Lackawanna Golf Team Returns from Visit to Pinehurst
The Lackawanna Falcons Men’s Golf Team just returned from
its yearly training trip to Pinehurst, North Carolina. The
week long trip included structured practices, clinics, inter-squad
scrimmages, seven rounds of golf and a sampling of the some of the
greatest courses, history, and people that the Sand Hills region
has to offer.
Following an evening of putting, chipping, and range work, the
team opened with an inter-squad scrimmage at Longleaf Country Club
and Mid Pines Golf Club. The team posted 306-315 for the two
rounds. Cody Brown and Kevin MacDonald posted rounds of 74-75
and 75-75 respectively. Win Aukamp was next with rounds of
76-81 on the opening day.
On Day Two, the team headed for a tour of Pinehurst #2 and the
village of Pinehurst before playing Pine Needles Golf and Country
Club.
Day Three consisted of 36 holes at Fox Fire Country Club’s
East and West Courses. The evening was highlighted by a team
dinner with best selling author James Dodson.
Mr. Dodson, an award-winning columnist for 20 years at Golf
Magazine, may be best known for biographies of Arnold Palmer
and Ben Hogan, as well as his bestsellers Dew Sweepers and
Final
Rounds.
Mr. Dodson, who just released his latest book A Son of the Game, spent
two hours talking with the golf team about the history, growth and
future of the game of golf.
Throughout the evening, Mr. Dodson demonstrated that his love for
sharing conversation equaled his passion for writing.
Day Four began with a morning round at the National Golf Club where Kevin MacDonald shot the low round of the week carding a 1-under par 71. The afternoon round was played at the Magnolia Course at Pine Wild.
Before departing for Northeastern Pennsylvania on Friday
morning, the team stopped into the Village of Pinehurst, Old Sports
Gallery, where we had a chance to visit with proprietor Tom
Stewart.
The shop has been featured in Golf Digest, Sports
Illustrated and The New York Times, and most recently
Mr. Stewart had a feature article in the March issue of Golf
World.
For anyone who has not visited the Old Sports Gallery, it is one
man’s collection of several unique and many one-of-a-kind
golf and sports memorabilia.
The items which have been purchased or acquired by Mr. Stewart
throughout his travels as both a PGA Golf Professional and playing
professional are available for visitors to view and
purchase.
For starters, there was a mint “feathery” golf ball,
one of a few known to exist in the world, dozens of famed Richard
Chorley landscape paintings, and a great golf book collection from
the late 1800s and early 1900s recovered from libraries in Scotland
and England.
There were countless signed items and hundreds of relics, each
with their own stories to accompany them. After visiting for
an hour or so, sharing a few jokes and talking to some of the
locals who stopped in to say hello, the team jumped back into the
van to head home.
To cap off a great week, the golf team was mentioned several times
on the front page of The Pilot in an article written by
James Dodson titled Ghost of Pinehurst Past.
The trip ultimately displayed all things that are good about the
game of golf; fine courses, helpful professionals and many stewards
of golf, all eager to welcome the team, share their stories and
make the trip a memorable one. The team will begin its season
on March 29th at Valley Brook Golf Course, Blackwood,
NJ.
