December 11, 2024 • 53 mins
Retired PGA professional Tom Cioffi joins Rich this week. Tom shares how his dad and baseball helped spark his interest in golf, and his path to becoming the GM at Williamsport. Plus, Rich explains how Tom had an impact on his life.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Is a very very very cold day in West Virginia
and western Pennsylvania, and I think all of the East coast,
and I am happy to be to.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Be back this week with all of you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hopefully's someplace warm. I am extremely I have to tell
you know, I've had let's think, I've had multiple PGA
well one PGA Tour winner, multiple LPGA Tour winners on
this show. I've had the vice president of the PGA
of America. I've had the oh, let's see, the CEO
(00:36):
of the National Golf Course Owners Association.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I've had.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Some pretty I guess would be high powered people. But
I am very, very very pleased to have with me
today the person that I have told people from March
twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two till today, the best PGA
golf professional I've ever known in my life. And his
(01:04):
name is Tom Trophy. And Tom is joining us from Florida,
where Tom is enjoying his retirement. But Tom, I just
wanted to say thanks for coming on today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, thanks, Rich, it's good to hear your voice. And yes,
I'm in a warmer climate. That's awesome. And where you are.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I know, I know, Tom.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So you know what, as I do with everybody, Why
don't you tell me how your journey in golf started.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I'd be glad to First of all, thanks for that introduction.
I don't know how in the world I deserve that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It's true statement.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Man, we're going to get into that in a little bit.
You're gonna find out how good you really are.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
We'll find out. But yeah. I started in Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
born and raised there, and one day my dad said,
grab your baseball glove. I was playing litague all the time.
I was eleven years old. He said, grab your glove.
I'm going to go over to this golf course and
hit some balls and you can catch them as I
hit them. And not the smartest thing I've ever done,
(02:11):
but it turned out to be life changing because somehow
I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere. So
not long after that, I found myself in the every
morning walking down to the golf course, not a small walk,
probably fifteen twenty minute walk to the golf course, and
I would sit on the front steps of that little
(02:31):
cinder block building and wait for the pro to come
and open up and hang there for the day. So
he asked me to do some chores around the golf
shop and also shag balls for him when he got
lessons on the first fairway before the golf course would open.
(02:53):
So I did that. His idea of refinishing club put
all the clubs back then we would a nineteen sixty
two and almost all of them were black. So when
someone would say, Charlie, would you refinished, his name was
Charlie Rash. By the way he was, he became like
Van Hulgan to me and just a wonderful man. And
(03:14):
he would say, yeah, sure, we'll refinish this club for you,
And that would be my job in the back room.
I would take black shoe polish and polish the wood
and shins it up for him. And that was his
version of refinishing the woods. So I would do that.
And one really kind of neat thing that happened was,
(03:35):
and I don't remember how or why I remember this
gentleman's name, but he was given a lesson to a gentleman.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
By the name of Max Hall on the And you
might remember mister Hall. He's a lawyer, but he's an
attorney in town, correct and wonderful guy. But anyways, I
was twelve years old and out there in the first
fairway before the golf course opened and shagging balls, and
(04:01):
Charlie gave him a lesson. And god knows how many
years later, probably thirty years later, twenty something, for sure,
I'm an assistant pro at the Willmsboro Country Club and
in walks Max Hall, And as he walked in to
introduce himself, I said, I'm mister Hall's nice to see
(04:22):
you again.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And of course he gave me a blank stare and
had no idea why or how I knew him. And
I said, mister Hall, do you remember taking golf lessons
from Charlie Rash. He began to really widen his eyes.
He said, yes I do, and it was on the
first fairway to Own Park golf Course. Yes, I do
(04:44):
remember that. And I said, do you remember that little
kid that was out in the fairway shagging those balls
that you were hitting. He said, yes, I do, and
I raised my hand and we were fast friends from
that point on. So very interesting, a very interesting story
to talk about life changing and how life evolves into
(05:05):
new friendships and long term friendships and put that was
That was great and I ended up working with mister
Hall and his two sons, and you don't enjoy a
nice long tenure at the Wayne Sport Country Club after that.
But so yeah, that was that was pretty neat. But
my father gave me I set up starter clubs when
(05:25):
I think when I was twelve, and it was this
a little plaid bag with Croydon golf clubs in it,
a gold Matthew rubber grips and you know, starters at
one in three wood, three five, seven, nine irons, and
proudly I would coat coat that little red dag down
to the golf course and play golf every once in
a while and hanging around the shop. And mister Rash
(05:47):
one day took me out back and he had this
burner barrel full of lost and found golf clubs that
were quite old and quite a mess of them, and
he said, you go into that barrel and got anything
that you'd like to fill in your set. So I
picked out course of two wood those who can ever
(06:07):
hit a two wood, uh, and maybe another wood and
a two iron, four iron, six iron, eight iron, and
I think maybe a pitching which and there I was
with my miss mix matched, I mean all different sizes,
all different links of clubs. But I was the proudest
kid on the block. I had my full full set
of cloves. And I think that winter I was so
(06:33):
into the game that I had to kip balls inside.
And we had a garage that was partially finished over
and I would go into that garage and chip at
that At that time, I didn't even think about wolf
of balls. I chipped real golf balls into the garage door.
And of course I had to take a full swing
(06:53):
one day and put one right through the garage door. Well,
that ended my That ended my practice session.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It was the end of the end door career right there.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah. And you know, as kids, we would cut open
the golf balls and they were all rubber, you know,
rubber bands, and it would just fly all over the place.
We had to see what was inside of each one
of them. Some were liquid field and some of them
were solid field, and you know, all all that fun stuff.
I just I just loved. I loved every part of
it and gave up baseball at that point. We you know,
(07:24):
Williams Sport was well known for the League baseball stylos.
World Shooters is every year, but as much as I
loved baseball. Golf became my passion from that point on.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So when did you start to figure out that you
could play a little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, I loved it so much that I never
really figured out anything about becoming good. It didn't matter.
I just loved being out there. Although I did play
in the Junior Club Championships and cety second one of
my matches, I won ten and eight.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
But there you go.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Well, I knew I could some kids out there, and
I guess that wet my app to sate a little
bit more for competition. But not long after that that
golf course closed up in a big this was a
nine hole course, and a big, full lengths eighteen hole
golf course opened up over the other side of the mountain.
(08:19):
So I was then probably fourteen and had a more
proper set of clubs somehow, And I would say with
my brother in South William's Sport, because he lived one
block off of Route fifteen, which went right to the
golf course. This his white Deer golf course now, And
so I would carry my clubs over to that corner
(08:41):
and hitchhike to the golf course every suitable day that
I could, and continued to play and continue to practice
and love the game, and did win my junior club
championship there, so you know, and then on to high school.
I played as high school player and was captain of
(09:01):
the team. So yeah, I guess the competitive stuff just
kind of came out as I went along. And of
course you get to a point where you say, I
can get better, right, and that's when it starts to
get painful.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yes, yes, but that was through.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
High school and I was asked to go to look
into a college in North Carolina. That was Campbell College
Campbell University, North Carolina. It's Creek, North Carolina, absolutely, and
it's now a university has girl very nice, but back
(09:38):
then they were just coming off of the year before
NAIA National championship. So they asked me to come down
and play around the golf with some of the boys
and see if I'd be interested. And I did, and
I was asked to go to the school. And I
did that for two years and had a wonderful absolutely wonderful.
(10:00):
I loved the Carolinas, but decided that I wanted to
graduate back home at La Homing College, so I transferred
back to Like Coming College and graduated there and not
long after that was asked to be an assistant at
the White Deir golf Course. So that got me into
(10:21):
the profession in nineteen seventy six. It was actually September fifteenth,
nineteen seventy six. And another interesting thing that happened to
me was that was my first day as an assistant.
My first day as a head professional at Heritage Ridge
Golf Club in Hopetown, Florida was September fifteenth, nineteen seventy nine.
Three years of that day. I love that, and that's
(10:44):
when I kind of knew that I had made the
right choice. I had labored over that for a long
time as to what I wanted to do. My father
was a great advisor, and he was really a smart guy,
and I respected every thing that he wanted me to do.
But when I came to him in that September of
(11:05):
seventy six and said I want to get into the golfliness.
I want to turn pro his statement to me was
your nuts. And I said, well, Dad, this is the
first time I'm going to disagree with you. Is I
just I love the game, I love to do your
ground it and I know I'm going to work hard
for my whole life. So I'm going to work hard
at something I enjoy, right, And that's the way that
(11:27):
turned out. I'm happy that I made that decision and
I worked hard at it, and it was It's been
a wonderful career.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It's interesting because I start every one of these conversations
with with with everybody, and I asked them how they
get their start, and invariably it's I think we're up
to twenty seven out of twenty eight have now told
me something to do with their father. Yeah, you know,
I mean, I mean, you know, I remember the first
(11:59):
part I made where it was and I was with
my father, and Chris Cheddar said she was with her
her dad and and Bob Ford actually said it was
his mom and dad, and you know, so it's just
that's that's really really really cool. I mean that that's
just really neat. So let me ask you this question.
