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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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golfer’s tee times Editor-in-Chief/Publisher..................................................................................Marian Castner Graphic Design........................................................................................................ Daria Little Contributing Writers..............................................Sean Fawcett, Richard Skelly & Rick Woelfel Advertising..............................................................................Marian Castner & Sean Fawcett Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved Visit us on our new website: www.njgolfnews.com Office: Golfer’s Tee Times Media Group PO Box 163, Marlboro, NJ 07746-0163 Phone: (732) 577-1995 Email: editor@njgolfnews.com Golfer’s Tee Times welcomes editorial ideas and submissions by writing or email.

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Olympic Update: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (L-R) Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Justin Rose of Great Britain and Matt Kuchar of United States pose with their Olympic Medals after the final round of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/IGF)

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

Letter from the Editor Dear Readers, It’s been another spectacular year for golf, especially golf in New Jersey! Besides hosting the PGA Championship this summer, and the ShopRite LPGA Classic in late May, the USGA Junior Girls’ Junior Championship in July, there have been terrific events conducted both locally and beyond.

We certainly want to acknowledge that golf took another step forward in 2016; this time on the global stage, as it returned to the Olympics for the first time since the Summer of 1904.

While there seemed to be lots of pre-Olympic controversy surrounding which men would represent the USA in golf, at the end, golf was played, in Rio, on the new course, designed by Gil Hanse (who has done work at two of New Jersey’s most prestigious golf courses, Ridgewood Country Club and Plainfield Country Club), and its presence back at the Games, will help definitely “grow of the game” globally.

Contrary to recent comments by one of the PGA TOUR’s top players, Rory McIlroy, everyone connected to golf – whether you are a golf course owner, employee at a golf course, tour player, everyday player (including those who called themselves “amateurs” and those who are socalled “hackers”), golf writer, parent of a junior golfer, and on and on – is responsible for its growth and future.

We all love the game, so why not promote it? We hope to see it again in four years at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

Congratulations to Jimmy Walker for his first “major” win at the 98th PGA Championship, Anna Norqvist on her back-to-back victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, Eun Seong Jeong for successfully defending her Girls’ Junior title, PGA of America award winners Mike Adams and Bryan Jones, the local tournament winners – both the professionals and the amateursjuniors and adults - for their tireless efforts and achievements.

As we move into the Fall, I wanted to thank everyone associated with Golfer’s Tee Times, and those who motivate me to continue to publish this newspaper. Whether we do two, three or four issues a year, know that we’ll be back again soon at a golf course near you.

As always, I encourage our readers to contact me with any ideas or thoughts on how we can improve our publication in our next issue.

Golfingly Yours, Marian Castner, margolf14@gmail.com or mcastner@passportnjgolf.com Office: (732) 577-1995 Follow and Like us on Facebook!

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Two Families United In Making New History at Atlantic City Country Club

By Marian Castner

There are few golf courses that can boast what Atlantic City Country Club has to offer. Besides its rich golf heritage and being consistently ranked at the top of public golf courses in the state, the ownership at the golf club has not only embraced its past, but looked for ways to improve its facility.

The history of Atlantic City Country Club dates back to 1897, and is perhaps best known as the “Birthplace of the Birdie.”

From the early 1940s to the late 1990s, the course was owned by the Fraser family, starting with Assemblyman James “Sonny” Fraser and later his brother, a well -known PGA golf professional and one-time President of PGA of America , Leo Fraser. After Leo passed away in 1986, the club was managed by the Fraser family until 1998, when the club was sold to Hilton Hotels (Caesars Entertainment Corp. eventually became the property owner through a series of casino corporation acquisitions).

While there was some investment in the golf course in the late 1990s, little was done to the clubhouse and in some respects the golf course also needed to be refreshed.

But in 2014, Ottinger Golf Group, who also owns Ballamor Golf Club and Scotland Run Golf Club, purchased the club, and began a two-phase renovation project over a period of two-year winters including many improvements to the clubhouse, and as well as some on the golf course.

The makeover was extensive starting in the Clubhouse entry, and extending into the John J McDermott Room, James “Sonny” Fraser Room, the Leo Fraser Library and the main Grand Ballroom. Even the outside façade of the clubhouse was redone, as well as several holes on the golf course were renovated and restored.

During the second phase, which was completed in March, the Taproom Bar and Grille was renovated, along with two private dining rooms and the addition of a

als who contributed to making Atlantic City Country Club one of the most revered and prestigious clubs in the United States. “ Jim Fraser, son of Leo Fraser, who ran Mays Landing Country Club with his brother Doug and sister Bonnie for many years before selling it in 2015, is equally in lauding the praises of how the club has intertwined the history of the club with its future.

“Our family is really happy that the Ottinger family has embraced the history of Atlantic City Country Club,” said Fraser.

“It is not only the right thing to do but also a great business decision.”

At the recent reception to introduce the many renovations and upgrades at the club, Fraser presented a painting of the course’s third hole done by Sonny Fraser’s wife, Madolin Vautrinot Fraser. The painting hung in the Fraser home for many years but now Fraser felt it was the right time to donate it to the club.

“Atlantic City Country Club is like a golf museum. It belonged there,” added Fraser, who happily says he tries to get to the golf course often to see the painting which now hangs prominently in the clubhouse.

Let’s not forget that have been books written about the rich golf history at Atlantic City Country Club. The Senior Tour held their first tournament there in 1980.

Six USGA major championships have been played there, and well-known golf legends have enjoyed rounds there including Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead and Nancy Lopez, besides the host of political and entertainment celebrities that have played there over the years.

One of the most unique things that the club did was commission four videos, each about 15 minutes in length, heralding the history of the club. The videos are available at the kiosks spaced throughout the Clubhouse.

“There is so much history there and these kiosks give visitors to the club a much

experience your playground

[ U L S T E R C O U N T Y, N . Y. ] Lazy Swan Golf & Country Club, Saugerties, N.Y.

Just a 90 minute drive from Manhattan are more than a dozen beautifully manicured golf courses awaiting your challenge. Come experience breathtaking views of the Hudson Valley at historic golf settings and courses designed by acclaimed architects including Robert Trent Jones. No waiting, new “Skydeck,” offering spectacular views of the Atlantic City skyline. On the golf course, several bunkers were re- sanded and other details were improved, including the improved halfway house.

While the renovations are numerous, what really happened over the past two years, is that the past and the present have come together like is rarely seen, both in the golf and business worlds. The Ottingers have taken the strengths of the past, and the history from the Fraser era and incorporated it into a future like few other courses have.

“It’s been a pleasure and honor getting to know the Fraser family. I will be forever grateful for their willingness to share their family’s history and the history of Atlantic City Country Club with us,” says Chip Ottinger, CEO of Ottinger Golf. “They provided innumerable artifacts, photos and stories that were crucial to the production of our new interactive video kiosks on the history of the club and the many individu-

broader understanding of what has occurred there,” explained Fraser.

The videos, produced by Century City Film & Video, incorporates the many facets of the club’s history, including the years when Arnold Palmer, while in the Coast Guard in 1952-1953, was stationed in nearby Cape May, and frequently played as a guest of Leo Fraser. Palmer was interviewed and featured in some of the videos.

Fraser adds, ‘These videos are really unique in the world of golf and people should come to see them.”

“The Fraser family was responsible for so much of the treasured history we celebrate at Atlantic City Country Club and beyond, concluded Ottinger. “ I can’t thank them enough for what they have done for us, the club and the business of golf. “ Hopefully this will give everyone a chance to visit, play and dine the new Atlantic City Country Club, while learning about its rich past at the same time.

reasonable rates and convenient tee times – it’s the perfect golfing getaway.

For a complete list of golf courses and more information, visit www.UlsterCountyAlive.com or call Ulster County Tourism at 1-800-342-5826.

Hudson Valley/Catskill Regions

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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

PGA Pro Mike Attara owner of Spirit Golf Management expands His Field with Purchase of Hopewell Valley Golf &Country Club

By Richard J Skelly

Monroe Township-raised PGA club professional Mike Attara figures he must have gotten his entrepreneurial acumen from his father, Joe. His father owned a jazz club, Joe’s Hideaway, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, before moving his family out to “rural” Monroe Township. Later still, he dabbled in real estate in Long Branch.

So it’s no surprise to those who know Mike Attara well that he was able to line up a small team of investors through his golf management company, Spirit Golf, to purchase and manage the magnificent Hopewell Valley Golf & Country Club. Built in 1927, HVGCC remains a great walking course with character-filled putting greens and 18 picturesque holes that have stood the test of time.

Hopewell Valley opened as a private club but like so many other private clubs, fell upon harder times.

Now, since this past April, Spirit Golf and the HVGCC membership have opened the doors to the public, offering some limited outside play for the first time since 1927.

Hopewell Valley offers nonmembers a chance to play a maximum of 5 rounds unaccompanied or 10 rounds a year through a trial membership program. Rates have been kept very competitive including senior and junior discounts and all rounds include unlimited use of the practice facilities and access to clubhouse amenities.

“The idea is to offer the public the same sense of belonging that our members feel when they walk in the door,” said Attara, who is now acting GM and CEO of HVGCC. “The minute you turn down the long driveway, you get that special feeling of arrival that offers a very inviting and comfortable ambience. I have always loved coming to HVGCC over the years playing in Pro-Am or other PGA Section events and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share the charm that makes Hopewell so special with the public.

“Our plan remains to limit the number of rounds a year a public player can use the facilities so not to impact our member’s value.But there are very few restrictions on when the public can play. We are using the same 5 round guest policy that has been in place for almost 90 years and offering it for the first time to be unaccompanied guest play. With a focus on family and keeping golf fun and relaxing, we have seen the public embrace the club and many have purchased our 10 round trial or 5 round prepaid pass that offers some savings off the rack rates.

“With a variety of membership options from full — to golf and sports memberships, HVGCC offers affordable single and family memberships that include golf, tennis, paddle, pool, fitness and unlimited use of the practice facilities,” commented Attara. The club also boasts a 9-hole family golf course to stimulate growth in family memberships and encourage family play at the facility.

PGA Professional PJ Ulanich at HVGCC for the past 16 years and key member of the team said, “Our focus is on families and we have had some excellent success this season in re-building the family programs. Spirit has always been known for their player development and community outreach so it was a no brainer to have them come in and help us restructure the family offerings.”

