Paula PearsonTucker is on the right track towards qualifying to play for the LPGA Tour and make a name for herself in golf.
The life that she leads is proof of her determination to overcome all odds while helping others who are less fortunate in her communit
(Read more in the Spring 2005 edition.)
PGA Pro, Scott Kennedy is an instructor of Golf Management at Southwestern Wisconsin Technical College is lucky to be flanked by hisGolden Knights Youth Porgram memebers.The two-day academy is held in Milwaukee and sponsored by the Grace Feelowship Church. The program provide students and parents with the rules of golf and evening session on careers and educational opportunities. (Read more in the Summer 2005 issue.)
Glenn Pratt owns the Minority Professional Golf Development Association and says, “African Americans watch white golfers play on TV, but they don’t compete against them.”
Pratt says this was what he was told by his family and community when he was growing up in Nassau, Bahamas. By age 20, he was Bahamas Nation Golf Champion and left to go to thUS to compete in professional golf. So, he grabbed his favorite golf gear, stuffed $400 into his pocket and left home to play the mini-tour circuit in the United States.
Today, the 41-year-old golfer is Founder and President of the Minority Professional Golf Development Association (MPGDA) and he is on a mission to help others compete at the professional level (…read more in the January 2004 issue)
(April 10, 1953- November 22, 2008)
Miller Park Golf Course – Omaha,Neb
Steve Hogan, a PGA member since 1997, is head professional at Miller Park Golf Course in Omaha, Neb., home of”Hogan’s Junior Golf Heroes,” one of the country’s most remarkable inner-city golf success stories. Hogan, 40, is the first Nebraska PGA Section member to win the PGA Junior Golf Leader Award, which is presented to a PGA Professional who demonstrates leadership in junior golf and reflects the ideals of those who work with youth.
Hogan, who attended Bellevue (Neb.) College for two years before turning professional in 1989, is a two-time (1999, 2002) Section PGA Junior Golf Leader Award winner. Among the many community service awards he has received are the 2001 Dr. Martin Luther King Living the Dream Award and the 1997 American Institute for Public Service Jefferson Award. He also received the 2003 Nebraska Hall of Fame’s Dr. Herbert H. Davis Memorial Award.
“When someone asks me where I went to college, I say The PGA of America,” said Hogan. “The PGA is my college. Being a golf professional is an ongoing education. For me to pass through Business School II was very hard. Thanks to my wife and kids, who quizzed me as I was studying, I made it. I have tried to instill in kids I meet that it is never too late to reach your dreams. I came off a tractor and I had dreams. You have to never give up on yourself and never quit working.”
Hogan and his lovely wife, Denett, are the parents of two children: Steve Jr. and Sierra.
You’ll have a lot of fun checking out this fellow golfer. And surprising, he’s a cousin of Today Show weatherman, Al Roker
Renny is on a mission to provide top quality lessons and playing time for kids, ages 10-17, at upscale resorts and golf courses. His Miramar, Florida-based organization has teams in over 30 cities. Discover how his program helps kids with their studies and fosters a professional attitude while they learn the rules and business of golf
More importantly, Teens on the Green works to insure that all members earn a scholarship to the college of their choice stemming from their commitment to the education and experience they received while participating in the program on and off the course. (…read more in the Summer 2003 issue.)
Dr. George Thomas understands why “It’s never too late.” According to Dr. Thomas, president of the Learning Academy which carries his name. Though his job was too consuming for him to take up golf, immediately upon his retirement from the Federal Aviation Administration in 1994, Thomas, now 74, started taking lessons.He’s cut his handicap down to an amazing 12. Thomas’ academy just hosted its 13th annual golf tournament in Silver Spring, MD, that benefits its tutoring and mentoring program for students of Montgomery County, the George B. Thomas, Sr. Learning Academy.
It was an interview with Tiger Woods and being asked what he expected to do for the next fifty years, that pointed Jerome toward golf. Woods’ response was, “Play golf.” That’s when Jerome bought his son, Jairus, (then 18-months-old) a plastic golf club and started taking him to the public golf course to watch adults play the game,
Last year, Jairus, now seven, placed second in his home state of Maryland, fifth in Virginia, and took first place in Delaware and Pennsylvania. This qualified him to go to the world championships in North Carolina. He also discovered that his fourth cousin, a slave in the 1800, was a caddy and was inducted into the Caddy Hall of Fame. (…read more in the Summer 2007 issue.)
For 91 years, The PGA of America has made it a mission to promote the game of golf and elevate the role of the professional. On May 17th the Association took a new step forward to
enrich the lives of the nation’s Wounded Warriors. The PGA of America/Disabled Sports USA Military Golf Program laid the foundation for what officials believe is a new chapter in connecting golf with those who have served this country and paid a major sacrifice.
As part of the Association’s initiative, it has joined the America Supports You team, a Department of Defense program that highlights and recognizes citizens’ support for members of the U.S. Armed Services and their families.
(…read more in the Summer 2007 issue.)
Steve has established himself as one of the nations best Long Drive Champions. His top 10 finish in the 2007 ReMax Long Drive Championship in Mesquite, Nevada, only reinforces his skill and talents.
This Clearwater, Florida, resident is certainly headed for more wins and we predict that Steve will have a good season in 2008. (…read more in the Winter/January 2008 issue.)