(12:20):
So you went to work at White Deer and did
you work for Charlie? Did you work for mister rash He?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Uh, he was the first pro there but only stayed
I think about a year and then retired. And I
did not work for him there. I was just a
you know, I was by that time. I was not
quite in high school, right uh. And I don't know
if I really played that much golf that year, But
(12:49):
subsequent to that I started to go over there. You know,
I became a member was a public golf course, semi
for it, and really got into the game heavy at
that point. But I do remember mister Ashbying, the one
that opened up that club.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
That's neat, so okay, so.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Who Also, here's another thing about my dad. He took
me to the golf course several times to caddy for him,
and that piqued my interest even more to watch people
hit shots. And you know, that made me more interested
(13:26):
in learning a game, the game. But something that I
got heavily into was caddying. That kept me around the game.
And this Elmpark golf course was a neat little night
hole course and I caddied for a foursome each week
at a specific time. These four older gentlemen would bring
out two light carry bags and two pull carts and
(13:47):
I would push and push one, pull one and have
the two bags on my shoulders and walk down the
middle of the fairway, which they were never in they
would come over, come over and grab a club and
go to hit the ball, and I would just walk
along with him, and they Kevin Graver cost Caddy for
a fourth them and I would get twenty five cents
from each one of them. And uh, you know, twelve
years old, I was papptist, can be. I went on
(14:11):
to I went on to caddy in the Williamsport country
Club Invitational, which was, you know the first time I'd
ever seen that that golf course. I think it may
have been a junior JC tournament too. Anyways, Caddy in
their doubles, and I can remember caddy and for the
Yerkeies brothers in this invitational tournament, which is still going
(14:33):
on to this time time. We think it's the oldest
two man better ball invitational in the country. We've challenged
the Golf Magazine a few others to come up with
one older.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's actually it's actually the longest running match play championship
in the United States history, right, Yes, it is, because
the US Open went to metal play for a few years,
so they that is the longest running match play championship
in America.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well, it was a phenomenal event, it really is. But
the caddying way back caddying. The last time that I
caddied in the tournament was pouring rain and I showed
up with no shoes. Why, I don't know. I wanted
to walked the golf course like Sam's Need used to
practice with no shoes. And it turned out to be
(15:22):
a pouring rain day and I was by the six
or seventh pool. I was shivering, and they came out
and took me off the golf course, and of course
I got it. There was maybe the third round of
the tournament, and I got a nice, you know, batch
of money from those two gentlemen, and we went right
down to a shoe store and bought a pair of
Corpham golf shoes. There were black and white wingtip shoes,
(15:44):
and so that was my first pair of real golf shoes.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Just fun stuff. Fun stuff. Actually started the knowing that
a lot of kids get introduced to golf from caddying.
I started two caddy programs at two different clubs that
I was at, one being Frosty Valley and Danville and
one being at Wednesford Country Club. And it was very
(16:12):
difficult to get these kids to come out and lug
those bags around for four plus hours when most of
them were getting that much allowance from their parents of home.
Right it just you know, I had a handful of
kids that did end up following through and becoming full
time caddies for specific people that they would show up,
(16:34):
you know in the Wednesday Night League or the Tuesday
Night Leager or the Thursday morning Ladies League or whatever
to become a caddie for a person that was taking
good care of them. So that was rewarding to see
and again just trying to introduce the end to more kids, right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Right, Okay, So when we come back from this break,
we're going to talk about your years is a head
golf professional, and we're going to start to educate these
people as to how good of a golf.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Professional you are.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I'm going to actually I'm going to actually tell
them how I know that, and we are going to
and we will be right back with Tom Chophy after
this break.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
This is the Rich Commo Golf Show. This welcome back
to the Rich Combogolf Show.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
We're joined this week by Tom Chophy, PGA professional Tom
Chophy and Tom walked us through his early years, in
his developmental years, and.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We are now going.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
To talk about his first head professional job that fateful
day in September, and that was at Heritage Ridge in
what part of Florida.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Hope Sound that was.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Hope Sound, Hope Sound, Florida. Yeah, that was. That was
nineteen seventy nine. And I mentioned in the earlier segment
that it was three years to the day that I
had my first hit pro job September fifteenth, nineteen seventy six,
as an assistant September fifth teen, nineteen seventy nine, as
I had professional and I got there before I even
(18:04):
I was still an apprentice. I didn't even have my
Class A card yet. So we opened, we opened the
golf course. I was there before the golf course was
even seated or strigged as they do it in Florida.
So it helped with the clubhouse design and designed the
pro shop, and of course stopped it and helped with
(18:25):
the you know, designing the retired membership program and daily
feet program, which was quite a great experience for you know,
the young kid starting out. And I can remember that
in the early days they owned it was proudly owned
as two jentlemen owned it and mister Keighley liked to
(18:48):
play cards, So we had a card room in the back,
and he would ask me to come in at night
and open up so he and his friends could play cards,
and I would stay in the golf shop and study
for my business school two. Yeah, oh yeah, exam. That
was back in the day when you had PGA Business
school one and two. And yeah, I can remember my
(19:10):
business school one. I got to tell you this adventure
Business school one I took in Syracuse, New York and
the dead of winter, and I stayed at Syracuse University
and in a fraternity house. A friend of mine was
a frat brother. And when I came up one morning
to go to the Sheridan or wherever I was going
(19:32):
to the business school one, it was midterms and there
were nothing but drunken bodies laying all over I mean,
sir wells, couches all over the floor. I tiptoed my
way out to my Volkswagen Beetle, which had no here.
The snow was piled higher than the car, so I
had to roll down of the windows, stick my head
(19:53):
outside the window, and drive in god knows what temperature
to the Sheridan. And I finished in the top two
percent of my class I was that excited about being
in the golf business.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That is so cool.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
That is cool. Yeah, it was. That was That was
a really interesting time. I never felt the cold. I
never I was so excited that I was in the
business and I was learning so much. I just my
eyes were just wide open and my heart was wide open.
It just absolutely fell in love with the business. So,
you know, back to Heritage Ridge, I was there for
(20:25):
six years and it was a community development, so I
watched it come from the ground up, the very first
homes being built, the first condos, and developed a membership
of just over four hundred in the six years that
I was there, so it really went well and I
(20:45):
was very proud of that job. We had a lot
of fun, and we started at nine holes and I
was a part of at that time watching. I actually
partially the landscaped the first nine and we operated with
nine holes for a couple of years, and then we
built a second nine and rebuilt the first nine, and
(21:07):
I had professional tournaments there. Uh yeah, I held I
got all the guys. You know, we would go to
pro ams at sand Piper Bay almost every Friday we could,
so you know, we were used to playing a tournament week.
So I came up with two events, one in the
(21:29):
spring and one in the fall where I would have
a you know, big food layout, cookout and nice frize
money and shotgun start with with a lot of the
local pros. And you know, that was great networking for
me too, a chance to really be around these guys
(21:51):
more often. But we we did a lot of things
with that golf course that really helped to develop the community.
We had some amateur events there that I was quite
proud of also, So that was that was a growing
experience for me. Those six years. I was so valuable
(22:13):
because I really you know, when you start at a
ground up facility like that, there is so much more
that you do than just walking into an ongoing facility, right,
And it's quite an experience. I was very fortunate.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So six years and then you decide to go back
north correct, Yes.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yes, I was married at the time and newly married.
And we decided on children, of course, and we decided
that South Florida was not as desirable, at least to
me as Pennsylvania. So I wanted to get back to
Pennsylvania to raise a family. The job came open at
Frosty Valley Country Club, which is where jere McGee worked
(23:01):
for a number of years as an assistant and then
got his sponsorship to go on the tour. One of
the great lines that Jerry was noted for was as
a teaching guy there. He was on the practice range
and doctor Hood, who was a neurosurgeon at the time
(23:22):
and became the director of the Geisromer Medical Center, which
is a huge medical complex in Pennsylvania. He was the
CEO of that company. He was on the practice rage
hitting balls and Jerry walked up to him and said,
you need to let me give you a lesson. He said, now,
(23:43):
I just want to have fun. He says, when you
have more fun for you, what the hell you're doing?
That was his line in doctor Hood and Doctor Hood.
I don't think took a lesson from him anyways. So
I was again very fortunate to be selected at Frosty
Valley Country Club in nineteen eighty six and stay there
(24:05):
till nineteen ninety a wonderful club. Had my first we
had a first child there in the Geist Medical Center.
We developed a wonderful pro am that was a part
of the Miracle Network Teleson that Jerry Lewis had put
together nationwide, and again we put on a really nice,
big pro am for all the Central Counties pros in
(24:29):
the spring, and I went into a golf shop that
was all cinder block and the total output of a
total income of revenue for that shop annually was about
twenty five thousand dollars. So I did that much in
the first quarter of the year that I was open.
(24:50):
We remodeled the shop, put in some nice merchandise, and
opened up the windows that were all closed up, and
made it a environment that people we're enjoying, you know,
put a coffee pot out front for the early players,
and a swing out front for people to sit and enjoy,
the putting green practice screen in front, and first tea
(25:11):
in the eighteenth green, and you know, we started to
really build a nice teaching program there, which I was
very happy and proud of. And yeah, so that was
that was a great four years. It was difficult to leave.
But then something came open that I had to pay
attention to, right which leads me to the next twin.
(25:35):
If you're ready to go, the Williamsport Country Club job
came open and I was an assistant there earlier and
My first exposure with that club, if I remember correctly now,
was at a junior JC golf tournament, and I had
I had never known of the Ways Country Club, didn't
(25:57):
realize it was there. I always played at the White
Gear Public Court or Elm Park, So showing up at
this golf tournament, my eyes just went wide open, and
I but this is most beautiful place in the world,
and I just obviously it was the big club on
the hill to me, always being an assistant there were
so proud of that. And then the job came open,
(26:19):
and I got a phone call from a board member
or a selection committee member that said, you need to
get up here for this. And so at the time,
I didn't realize that a good friend of mine had
already come up to the interview for the job, and
so I didn't even realize they were in the angering process.