Having a strong team and involved investors is key to Hopewell Valley’s success. Rich Rutzler, a commercial artist who owns Future Signs, a thriving sign business in Hamilton Township, is one of the investors. Attara described Rutzler as ‘a very talented business person’ who he has known since they were both 13 in Monroe Township. Rutzler created the new logo for the club and updated all the signage and tee signs with the equestrian

feel that is part of the club’s heritage. John Goeke, the food and beverage manager for Spirit Golf, who first came to work with Attara when he was at Cranbury Golf Club, is also an investor. These three are the nucleus of Spirit Golf Management, and then there are some family and other business associates that are investors.

“We also brought in a new superintendent of greens, Mark Peterson, who has worked with me for the past seven years. I’ve known Mark since he was working as an assistant at Rossmoor Golf Club and later hired Mark to grow in a couple of courses back in the Nineties,” commented Attara. “I am confident we’ve assemble a team that understands the various elements to create a great private club: agronomy and greens keeping, new instructional programs, a refreshed social atmosphere that welcomes families as well as the numerous upgrades to facilities. We can do all these things on a different level than a lot of bigger management companies can.”

“Our Spirit Golf Academy, Tennis program and Swim team have had great success this season. For the first time we are offering PGA Junior League and Get Golf Ready classes. Our Tennis program, headed up by Doug Potkay, the men’s head coach at Rider University, is off to a great start. A lot of effort and money has gone into making improvements to the club including updating the amenities and staffing which paid dividends with our Swim team, who went undefeated this season for the first time,” said John Goeke, COO. As for the golf course itself, Hopewell Valley, was built in the 1920’s, before golf carts were around, and is a delightful walking course designed by Scottish architect Thomas Winton. Hopewell Valley’s layout, measuring 6,612 yards from the back tees, has many memorable holes. Holes No. 8 and 16 are known for their dramatically sloping putting greens. The par 3, 175-yard 13th hole, which features an elevated tee and requires a carry over the Stony Brook to a green about 50 yards below, is also tricky. Holes 16, 17 and 18, par 5, par 3 and par 5 respectively, are great finishing holes that take advantage of the natural slopes on the property. No. 4 on the front nine is a tricky up and down par 5 where the Stony Brook also comes into play on the golfer’s approach shot to the elevated green. The No. 1 handicap is the par 4, 373-yard 8th hole. Assuming the golfer makes it to the 8th green in two shots, the severe back to front slope of the green prevents all but the most pinpoint accurate shots from being within easy birdie putt range.

Former members at Hopewell Valley include Phil Alampi, “Mr. Cook College” and a former New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture, as well as longtime Princeton resident, Professor Thom Hartmann, who taught journalism at Rutgers College for many years and served as Bill Bradley’s campaign manager for New Jersey during his Presidential bid in the 1980’s. Hartmann was one of Hopewell Valley’s biggest supporters, having joined the club in 1970 when full golfing memberships were $700. He often called it “the hidden jewel of central New Jersey’s private golf courses.”

“It says a lot for Winton’s design, because the course hasn’t really changed much over all this time,” Attara noted, “aside from No. 13, there are so many special, memorable holes here.”

Attara has and is enjoying his golf life. “I was about 12 when I started really playing golf,” he recalled. After high school he decided he wanted to get into the golf business, so he worked at Bamm Hollow in Middletown

[now becoming a housing development off Route 520] for a season, and then worked a season at Concordia before working for five years with Tony Wilcenski at Rossmoor.

Wilcenski, who is one of a few PGA Master Professionals in the state, specializes in teaching golf to seniors. Attara credited Wilcenski with nurturing him along so he could attain head professional status in 1991 before settling into that roleat Cranbury Golf Club.“It was a great experience for me to be there and run the shop while he was away,” Attara recalled, noting Tony was president of the New Jersey PGA Section for a time and was heavily involved in running tournaments and programs around the state.“He was always giving his time to the section. I got more involved with the PGA because of his influence,” Attara said.

In addition to teaching the game of golf, Attara spent a good portion of his career focused on growing the game of golf as the past Chairman of the PGA Sections Grow of the Game Committee and current Trustee of the New Jersey PGA Golf Foundation. He also served six years on the NJ PGA Board of Directors, and is a five-time recipient of the NJ PGA President’s Plaque.

After receiving his PGA professional status, he spent the next decade at Cranbury, enjoying the 1990’s golf boom, where, among other things, he ran a lot of instructional clinics and programs for women, often considered the fastest growing segment of the sport.

Attara always liked the playing component of being a PGA professional. “I was always a decent, consistent player. Not as consistent on the greens as I would like to be, but I had a streak in my 20’s and 30’s when I made lots of cuts and could put up some good scores. I was competitive, but never a top 10 player. I never got over that hurdle and then I fought some injuries in my late 30’s and 40’s, a wrist injury and had some back and shoulder surgery,” he said, who turned 51 in May. “The good news is I feel better physically today with the back and shoulder injuries behind me.”

After his wife Colleen, also educated in Monroe Township schools, got a job selling commercials at the ABC-TV affiliate in Philadelphia, the couple moved to Yardley, Pa. Attara and his wife have a son, Wyatt and daughter, Paige, now 21 and 18.

“She’s an eco-artist and does a lot of work for installations,” Attara explained, noting proudly that she is on the cover of the Spring 2016 edition of Real Woman magazine, published by the Capital Health Medical Group that owns Helene Fuld Medical Center in inner city

continued on page 5

2016 NJSGA CHAMPIONS Thomas LaMorte. • 2016 Amateur Champion Tyler Hall • 2016 State Open Champion Jim McGovern • 2016 Senior Open Champion Alice Chen • 2016 Women’s Amateur Champion Trevor Randolph • 2016 Mid-Amateur Champion Evan Quinn & Justin Chae • 2016 Four-Ball Champions Jay Blumenfeld • 2016 Senior Amateur Champion Helen Bernstein • 2016 Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion Helen Bernstein & Sherry Herman • 2016 Women’s Four-Ball Champions

Anthony Colombino • 2016 Junior Champion Madeline Jin • 2016 Junior Girls Champion Will Celiberti • 2016 Junior Voys Champion Robert McHugh • 2016 Men’s Public Links Champion Yeji Shin • 2016 Women’s Public Links Champion

Bill Henry • 2016 Super Senior Amateur Champion Frances Gacos & John Feind • 2016 Mixed Pinehurst Champions Stoddard Trophy Matches - New Jersey champions

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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Monroe Golfer, Irv Rothchild, Still Going Strong at 100

By Richard Skelly

In mid-June, members and guests at Concordia Golf Club, the challenging layout located in the active adult Concordia community in Monroe Township, recognized a major milestone for one of the club’s longtime residentmembers, Irv Rothchild.

Rothchild, who was raised in Brooklyn, didn’t start playing golf until he was 45. Last December, he turned 100, and he’s still playing golf, often three times a week, most of the time at Concordia.

When we reached him on the 15th tee at a special tournament this past June in honor of his becoming a centenarian, Rothchild explained, “They really surprised me with this. It was a very pleasant surprise. I never thought about reaching 100 when I was younger,” he said.

“Golf is a frustrating game to take up later in life,” he declared, but he enjoys the fresh air and exercise much more than the scores he actually shoots, he said. Even at 100, Rothchild and his often very senior partners know how to keep the game flowing and not hold up other groups behind them on busy days at the facility.

Rothchild was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 21, 1915 and attended New Utrecht High School and St. John’s University in Brooklyn. During World War II, he served as a noncontinued from page 4

commissioned officer in the Army Airways Communication System in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. He later returned

Trenton and a newer hospital in Hopewell Township as well.

Colleen was one of six artists commissioned to do the main entrances to

“I didn’t want to be the big golf management company, I just saw the need for being able to support the clubs we managed. I understood the top line revenue

the Hopewell hospital. She got the pediatric wing.“She does three-dimensional art with plastics and different materials she finds.

She did a 70-foot installation that sort of shows the theme of taking the hospital from the city to the country,” he explained, adding she also creates greeting cards and has a line of about 110 different cards in shops around the U.S. Attara founded Spirit Golf in 2009 while he was still working at the Kokes’ family Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Lakewood, a well-respected 27-hole semi-private facility in Ocean County.

Asked what prompted him to launch his own golf management company, Attara said the hands-on aspect of things was what was missing from bigger golf management groups.“I always felt the element of being hands on and at the club, and being an owner - operator was what was missing from other golf management companies.”

end of things. It’s easy to get bogged down in expense management. It’s easy to cut expenses, but the value is in being able to grow the revenue and market share for our clubs,” he said. That’s why our tag line is “Growing the game one club at a time.”

“Our goal was to bring more of the community and instruction in; that was our success story at Eagle Ridge, and later at the public level at Makefield Highlands in Yardley, Pa and at Stonybrook. Now we have six clubs that are all doing this same type of programming.”

Attara noted he and his partners support the clubs they manage with PGA professionals who understand player development. He believes so far he’s been successful in bringing the right people to the putting green and practice tee to promote the game of golf.

Asked about the neighboring Hopewell golf course, Stonybrook, Attara said “Spirit Golf has been managing Stonybrook since 2010, and they’ve re-opened a clubhouse facility and driving range there. That facility is owned by the Zuccarelli family who owns the neighboring farm on Route 518. Stonybrook is where many people from the area had their first rounds of golf when they were 10, 12 or 14 years old.

to college and got his Master of Laws [LLM] Degree. Later he made his mark in the textiles, art and modeling industries in New York City. Rothchild and his second wife, Fran, founded the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, which they ran together for three decades. He later met Harriet Brandwein, who was also widowed, after placing a personal ad in the New Yorker magazine, seeking a woman “who loved to play golf, tennis and was open to travel experiences.”

Brandwein, who has referred to herself as Rothchild’s “significant other” for the past 18 years, was in on the surprise golf tournament, which Rothchild didn’t find out about until one day in late April when he saw a poster for it in the men’s locker room at Concordia.

“When we first met, we realized we had a lot in common.

He’s from Brooklyn, but I’m a New Jerseyan,” Brandwein explained after a brief golf cart ride. “We discovered that we both loved tennis and doing some traveling, so we’ve been together ever since.”

Several years ago, Golfer’s Tee Times readers might remember the article about Mr. Rothchild and his playing buddies. While a few years older since than, Rothchild is still going strong and proud to be honored by this recent tournament.

