could pull all this together. Chris Thomas and Lyn Nelson were able to work out an NCGA-NCPGA Junior Tour, so we took our resources and combined them; and the whole goal now, in my opinion, being the title sponsor, is to have the premier junior tour in the West, if not the United States. On how he got into golf: I found an old hickory stick putter in our base- ment, and I would dig holes in our backyard and putt. I was probably 12. I used to watch Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus on TV. My friend’s father took me out to a public course and I just loved it. We had a great time. As it turned out, my best friend fi gured out that he didn’t like the game that
much, so I became his father’s golf buddy. That’s how I got into it, and I’ve been playing ever since. On what he likes about golf: Golf is a game where you can actually get away from things. By virtue of shut- ting the world out, it’s something that you could really just focus on and enjoy in a beautiful environment. The other thing about golf is that it puts things in perspec- tive for me. I call it the game of life. With golf, you have so many ups and downs with great shots and terrible shots and in-between shots. It really just puts things in perspective. Over time, you learn to deal with it. You’ve got to get on to the next shot.
On being able to work in the golf business: We now
insure golf courses. It’s fun to be in the golf business. We’re engaged in it and we’re actively involved in the NCGA, the Junior Tour, the Langley and the NCPGA. We’re also very active in the Club Managers Association. We have a fair bit of involvement in the golf community, and we enjoy it. Great people.