And so I got the phone call and they said,
(26:40):
you need to be here tomorrow. So I had an
apartment in Danville. I was in Florida at the time.
I winter in Florida for many years and worked down
there as an assistant or whatever, play tournaments, and I
was in Florida, and so I got a plane ticket,
landed in Williams, rented a car, drove eighty ninety miles
(27:02):
an hour down to Danville into a foty degree apartment,
drew on a coat and tie, drove ninety miles an
hour back up the winds were and made it there
within minutes of the interview. And I don't know if
my tie was on crooked and my belt was buckled.
I no idea but that in this interview, and it was.
It was a very interesting interview compared to what happens today.
(27:24):
It was more philosophical about you know, if you have
another child, would you like it to be a boy
or girl? That kind of stuff. It was more getting
to know me as a person, and I was okay
with that. It wasn't about tell me your teaching philosophy,
tell me your merchandise and philosophy. You know, your experience
in this that and the other, your playing abilities, none
(27:45):
of that. It was all about mainly because they knew
me from before, and they knew my record at Tarsty Valley,
and I think they were coming in just to see
if I was a nice guy and would fit with
their personalities and the people there. So before I left,
they we inked a contract and it was a perpetual contract.
(28:10):
It was a never any contract every year, renewed for
two years. So it was pretty it was pretty interesting.
I was very, very fortunate to have something like that happened.
Of course, I was extremely proud. I've just absolutely loved
the club and was so proud to be in the
business and be at that club for all the obvious reasons.
(28:33):
I loved the membership. It just was a great twelve
years of being there. Then and then the GM position
came open. And prior to that, something in my DNA
(28:53):
a gene decidey. He said, you need to own a
golf course, you need to run a golf course. And
so I had been through construction a number of times,
et cetera. And there were two other golf courses, public
golf courses that came up rumored for sale, not necessarily
on the market, but rumored for sale. So I talked
(29:13):
to a few of the members and got some people
interested that would want to back me in something like this,
and went to these owners twice to negotiate buying a
golf course, and neither one of them came through. But
then the GM physician came open. At Winnisport Country Club.
So I thought, you know, next best thing is for
(29:35):
me to run a club like this. I'd be very
proud to do that, very honored to do that. So
that that came open and that I fortunately was able
to convince them that golf pros could run country clubs,
because back in those days, this would have been two
(29:56):
thousand and one. In fact, first my first week on
the job was in September two thousand and one, and
that was the week of nine on Line, the bombings
and the plane flying into the towers. So quite memorable
start to that career. But ended up being the GM
(30:18):
there for three years. And I remember that the president
of the club come in my office and he threw
down a forty year, fifty page budget which I had
never seen before, never looked at a budget before like that,
and he said, we're about to lose one hundred thousand
dollars this year. Go fix that. So it was September
(30:41):
and there wasn't much I could do that year. The
next year we lost money, but the third year we
made a good profit. And that's when a group of
investors came to me and asked me to go with
them to Florida to build a golf course, which opened
(31:02):
up another chapter of my life.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
So we did that and that was the most amazing
experience I could ever wish on a golf professional or
a club manager to be able to go with some people.
My job was to go and look at the land
first of all, and say, would you like to build
(31:26):
a golf course? Say this is the kind of piece
of property that you think couldn't build a golf course on.
So we get onto the property and it was July
in Florida, Dunellen, Florida, just outside of Okalla, virgin piece
of property and we go back into this little dirt
path road that was used for hunting, and they drove
(31:50):
maybe you know, two hundred yards onto the property and
I said, stop, I have to get out. Let me
out of the car. You guys go ahead. So I
got out to walk the property. And as they drove away,
I thought, did I just make a mistake. It's July,
but I'm an aversion property here in Florida. Am I
going to get bit to pieces, skigos or whatever? And nothing,
(32:12):
nothing like that happened. And I'm walking through these gorgeous
giant oak trees which ended up being on the for
the thirteenth hole, which is a beautiful picturesque par three
and out into these open plains, open fields, and more
scrub oaks and gorgeous live oaks and pine trees everywhere.
(32:35):
So I fell in love with the property. I said, yeah,
this is this is great, guys, you can do it.
And it was out in the middle of now were
fifteen miles outside of o'calla. At the time, it was
two layton room to get there, and it was a
very small town, so that was the challenge. This was
two thousand and five that I went there. Two thousand
and seven we opened up the golf course, and of course,
(32:57):
in two thousand and six it was Marion County was
ranked as one of the top five counties for growth
in the United States. So we're all thinking, no matter what,
this thing's going to be a slam dunk, and no
matter what, in two thousand and nine, we're opening. In
two thousand and seven, there were supposed to be seventy
(33:19):
nine million people retiring from the baby boomers, so we're thinking,
we're going we're.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Good here, yeah, go go.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
If you remember what happened in two thousand and eight
real estate crack hit. So we were sitting there and
literally had fifteen hundred people a day coming through and
looking at this beautiful golf course, which by the way,
won three national awards. It was a fabulous, absolutely fabulous
golf course. And to go through I actually hired the architect.
(33:50):
That was my second job. Approved the land hire an architect,
So I flew out to Michigan, went up to DC area,
went to different golf courses in Florida, interviewed in depth
four different architects. Hired John Sandford, who ended up being
absolutely phenomenal. He does a lot of work for Jack Nicholas.
(34:11):
He's done a lot of great golf courses all over
the world, and we got him at a young enough
age that we could afford him, and he designed. I
helped oversee the design of the golf course, and then
I oversaw construction of the golf course start to finish,
literally driving some of the big trucks that were filled
(34:33):
with trees that we had to take down and driving
them off to burn pits. Now here's an interesting story
for this. This whole site was a particular type of sand.
I can't remember the Marsalis sand something like that, the
beautiful yellow sand that was perfect for building a golf course.
And these were the open areas. So we opened up
a burn pit and we burned in that pit for
(34:56):
close to a month, and then we closed it up
and moved on to another burn pit. It took to
the seventeen months to build that golf course, so it
was a seventeen million dollar golf course, by the way,
put a lot of money, is all. Yeah, And I
oversaw landscaping on the golf course also. It was a
great adventure. But anyways, we went back to that burn
(35:16):
site eight or nine months later to build the seventeenth Green.
We all turned up that burn site to excavate it out,
and the guys called me over and said, you got
to see this. First of all, it was still hot
eight months later. And when I say hot, it was hot.
And we looked at the edges the surrounds of the
walls of that burn pit and they were glass. The
(35:39):
sand had not in the glass. It was solid glass
all over around. Now thin, you know, it's maybe a
sixteenth and each thin. But it was amazing. That's how
hot those burn fits gep So great experience for overseeing
the landscaping then and designing again, the membership program and
(35:59):
all of the We actually built a home instead of
building a clubhouse. Who built home on the tenth tee
and retrofitted that or we fitted that as the clubhouse
and it was really cool. It's really a neat golf shop,
cool bar, nice outside and inside eating area and still
(36:21):
used to this day. That was probably the smartest thing
that they did, because in two thousand and eight we
had people there that said, I would love to buy
in here or build in here, but I can't sell
my home because the value of these homes has gone
down so terribly. Yeah, so that was that was a
(36:42):
difficult time. That partnership imploded as the was al of that,
and the original owner stayed on the golf course survived somehow,
and he has I've gone. I was just there two
weeks ago actually just to drive through and and see
(37:03):
the development of everything is. And it's a thriving community now.
So it has it has done well. They've asked me
back a number of times and I said, and I'm sorry,
this is you know, I've moved on to another club
and remarried. I went through a divorce at that time
(37:25):
and remarried and I married Sally Brayton. You might know her, Yeah, balist.
Sally and her late husband were members of the club
and Williamsport and Saw of the Earth people, absolutely a
wonderful family.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Played baseball Brown.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
He played baseball at Harvard Harvard and then went on
and was was selected by and hired uh into professional
ranks by Boston.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Retreated by Boston. But they wanted to trade him immediately,
and he said, no, no, no, I'm not going to do
this political stuff. So he was asked to come into
the Woolwich Clothing Company and he became CEO of that
passed away in five suddenly from the widow maker. Yeah,
(38:25):
and I was, you know, heartbroken just to hear that,
because he was just such a great guy. Anyways, his
wife ended up in Florida and she ended up walking
across the parking lot at the club I was managing
in Palm Coasts with the golf bag that I had
sold thirty years ago. She looked at me with a
big smile. I looked at her with a big smile,
(38:45):
and we of course piled around together with other people
from Williamsport that had moved to the Palm Coast area, right,
and this this was fourteen years ago, and you know
I'm married and retired for thirteen of those fourteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
That's awesome, that's all Sally.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
So when we come back from this break, I'm going
to explain to these people exactly where I come into
this story.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
And it's and then, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
What, I've greatly enjoyed all of these memories. But there's
something that I have that actually, to this day I
sit in this chair or wherever I go, it is
because of the guy I'm talking to. This is the
rich Conwall Golf Show. Welcome back to rich Conwall GoF Show.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
We've heard for two.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Segments of an absolutely incredible golf story story from Tom
Chophy from you know, picking up a first golf club,
you know, three five seventy nine, and I am and
I started this whole show with this. Tom Chophy is
the best PGA professional I've ever known in my life.
