PGA Professional Golf Pro Tommi Ylijoki, pictured front, watches as another golfer putts one
Saturday afternoon at Delray Beach Municipal Golf Course. Originally from Helsinki, Finland,
Ylijoki has been playing golf in the South Florida area for 25 years.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Pike
Let’s deal with the name first. It’s Tommi Ylijoki, a good Finnish moniker and the name of the new head golf professional at Delray Beach Golf Club. Born in Helsinki and raised in West Palm Beach, Ylijoki, in a roundabout way, is back home.
His first golf experiences were riding on his father’s shoulders at the Palm Beach Par 3 and later advancing through the area’s junior programs that included rising PGA Tour star Brooks Koepka of Wellington.
“This was really where I want to be,’’ Ylijoki said. “I wanted to go someplace I could make a direct impact. I played here and the (Palm Beach) Par 3 and Okeeheelee when I was growing up. This is the flagship course for JCD. It’s been here since 1923 and is a really popular place. It’s not as seasonal as other courses in the area.’’
Ylijoki played on the golf team at Forest Hill High School, turned down golf scholarships from several local small colleges and followed his two sisters to the University of Florida.
“Education was very important to me,’’ said Ylijoki, who earned a degree in history. “I knew I could always come back to golf.’’
Following his 2007 graduation from UF, Ylijoki stayed in Gainesville — where he was assistant professional at Haile Plantation Golf & Country Club — before he got a higher call to duty. That was mandatory service in the Finnish military, where Ylijoki served 14 months in the navy and rose to the rank of corporal in the military police.
Ylijoki indeed returned to golf (and Gainesville) at Haile Plantation as “first assistant professional” from August 2009 to July 2012 before heading back to South Florida, which he quickly learned is the land of a thousand unemployed golf professionals.
“I had a difficult job finding a job,’’ he said. “I applied to something like 40 courses and after not hearing anything back, finally got started (as assistant professional) at the West Palm Beach Golf Course.’’
Ylijoki stayed at West Palm Beach GC, also managed by JCD Sports Group of Delray Beach, for 13 months before getting the head professional job at Orangebrook Golf & Country Club, another JCD-managed facility, in October 2013.
He made the move to Delray Beach Golf Club this past March.
Ylijoki brings the best of each world — golf club management and military-trained organization skills — to the Donald Ross-designed course.
“Everything in the military is done based on organization,’’ Ylijoki said. “The reason it’s done that way is because it works. It’s the most efficient way to get things done. I’m not saying running a golf course is the same as the military, but it definitely gives you leadership qualities.
“Basically my role here is to be the professional manager. A lot of courses are going that way today. You really have to wear a bunch of different hats. But it’s not about me being here — it’s about what we can provide the customers. I look at customer service and presentation — a place that’s organized and clean and a place where people want to go. A lot of it is price-driven, but this facility has very much a club feel. People like to come here and hang out. That’s what makes it fun.’’
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