Fast Forward

Today I am a happily married man with seven grandchildren who lives at the beach with my lovely wife, Linda. We decided to give up the sububan life of Cary, NC and move to the beach where we enjoy the warm sunshine, flip flops, sipping margarittas on the Murrells Inlet boardwalk and listening to our favorite band the Charlie Brewer trio. I am doing what I love best -TEACHING GOLF. I joined up with long time pal, Joe Bernat and we have opened a golf school at the INTERNATIONAL CLUB in Murrells Inlet. We offer individual and group lessons for all ages and stages of golf with one thing always in mind GOLF SHOULD BE FUN!!!
As you can see I also enjoy playing with our grandkids. The top two pictures are of my children, Robin (and Mike"s) two Casey and Michael who live in Williamsburg and their daughter Kim (and Steve) son Austin. The bottom FOUR are from Linda's daughter Lori (and Paul) who live in Raleigh. Her son Brad lives in New York and if he ever slows down enough may marry his wonderful girlfriend Ginni!! Our blended family, although all were young adults when we married , enjoy each other although all are busy with careers and young families. Linda is President of a large nonprofit in NC and so goes to NC about every week. She is so passionate about her work in education that I can never see her leaving her job. She has been in education for almost 40 years now and still gets up every day thinking how she can "save another child" from dropping out of school!

About me.... I have been teaching and playing the game of golf since I was 3 years old! Honest! I live in a small town in NC across the railroad tracks from the public golf course. My Dad who was an avid golfer wanted to keep me out of trouble so at the age of 3 sawed off one of his golf clubs and we begin golfing. From there I played Junior Golf where I won many high school honors. I went to East Carolina on a golf scholarship but along came VIETNAM and I decided to do my civic duty and the ripe old age of 18 went off to join the Army. Once I entered the Army I was selected to be a combat medic and sent to VIETNAM. In Vietnam I served at mass units, worked in the morgue and gave golf lessons in the jungles (seriously) My friends at Powerbilt sent me a set of clubs so that I could keep up with my golf. Considering we had little time between shooting people and putting peole back together, I did find comfort in my golf clubs. After spending 18 months in Vietnam I returned to a not so friendly USA. I will forgo my feelings about that part of my life.
So I return to civilian life and my career as a golf pro. I had a cool gig-worked in Clevland in the summer and in Florida in the winter. During my years in Florida I had the chance to get to know a young rookie, Fuzzy Zoeller who would of course later become one of the greatest guys in golf. Not only was he a great golfer but he was a lot fun. Fuzzy and I have remained friends over the years as he headed to the touring pro route and I choose the club route.
I have had great experience working in the golf industy from teaching college students (including coaching womens golf), high school golf, weekend golfers and those who were serious about golf as a career. I have played and taught in the mountains of NC- Brevard, Hendersonville and eight great years at Fairfield Mountains at Lake Lure. I have helped build golf courses (the Apple Valley Course at Fairfield). I also was the head golf pro at Fords Colony in Williamsburg, Virginia. Unfortunately the game of golf also took a toll on my marriage! Never being home cost me my first marriage so I have committed to never letting golf get in the way of relationships with family ever again.