(39:54):
And I was sleeping in a condominium apartment in Albemarle,
North Carolina, on my day off, and the phone rang
and I answered it. I was an assistant golf professional.
Place called Stanley County Country Club, And I answered the phone.
It was Tom Chophy and he asked ed I had
applied for a job as an assistant gold professional Williamsport
(40:16):
country Club, and he asked me to come interview. So
I put my wife in the car, who was from
not very far from Williamsport, and we drove to their
house and I stayed overnight, and then we drove. I
drove up to Williamsport with my wife and my sister
(40:37):
in law and I was a total.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Of good God.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
I was not even twenty two years old and twenty
three years old, and so I walked into this golf shop.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I pulled in this country club.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
And of course I dropped them off the mall because
I could not drug a job interview with two people
in the car and sitting in the car for me.
So I walked into the golf shop and there stood
Tom Trophy and I interviewed with Tom. And I thought
(41:12):
to myself, if I could work at a place like this,
I can, I can. I can make a I can
make a life for myself in this business. So I,
I you know, got down with the interview, went back
to North Carolina. Tom called me, he said, what's your reservation?
Is I need a little bit more money. So he
got me a little bit more money. I'll keep in
(41:34):
mind when you say this now, I'm gonnaet paid three
on twenty five dollars a week. Again, I think I'm
a millionaire. But so we go back to Williamsport. A
lady even the name of Tom hooked me up with
a lady by name Patty Bailey, who was a real term.
She found me an apartment. I found this an apartment
on Los Avenue on March twenty fifth, twenty fourth, I
(41:55):
moved into Los Avenue. On March twenty seventh was my
first day of nineteen ninety two at Williams Pork Country Club.
The day and I remember, I remember trying to figure
out for about, oh I don't know, an hour that
morning what to wear. And that was that was That
(42:17):
was actually after two hours the night before, so we
you know, I remember my wife lying in bed and
she said, in michiganuse you know, they put their pants
on just like you do. And I drove to Williamsport
Country Club and I started work there. That was in
the shop too, Yes, it was a brand new golf
shop and I and my entire life changed that day. Wow,
(42:43):
and I I worked. Oh yes, I worked for Tom
for five years, for five years, and I learned. I
learned some amazing things I still remember to this day.
One is there's always a right place for every piece
of merchandise. Always that number.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Two.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
When you get in the golf business, you go to
work and you work, and then you worry about your
days off when you're not in season. And I also learned,
and I remember it like it was yesterday. I had
worked for Tom at Williamsport Country Club for a month,
(43:29):
month and a half and we had a rainstorm and
everybody came off the golf course. We put the siren
on it, but it came off the golf course. And
Bill and Bob Vanderlin were a lawyer and a doctor
and they were probably about one hundred and ninety one
years old, and they tried to climb the drive the
golf cart over the curb to get underneath the awning
(43:51):
and he hit the gas instead of the brake, and
they threw Tom into a wall.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
And I was there for six weeks.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
I said, oh my god, I just became the new
head professional Williams Park Country Club because that guy's dead
and I will never forget. Tom bounced off that wall
and put himself back on his feet, and he looked
at them and he went to them, are you guys okay?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
And I said to myself.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
I need to learn how to be like that. And
I worked really, really really hard to be like that,
and and I and I and I and I've never
been able to be like that because I'm just way
too wired differently.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
But I just I remember.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I remember learning almost something every day.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
And I remember thinking to myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
If I just this day, if I can just do
one more thing.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
And I remember a.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
About four months in we got a boatload of stuff
from Ashworth and Polo and the UPS guy came in
and he dropped it and we put it in the
we had a work room, and then we had the
golf shop, and everybody went home at seven o'clock at night,
and I went home and I went back to work,
(45:24):
and I remember I did. I inventoried it all and
I displayed it all the best I could. I didn't
know how to put it in the computer yet, and
I put it all in there and I and I
went and I went home. I went home about eleven o'clock,
so I worked about three hours, and I.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Remember getting up.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
We had to be at work at seven o'clock in
the morning until seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
We opened the shop.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
At seven, and I remember walking in like five minutes
to seven.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Tom drove a.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Really really really cool white Blazer. I had never seen
a car like that that was really cool.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
I had.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I had a red Chevy Cavalier. And so I remember.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Walking in to work that day and I didn't say
a word, and I and I and it went on
for you know, we were doing stuff and this and
that and the other thing. He walked in and he
had a desk that I wasn't allowed to go New
York because that was his desk, and to this day,
nobody can go near my desk. And so so he
(46:21):
walked into the Tom walked out the golf shop and
he went, what the hell happened in here? And I said, well,
you know, I thought he was I thought, I literally
thought you're mad. And I'm like, well, you know, and
he goes, you came in here last night. I'm like yeah,
and he goes. I remember, Tom just goes wow. And
(46:42):
I thought to myself, if I can impress him, because
that guy's really good at what he does. I'm gonna
be okay in this business. And we and he ran,
he ran that we had the same outings every year,
the same day on those Mondays, and we had a calendar.
And he taught me how to merchandise. He taught me
how to write checks. He sat me down and said,
(47:05):
this is how you pay an invoice. He taught me
how to pay an invoice. This is how you feel
fill out these forms, This is how you do this.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
This is how you do this when you walk to
the clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
You walk over once in the morning and once in
the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
To do your mail. Interesting, And I was like, I
can't believe it, you.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Know, Richard, it's so great to hear you say what
you're saying. Not for my own reasons for the August
respect and what you've said about me, But when I
look back at my career, one of the things that
(47:48):
I wish I would have done a better job at
is working with my assistance on every phase of the
golf business. And I look at things that I did
teach or it didn't show them or didn't work with
him on, and I, you know, I would do it
differently than what I did the first time. I think
(48:10):
everyone can say that although I loved how life went
for me in almost every aspect of my life, no
complaints there, but I certainly would do a better job.
I had a chance to do it again.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Tommy got you couldn't done any better than me that
you you let me, You let me, let me make mistakes.
I remember one time, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
I was out late last.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
One night during the invitational, and I and I came
to work late on a Saturday morning. I walked in
there at seven and we had to be there at
six thirty then, because at that event, I walked in
at five minutes to seven, and I walked right to
the counter and I rang some somebody walked down. I
could probably if I think hard enough, I can tell
you who it was. In one of the golf balls.
(48:54):
I saw him golf balls. I didn't say a word.
I didn't say a word, and tom walked around the
corner and he looked at me and he goes, hey,
I looked at me, don't ever do that again. And
he walked away. And that was the last thing we
talked about it. It was the last time he talked
about it.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
With me.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
And I'm going to tell you right now, I've said
that to two people in my career, and that.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
With the same emphasis.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
And I guarantee you they don't ever do it again,
because I didn't, and I.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Would tell you that.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
And I tell this truthfully. When Tom left and went
to be the general manager of the country club, he
wanted to hire a Heggar professional and he called me,
and I could not take that job because I was
I was actually in the really infancy of my recovery
from alcohol. And Tom actually I told him that later,
(49:49):
and he said to me, he goes, you know what,
I can't believe.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
That you thought enough of me to tell me that.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
And and and I and and and my parents were nice
enough to to you know, he was nice, and I'm
incredibly incredible to them. But he wrote them a letter
when I left and just just how how wonderful.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
It was to have me work for him.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
And and there's not a day that goes by.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And I say this, honestly, there's not a day that
goes by.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I don't walk my car in the summer. We're in
the in the heart of golf season, and I don't
look down at my feet and go, you know what,
That's exactly how he walked to his cart.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
I am just absolutely humbled.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
And and and it's and and I and I've and
I've got it, and I'm you know, We're I've been
through a lot.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
It's twenty three years recovery, and that's great.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I have two kids, I've done some really cool things,
but none of it, none of it would be possible
without Tom Trophy, none of it.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
I am just elated, number one, and so proud of you,
so proud of you and how you handled your life.
You took on the challenges and you did it. I remember, Rich,
I didn't know anything about the alcohol until you told
me so. Number one, you handled yourself well through that
that time, and that must have been extremely difficult. Number two,
(51:21):
I remember you struggling with your game, trying to pass
the pat you know, of course, you know I went
through the same thing. And how hard you had to
work to get that done is a tribute to your
dedication to your career. And you know, that's that's you.
(51:43):
That's you you. You worked through everything you had to
work through and more than most to get to where
you were successful and continue to be successful. So I
am very proud and honored to have had you as
part of my staff. And you knows what, As anyone,
you're only as good as the people around you, and
(52:04):
I was very fortunate to have people like you in
my operation time and time again, and that's what helped
me to become better at what I did. So thank you.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
Just remember, I mean, there's not one thing I've anybody
ever said anything good about my career. It all goes
back to March twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's when it started. Thomas. I can't tell you how
much I appreciate you doing that. I told you.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
It wouldn't take long to do this, I told you,
and it probably wouldn't hurt that much.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
So it was relatively painful, but you've You've made my
day certainly rich and I'll remember this for a long time.
I thank you so much for your comments, and I'm
proud of you.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
Really, I appreciate that, and I thank you. I thank
you for being here, and I thank you for every
day since March twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
Well, God bless, I'll talk to you so and continue
obvious take care.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
Take care.