This year is Stonybrook’s 50th anniversary and we will be celebrating all year. We’ve also done programming there with Special Olympics of New Jersey and now the First Tee program of Trenton meets there as well,” he said.

Aside from owning and managing Hopewell Valley and managing Stonybrook golf clubs in Hopewell, Spirit Golf also manages Makefield Highlands in Yardley, Pa; Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster, Pa and Greencastle Golf Club on the Pennsylvania line near Hagerstown, Md., off Route 81, and Mill Race Golf & Camping Resortin the Northeastern Pennsylvania.

“With Hopewell Valley, our objective over the next three years is to bring it back as a fully private club and create an awareness that the public can play five rounds in a season.A trial package of 10 rounds is also offered, after five rounds new members can convert their dollars into a membership, so they can step into a membership without a lot of risk involved,” added Attara.

The new ownership at Hopewell Valley certainly is bringing a new look to the golf course and is definitely worth a visit. It’s always great to find a new “hidden gem” among our many courses in the Garden State. Give this one a try. You won’t be disappointed.

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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

The Union League Golf Club at Torresdale Polishing a Donald Ross Gem

By Sean Fawcett

When two great entities come together the result can be something even greater.

And that’s just the case with The Union League of Philadelphia and the former Torresdale Frankford Country Club, located in northeast Philadelphia. Now the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale (ULGC), the marriage of the country’s #1 city club, The Union League, and the newly renovated and remodeled 1922 Donald Ross golf course and clubhouse, has Philly area golfers excited and many golf industry leaders very intrigued.

“Bringing these two great clubs together represents a new business model,” said Union League General Manager Jeff McFadden. “It is a model that is already being studied by golf courses and city clubs in different parts of the nation.”

The new model is a partnership between the former Torresdale Frankford golfing members and Union League members, with the latter gaining access to playing and social privileges at the historic Ross design. They recently completed an extraordinary multimillion dollar “facelift” with improvements and expansions of the nearly 100-yearold classic, three-story clubhouse, including a spacious, and spectacular second level brick back deck overlooking the vast city framed parkland property, ideal for hosting large gatherings and weddings.

Modifications to the course, meanwhile, included the removal of more than 350 trees. Thetree removal servedto widen shrinking fairways and open up multiple player optionswith more shots to the greens. In the process, it beautified an already picturesque canvas by creating new, and magnificent vistasaround the golf course and of the majestic clubhouse from the course, as well as from the new back deck looking out onto the course.

Another significant improvement made to the course was softening and reducing the slope of several of Torresdale’s famously fast putting surfaces. Torresdale’s smooth, small and sloping putting surfaces, a signature of Ross’s greens, and many other greens of the early 20th Centurycountry club era,mainly for drainage purposes, had sloped as much as six degrees from back to front prior to the restoration.Today’s green speeds made those surfaces too severe. The restora-

tion also included rebuildingsand trapswith the very same Valley Forge sand used by other area top clubs such asthe hallowed Philadelphia Cricket Club.

Additionally, the Union League vastly improved and expanded the club’s now impressive practice facility.

The club, under Director of Golf Sean Palmer, aims to hostmajor Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP), Philly section PGA and junior events. Part of the club’s mission, according to McFadden and Palmer, is to help promoteamateur golf while developing youth involvement to help grow the game.

Renowned golf course architect Stephen Kay whose new course design is well represented in New Jersey (Blue Heron Pines, Scotland Run, Harbor Pines, The Architects Club and McCullough’s Emerald Golf Links) oversaw the project, which he describes as a less of a renovation or remodeling as more of a “sympathetic restoration.” Kay also was responsible for the highly acclaimed restoration several years ago at Llanerch Country Club, another of the venerable Philadelphia area clubs.

The goal at ULGC, according to Kay,was to simply do what Mr. Ross would’ve done if he was alive today and was asked to update the course to suit the modern game.

“We did what we hope and think Mr. Ross would’ve approved of,” said Kay. “And if the feedback we’ve received from club members and people in the golf industry is any indication, then we have succeeded overwhelmingly.”

More work is planned over the next several years to further polish this Donald Ross gem. No less an authority than Brad Klein, Golfweek golf course architectural editor and author of a book on Donald Ross, has given his stamp of approval to the restoration.

“What Stephen and his team have done at Union League Golf Club at Torresdale is wonderful,” said Klein. “And credit to Jeff McFadden and the Union League for having the vision to create this unique, innovative business model, and, in so doing, preserve a true Donald Ross classic.”

New Beginnings at Mays Landing Country Club

By Sean Fawcett

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2016 marked the start of a new beginning for old Mays Landing Golf and Country Club. The popular, well-known golf course was purchased last August by Green Valley Destinations and Resorts, the renamed Mays Landing Country Club. The golf course was designed and built by the late Leo Fraser and owned by the Fraser family up until its sale last year.

The new Mays Landing looks to continue a proud tradition while it looks ahead to a hopefully even better, brighter and brilliant future.

“The Frasers’ history was definitely a major reason for our interest in acquiring Mays Landing,” said co-owner and General Manager Bill Green. “Mays Landing Country Club is a well known and thriving golf course.”

The-par 71, fairly straight forward golf course, measures 6,100 yards from the white tees. Playing Mays Landing Country Club will give South Jersey’s vacationing golfers, and its members, both new and old, an enjoyable, fun-filled, round filled with happy memories.

“Leo and the Fraser family created a great golf dynasty here,” said Mays Landing PGA professional Bill Papa. “At the time it started, the course was one of the only places around to play. It was also one of the best. It is a well-planned, well maintained, and very player friendly, golf course. Some courses being built today are being built for only 10% of golfers, but Mays Landing is a great course for everybody. It is the best birdie for the buck.”

In addition to the historic golf, course, there is a full-sized driving range and

short game practice complex, where Papa and teaching professional Ben Thomas do most of their teaching. Mays Landing Country Club boasts a first rate Grill Room and Bar. They are also known for their catering, which includes a spacious and elegant reception area and ballroom, The Augusta Room is ideal for weddings, proms, reunions and lots of other large gettogethers.

Some recent upgrades to the property include the addition of bocce courts, the reopened halfway house for snacks and drinks, and the expansion of the existing pro shop with new Golf Shop Manager, Stan Ivans.

Some of the golf course has also been re-routed. The course’s layout to be more like the course’s original plan beginning with Hole #10 which has now become Mays Landing’s opening first hole. The par-4 ninth hole is now be the 16th hole, and the former 8th hole, a par 3, has become the new 15th hole. The former sixth hole, the 405- yard par 4 adjacent to the former No.9, becomes the new 17th hole making the par 5 former 5th hole, which comes back to the practice area and clubhouse, the new 18.

“I think people are going to like the changes,” said an excited Papa. “Mays Landing is a great old course and we’re hoping to make her even better for a long, long time to come.”

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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7

Golf Courses Seeking Audubon International Certification- What does it take?

By Richard Skelly

Given that so much of New Jersey has become urbansuburban extensions of New York and Philadelphia, many golf course owners and managers have realized it’s a smart business decision, as well as good for the environment to pursue Audubon International Certification. Audubon Certification is a process that many private and public golf courses have followed in recent years. Not only does it lower maintenance and irrigation costs for owners, it also provides often much-needed habitat for birds and small animals, particularly on golf courses surrounding housing developments.

Golfer’s Tee Times reached out to the superintendent at two well-known Garden State golf facilities, one public and the other private, to find out what kind of effort is involved in getting a golf facility to be “Audubon Certified.”

Ridgewood Country Club, in the densely populated Bergen County community of Paramus, was among the first private courses in New Jersey to receive Audubon certified status, and about a decade later, a very busy 9-hole public course in Clark and Cranford, Hyatt Hills, also received Audubon certification.

“Joe Flaherty, the now retired superintendent at Hyatt Hills who worked for more than three decades at Baltusrol Golf Club and was responsible for the on-course start-up at Hyatt Hills in the early 2000’s, and got the process started,” explained former Hyatt Hills assistant superintendent Scott Kussmaul.

“Hyatt Hills was a former brownfields site. Because of this, the site had to be “capped,” to prevent further possible pollution of groundwater supplies. “All the water used at Hyatt Hills is city water. They have a pond on the par 3, 7th hole, and they pump water out of there to irrigate parts of the course, but to fill that pond they need city water.

We would pump water out of that pond, but we had to be careful, because the pond would get low.”

“You have to do a bit of everything,” Kussmaul explained. “For instance, with wildlife and habitat management, we would take areas of the golf course that were meant to be playable rough areas, we’d cut the sod out of there, turn the irrigation off in that area and plant fescue seed or wildflowers or something of that nature that animals could go live in. At the same time, there’s less water use, we’re mowing less grass and less gas is being used.”

Flaherty and Kussmaul worked together from 20032004 to finish the certification process,” Kussmaul, who is now at Pinch Brook GC in Florham Park, recalled.

Audubon certification categories include Wildlife and Habitat Management, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation and Water Quality, and Outreach and Education.

“Joe is very much from the old school, so he stopped using out-dated chemicals long before others did. We would use less of the newer chemicals,” he said, “and we used biological controls.”

At the time, Hyatt Hills was managed by officials from Clark and Cranford who had backgrounds in recreation and golf.

“I had brought suggestions to make the whole place fescue [uncut wild grass,] because Hyatt Hills has wide fairways and it’s sort of an easy golf course,” Kussmaul said, “but since Billy Casper Golf Management has taken over, they’ve cut back some of that fescue to speed up the pace of play.”

Professor Richard J. Buckley, a plant pathologist and turf grass disease expert at Rutgers in New Brunswick,

was brought in as an independent auditor to “ok” the Hyatt Hills golf course with their Audubon Sanctuary certification. Buckley and others auditors would then come in every two years to re-certify the facility as environmentally sound.

Kussmaul recalled he and Flaherty worked on the certification process at Hyatt Hills for a year before getting certified as “Audubon friendly.”

“Between certifications, they ask you to bring in an outside third party who comes on site, does inspections and writes a little case study on the place,” he explained, noting a lot of the golf course certification process is detailed on Audubon International’s website, www. auduboninternational.org.

