Westlake Golf & Country Club’s PGA Golf Pro!
By Kevin Maciorowski
Director of Golf
Recently I ventured out to the Great Northwest to play in the PGA Professional National Championship. To say it was the most amazing golf experience I have ever had is an understatement! The tournament consists 312 PGA of America pros who have qualified through their respective sections to compete on the national level. Why was it so amazing? First and foremost the support I received from the Westlake Community was incredible. The emails and texts wishing me well really meant a lot, not to mention the collection that was taken to help defray my costs. I can’t tell you how great it felt knowing all these people were back home pulling for me.
Once out there I felt like a PGA Tour player. The tournament was held at the Sunriver Resort in Bend, Oregon where getting to was tough, but well worth the trouble. This is such a beautiful part of the country! I never expected it to be so beautiful, the forests, rivers and volcanoes were gorgeous! The resort staff and the PGA of America staff were incredible nice and accommodating. I never dreamed I would actually play in a golf tournament that had gallery ropes surrounding every hole and television towers throughout…Those were a bit intimidating to see, but kind of cool. Think about this as well. When at the practice facility you walk to a tent to get your practice balls. They ask you what kind of balls do you want, Titleist or Taylor Made, I walk away with a bag of brand new Pro V1X balls to practice with. Incredible! All this and all the goody packages that you receive from the sponsors.
Once the tournament started I had never been so nervous on an opening tee shot in my life. I actually was thinking…”God, please don’t top this!” I haven’t topped a tee shot is 30 years, so yes good player think that way also. I happily can say I hit a good drive in the fairway and was on my way. I hit the ball as good as I could have ever dreamed both days but my putter was not my friend for the week so I unfortunately ended up missing the cut. I did walk away thinking to myself that I can play with these guys and hope to get back into the event next year.
I took the confidence gained and played in an event back home in NJ a few days after my return and low and behold won the event! As all of you know we never own our GOOD golf games we only rent…hopefully my rental lease is a long one as I look forward to more fun days on the course and at Westlake.