Speaker 2 (53:05):
This is the rich Gone Wall golf show.
Welcome to the Rich Conwell Golf Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Is a very very very cold day in West Virginia
and western Pennsylvania, and I think all of the East coast,
and I am happy to be to.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Be back this week with all of you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hopefully's someplace warm. I am extremely I have to tell
you know, I've had let's think, I've had multiple PGA
well one PGA Tour winner, multiple LPGA Tour winners on
this show. I've had the vice president of the PGA
of America. I've had the oh, let's see, the CEO
(00:36):
of the National Golf Course Owners Association.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I've had.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Some pretty I guess would be high powered people. But
I am very, very very pleased to have with me
today the person that I have told people from March
twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two till today, the best PGA
golf professional I've ever known in my life. And his
(01:04):
name is Tom Trophy. And Tom is joining us from Florida,
where Tom is enjoying his retirement. But Tom, I just
wanted to say thanks for coming on today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, thanks, Rich, it's good to hear your voice. And yes,
I'm in a warmer climate. That's awesome. And where you are.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, I know, I know, Tom.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So you know what, as I do with everybody, Why
don't you tell me how your journey in golf started.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I'd be glad to First of all, thanks for that introduction.
I don't know how in the world I deserve that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It's true statement.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Man, we're going to get into that in a little bit.
You're gonna find out how good you really are.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
We'll find out. But yeah. I started in Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
born and raised there, and one day my dad said,
grab your baseball glove. I was playing litague all the time.
I was eleven years old. He said, grab your glove.
I'm going to go over to this golf course and
hit some balls and you can catch them as I
hit them. And not the smartest thing I've ever done,
(02:11):
but it turned out to be life changing because somehow
I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere. So
not long after that, I found myself in the every
morning walking down to the golf course, not a small walk,
probably fifteen twenty minute walk to the golf course, and
I would sit on the front steps of that little
(02:31):
cinder block building and wait for the pro to come
and open up and hang there for the day. So
he asked me to do some chores around the golf
shop and also shag balls for him when he got
lessons on the first fairway before the golf course would open.
(02:53):
So I did that. His idea of refinishing club put
all the clubs back then we would a nineteen sixty
two and almost all of them were black. So when
someone would say, Charlie, would you refinished, his name was
Charlie Rash. By the way he was, he became like
Van Hulgan to me and just a wonderful man. And
(03:14):
he would say, yeah, sure, we'll refinish this club for you,
And that would be my job in the back room.
I would take black shoe polish and polish the wood
and shins it up for him. And that was his
version of refinishing the woods. So I would do that.
And one really kind of neat thing that happened was,
(03:35):
and I don't remember how or why I remember this
gentleman's name, but he was given a lesson to a gentleman.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
By the name of Max Hall on the And you
might remember mister Hall. He's a lawyer, but he's an
attorney in town, correct and wonderful guy. But anyways, I
was twelve years old and out there in the first
fairway before the golf course opened and shagging balls, and
(04:01):
Charlie gave him a lesson. And god knows how many
years later, probably thirty years later, twenty something, for sure,
I'm an assistant pro at the Willmsboro Country Club and
in walks Max Hall, And as he walked in to
introduce himself, I said, I'm mister Hall's nice to see
(04:22):
you again.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And of course he gave me a blank stare and
had no idea why or how I knew him. And
I said, mister Hall, do you remember taking golf lessons
from Charlie Rash. He began to really widen his eyes.
He said, yes I do, and it was on the
first fairway to Own Park golf Course. Yes, I do
(04:44):
remember that. And I said, do you remember that little
kid that was out in the fairway shagging those balls
that you were hitting. He said, yes, I do, and
I raised my hand and we were fast friends from
that point on. So very interesting, a very interesting story
to talk about life changing and how life evolves into
(05:05):
new friendships and long term friendships and put that was
That was great and I ended up working with mister
Hall and his two sons, and you don't enjoy a
nice long tenure at the Wayne Sport Country Club after that.
But so yeah, that was that was pretty neat. But
my father gave me I set up starter clubs when
(05:25):
I think when I was twelve, and it was this
a little plaid bag with Croydon golf clubs in it,
a gold Matthew rubber grips and you know, starters at
one in three wood, three five, seven, nine irons, and
proudly I would coat coat that little red dag down
to the golf course and play golf every once in
a while and hanging around the shop. And mister Rash
(05:47):
one day took me out back and he had this
burner barrel full of lost and found golf clubs that
were quite old and quite a mess of them, and
he said, you go into that barrel and got anything
that you'd like to fill in your set. So I
picked out course of two wood those who can ever
(06:07):
hit a two wood, uh, and maybe another wood and
a two iron, four iron, six iron, eight iron, and
I think maybe a pitching which and there I was
with my miss mix matched, I mean all different sizes,
all different links of clubs. But I was the proudest
kid on the block. I had my full full set
of cloves. And I think that winter I was so
(06:33):
into the game that I had to kip balls inside.
And we had a garage that was partially finished over
and I would go into that garage and chip at
that At that time, I didn't even think about wolf
of balls. I chipped real golf balls into the garage door.
And of course I had to take a full swing
(06:53):
one day and put one right through the garage door. Well,
that ended my That ended my practice session.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It was the end of the end door career right there.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah. And you know, as kids, we would cut open
the golf balls and they were all rubber, you know,
rubber bands, and it would just fly all over the place.
We had to see what was inside of each one
of them. Some were liquid field and some of them
were solid field, and you know, all all that fun stuff.
I just I just loved. I loved every part of
it and gave up baseball at that point. We you know,
(07:24):
Williams Sport was well known for the League baseball stylos.
World Shooters is every year, but as much as I
loved baseball. Golf became my passion from that point on.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So when did you start to figure out that you
could play a little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You know, I loved it so much that I never
really figured out anything about becoming good. It didn't matter.
I just loved being out there. Although I did play
in the Junior Club Championships and cety second one of
my matches, I won ten and eight.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
But there you go.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Well, I knew I could some kids out there, and
I guess that wet my app to sate a little
bit more for competition. But not long after that that
golf course closed up in a big this was a
nine hole course, and a big, full lengths eighteen hole
golf course opened up over the other side of the mountain.
(08:19):
So I was then probably fourteen and had a more
proper set of clubs somehow, And I would say with
my brother in South William's Sport, because he lived one
block off of Route fifteen, which went right to the
golf course. This his white Deer golf course now, And
so I would carry my clubs over to that corner
(08:41):
and hitchhike to the golf course every suitable day that
I could, and continued to play and continue to practice
and love the game, and did win my junior club
championship there, so you know, and then on to high school.
I played as high school player and was captain of
(09:01):
the team. So yeah, I guess the competitive stuff just
kind of came out as I went along. And of
course you get to a point where you say, I
can get better, right, and that's when it starts to
get painful.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yes, yes, but that was through.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
High school and I was asked to go to look
into a college in North Carolina. That was Campbell College
Campbell University, North Carolina. It's Creek, North Carolina, absolutely, and
it's now a university has girl very nice, but back
(09:38):
then they were just coming off of the year before
NAIA National championship. So they asked me to come down
and play around the golf with some of the boys
and see if I'd be interested. And I did, and
I was asked to go to the school. And I
did that for two years and had a wonderful absolutely wonderful.
(10:00):
I loved the Carolinas, but decided that I wanted to
graduate back home at La Homing College, so I transferred
back to Like Coming College and graduated there and not
long after that was asked to be an assistant at
the White Deir golf Course. So that got me into
(10:21):
the profession in nineteen seventy six. It was actually September fifteenth,
nineteen seventy six. And another interesting thing that happened to
me was that was my first day as an assistant.
My first day as a head professional at Heritage Ridge
Golf Club in Hopetown, Florida was September fifteenth, nineteen seventy nine.
Three years of that day. I love that, and that's
(10:44):
when I kind of knew that I had made the
right choice. I had labored over that for a long
time as to what I wanted to do. My father
was a great advisor, and he was really a smart guy,
and I respected every thing that he wanted me to do.
But when I came to him in that September of
(11:05):
seventy six and said I want to get into the golfliness.
I want to turn pro his statement to me was
your nuts. And I said, well, Dad, this is the
first time I'm going to disagree with you. Is I
just I love the game, I love to do your
ground it and I know I'm going to work hard
for my whole life. So I'm going to work hard
at something I enjoy, right, And that's the way that
(11:27):
turned out. I'm happy that I made that decision and
I worked hard at it, and it was It's been
a wonderful career.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It's interesting because I start every one of these conversations
with with with everybody, and I asked them how they
get their start, and invariably it's I think we're up
to twenty seven out of twenty eight have now told
me something to do with their father. Yeah, you know,
I mean, I mean, you know, I remember the first
(11:59):
part I made where it was and I was with
my father, and Chris Cheddar said she was with her
her dad and and Bob Ford actually said it was
his mom and dad, and you know, so it's just
that's that's really really really cool. I mean that that's
just really neat. So let me ask you this question.
(12:20):
So you went to work at White Deer and did
you work for Charlie? Did you work for mister rash He?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Uh, he was the first pro there but only stayed
I think about a year and then retired. And I
did not work for him there. I was just a
you know, I was by that time. I was not
quite in high school, right uh. And I don't know
if I really played that much golf that year, But
(12:49):
subsequent to that I started to go over there. You know,
I became a member was a public golf course, semi
for it, and really got into the game heavy at
that point. But I do remember mister Ashbying, the one
that opened up that club.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
That's neat, so okay, so.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Who Also, here's another thing about my dad. He took
me to the golf course several times to caddy for him,
and that piqued my interest even more to watch people
hit shots. And you know, that made me more interested
(13:26):
in learning a game, the game. But something that I
got heavily into was caddying. That kept me around the game.