Kussmaul recalls he and Flaherty added birdhouses on Walnut and Raritan Roads, 10 other bird houses at various locations on the golf course itself, worked with local Boy and Girl Scout troops to build cart paths with wood chips instead of asphalt, added 150 rose bushes in the parking

lot and made other enhancements.

“It creates an environment where the foxes and other small animals can come in and eat something. They can hang out in the higher grasses.”

Kussmaul noted he is very close to obtaining Audubon Certification for Pinch Brook GC in Florham Park, a Morris County facility where he has been ensconced since 2015 when he left Hyatt Hills.

Unfortunately, unless the signs are there, most golfers don’t know if the course they’re playing is Audubon certified.

“A lot of golf courses have these out-of-bounds and natural areas and they do it because they don’t have to cut, water or apply chemicals,” he said, reducing maintenance costs.

“A lot of golf courses do this, but that does not mean they are Audubon certified,” he pointed out. Hyatt Hills received an Environmental Stewardship Award in 2005 from Audubon International.

“That was a significant achievement because we went up against terrific golf courses like Bayonne Country Club and other places,” Kussmaul recalled.

Todd Raisch is the Superintendent of Grounds at Ridgewood Country Club, the sprawling 27-hole facility located near busy Routes 4 and 17 in Paramus, in densely populated Bergen County. Ridgewood is a historic, prestigious place with many distinguished members and the site of many USGA and PGA championships. The legendary Texan, Byron Nelson, was once the head professional there. The course hosted The Barclays, the first tournament in the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs in 2008, 2010 and 2014 and recently hosted the US Junior Girls Championship.

Back in 1994, members and greens crew at Ridgewood decided to pursue Audubon certification. The 27-hole facility was certified Audubon friendly in 1996.

“We received our certification in 1996 under thensuperintendent John Gasper,” Raisch, who started at Ridgewood in 1995, explained via e-mail. “We are required to show proficiency in all original areas of certification every two years to maintain our status.”

“We formed an Audubon committee to help us through the process,” he continued. “We included the Shade and Tree Commission in the Borough of Paramus, landscapers, members, an arborist, horticulturalists, and a local environmental specialist. Greens and grounds employees were included as well. A local university helped catalog all of the flora and fauna on the property. That was an extensive list and time consuming to collect.”

Among the species catalogued during the certification process were red spotted newts, salamanders, tree frogs, bullfrogs, wood frogs, pickerel frogs, American toads, wood turtles, box turtles, many varieties of snakes, including eastern garter and eastern hognose, snapping turtles, wood ducks, turkey vultures, sparrow hawks, horned owls, Canadian geese, barn owls, woodpeckers, house wrens, catbirds, robins, yellow warblers, osprey, house finches, mallard and black ducks, pheasants, Canadian loons and all manner of other birds. The short list of mammals found on Ridgewood Country Club’s property included: the little brown bat, coyotes, eastern chipmunks, red squirrels, white-footed mice, field mice, groundhogs, grey foxes, raccoons, big brown bats, gray squirrels, moles, muskrats, meadow jumping mice, house mice, Virginia opossums, red foxes, striped skunks and white-tailed deer.

When guests and spectators walk around Ridgewood -- frequent host to big time tournaments -- what should they look for to see evidence of certification?

“We have bluebird, wood duck and bat boxes throughout the property. Until recently we had an organic garden which we hope to revive shortly. Several acres of previously maintained rough have been naturalized with wildflowers or low maintenance fescue grass,” Raisch explained.

Raisch said the Greens Committee and the club’s Board of Directors had to approve the process of becoming more environmentally friendly, “as there was a financial investment needed to achieve designation as a cooperative sanctuary.”

Not surprisingly, members of the Greens Committee also liked the idea of saving but really embraced helping the environment in a very suburbanized area of the state.

“While our naturalized areas are not completely maintenance free, there is a savings. Instead of mowing weekly, we now mow these areas once or twice a year. Pest treatments have been greatly reduced as well.”

Since the late 1990’s, Raisch explained, “It is quite common to see deer and rabbits along the 1st and 2nd holes of the East course. Coyote are common on the West course. Red-tail hawk routinely fly the property. Our two ponds at 1 Center and 9 East are full of ducks, turtles and the occasional egret. Twice over the years we’ve seen a bald eagle grace the property.”

Ultimately, can you put a price on something as beautiful as an American bald eagle flying around at Ridgewood, one of the greatest golf courses in America?

Priceless is the answer.

Photo Credit: Thanks to Todd Raisch, courtesy of Ridgewood Country Club

Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries - Golf

The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses is an award winning education and certification program that helps golf courses protect our environment and preserve the natural heritage of the game of golf. By helping people enhance the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats that golf courses provide, improve efficiency, and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf course operations, the program serves as vital resource for golf courses.

Baltusrol Golf Club - Springfield, NJ Blue Heron Pines Golf Club -Egg Harbor City, NJ Brooklake Country Club - Florham Park, NJ Greate Bay Country Club- Somers Poine Harbor Pines Golf Club - Egg Harbor Township, NJ Heron Glen Golf Course- Ringoes, NJ Hyatt Hills Golf Complex - Clark, NJ

Laurel Creek Country Club - Mt Laurel, NJ Mendham Golf & Tennis Club - Mendham, NJ Neshanic Valley Golf Course -Neshanic Station, NJ New Jersey National Golf Club - Basking Ridge, NJ Newton Country Club - Newton, NJ Pine Valley Golf Club - Pine Valley, NJ Ridgewood Country Club - Paramus, NJ

Riverton Country Club - Cinnaminson, NJ Royce Brook Golf Club - Hillsbourgh, NJ Somerset Hills Country Club - Bernardville, NJ Spring Brook Country Club - Morristown, NJ Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Club - Galloway, NJ TPC Jasna Polana - Princeton, NJ

EAST ORANGE GOLF CLUB. 8

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There’s Never Been a Better Time to Get a Kid Hooked on Golf

By Marc Haddad, Founder, PGA Junior Golf Camps

As a result of new and innovative industrydriven strategies designed to attract and retain young golfers, juniors are now the fastest growing segment in the game. And with new resources such as advanced teaching technologies, increased availability of “golf in schools” programs, and even enhanced teaching technologies designed specifically to improve the junior golf game, the youth segment continues to add new golfers at a healthy rate.

And, of course, nowadays, there are yearround programs to start your child in golf.

Here are a few options you might want to consider: Golf Lessons at Local Golf Course When looking for lessons at your local golf course, be sure to find a teaching professional who is a PGA Member. In order to become a member, professionals must exhibit proficiency in various areas of the golf business (including instruction) and successfully pass a series of tests. Typically, local PGA Teaching Professionals will offer instruction programs ranging from private lessons, group lessons, and specialty clinics. Visit www.pga.com/golf-instruction/ instructors to find a certified PGA Teaching Professional.

Junior Golf Camps PGA Junior Golf Camps Junior golf camps provide a learning opportunity which is virtually unobtainable in other instructional settings. With weeklong, consecutive day-to-day programming, juniors are ‘immersed’ in the game. Such immersion allows for rapid learning, thereby allowing kids to realize success faster than if he or she was enrolled in an instruction program which met on a weekly basis. Many local public golf courses offer quality summer junior golf camps.

Last year, the PGA of America announced the launch of the PGA Junior Golf Camps.

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

Under the supervision of noted golf course architect Stephen Kay, East Orange has undergone a comprehensive restoration, including new bent grass greens, newly rebuilt bunkers, tee boxes, a new practice range and, coming soon, a new clubhouse and the Par 440 Restaurant & Lounge.

New Era for East Orange Golf Club Northern

New

Jersey

and

friendly and aesthetically appealing

With Season Passes beginning at just $500 and daily play Discount Cards available for $30*, there’s no better value metropolitan New York area golfers golf course that is affordable and than East Orange Golf Club. Come see why everything old at East Orange is new again!

With 75+ nationwide locations, the Camps now have a welcome new option for offer a wide variety of camps including half- affordable daily fee golf in the area. day and full-day camps and a select number After a year-long closure in 2014 and Call (973)are379-7190 tee times and information of overnight camps. All camps taught afor transitional year in 2015, when the about Season

by PGA Teaching Professionals and are Passes and Discount Cards* golf course was open for play while designed to make instruction meaningful as well as fun! Kids ages 6-17 and of all ability an extensive renovation was taking thediscount golf on course residents andVisit employees place; receive a 25% Season restoration is levels are welcome*East to Orange participate.

Passes, or a flat daily fee rate of $18 for weekdays and $20 for weekends. www.pgajuniorgolfcamps.com for more now complete. The good news is information and to find a PGA Junior Golf that golfers think it was well worth Campprogram near you. the wait!

PGA Junior League Golf Noted golf course architect PGA Junior League Golf is a fun, Stephen Kay, who has designed such social, and inclusive opportunity for boys and girls, ages 13 and under, to learn and New Jersey gems as Blue Heron enjoy the game of golf from PGA and LPGA Pines, Harbor Pines, Scotland Run Professionals. Like many other recreational and The Architect’s Club, oversaw youth sports, participants wear numbered the restoration. He was supported jerseys and play on teams with friends. Visit by an expert team consisting of www.pgajlg.com for additional information golf course superintendent Juan on the course nearest you offering PGA Casiano, Turco Golf Construction, Junior League tryouts in the Spring.

Maser Engineering and Marziani & Drive, Chip and Putt A joint initiative by the Masters Associates Architects.

The restoration included: Tournament, United States Golf Association, and The PGA of America, the Drive, Chip • Building two new golf holes and Putt Championship is a free nationwide • New practice/driving range junior golf development competition, for • New putting green kids 7-15, aimed at growing the game by • New irrigation system focusing on the three fundamental skills • Resodding of all greens with employed in golf. Registration for the next competition opens in January 2017 – so improved bentgrass variety junior golfers have plenty of time to start • Rebuilding of all tee boxes training and getting ready for next year’s • Redesign and rebuilding of all competition! Visit www.drivechipandputt. sand bunkers com for additional information.

• New 6,000 square foot clubhouse The PGA of America is committed to and Par 440 Restaurant& Lounge bringing juniors to the game of golf and (to be completed later this year) has developed a resource for parents and caregivers to consult when exploring various “The goal of the renovation was ideas.

