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County Golf

By Dave Donelson

New Storyteller at Winged Foot

John Buczek has played, coached, and worked with the legends of the game—
and has a story to tell about every one of them.

Winged Foot got a bonus when it chose john buczek
to replace 28-year-veteran Tom Nieporte as head pro this year. Buczek, an award-winning PGA professional (2006 Merchandiser of the Year), is the club’s sixth head pro in its 84-year history.

The tall, iron-gray-haired, 61-year-old New Jersey native, is actually coming back to Winged Foot, where he was an assistant to legend Claude Harmon before leaving to become head pro at Crestmont Country Club in West Orange, New Jersey. When he left, he took Harmon’s son, Billy, to help him run the club. “I’ve had a great relationship with the Harmons,” he says.

Buczek came back to Mamaroneck to compete in the 1974 US Open, a k a the Massacre at Winged Foot. He was only a couple of shots off the lead after the first two rounds but stumbled on the back nine. “Ten is the hole that got me. The pin was in the back and the wind was behind me. I hit the ball ten feet right of the pin and over the green through the crowd. I don’t know how it didn’t hit the crowd, but it went out of bounds. So then I hit one less club, but it sucked back and off. I went for it, but I three-putted and quadrupled. I just did the wrong thing at the wrong time.” Today, he gets to see that treacherous par-three every time he walks outside his pro shop.

“Being at Winged Foot is just awesome. It’s like going to church,” he says, adding,  “The members have voted to hold another Open here so they can share this jewel with the world.”

INVASION OF THE SQUARE HEADS

Hudson Valley mists drift serenely across the lush landscape at dawn. Suddenly, an otherworldly CLOANG! wrecks the pastoral calm and a white bullet streaks down the middle of the fairway. The square heads have arrived.

The heads in question aren’t bobbing above alien shoulders; they’re attached to graphite shafts on revolutionary (looking, at least) clubs new in golf pro shops everywhere this year. Both Nike and Callaway introduced drivers with heads shaped like square bricks, firing yet another salvo in the golf equipment manufacturers’ battle to give the average golfer a fighting chance to make par. 

“People like them a lot,” reports Ardsley Country Club head pro Jim Bender, who has put a Callaway FT-i in his bag. “Distance-wise, we’re finding they’re about the same as the FT-5 driver, which is a really good model, too.” What’s the advantage? “It’s maxing out the distance like all the other big-headed titanium clubs, but, with the weight distribution at the four corners, it allows for less opening and closing of the club face when miss-hits are made, so the ball stays on a straighter line.”

The Callaway retails for about $500. The Nike entry, the SasQuatch Sumo Squared Driver, sells for about $400. 

Camp Par-Birdie-Eagle

Summer is the time to pry the kids’
 fingers off their video game controllers, yank the iPods from their ears, and show them the real world of sunshine, grass, and something to do besides blow up space invaders. Golf camp,  Junior? 

Mitchell Spearman Golf Camp

Doral Arrowwood, Purchase (800) 733-1653

www.mitchellspearman.com  July 9 – August 17

New to Westchester, the Mitchell Spearman Junior Golf Program, a six-week, high-intensity camp is “not a drop-off nursery,”  says Spearman, who spends his winters teaching at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Florida, Tiger Woods’s home club. The camp isn’t for the faint of pocketbook, either; tuition is $7,500. 

 “Juniors learn a lot quicker than adults,” Spearman says. He recommends that new-to-the-game juniors receive some lessons before they enroll in the camp, although he will accommodate rank beginners. It’s also possible to enroll for fewer than the full six weeks, although he discourages less than three weeks. “The more you come, the better you do.”

Fairview Golf Center

300 Waterside Dr, Elmsford (914) 592-1666 

www.fairviewgolfcenter.com

Fairview Golf Center in Elmsford, where both junior clinics and golf summer camp run throughout the golf season, is a great place for kids as young as seven to get started in the game. Clinics are for an hour a week for three consecutive weeks and include four range balls and clubs for $75. Groups are limited to eight students. Summer camp tuition is $299 for
the week.

Westchester County Parks Junior Golf Camp

Dunwoodie, Hudson Hills, Maple Moor, Mohansic, Saxon Woods, Sprain Lake

(914) 864-7173 www.westchestergov.com/parks/camps/HoleinOne/2007HoleInOne.htm

All six of the Westchester County courses offer junior clinics, including the popular Hole-in-One Program for aspiring golfers age 10 and up. Kids, grouped by age and ability, receive eight hours of instruction from PGA pros assisted by volunteer coaches. Practice clubs are provided for those who don’t have their own. “All you have to do is get them here and we’ll take care of them,” says Sprain Lake head pro Tom Avezzano, who runs the program there with his son, Tom Jr., assistant pro at the club in Yonkers.   

Tuition is $40 with a 10 percent discount for county park pass holders.