And this Elmpark golf course was a neat little night
hole course and I caddied for a foursome each week
at a specific time. These four older gentlemen would bring
out two light carry bags and two pull carts and
(13:47):
I would push and push one, pull one and have
the two bags on my shoulders and walk down the
middle of the fairway, which they were never in they
would come over, come over and grab a club and
go to hit the ball, and I would just walk
along with him, and they Kevin Graver cost Caddy for
a fourth them and I would get twenty five cents
from each one of them. And uh, you know, twelve
years old, I was papptist, can be. I went on
(14:11):
to I went on to caddy in the Williamsport country
Club Invitational, which was, you know the first time I'd
ever seen that that golf course. I think it may
have been a junior JC tournament too. Anyways, Caddy in
their doubles, and I can remember caddy and for the
Yerkeies brothers in this invitational tournament, which is still going
(14:33):
on to this time time. We think it's the oldest
two man better ball invitational in the country. We've challenged
the Golf Magazine a few others to come up with
one older.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's actually it's actually the longest running match play championship
in the United States history, right, Yes, it is, because
the US Open went to metal play for a few years,
so they that is the longest running match play championship
in America.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well, it was a phenomenal event, it really is. But
the caddying way back caddying. The last time that I
caddied in the tournament was pouring rain and I showed
up with no shoes. Why, I don't know. I wanted
to walked the golf course like Sam's Need used to
practice with no shoes. And it turned out to be
(15:22):
a pouring rain day and I was by the six
or seventh pool. I was shivering, and they came out
and took me off the golf course, and of course
I got it. There was maybe the third round of
the tournament, and I got a nice, you know, batch
of money from those two gentlemen, and we went right
down to a shoe store and bought a pair of
Corpham golf shoes. There were black and white wingtip shoes,
(15:44):
and so that was my first pair of real golf shoes.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Just fun stuff. Fun stuff. Actually started the knowing that
a lot of kids get introduced to golf from caddying.
I started two caddy programs at two different clubs that
I was at, one being Frosty Valley and Danville and
one being at Wednesford Country Club. And it was very
(16:12):
difficult to get these kids to come out and lug
those bags around for four plus hours when most of
them were getting that much allowance from their parents of home.
Right it just you know, I had a handful of
kids that did end up following through and becoming full
time caddies for specific people that they would show up,
(16:34):
you know in the Wednesday Night League or the Tuesday
Night Leager or the Thursday morning Ladies League or whatever
to become a caddie for a person that was taking
good care of them. So that was rewarding to see
and again just trying to introduce the end to more kids, right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Right, Okay, So when we come back from this break,
we're going to talk about your years is a head
golf professional, and we're going to start to educate these
people as to how good of a golf.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Professional you are.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I'm going to actually I'm going to actually tell
them how I know that, and we are going to
and we will be right back with Tom Chophy after
this break.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
This is the Rich Commo Golf Show. This welcome back
to the Rich Combogolf Show.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
We're joined this week by Tom Chophy, PGA professional Tom
Chophy and Tom walked us through his early years, in
his developmental years, and.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
We are now going.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
To talk about his first head professional job that fateful
day in September, and that was at Heritage Ridge in
what part of Florida.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Hope Sound that was.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Hope Sound, Hope Sound, Florida. Yeah, that was. That was
nineteen seventy nine. And I mentioned in the earlier segment
that it was three years to the day that I
had my first hit pro job September fifteenth, nineteen seventy six,
as an assistant September fifth teen, nineteen seventy nine, as
I had professional and I got there before I even
(18:04):
I was still an apprentice. I didn't even have my
Class A card yet. So we opened, we opened the
golf course. I was there before the golf course was
even seated or strigged as they do it in Florida.
So it helped with the clubhouse design and designed the
pro shop, and of course stopped it and helped with
(18:25):
the you know, designing the retired membership program and daily
feet program, which was quite a great experience for you know,
the young kid starting out. And I can remember that
in the early days they owned it was proudly owned
as two jentlemen owned it and mister Keighley liked to
(18:48):
play cards, So we had a card room in the back,
and he would ask me to come in at night
and open up so he and his friends could play cards,
and I would stay in the golf shop and study
for my business school two. Yeah, oh yeah, exam. That
was back in the day when you had PGA Business
school one and two. And yeah, I can remember my
(19:10):
business school one. I got to tell you this adventure
Business school one I took in Syracuse, New York and
the dead of winter, and I stayed at Syracuse University
and in a fraternity house. A friend of mine was
a frat brother. And when I came up one morning
to go to the Sheridan or wherever I was going
(19:32):
to the business school one, it was midterms and there
were nothing but drunken bodies laying all over I mean,
sir wells, couches all over the floor. I tiptoed my
way out to my Volkswagen Beetle, which had no here.
The snow was piled higher than the car, so I
had to roll down of the windows, stick my head
(19:53):
outside the window, and drive in god knows what temperature
to the Sheridan. And I finished in the top two
percent of my class I was that excited about being
in the golf business.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
That is so cool.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
That is cool. Yeah, it was. That was That was
a really interesting time. I never felt the cold. I
never I was so excited that I was in the
business and I was learning so much. I just my
eyes were just wide open and my heart was wide open.
It just absolutely fell in love with the business. So,
you know, back to Heritage Ridge, I was there for
(20:25):
six years and it was a community development, so I
watched it come from the ground up, the very first
homes being built, the first condos, and developed a membership
of just over four hundred in the six years that
I was there, so it really went well and I
(20:45):
was very proud of that job. We had a lot
of fun, and we started at nine holes and I
was a part of at that time watching. I actually
partially the landscaped the first nine and we operated with
nine holes for a couple of years, and then we
built a second nine and rebuilt the first nine, and
(21:07):
I had professional tournaments there. Uh yeah, I held I
got all the guys. You know, we would go to
pro ams at sand Piper Bay almost every Friday we could,
so you know, we were used to playing a tournament week.
So I came up with two events, one in the
(21:29):
spring and one in the fall where I would have
a you know, big food layout, cookout and nice frize
money and shotgun start with with a lot of the
local pros. And you know, that was great networking for
me too, a chance to really be around these guys
(21:51):
more often. But we we did a lot of things
with that golf course that really helped to develop the community.
We had some amateur events there that I was quite
proud of also, So that was that was a growing
experience for me. Those six years. I was so valuable
(22:13):
because I really you know, when you start at a
ground up facility like that, there is so much more
that you do than just walking into an ongoing facility, right,
And it's quite an experience. I was very fortunate.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So six years and then you decide to go back
north correct, Yes.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yes, I was married at the time and newly married.
And we decided on children, of course, and we decided
that South Florida was not as desirable, at least to
me as Pennsylvania. So I wanted to get back to
Pennsylvania to raise a family. The job came open at
Frosty Valley Country Club, which is where jere McGee worked
(23:01):
for a number of years as an assistant and then
got his sponsorship to go on the tour. One of
the great lines that Jerry was noted for was as
a teaching guy there. He was on the practice range
and doctor Hood, who was a neurosurgeon at the time
(23:22):
and became the director of the Geisromer Medical Center, which
is a huge medical complex in Pennsylvania. He was the
CEO of that company. He was on the practice rage
hitting balls and Jerry walked up to him and said,
you need to let me give you a lesson. He said, now,
(23:43):
I just want to have fun. He says, when you
have more fun for you, what the hell you're doing?
That was his line in doctor Hood and Doctor Hood.
I don't think took a lesson from him anyways. So
I was again very fortunate to be selected at Frosty
Valley Country Club in nineteen eighty six and stay there
(24:05):
till nineteen ninety a wonderful club. Had my first we
had a first child there in the Geist Medical Center.
We developed a wonderful pro am that was a part
of the Miracle Network Teleson that Jerry Lewis had put
together nationwide, and again we put on a really nice,
big pro am for all the Central Counties pros in
(24:29):
the spring, and I went into a golf shop that
was all cinder block and the total output of a
total income of revenue for that shop annually was about
twenty five thousand dollars. So I did that much in
the first quarter of the year that I was open.
(24:50):
We remodeled the shop, put in some nice merchandise, and
opened up the windows that were all closed up, and
made it a environment that people we're enjoying, you know,
put a coffee pot out front for the early players,
and a swing out front for people to sit and enjoy,
the putting green practice screen in front, and first tea
(25:11):
in the eighteenth green, and you know, we started to
really build a nice teaching program there, which I was
very happy and proud of. And yeah, so that was
that was a great four years. It was difficult to leave.
But then something came open that I had to pay
attention to, right which leads me to the next twin.
(25:35):
If you're ready to go, the Williamsport Country Club job
came open and I was an assistant there earlier and
My first exposure with that club, if I remember correctly now,
was at a junior JC golf tournament, and I had
I had never known of the Ways Country Club, didn't
(25:57):
realize it was there. I always played at the White
Gear Public Court or Elm Park, So showing up at
this golf tournament, my eyes just went wide open, and
I but this is most beautiful place in the world,
and I just obviously it was the big club on
the hill to me, always being an assistant there were
so proud of that. And then the job came open,
(26:19):
and I got a phone call from a board member
or a selection committee member that said, you need to
get up here for this. And so at the time,
I didn't realize that a good friend of mine had
already come up to the interview for the job, and
so I didn't even realize they were in the angering process.