Visit www.pga.com/play-golf- to restore the old-fashioned charm of america/youth-golf for additional junior the golf course and make it appealing golf programs, resources, and information. to players of all abilities,” said Kay. “We have re-created a player-

440 Parsonage Hill Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078 Mayor Lester III • Eastbrisk Orangepace City Council allows for E. a Taylor relatively of play.”

“After years of neglect, the golf course is now a source of pride for the City of East Orange and the Millburn/Short Hills area in which it is located,” said East Orange Mayor Lester Taylor III. “We are pleased and excited to welcome back golfers to East Orange Golf Club, and are confident that they will find it to be an enjoyable golfing experiencefor people of all ages.”

East Orange Golf Course was originally designed in 1926 by Tom Bendelow, an architect renowned for making golf accessible and affordable for the public. Bendelow’s most famous design was Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

East Orange Golf Course offers Season Passes that range from $500 for Juniors, $1,500 for Individual Unlimited, and Senior Unlimited Season Passes are $1,000.

Individual Weekday Season Passes are $1,200. East Orange residents and employees receive a 25 percent discount on Season Passes, or a flat daily fee rate of just $18 for weekdays and $20 for weekends.

Jimmy Walker wins his first Major championship at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol

By Richard J Skelly

In the final analysis, it all came down to two putts for Jimmy Walker to win the 98th PGA Championship contested at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ at the end of July.

The path was not easy for the Oklahoma-raised Walker, 37, who now lives in the small town of Boerne, Texas, just north of San Antonio, who looked fairly calm for someone looking to win his first major championship but inside, the feeling he much different. By the time he hit his stray approach shot over the 18th green at Baltusrol, which landed his ball in the famous thick championship rough, he was definitely feeling the butterflies.

It probably didn’t help that the #1 player in the world and his friend, Jason Day had just eagled the 18th hole, a 554-yard, par-5, making his fourteen foot putt, and was waiting in the clubhouse at -13.

“When Jason [Day, who was also the reigning PGA champion] pulls out an eagle on the last hole, it doesn’t give you much time to soak it in. It was still game time,” Walker explained in the press tent at Baltusrol following his round.

“I was standing out there in the fairway and realized that nineteen out of twenty times, I’ll make a five.

I had to make a little tester coming in,” Walker recalled.

At the end, Walker landed his pitch shot from the rough some 35 feet beyond the hole, but drained the three foot putt on the final hole winning the PGA Championship by one stroke. Walker finished with a four round total of 266 (-14), just one stroke ahead of Day. When he was asked for a recap of his rounds, Walker said he felt in control all four days of the tournament, which was played in hot and somewhat soggy conditions.

“I felt confident in myself and what I was doing.

Everything was feeling good. I just had to go with that and trust what I was doing. I made 9 pars in a row to start. I hit a lot of quality golf shots. I hit a lot of short putts, 4-and 5-and 6-footers, which is what you’ve got to do.”

“I was thinking positive. Originally, I thought about laying up on 18, but I had a good lie in the fairway and I hit the 3 wood kind of high,” he recalled.

“I just hit it to the worst place you could hit it. I was trying to hit a good shot and it didn’t work out, but the chip shot saved me and all I had to do was two putt from there,” he related.

“If I had it do over, I don’t think I’d do the exact same thing,” he said.

Walker became the first wire-to-wire winner of the PGA Championship since Phil Mickelson did it, when he won at Baltusrol in 2005.

Although Walker has had five prior wins on the PGA TOUR and earned more than $20 million, life on the PGA TOUR had not always come easy for him. He competed in 187 tour events before getting his first victory in 2013, and a major championship win had eluded him. Fellow Ryder Cup teammates and close friends, Day and Rickie Fowler, were happy for his major win.

Walker and part of the field played under some unusual conditions caused when most of the play was cancelled on Saturday afternoon due to torrential rains and thunderstorms.

Tournament officials had made the decision to continue with the rain-shortened third round early Sunday morning while simultaneously beginning the fourth round for those who had finished on Saturday. The twosomes were not re-grouped as would normally happen after a round, thus leaving Walker and Day to not play together in the final round. Both Walker

and Day played 36 holes on Sunday.

“It was a super long day. It was a test today especially because we were walking in soft conditions It was nice to have a break between the rounds. I went to my bus, took a hot shower, fell asleep for a little bit and that was exactly what I needed to do,” he said.

“We’re all friends, me and Jordan [Spieth] and Rickie Fowler and Jason,” he said. “It just makes me feel awesome to have those guys hang around and come out and support me.”

Asked by Golfer’s Tee Times how playing in such wet conditions affected his ball position and swing, Walker said the soaked course made him, and all the other players, super cautious about ball position.

“It really made me think about solid ball contact, whereas if it’s dry, you never think about that. When it’s wet and it’s sloppy, it magnifies everything. When it’s sloppy, you can chunk a shot or chunk a chip, so you’re always kind of on edge. That’s why some of those cut shots that I made, I kind of flattened them out a bit,” Walker said, “The back pins are tough when things are wet. You put spin on the ball and it’s tough to get to them.”

Players were allowed to “lift, clean and place” the ball, also known as the preferred-lie rule, during the final 18 holes.

“It just shows you that everybody out here playing is really good and everybody has a chance to win,” he said, “Guys like Dustin and Jason, these are great players. For me, it was a matter of time. It was a long time coming, but I’ll take it. It all ended well.”

At a reception with the First Tee and various other charities earlier in the week, Walker had commented that one of his goals for the year was to make the US Ryder Cup team. He spoke about what a fantastic experience he had playing on the 2014 Ryder Cup, but at the time, he was ranked 21st on the Ryder Cup points list. By the end of the week, Walker had made the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team!

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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9

Robin Curtis discusses her new role on the PGA of America Rules Committee

By Rick Woelfel

Robin Curtis has done a lot in her 18 years as a PGA professional. Curtis, who joined the staff at Montclair Golf Club this spring after working for ten years at Mountain Ridge, has impacted the lives of countless golfers over the course of her career. In 2014 she was named Assistant Professional of the Year by her peers in the New Jersey Section PGA. At the start of 2016, Curtis made history when she was named to the PGA of America Rules Committee, the first woman in history to achieve that distinction.

Like most golf professionals, Curtis studied the rules while earning her PGA certification. As a golf professional, she provides rulings at tournaments and golf classes each Spring, and to her members on the rules of the game.

But officiating at the highest levels of the sport requires a deeper level of study and commitment. We have seen that all too often, especially given rules controversies at both the men’s and women’s US Opens this year.

Encouraged by PGA professional Bryan Jones, her companion of 25 years and himself a member of the Rules Committee, and a frequent Rules official at PGA and USGA events, Curtis began attending riles workshops regularly and started officiating at PGA Winter Championship Series events in Florida.

As is the case with officiating any other sport, there is a difference between knowing the rules and applying them in competition.

“Reading (the rule book), memorizing it, is one thing,” Curtis says.

“Understanding it is another thing. Taking a test is a different thing and applying it is really the thing that matters, the thing that counts the most. Just because you score well on a test doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good official in the field. You need to gain the experience doing that.”

“In Florida during the winter events my primary responsibilities are on the tee and assisting with the scoring. In between, I’m riding around the course monitoring pace of play, giving rulings when asked, but I’m more comfortable on the tee and scoring because that’s where I have the most experience.”

“When somebody waves you over you think , ‘Okay, relief from something, unplayable ball, whatever it might be, but sometimes it’s not that easy and that’s where the understanding comes in. It also involves the interaction with the player, more so than your flat out [rules] knowledge.”

But in some way officiating golf is not quite like officiating other ball sports.

In baseball or basketball or example, the official must make a split-second decision on action that happened in his or her field of view. In everyday tournament golf, the

official is often called upon to make decisions based on events he or she did not witness first hand. What the golf official does have on his/her side is time and the ability to ask questions of the competitor to determine what happened.

That model wouldn’t work in other sports. For instance, it doubtful an NHL lineman would own up to a holding infraction. But golf’s code of honor encourages a different atmosphere.

“Everybody wants to get it right,” Curtis says. “Everybody’s trying to do the right thing. Many times, once they’ve gotten called over, the official needs to hear the player’s explanation of what happened.

“The official needs to ask the right questions. What were you trying to do here? What did you intend to do? Because that can help lead you in coming up with the correct answer. You have to believe that the players are giving you the truth about what took place. And you go from there.

Curtis’s first officiating assignment a member of the Rules Committee came in May at the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida. She’s also scheduled to work the PGA Assistant Championship Championship this fall, and again in Port St. Lucie next winter. She hopes to work her way up the ladder and eventually officiate at the PGA of America’s biggest events, including perhaps one day at the PGA Championship.

Curtis points out that as the stakes get higher there is ever-increasing pressure on officials to ‘get it right.’ “If you tell a junior to drop here when maybe he should have dropped three feet behind it, it’s not that big of a deal,” she says. “If you tell a collegiate player how to proceed and you miss one little step and they don’t do it to the nth degree it’s not quite as critical. If you’re on a national stage and that’s their livelihood, I think everybody gets a little more under the microscope. You want to do it right, you want to do the right thing and apply the rules correctly.”

While Curtis’s duties with the Rules Committee take her away from her responsibilities at her club, she has always been grateful for the support of her members and her employers.

“It’s been great,” she says. “They’re proud to know that when I’m standing on the tee and introducing myself to somebody, and when they ask where I’m from, I often hear, ‘Oh, I’ve been there and that’s a great place.’

“I think the members appreciate that and like that, as long as they understand I’m going to be there as much and as often as I can, hopefully for a long time. But when you’re not there they need to know why you’re not there. They understand you’re representing them at the national level.”

EAST ORANGE GOLF CLUB IS ONCE AGAIN OPEN FOR PLAY…AND IT’S BETTER THAN EVER!

Experience the new

EAST ORANGE GOLF CLUB. Under the supervision of noted golf course architect Stephen Kay, East Orange has undergone a comprehensive restoration, including new bent grass greens, newly rebuilt bunkers, tee boxes, a new practice range and, coming soon, a new clubhouse and the Par 440 Restaurant & Lounge.

With Season Passes beginning at just $500 and daily play Discount Cards available for $30*, there’s no better value than East Orange Golf Club. Come see why everything old at East Orange is new again!

Call (973) 379-7190 for tee times and information about Season Passes and Discount Cards* *East Orange residents and employees receive a 25% discount on Season Passes, or a flat daily fee rate of $18 for weekdays and $20 for weekends.

