The Soul of 78: Cade Diehl;

Musgrove Country Club PGA Golf Professional

Words by McKenzie Wade | Image by Al Blanton 

Inside Musgrove Country Club’s golf shop hangs a 2007 photo of former Musgrove PGA Professional Phil Green and a 12-year-old boy. Today, that 12-year-old junior golfer is the new PGA Professional at Musgrove Country Club—filling the shoes of the man who taught him all that he knows. 

Cade Diehl grew up in Jasper and has been playing golf at Musgrove for as long as he can remember. “Dad had me out here when I was five or six, swinging a club, trying not to take chunks out of the golf course,” he laughs.

Throughout his teenage years, Cade began taking lessons and playing in tournaments. He was a member of the Walker High School golf team and even helped Phil out at Musgrove when he could. “He would let me help him during the big tournaments,” Cade says. “For him to let me do that at 16, 17, 18 years old, that was kind of special to me.” 

After graduating from Walker in 2013, Cade continued his golfing career at Wallace State Community College under the late coach Dan York. Originally a biology major, Cade learned of a PGA program at Mississippi State University that would completely change his plans. One visit to the PGA program was all it took. “At that point, I was sold on it,” he explains.

In 2015, Cade transferred to MSU, where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing with a concentration in PGA golf management. As it turns out, the curriculum was a bit more strenuous than he anticipated. “You have to know all of the rules of golf…the book is about the size of the Atlanta phone directory,” Cade laughs. 

Before graduating the program, Cade had to complete three internships. He says he could have gone anywhere in the world but was lucky enough to return home to Musgrove and intern under Phil. 

Cade graduated from Mississippi State in 2019 as Phil was preparing to retire from his long 29-year career at Musgrove. In January 2021, after working as an assistant under Phil for one year, Cade became the head PGA Golf Professional. 

“I guess I was in the right place at the right time…I got to come back home, which is very rare. I appreciate that,” Cade says.     

When asked what it is about golf that has always intrigued him, he replies, “Golf is steeped in history. I kind of like the old traditions of how the game works. You don’t have a guy in a striped shirt out here refereeing. It is just an honor system, and I have always been that type of person.” 78