And so I got the phone call and they said,
(26:40):
you need to be here tomorrow. So I had an
apartment in Danville. I was in Florida at the time.
I winter in Florida for many years and worked down
there as an assistant or whatever, play tournaments, and I
was in Florida, and so I got a plane ticket,
landed in Williams, rented a car, drove eighty ninety miles
(27:02):
an hour down to Danville into a foty degree apartment,
drew on a coat and tie, drove ninety miles an
hour back up the winds were and made it there
within minutes of the interview. And I don't know if
my tie was on crooked and my belt was buckled.
I no idea but that in this interview, and it was.
It was a very interesting interview compared to what happens today.
(27:24):
It was more philosophical about you know, if you have
another child, would you like it to be a boy
or girl? That kind of stuff. It was more getting
to know me as a person, and I was okay
with that. It wasn't about tell me your teaching philosophy,
tell me your merchandise and philosophy. You know, your experience
in this that and the other, your playing abilities, none
(27:45):
of that. It was all about mainly because they knew
me from before, and they knew my record at Tarsty Valley,
and I think they were coming in just to see
if I was a nice guy and would fit with
their personalities and the people there. So before I left,
they we inked a contract and it was a perpetual contract.
(28:10):
It was a never any contract every year, renewed for
two years. So it was pretty it was pretty interesting.
I was very, very fortunate to have something like that happened.
Of course, I was extremely proud. I've just absolutely loved
the club and was so proud to be in the
business and be at that club for all the obvious reasons.
(28:33):
I loved the membership. It just was a great twelve
years of being there. Then and then the GM position
came open. And prior to that, something in my DNA
(28:53):
a gene decidey. He said, you need to own a
golf course, you need to run a golf course. And
so I had been through construction a number of times,
et cetera. And there were two other golf courses, public
golf courses that came up rumored for sale, not necessarily
on the market, but rumored for sale. So I talked
(29:13):
to a few of the members and got some people
interested that would want to back me in something like this,
and went to these owners twice to negotiate buying a
golf course, and neither one of them came through. But
then the GM physician came open. At Winnisport Country Club.
So I thought, you know, next best thing is for
(29:35):
me to run a club like this. I'd be very
proud to do that, very honored to do that. So
that that came open and that I fortunately was able
to convince them that golf pros could run country clubs,
because back in those days, this would have been two
(29:56):
thousand and one. In fact, first my first week on
the job was in September two thousand and one, and
that was the week of nine on Line, the bombings
and the plane flying into the towers. So quite memorable
start to that career. But ended up being the GM
(30:18):
there for three years. And I remember that the president
of the club come in my office and he threw
down a forty year, fifty page budget which I had
never seen before, never looked at a budget before like that,
and he said, we're about to lose one hundred thousand
dollars this year. Go fix that. So it was September
(30:41):
and there wasn't much I could do that year. The
next year we lost money, but the third year we
made a good profit. And that's when a group of
investors came to me and asked me to go with
them to Florida to build a golf course, which opened
(31:02):
up another chapter of my life.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
So we did that and that was the most amazing
experience I could ever wish on a golf professional or
a club manager to be able to go with some people.
My job was to go and look at the land
first of all, and say, would you like to build
(31:26):
a golf course? Say this is the kind of piece
of property that you think couldn't build a golf course on.
So we get onto the property and it was July
in Florida, Dunellen, Florida, just outside of Okalla, virgin piece
of property and we go back into this little dirt
path road that was used for hunting, and they drove
(31:50):
maybe you know, two hundred yards onto the property and
I said, stop, I have to get out. Let me
out of the car. You guys go ahead. So I
got out to walk the property. And as they drove away,
I thought, did I just make a mistake. It's July,
but I'm an aversion property here in Florida. Am I
going to get bit to pieces, skigos or whatever? And nothing,
(32:12):
nothing like that happened. And I'm walking through these gorgeous
giant oak trees which ended up being on the for
the thirteenth hole, which is a beautiful picturesque par three
and out into these open plains, open fields, and more
scrub oaks and gorgeous live oaks and pine trees everywhere.
(32:35):
So I fell in love with the property. I said, yeah,
this is this is great, guys, you can do it.
And it was out in the middle of now were
fifteen miles outside of o'calla. At the time, it was
two layton room to get there, and it was a
very small town, so that was the challenge. This was
two thousand and five that I went there. Two thousand
and seven we opened up the golf course, and of course,
(32:57):
in two thousand and six it was Marion County was
ranked as one of the top five counties for growth
in the United States. So we're all thinking, no matter what,
this thing's going to be a slam dunk, and no
matter what, in two thousand and nine, we're opening. In
two thousand and seven, there were supposed to be seventy
(33:19):
nine million people retiring from the baby boomers, so we're thinking,
we're going we're.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Good here, yeah, go go.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
If you remember what happened in two thousand and eight
real estate crack hit. So we were sitting there and
literally had fifteen hundred people a day coming through and
looking at this beautiful golf course, which by the way,
won three national awards. It was a fabulous, absolutely fabulous
golf course. And to go through I actually hired the architect.
(33:50):
That was my second job. Approved the land hire an architect,
So I flew out to Michigan, went up to DC area,
went to different golf courses in Florida, interviewed in depth
four different architects. Hired John Sandford, who ended up being
absolutely phenomenal. He does a lot of work for Jack Nicholas.
(34:11):
He's done a lot of great golf courses all over
the world, and we got him at a young enough
age that we could afford him, and he designed. I
helped oversee the design of the golf course, and then
I oversaw construction of the golf course start to finish,
literally driving some of the big trucks that were filled
(34:33):
with trees that we had to take down and driving
them off to burn pits. Now here's an interesting story
for this. This whole site was a particular type of sand.
I can't remember the Marsalis sand something like that, the
beautiful yellow sand that was perfect for building a golf course.
And these were the open areas. So we opened up
a burn pit and we burned in that pit for
(34:56):
close to a month, and then we closed it up
and moved on to another burn pit. It took to
the seventeen months to build that golf course, so it
was a seventeen million dollar golf course, by the way,
put a lot of money, is all. Yeah, And I
oversaw landscaping on the golf course also. It was a
great adventure. But anyways, we went back to that burn
(35:16):
site eight or nine months later to build the seventeenth Green.
We all turned up that burn site to excavate it out,
and the guys called me over and said, you got
to see this. First of all, it was still hot
eight months later. And when I say hot, it was hot.
And we looked at the edges the surrounds of the
walls of that burn pit and they were glass. The
(35:39):
sand had not in the glass. It was solid glass
all over around. Now thin, you know, it's maybe a
sixteenth and each thin. But it was amazing. That's how
hot those burn fits gep So great experience for overseeing
the landscaping then and designing again, the membership program and
(35:59):
all of the We actually built a home instead of
building a clubhouse. Who built home on the tenth tee
and retrofitted that or we fitted that as the clubhouse
and it was really cool. It's really a neat golf shop,
cool bar, nice outside and inside eating area and still
(36:21):
used to this day. That was probably the smartest thing
that they did, because in two thousand and eight we
had people there that said, I would love to buy
in here or build in here, but I can't sell
my home because the value of these homes has gone
down so terribly. Yeah, so that was that was a
(36:42):
difficult time. That partnership imploded as the was al of that,
and the original owner stayed on the golf course survived somehow,
and he has I've gone. I was just there two
weeks ago actually just to drive through and and see
(37:03):
the development of everything is. And it's a thriving community now.
So it has it has done well. They've asked me
back a number of times and I said, and I'm sorry,
this is you know, I've moved on to another club
and remarried. I went through a divorce at that time
(37:25):
and remarried and I married Sally Brayton. You might know her, Yeah, balist.
Sally and her late husband were members of the club
and Williamsport and Saw of the Earth people, absolutely a
wonderful family.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Played baseball Brown.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
He played baseball at Harvard Harvard and then went on
and was was selected by and hired uh into professional
ranks by Boston.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Retreated by Boston. But they wanted to trade him immediately,
and he said, no, no, no, I'm not going to do
this political stuff. So he was asked to come into
the Woolwich Clothing Company and he became CEO of that
passed away in five suddenly from the widow maker. Yeah,
(38:25):
and I was, you know, heartbroken just to hear that,
because he was just such a great guy. Anyways, his
wife ended up in Florida and she ended up walking
across the parking lot at the club I was managing
in Palm Coasts with the golf bag that I had
sold thirty years ago. She looked at me with a
big smile. I looked at her with a big smile,
(38:45):
and we of course piled around together with other people
from Williamsport that had moved to the Palm Coast area, right,
and this this was fourteen years ago, and you know
I'm married and retired for thirteen of those fourteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
That's awesome, that's all Sally.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
So when we come back from this break, I'm going
to explain to these people exactly where I come into
this story.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
And it's and then, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
What, I've greatly enjoyed all of these memories. But there's
something that I have that actually, to this day I
sit in this chair or wherever I go, it is
because of the guy I'm talking to. This is the
rich Conwall Golf Show. Welcome back to rich Conwall GoF Show.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
We've heard for two.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Segments of an absolutely incredible golf story story from Tom
Chophy from you know, picking up a first golf club,
you know, three five seventy nine, and I am and
I started this whole show with this. Tom Chophy is
the best PGA professional I've ever known in my life.