440 Parsonage Hill Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078 Mayor Lester E. Taylor III • East Orange City Council

10

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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

Frank Esposito: Enjoying A Bittersweet Return as a NJ Club Professional

By Richard J. Skelly

Is there such a thing as playing too much golf? As hard as it is for amateurs to believe, yes, there is such a thing, says Frank Esposito, who recently returned to the New Jersey PGA Section as the PGA teaching professional Forsgate and Shackamaxon Country clubs, two of RDC Golf’s premier New Jersey properties.

have gone a month earlier, but I couldn’t because I was traveling so much.” Right after, he noted, he had his best finishes of the 2015 season.

So what advice did Glenz offer to a player like

So, how did Esposito fare full-time on Champions Tour pros, playing against many former PGA TOUR players and those who had been on the Champions Tour for many years already?

“The guys that are out there have been doing it all their lives, and watching them go through their routines, I noticed they don’t practice a lot,” he said.

“They won’t get there until Wednesday, and many won’t play in the Pro-Ams. I just kept hitting balls before I got out there and I found out it was no good.

I didn’t have a routine or know what my routine was.

For me, when I went through the Champions PGA TOUR Q School and the Senior PNC, I didn’t practice at all between rounds. In 2014, I won the U.S. Senior Club Pro Championship, and the week after, that I went to Champions Tour school,” he recalled.

Trying to think back about his best finishes on TOUR, he said those rewards didn’t happen until midseason, and then, just barely.

“I finished 7th in Seattle and I had a 13th place finish the week before in Minnesota,” he recalled, noting Minnesota was the 3M Championship and Seattle was the Boeing Championship. He’d never been to either state, he added. Even for an expert player who has his mental game together, like Esposito, the PGA TOUR Champions was a totally new experience.

“They would always have Pro-Ams on Mondays, so now I’m traveling on Sundays to get there on Monday, so I’m there from Sunday to Sunday,” he said. “It was quite a lot.” Champions Tour players will get a stipend to show up and play on a Monday or Tuesday in the pro-ams, and every Champions Tour event has two pro-ams, he explained.

“It was a lot, and I didn’t know how my body would react.” By the middle of the season, he was struggling to keep his competitive game together.

“I just couldn’t figure anything out, so I went to see [noted golf coach] David Glenz and realized, I should

So the question remains: what separates good club professionals from PGA TOUR or PGA TOUR Champions professionals?

“It’s a different level,” he said, noting much of it is in the head, between the ears, the mental game.

Esposito learned some lessons the hard way last year on the PGA TOUR Champions. Those who follow New Jersey competitive golf know that Esposito has long been one of the winningest club professionals in the NJ PGA. After spending much of 2015 on the Champions Tour and renting a condominium in Florida, he has returned home to New Jersey and settled back into teaching, playing with clubs members, and play competitively in NJ-based tournaments. But what lessons did Esposito learn on the Champions Tour?

“I learned it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be,” Esposito said candidly in the Forsgate Grille Room. “It wasn’t easy getting acclimated with travel and playing all the time. There’s one thing I noticed being a club pro: there’s down time. You play in tournaments, but you have down time. My first two weeks on TOUR, between practice rounds, pro-ams and tournament days, I played 13 out of 14 days and I was exhausted. It takes time to get used to all the traveling and playing all the time. It was non-stop.”

[the late] Bob Pfundheller at Glenwood for a job and he gave me a job as an assistant,” Esposito explained.

“Each step is a learning curve, if you’re a club professional for 20 years and you try to interject yourself as a Tour player, it takes time to get used to it. Those guys are very good at what they do and have the mental capability to do it,” he argued. The essence of winning in competitive golf is mindset and the ability to turn your focus on and off as needed.

“If you can’t focus for four or five hours in a row on a golf course, you’ll burn yourself out. You watch Nicklaus and you watch Tiger, two of the best ever, and you see they have that ability to turn it on and off,” he argued.

Esposito?

“I used to go to see him 30 years ago. I’ve played a lot of golf with him and we’ve played in various championships together. There are teachers who are very technical and players that are that way, and David kind of teaches the way I play. It’s a motion move, it’s not a technical thing with David,” he said. He also has consulted with other highly regarded Garden State teaching pros like Lenny Siter and Eddie Osowski, both at Mountain Ridge. He said they’re good instructors but very busy.

“David, Lenny and Eddie all know my swing,” he related.

“As far as the guys on TOUR, there’s nobody that’s really technical anymore on the TOUR. They know their swing and they know if they’re playing well that day, they’re going to shoot in the mid-60’s and if they aren’t, they shoot 70. You didn’t see any instructors on the range, ever, at any PGA TOUR Champions event.”

Esposito, 53, was born in Staten Island and raised near Glenwood Country Club in Old Bridge. He later lived in Spotswood and Monroe before settling back in this area earlier this year in Old Bridge. His father and brother remain strong, avid golfers. His mother Tina worked as a secretary in legal affairs at Rutgers University, where he played on the golf team, majored in Psychology. His father, Frank Sr., worked near the World Trade Center as a customs broker. He recalled he was eight when he started playing golf, but didn’t get serious about it until after moving to New Jersey as a 12-year-old.

“When I was a teenager, my father put me in as many tournaments as I could get in, and I won the Staten Island Amateur in 1984 or ’85 and then qualified for the [New Jersey] State Open in 1980, as a 17-year old,” he recalled. Asked about a revelatory moment when he knew he wanted to dedicate his working career to golf, he said he was in high school in Old Bridge when he realized he’d like to stay involved with golf, although he wasn’t sure if it would be playing on the Tour or being a club professional.

“I found out I enjoyed being around it, and in high school I was just playing. After college, I went to Florida and played mini tours and after college, I asked

But for now, Esposito is excited about helping the members at Forsgate and Shackamaxon while playing in some local events.

Esposito has advice for us amateurs, many of whom might harbor fantasies of being on the PGA TOUR or PGA TOUR Champions, and what a glamorous life it must be.

“You’re always traveling, you have flight delays and you’re sitting in airports much of the time,” he said. “All you’re doing is traveling. On the good side, they treat you well at the tournaments and you don’t have to worry about anything. Everything is taken care of,” he said, noting most competitive pros on the PGA TOUR Champions will fly home on Sunday nights to be home for two days with their family before heading out to the next tournament stop on Wednesdays.

“There weren’t too many guys out there that I stood there with and said ‘What am I doing here,’ and that includes some guys I grew up watching on TV. It can get nerve wracking and it takes time to get used to it. They’re used to doing it.”

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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The First Tee of Monmouth & Ocean Counties A First Tee Chapter on the Rise

By Marian Castner

New Jersey has several strong First Tee programs, including the First Tee of Raritan Valley, First Tee of Trenton and the First Tee of Metropolitan New York, which have chapters scattered all around the state. But one First Tee chapter hasn’t received much publicity, but is certainly undergoing a growth spurt, and that’s the First Tee of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

The chapter was founded in 2005 as Jersey Shore Junior Golf, and officially became a First Tee chapter in March 2008.

There have two main learning facilities – The First Tee learning facility at Colonial Terrace Golf Course and the First Tee/JR Smith Learning Center at Ocean County Park.

The Colonial Terrace learning facility includes 8 hitting stalls, a target green, a practice putting and chipping green and driving cages. The First Tee/JR Smith Learning Center, which opened in July 2014, borders the towns of Brick and Lakewood, and has a 3-hole, junior size course.

Like other First Tee chapters, their mission is to provide young people with character-building and life skill lessons using golf as the platform. The First Tee of Monmouth and Ocean Counties serves all children from the area, ages 7-17, especially reaching out to youngsters who would not otherwise have the opportunity to learn the game of golf and its core values.

At the various chapter locations, which also includes programs at Battleground Golf Club, and Toms River Country Club, they offer minicamps, after-school programs, girls and advanced high school programs, and unique First Tee opportunities both on and off the golf course.

This fall, the chapter will be expanding even further offering additional classes at Atlantis Golf Course (expanding the chapter into Little Egg Harbor), Forge Pond Golf Course (Brick) and Bey Lea Golf Course (Toms River). Along with locations expanding in the program, they have increased the coaching staff by adding 4 additionally trained First Tee Level 1 Coaches.

“You might not be the best player, but be the one that everyone wants to play with,” says Pam Boccaccio, the Program Director and has been spearheading the program’s expansion along with Executive Director Tara Kelly. This really sums up the sentiment of the chapter and as it looks to build a strong platform for junior golfers down the Jersey Shore areas.

With over 250 participants, and growing, the First Tee of Monmouth and Ocean Countries provides good fundamental junior programs and a way to get your child started in golf.

For more information on the program, go to www.thefirstteemonoc. org or call (732) 403-0833.

FUTURE MAJOR GOLF TOURNAMENTS IN NEW JERSEY & NEW YORK For those who missed the opportunity to see the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, here are some great golf events to plan ahead: 2017 US Women’s Open @ Trump National Bedminister 2017 Northern Trust (formerly The Barclays) @ Glen Oaks (Long Island, NY) 2017 President’s Cup @ Liberty National 2018 US Men’s Open @ Shinnecock Hills 2018 Northern Trust @ Ridgewood Country Club 2019 PGA Championship @ Bethpage Black 2019 Northern Trust @Liberty National 2020 US Men’s Open @ Winged Foot 2020 Northern Trust @ Plainfield Country Club 2022 PGA Championship @ Trump National Bedminster 2024 Ryder Cup @ Bethpage Black 2026 US Open @ Shinnecock Hills

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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

Heard Around the States Michael Sofia Named GM at Ron Jaworski’s Running Deer Eun Jeong Seong Wins Back-to-Back US Girls’ Junior Titles 68th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship conducted by the Golf Club United States Golf Association Michael Sofia has been named Deer Golf Club

General Manager of Ron Jaworski’s Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove, NJ. Sofia comes to Running Deer from the Loews Hotel in Annapolis, MD, where he served as Director of Catering & Conference Management.

Sofia has had a distinguished 10-year career in catering and conference management, having previously worked for the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia, PA, and for Sodexo Catering, The Gregg Conference Center in Bryn Mawr, PA. “We are very pleased to have Michael join our team at Running Deer Golf Club,” said Ron Jaworski. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will further enhance the golfing, dining, wedding and banquet experiences for our members and guests at Running Deer.”