(As published in the Winter/Jan. 2007 issue.)
HERCULES: MODERN MAN WITH A MISSION
The Greeks described the mythological “Hercules” as a man of prodigious size and strength and one of very great courage. The Greater Metropolitan Washington Area has its own “modern day Hercules”. Who is this local area giant who describes himself a very simple, unobtrusive man? He is Hercules O. Pitts, a local Developer and General Contractor, who has become the State of Maryland’s only African American 18-hole golf course owner. He adds his name as another of the very few minority golf course owners in the U.S.
Pitt’s name may not yet be a household word, but the future will tell his story. He says failure is not in his vocabulary. Even though he may not be an experienced golf course owner, he is more than a player. An Electrical Engineer by training, he has struggled through many business ventures and with attempted minority-ownership blocking. Over the years, he built himself up as a business developer, property Owner and general contractor and President of HOP & Associates in which he is still engaged. He managed to do that during the years while holding down a 25 year position with AT&T as a technical manager. He retired from AT&T in 1997. No doubt, he has taken on a “Herculean” challenge as the new owner of Lake Arbor Golf Course, a course set in an upscale housing, primarily “non-golfing’ community
The Lake Arbor Golf Course, a 6359 yard challenge, designed by Jack Nicklaus in the late 1960s, is located in the Mitchellville, Maryland area of Prince Georges County. Its location is just ten miles outside of Washington DC., which makes it convenient to the Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia communities. Prince Georges County is statistically referenced to be one of the wealthiest, minority counties in America. Pitts was disappointed in the fact that in such a large, wealthy county, there are no known minority, 18-hole golf course owners. He has become so exited about this new venture that he is interested in pursuing additional golf course opportunities.
In recent years, due to poor management, environmental factors, prejudice and community dissatisfaction, the golf course had experienced loss of players and membership and was rumored to be sold to another potential golf course organizations or to housing developers. Fortunately, for the community the one Developer turned out to be Hercules Pitts. Even knowing the condition of the course, he did not shrink from the monumental task of bringing this golf course back from the brink of destruction. Prior to settlement and before he took full ownership, all 18 greens and the two practice greens were chemically destroyed; course management equipment and golf carts were stolen. This was his welcome as the new owner.
When asked if it was always his dream to own a golf course, his response was, not necessarily. He went to the course on a day in November, 2004 to relax and take a golf lesson and was surprised to learn that the golf course was for sale. As a businessman, he viewed it as a business venture and an opportunity to bring (in time) a first-class golf course development and other social amenities to a growing residential community and Metropolitan area. He saw it as “a diamond in the rough” and a great opportunity to develop it to its full potential.” After some hard fought negotiations whereas the Sellers did not initially want to take his bid seriously, he purchased the golf course in June 2005.
Pitts’ management, in one year, has slowly begun to build back community relations and clientele, which had surely been affected by the prior negative conditions of the course and the attitudes of the prior ownership. Currently, his dual focus, on which he is giving special effort and dedication to: (a.) make the golf course more playable by continually up-grading it and its surrounding areas to the highest level; and (b) make some changes to the Clubhouse by expanding the grill menu and giving it a more 19th hole Sports Bar ambiance.
When asked what his immediate goals were for the course, his reply was “to stay on track and take one major step at a time. This course had three years worth of neglect. He considers ‘persistence’ to be his number one friend.
Many past rumors persisted that the golf course would be developed for more homes. Hercules stated very emphatically that, “We will never interrupt this golf course, it will always be an 18-hole golf course. If the community works with me, together we can make this the #1 golf course in the nation.” To learn more about Lake Arbor Golf Course, visit www.lakearborgc.com
Pitts’ long range vision is to expand the area into a “golf resort.” When asked if he had other business partners, his reply was, “I have only one business partner and “He” is a silent partner. Hercules is truly a “Man on a Mission.” Hercules is married to Rhonda and they have three children, Hercules, Jr., Brittany and Maya.
Update: On July 7, 2006 Hercules accomplished something very unique, almost one year to the date of his original purchase. He became the proud, first African American owner of his second golf course. He purchased Marlborough Golf Club in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, a shot makers 18-hole course on 123 acres.
In addition to the course, the acquisition included a well-designed 150-190 capacity banquet hall, with full service menu for luncheons, service for weddings and other events, a 75 capacity Bar and Food facility with a Patio which seats 70 comfortably. It is truly a class act
More information can be obtained on his Web site: www.marlboroughgolfclub.com
Lake Arbor Golf Club
1401 Golf Course Lane
Mitchellville 20721
Phone: (301) 336-7771
Marlborough Golf Club
4750 John Rodgers Blvd
Upper Marlborough, MD • 20772
(301) 952-1300
Related story: Lake Arbor Golf Course Sold
(…read the Winter 2004 issue.)
While on a family vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina, a life changing experience happened to five-year-old Connor that would change her families dynamic forever…she discover the game of golf.
Now, the game has propelled them all to greater heights in every
aspect of life and they have another option for how they spend their ‘quality family time.’
She has been names “The Most Improved Golfer” 2006 Georgetown-Horry Chapter. She placed 9th at the All-Stars State Championship at Wescott Plantation Golf Course in Summerville, SC, and has won several medals from Mutual of Omaha Drive, Chip and Putt Competitions.
(…read more in the Fall 2007 issue.)