(39:54):
And I was sleeping in a condominium apartment in Albemarle,
North Carolina, on my day off, and the phone rang
and I answered it. I was an assistant golf professional.
Place called Stanley County Country Club, And I answered the phone.
It was Tom Chophy and he asked ed I had
applied for a job as an assistant gold professional Williamsport
(40:16):
country Club, and he asked me to come interview. So
I put my wife in the car, who was from
not very far from Williamsport, and we drove to their
house and I stayed overnight, and then we drove. I
drove up to Williamsport with my wife and my sister
(40:37):
in law and I was a total.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Of good God.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
I was not even twenty two years old and twenty
three years old, and so I walked into this golf shop.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I pulled in this country club.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
And of course I dropped them off the mall because
I could not drug a job interview with two people
in the car and sitting in the car for me.
So I walked into the golf shop and there stood
Tom Trophy and I interviewed with Tom. And I thought
(41:12):
to myself, if I could work at a place like this,
I can, I can. I can make a I can
make a life for myself in this business. So I,
I you know, got down with the interview, went back
to North Carolina. Tom called me, he said, what's your reservation?
Is I need a little bit more money. So he
got me a little bit more money. I'll keep in
(41:34):
mind when you say this now, I'm gonnaet paid three
on twenty five dollars a week. Again, I think I'm
a millionaire. But so we go back to Williamsport. A
lady even the name of Tom hooked me up with
a lady by name Patty Bailey, who was a real term.
She found me an apartment. I found this an apartment
on Los Avenue on March twenty fifth, twenty fourth, I
(41:55):
moved into Los Avenue. On March twenty seventh was my
first day of nineteen ninety two at Williams Pork Country Club.
The day and I remember, I remember trying to figure
out for about, oh I don't know, an hour that
morning what to wear. And that was that was That
(42:17):
was actually after two hours the night before, so we
you know, I remember my wife lying in bed and
she said, in michiganuse you know, they put their pants
on just like you do. And I drove to Williamsport
Country Club and I started work there. That was in
the shop too, Yes, it was a brand new golf
shop and I and my entire life changed that day. Wow,
(42:43):
and I I worked. Oh yes, I worked for Tom
for five years, for five years, and I learned. I
learned some amazing things I still remember to this day.
One is there's always a right place for every piece
of merchandise. Always that number.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Two.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
When you get in the golf business, you go to
work and you work, and then you worry about your
days off when you're not in season. And I also learned,
and I remember it like it was yesterday. I had
worked for Tom at Williamsport Country Club for a month,
(43:29):
month and a half and we had a rainstorm and
everybody came off the golf course. We put the siren
on it, but it came off the golf course. And
Bill and Bob Vanderlin were a lawyer and a doctor
and they were probably about one hundred and ninety one
years old, and they tried to climb the drive the
golf cart over the curb to get underneath the awning
(43:51):
and he hit the gas instead of the brake, and
they threw Tom into a wall.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
And I was there for six weeks.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
I said, oh my god, I just became the new
head professional Williams Park Country Club because that guy's dead
and I will never forget. Tom bounced off that wall
and put himself back on his feet, and he looked
at them and he went to them, are you guys okay?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
And I said to myself.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
I need to learn how to be like that. And
I worked really, really really hard to be like that,
and and I and I and I and I've never
been able to be like that because I'm just way
too wired differently.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
But I just I remember.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I remember learning almost something every day.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
And I remember thinking to myself, you know.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
If I just this day, if I can just do
one more thing.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
And I remember a.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
About four months in we got a boatload of stuff
from Ashworth and Polo and the UPS guy came in
and he dropped it and we put it in the
we had a work room, and then we had the
golf shop, and everybody went home at seven o'clock at night,
and I went home and I went back to work,
(45:24):
and I remember I did. I inventoried it all and
I displayed it all the best I could. I didn't
know how to put it in the computer yet, and
I put it all in there and I and I
went and I went home. I went home about eleven o'clock,
so I worked about three hours, and I.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Remember getting up.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
We had to be at work at seven o'clock in
the morning until seven o'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
We opened the shop.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
At seven, and I remember walking in like five minutes
to seven.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Tom drove a.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Really really really cool white Blazer. I had never seen
a car like that that was really cool.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
I had.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
I had a red Chevy Cavalier. And so I remember.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Walking in to work that day and I didn't say
a word, and I and I and it went on
for you know, we were doing stuff and this and
that and the other thing. He walked in and he
had a desk that I wasn't allowed to go New
York because that was his desk, and to this day,
nobody can go near my desk. And so so he
(46:21):
walked into the Tom walked out the golf shop and
he went, what the hell happened in here? And I said, well,
you know, I thought he was I thought, I literally
thought you're mad. And I'm like, well, you know, and
he goes, you came in here last night. I'm like yeah,
and he goes. I remember, Tom just goes wow. And
(46:42):
I thought to myself, if I can impress him, because
that guy's really good at what he does. I'm gonna
be okay in this business. And we and he ran,
he ran that we had the same outings every year,
the same day on those Mondays, and we had a calendar.
And he taught me how to merchandise. He taught me
how to write checks. He sat me down and said,
(47:05):
this is how you pay an invoice. He taught me
how to pay an invoice. This is how you feel
fill out these forms, This is how you do this.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
This is how you do this when you walk to
the clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
You walk over once in the morning and once in
the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
To do your mail. Interesting, And I was like, I
can't believe it, you.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Know, Richard, it's so great to hear you say what
you're saying. Not for my own reasons for the August
respect and what you've said about me, But when I
look back at my career, one of the things that
(47:48):
I wish I would have done a better job at
is working with my assistance on every phase of the
golf business. And I look at things that I did
teach or it didn't show them or didn't work with
him on, and I, you know, I would do it
differently than what I did the first time. I think
(48:10):
everyone can say that although I loved how life went
for me in almost every aspect of my life, no
complaints there, but I certainly would do a better job.
I had a chance to do it again.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Tommy got you couldn't done any better than me that
you you let me, You let me, let me make mistakes.
I remember one time, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
I was out late last.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
One night during the invitational, and I and I came
to work late on a Saturday morning. I walked in
there at seven and we had to be there at
six thirty then, because at that event, I walked in
at five minutes to seven, and I walked right to
the counter and I rang some somebody walked down. I
could probably if I think hard enough, I can tell
you who it was. In one of the golf balls.
(48:54):
I saw him golf balls. I didn't say a word.
I didn't say a word, and tom walked around the
corner and he looked at me and he goes, hey,
I looked at me, don't ever do that again. And
he walked away. And that was the last thing we
talked about it. It was the last time he talked
about it.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
With me.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
And I'm going to tell you right now, I've said
that to two people in my career, and that.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
With the same emphasis.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
And I guarantee you they don't ever do it again,
because I didn't, and I.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Would tell you that.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
And I tell this truthfully. When Tom left and went
to be the general manager of the country club, he
wanted to hire a Heggar professional and he called me,
and I could not take that job because I was
I was actually in the really infancy of my recovery
from alcohol. And Tom actually I told him that later,
(49:49):
and he said to me, he goes, you know what,
I can't believe.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
That you thought enough of me to tell me that.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
And and and I and and and my parents were nice
enough to to you know, he was nice, and I'm
incredibly incredible to them. But he wrote them a letter
when I left and just just how how wonderful.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
It was to have me work for him.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
And and there's not a day that goes by.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And I say this, honestly, there's not a day that
goes by.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I don't walk my car in the summer. We're in
the in the heart of golf season, and I don't
look down at my feet and go, you know what,
That's exactly how he walked to his cart.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
I am just absolutely humbled.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
And and and it's and and I and I've and
I've got it, and I'm you know, We're I've been
through a lot.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
It's twenty three years recovery, and that's great.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I have two kids, I've done some really cool things,
but none of it, none of it would be possible
without Tom Trophy, none of it.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
I am just elated, number one, and so proud of you,
so proud of you and how you handled your life.
You took on the challenges and you did it. I remember, Rich,
I didn't know anything about the alcohol until you told
me so. Number one, you handled yourself well through that
that time, and that must have been extremely difficult. Number two,
(51:21):
I remember you struggling with your game, trying to pass
the pat you know, of course, you know I went
through the same thing. And how hard you had to
work to get that done is a tribute to your
dedication to your career. And you know, that's that's you.
(51:43):
That's you you. You worked through everything you had to
work through and more than most to get to where
you were successful and continue to be successful. So I
am very proud and honored to have had you as
part of my staff. And you knows what, As anyone,
you're only as good as the people around you, and
(52:04):
I was very fortunate to have people like you in
my operation time and time again, and that's what helped
me to become better at what I did. So thank you.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
Just remember, I mean, there's not one thing I've anybody
ever said anything good about my career. It all goes
back to March twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's when it started. Thomas. I can't tell you how
much I appreciate you doing that. I told you.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
It wouldn't take long to do this, I told you,
and it probably wouldn't hurt that much.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
So it was relatively painful, but you've You've made my
day certainly rich and I'll remember this for a long time.
I thank you so much for your comments, and I'm
proud of you.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
Really, I appreciate that, and I thank you. I thank
you for being here, and I thank you for every
day since March twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 4 (52:59):
Well, God bless, I'll talk to you so and continue
obvious take care.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
Take care.
Speaker 2 (53:05):
This is the rich Gone Wall golf show.
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