Sofia is a graduate of Cabrini College in Radnor, PA. He resides in Glassboro, NJ with his wife Kendall and infant daughter Olivia Rose.

Located in Salem County, Running

is an 18-hole, semi-private golf course.

Opened in 2000, Running Deer has been selected by the United States Golf Association (USGA) to host a U.S. Open qualifier in 2017. Besides the championship caliber golf course, Running Deer Golf Club is also a popular and highly acclaimed venue for weddings, banquets and dining. A multiple time winner of The Knot Best of Weddings and Wedding Wire’s Couples Choice Award, Running Deer Golf Club’s commitment to superior service ensures that all wedding receptions surpass even the greatest of expectations. The club’s Seven TapTavern restaurant features exceptional pub style fare and is also home to holiday special events.

New Jersey PGA Professionals Mike Adams and Bryan Jones win National PGA of America Awards PGA Professional Mike Adams of Hamilton Farm Golf Club, in Gladstone, New Jersey, has been named the 2016 PGA Teacher of the Year Award recipient for his “outstanding services as a golf teacher, innovator and coach.”

Recognized annually as one of the finest teachers in the United States, Adams is passionate about “teaching the teacher” and is committed to supporting the career growth of his fellow PGA Professionals.

In addition to instructing a strong lineup of successful professional golfers over the years from Tom Lehman (when he played on the Web. com Tour), Mark Brooks and Briny Baird to Betsy King, Michele McGann and Rosie Jones, some of Adams’ other notable students include Presidents Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Adams has also taught many celebrities and athletes, such as Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Michael Douglas, Keanu Reeves, Glenn Frye, Neil Diamond, Jim Palmer, Whitey Ford and Mike Schmidt, among others. A PGA Master Professional, Adams is a 2016 World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame inductee, the 2013-2015 New Jersey PGA Section Teacher of the Year and 2001 South Florida PGA Section Teacher of the Year. He has trained and mentored 21 GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teachers, including former PGA Teachers of the Year Mike McGetrick and Mike Bender.

During the winter, he also teaches at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida.

“The PGA of America proudly recognizes our outstanding national awards winners for their unmatched commitment to the game within their communities and across the nation,” said PGA President Derek Sprague.

“PGA Professionals are driven by their dedication to growing the game of golf. So, when they are recognized for outstanding service and commitment to their profession, and the golf industry, it speaks to their remarkable character traits and unique leadership qualities.”

Bryan Jones, the PGA Head Professional and Director of Instruction at Black Oak Golf Club in Long Valley, was awarded the 2016 Horton Smith Award.

The Award recognizes the PGA member who has exhibited exemplary contributions toward the education of PGA Professionals Jones has been a PGA member for 22 years and is also a highly respected expert on the Rules of Golf. He has earned several NJPGA awards and was served for 20 years on the Section and National levels of the PGA of America, including being President of the NJPGA and NJ Golf Foundation.

The awards to Adams and Jones will presented on Wednesday November 9th, in conjunction with the 100th PGA Annual Meeting in New York City.

Eun Jeong Seong rallied from an early deficit to defeat Andrea Lee, 4 and 2, in the final match to win the 68th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship which was played at historic Ridgewood Country Club in mid-July. Seong become the first backto-back champion since Hollis Stacy won her third straight in 1971.

“It’s a little bit different feel than last year,” said Seong, of the Republic of Korea. “Last year, it was a little bit hard.

But I trusted myself today, and I have confidence. This morning was so hard because I was losing 5 down, but it’s OK because I had a lot of holes (left).”

Seong, who was 5 down through 13 holes of the 36-hole match, became the third player to win consecutive titles, joining Stacy and Judy Eller (1957 and 1958). Stacy also won three U.S. Women’s Open Championships.

Admitting that she had not heard of Stacy, Seong noted, “My mom was born in 1971.”

The 16-year-old champion joins Stacy, Eller and Nancy Lopez (1972 and 1974) as the fourth multiple winner of the championship.

In the morning 18, Lee, 17 and an incoming freshman at Stanford University, won six of the first 11 holes to stake a 5-up lead, including four straight on holes 6 through 9.

However, the 2015 champion rebounded to win three of the next four holes, two by birdies, to cut Lee’s lead to 3 up through 15 holes.

Lee, of Hermosa Beach, Calif., a threetime quarterfinalist in five Girls’ Juniors, added her sixth birdie (against two bogeys) of the morning 18 on the par-4 16th for a 4-up advantage, but lost the 18th with bogey for a lead of 3 up at the lunch break.

Seong, who had made three birdies and four bogeys, won four of the last seven holes for a swing in momentum as

the players reached the halfway point.

“I’m definitely proud of myself,” said Lee, who was a member of the 2016 USA Curtis Cup Team last month.

“This is my first time reaching the finals of a USGA championship, and I’m just really thankful to have gotten this far. It was a great match today against my friend, and I played really well in the morning, had her down, but she just played really great in the afternoon.”

Seong, who was the runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, began the afternoon 18 with a flourish, winning holes 19, 22 and 23 to square the match.

The pair had previously met in the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur, with Lee taking a 2-and-1 victory and a place in the semifinals.

The 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship consisted of 36 holes of stroke play, followed by six rounds of match play, concluding with a 36-hole final championship. The winner received a gold medal and custody of the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy for one year.

Seong and Lee gain exemptions into the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pa., Aug. 1-7.

Provided they remain age-eligible, all quarterfinalists are exempt from qualifying for the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Boone Valley Golf Club, in Augusta, Mo., near St. Louis (July 24-29).

The U.S. Girls’ Junior is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.

Senior PGA TOUR player, Frank Esposito Joins Forsgate and Shackamaxon as PGA Teaching Professional; Forsgate Opens new Golf Academy

Five-time New Jersey PGA (NJPGA) Player of the Year Frank Esposito, Jr., has joined the teaching staff at both Forsgate Country Club in Monroe and Shackamaxon Country Club in Scotch Plains.

Both courses are owned and operated by affiliates of RDC Golf Group, a Garden State golf course ownership and management company.

Also, in late July, the Forsgate Golf Academy, featuring year-round elite training and performance coaching to individual lessons and fun junior programs, opened. The Forsgate Golf Academy covers every element of the game, customized for each individual’s skills, priorities, and goals.

For those looking to optimize their experience, memberships start at $149 for juniors and $199 for adults. An Academy Membership offers a terrific value that includes discounted lessons Photo credit: Montana Prichard/ PGA of America and group clinics as well as the unique

added benefit of select club access to dining and golf at Forsgate. Options also include purchasing a la carte lessons or attending clinics based on individual needs.

The Forsgate Golf Academy will also offer comprehensive programming for junior golfers, expanding Forsgate Country Club’s “Future Stars” summer camps into year-round opportunities.

In addition, the Academy will offer Forsgate Elite Junior Camps. Designed for the competitive junior golfer, these camps feature concentrated instruction with small student-teacher ratios, oncourse time, and training for national junior competitions.

The program’s record of success is already impressive with enrolled juniors scoring 14 wins and over 30, top-5 finishes in U.S. Kids Tour, Philadelphia Jr. Tour, and International Junior Golf Tour events.

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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PERFECT PRACTICE: DOS AND DON’TS A column by Sports Psychologist, Dr. Nick Molinaro

What is the best practice routine for a golfer? This is one of the most common questions I am asked by professionals, amateurs and parents of juniors. Before I give my opinion, ask yourself: how to you practice? How long? Do you set goals? Do you vary your routine? Do you vary the club choice?

Let’s break it down by category: Time on Task Attention is defined as the amount of time concentrating on one task without becoming distracted. The human’s attention span is very short, with some research pointing to less than five minutes – when the average was approximately 12 minutes a decade ago. My clinical training (completed some time ago) noted 3-7 minutes for adults. It is evident that continuing to pound balls on the driving range, or putting or chipping for hours at a time, does little for long term improvement.

I strongly recommend practicing in segments of no more than 20 minutes at a time, with a 5 to 10-minute break in between segments. Do this three times and take a longer break, maybe 20 minutes. I always tell juniors to do this first, play 9 or 18 followed up by another 1.5 hrs. of 20 minutes on and

10 minutes off.

Block v. Interleaving Learning A great deal of attention (pardon the pun) has been directed towards block learning, which is the redundant practice of a specific skill without variation from it. Making a smooth putting stroke for repeated 3-foot putts would be an example. Interleaving practices mixes, or “interleaves,” practice of several related skills by alternating attention to different components of the overall skill base. Examples include chipping v. pitching, full swing v. ¾ swing, and driver v. wedge. This variation embeds the learning of the skills after block learning has been used to gain initial experience with the skill. By the way, you don’t play golf by hitting driver 72 times in a row.

Novelty Learning is positively affected by novelty. Make your practice more effective by using your imagination.

In preparing for the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot, a tour player I was working with had difficulty getting to his right side. No matter how good he was it was difficult for him to be consistent. I asked him to imagine a different viewing perspective of his swing…one that he had never seen before. He imagined an overhead view of his own swing, which he had never

seen. His becoming aware of another perspective helped him focus upon what it looked like from above, and his performance was outstanding for the rest of the competition.

Mindset and Goal Setting Most amateur golfers do not have specific goals in mind, nor are prepared for a practice session with a specific mindset. Ask yourself, “How do I practice golf?” Now ask yourself, “How would I optimally practice golf?” Typically, once the word “optimal” is inserted, the mind responds with a different answer.

Wouldn’t you always want to practice optimally? Set goals for the session utilizing games such as how many consecutive shots can you make without becoming distracted, or how many 5 footers can you make to three different hole locations on the practice green. If you become unsuccessful, start over from the last hole at which you were successful.

For additional information, Dr. Nick can be reached by email at DrNick@DrNickGolf.com, or by phone at (973) 543-0808.

“Dr. Nick Molinaro is a psychologist specializing in sport and performance, and practices in Mendham, NJ. He makes frequent guest appearances on The Golf Fix with Michael Breed on The Golf Channel, and can also be heard on A New Breed of Golf Sirius/XM radio”

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SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

TRAVEL – Myrtle Beach- Oyster Bay Golf Links

By Sean Fawcett

Myrtle Beach is world famous for its mind-boggling golf courses, both the number of them and the quality of them.

One of its best, occasionally overlooked, but not to be missed, is the Oyster Bay Golf Links. Since opening in 1983, it is one of five of the Legends Golf Group properties owned by Century Golf Partners of Dallas, Texas, and managed by Arnold Palmer Golf Management. The golf course was designed by Carolina architect Dan Maples and developer Larry Young. Located on scenic Sunset Beach, the championship golf course, pairs together both traditional parkland style holes with some somewhat untraditional challenging water and marshland holes that run alongside the Calabash River.

“Oyster Bay Golf Links is a shot maker’s golf course with tree lined fairways and tricky undulating greens,” added Oyster Bay PGA Head Professional Tim Jackson. “It’s a beautiful and very scenic course with wetlands and all the wildlife. It’s a great golfing experience in the Carolinas.”

Many holes at Oyster Bay require accurate shot making. This is especially true on the short par-3 17th hole. Playing anywhere from 100 to 165 yards depending on the tee, the 17th combines some elements of two of the world’s most famous par 3s, the 16th hole at Augusta National and the 17th “Island” green at TPC Sawgrass. Rimmed with thousands of bright white oyster shells, Oyster Bay’s tiny and tilting island green par-3 is one of the best and most memorable, holes in the entire Grand Strand.

“The 17th hole is my absolute favorite hole,” said Jackson. “It’s a great island green and requires pinpoint accuracy. It is also my favorite because it presents a challenge no matter what tees you are playing from.”

Oyster Bay’s par 3 17th green

13th hole. Playing only slightly longer than about 320 yards, there is water and bunkers down the right side, and the course’s biggest sand trap short directly in front, of an uphill putting surface which sticks out into the water. The hole definitely requires perfection on back-toback swings to have a chance at birdie or par on this hole.

“There are two ways of playing the 13th hole. It is a true risk reward short par- 4,” explains Jackson. “The big hitter will take a chance at the green if they have played the hole before, but there is a huge risk involved with the lake on the right and the massive bunker in front. If you manage to hit the green you have a great chance at eagle and are almost assured of a birdie.

The safe way is to play down the fairway and have a short wedge, or 9 iron, into the green.

This will take the water out of play, however, the bunker is still lurking. It’s a brilliant, and fun, par 4.”

Oyster Bay’s par 4 13th hole

Another example of Oyster Bay’s riverside golf is the long, daunting, double-dog leg par- 5 5th hole. Not only are you playing over a creek, from an elevated tee short, with a series of cross bunkers and a dogleg around a corner of trees left, there is also water all down the right side.

This hole is a risk-reward 473-yard three shot hole, par-5 that is one of the prettiest, and purest, examples of Carolina lowland golf.

Another unforgettable challenging hole at Oyster Bay’s is the par 4

Brilliant and fun are perhaps the best words to describe a day of golf here.

For those planning a golf trip to Myrtle Beach over the next few months, put this course on your list of must-plays.

Oyster Bay Golf Links is, without a doubt, one of the very best values, and golfing experiences you’ll ever get to get to play.

Spotlight on the Latest in Golf Equipment PXG Golf Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG), the Scottsdalebased revolutionary new golf equipment company, started by Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy, is in the process of a building a company offering the most unrivaled golf equipment on the market.

In just two short years, Parsons’ company has assembled one of the best tour staffs in golf, including two-time major winner Zach Johnson, include Charl Schwartzel, Ryan Moore, Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, James Hahn and Charles Howell III, along with Cristie Kerr, Alison Lee, Sadena Parks, Beatriz Recari and Gerina Piller on the LPGA Tour. Rocco Mediate tops the list on the Champions Tour.

Johnson made a special appearance on the behalf of PXG at the opening of the Club Champion Golf Club Fitting Center in New York prior to the start of the Barclays, which was played at Bethpage Black Golf Course on Long Island this year. One of the top wedge players on the PGA TOUR, Johnson spoke about PXG golf equipment, the importance of club fitting, and gave a brief clinic on wedge play.

In talking about his change to PXG equipment from Titleist, Johnson said that he did not make the change lightly. ‘’My entire team, from caddie to coach, was involved in the process,’’ Johnson said. ‘’We all agreed that PXG is undeniably the best equipment to help me achieve my goals on the course.’’

PXG first made headlines when Ryan Moore appeared at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in 2015 with a set of PXG 03x prototypes in his bag. Since then, the company has gone from complete unknown to one of the most talked about brands in the industry.

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Employing groundbreaking technology, PXG clubs offer golfers an unparalleled playing experience.

The distinctive look, feel and performance is second to none.

“By enabling PXG’s engineers to work without limitations of any kind we were able to achieve an unheard of level of performance,” said PXG founder Bob Parsons. “Now we’ve signed some of the best talent in the game to put our equipment in play because, at the end of the day, it’s all about performance – and PXG clubs really perform.”

The strategy in signing these top golfers focused on several critical factors, but most important each player’s enthusiasm for the PXG brand.

“We like players who like us – it’s that simple” Parsons shared. “Having some of the best golfers in the world want to play our clubs in competition is absolute validation that we’ve done something incredibly special.”

PXG equipment is available at Club Champion (currently located in Hackensack, NJ and Philadelphia), premium club fitters and select pro shops nationwide.

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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Golfer’s Tee Times Hole-In-One’s

STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: PIONEER DAYS DOWN ACROSS 1. *Wyatt or Virgil 1. “Peter, Peter Pumpkin ____” 2. Tennis serving whiz 6. Lawyers’ league 3. Lowest brass instrument 9. Versus “Wall” street?

4. Lady’s pocketbook 13. Less than 90 degrees 5. Retread, past tense 14. Eric Stonestreet on “Modern Family” 6. *Homesteader’s purchase, sing.

15. Beautiful, in Spanish 7. *Hudson’s ____ Company 16. Overthrow an argument 8. Naked protozoa 17. It comes with or without seeds 18. “___ ___ for the courage of the fearless crew, 9. State of irritation 10. Karenina or Kournikova the Minnow would be lost” 11. Object of worship 19. *Ingalls’ homestead setting 12. Post WWII military alliance 21. *a.k.a. American bison 15. Inmates without hope of freedom 23. Junior 20. Like helium 24. Tom, not Tabby 22. Last, abbr.

25. Cathode-ray tube 24. March tradition 28. Deity, in Sanskrit 25. *Corps of Discovery explorer 30. Belonging to Cree, e.g.

26. Half of diameters 35. Cambodia’s neighbor 27. Works hard 37. *An outlaw does it to his horse 29. Whoopi Goldberg’s opinion, e.g.

39. Zzzz 31. Pac Man’s blue ghost 40. Miners’ passage 41. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ guitarist 32. 1970s disco band “____ M.” 33. Mountain ridge Benmont 34. *Corps of Discovery explorer 43. “The Man Who ____ Too Much” 36. Kind of cell 44. Angers 38. Shade of beige 46. “The Way We ____” 42. Sunny prefix 47. Abominable humanoid 45. Stonecrops 48. It’s meant to be 49. Chi forerunner 50. Display displeasure 51. Programmer’s clumsy solution 52. Word for a nod 54. Accustom 53. Oration station 56. Strike a pose, in church 55. Type or kind 57. *___ Murrieta, a.k.a. the Robin Hood of El Dorado 57. “Knock-Knock,” e.g.

58. O in b.o.

61. *Cowboy’s biannual trip 59. Pains 65. Loathing 60. African tea 66. Flying saucer 61. Memorization by repetition 68. Oceanic trenches 62. Kosher establishment 69. Caffeine-containing nut tree, pl.

63. “If it were ____ ____ me...”

70. Hard to escape routine 64. Attention-getting sound 71. Hanukkah coins 67. *Trading post ware 72. At one time, formerly 73. “____ he drove out of sight...”

74. “The Waste Land” poet answers on page 2

VINCE MARTINEZ May 21, 2016 Plainfield West 9 Golf Course Hole #5 179 yards 5 iron Witness: AndyWeber

ARTHUR ROCCAMONTE Plainfield West 9 Golf Course June 16, 2016 Hole #5 - Par 3 Witnesses: Nick Ruvolo, Chico Perez

ANTHONY CASSANO May 30, 2016 Plainfield West 9 Golf Course Hole #5 179 yards 6 iron Witness: Kevin Crilley

JOSEPH ANDERSON Plainfield West 9 Golf Course July 20, 2016 Hole #3- Par 3 Witnesses: Mike Buggey, Joe Soznak, Frank Chirchillo

RICHARD CIARAVINO Plainfield West 9 Golf Course July 20, 2016 Hole #4 - Par 4 Witnesses: Gene Henderson, Carlos Avasquez

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BOOK REVIEW So You Want To Play Golf

by Kim Verrecchio & Rick Woelfel Reviewed by Sean Fawcett

If you are looking for a good book about the learning the basics of golf, a perfect book to read is So You Want To Play Golf. Written by PGA of America professional Kim Verrecchio, Director of Golf Instruction at The Loxahatchee Club in Jupiter, Florida, with veteran freelance sportswriter, Rick Woelfel, this recently published book provides compact explanations along with illustrations of everything about the game from how to use the right club to the game’s history.

A short read, Verrecchio is pictured hitting just about every kind of shot that a golfer needs to hit, including sand shots, chips, pitches and full swings. Readers find her experienced first-hand advice informative and helpful, especially for the beginning golfer.

Verrecchio, former University of North Carolina graduate and part-time teacher at Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, makes you feel like you are in a live one-on-one golf lesson on the driving range with her.

“Golf can be very intimidating,” adds Verrecchio. “This book is a great introduction covering all the basics from what to wear to how to putt. We hope the information gets you started on your way to enjoying this great game.”

“The idea was to make the golfer feel comfortable, whether they’re a new golfer, or perhaps someone who has tried the game and didn’t have a good experience,” added Woelfel. “The information we included is intended to put the golfer at ease and enhance their enjoyment of the game.”

“Kim and I embarked on this project with the idea that golf should be a positive experience. it goes without saying the game is very difficult but we set out to help the new or returning golfer feel comfortable in what can be an uncomfortable environment.”

As we get closer to the holidays, this is a great stocking stuffer option for a beginner golfer or someone thinking about taking up the game. The book is easily available through Amazon.com and CreateSpace.

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www.NJGolfnews.com | GOLFER’S TEE TIMES | www.passportnjgolf.com

SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2016

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609-601-6220 6071 English Creek Ave., Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234 ballamor.com