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| Miami Golf and Country club facing the sunrise on the east, and watching as players reach their final hole at 18 green. |
I grew up playing Jr. Golf in the 80’s and 90’s at MG&CC. The Golf Professionals during those times were Don Atchison and Steve Becker. Our golf crew was comprised of Jason Hill, Charles Haney, Michael Rapp, Brett Vaughn, Greg Smith, and me. Most if not all of us worked and played at MG&CC. There was nothing better than heading to the Club for the day of golf, pool, and golf again. We spent countless hours and years developing our skills and even more, our friendship. It started with us playing Junior Golf and as we progressed it led to Junior tournaments and then the Miami High School Wardog Golf Team.
As many of you already know the Lady Wardogs had just won a couple of State Championships in the late 80’s. It was now 1991, and we had finally reached the High School Golf Team. Our leader was Harley Turner, known as HT. Coach HT was a very kind, smart, and great man. Probably exactly what we needed at the time. We knew nothing about team golf, we had just spent the last 8 years trying to beat a Snickers and a Coke from each other in our countless individual matches. We did our best, but our freshman year was a learning experience. The 1991 team was composed of Steve Simpson (Senior), Jason Hill (Junior), Charles Haney (Freshman), Michael Rapp (Freshman), and me (Freshman).
I struggled a bit, but the most memorable tournament was the Pryor Invitational. We had a true Oklahoma Spring Day; sunny, cold, rain, snow, and sleet. I somehow plowed through this day in a solid 79 (probably the best 79 of my life) and tied for 1st. Nervous as could be, I somehow found a way to win the playoff for my first tournament win. To say the least, very memorable! We played well in many tournaments. As a team we made it through the Regional Tournament with and were headed to State. This is what we had been waiting for! Shawnee Lake, the Grand Daddy of golf tournaments. It seemed so far from MG&CC. The one thing I can remember from that tournament was that our booster club (aka parents and club members) had purchased us matching shirts and get this: matching Ping Hoofer Bags with a stand. We were maybe the only team in the State with these. Thank you all! I think we all had high expectations but did not really know how much pressure was there and how good the rest of the teams in the state were, due to most of our competition being in the Northeastern section of the state. We grinded through three rounds and finished in third. Pretty good for our first year with three Freshman. I am pretty sure if you asked all of us, we felt like we should have won the championship.
The Sophomore season was here, and again we had high expectations. There was a group of MG&CC members that
had been traveling down to Puerto Vallarta for years and had crossed paths with
a golf pro and a prominent junior player, named Juan Pablo Alvarez. The connection was made, and Juan Pablo
Alvarez would be coming to live with the Hill’s and would be able to play one
year of High School Golf. Oh boy, we
were excited about this. This kid had
played at World Junior and other prominent Junior events and had plenty of
experience. We were going to be
good. Although we thought we were going
to be good, it seemed we may have left our game at home on tournament days as
we watched Juan Pablo try to carry us as a team. We finished a lackluster 4th place
at State and moved on to the summer months to grind on the game to make it
better for the next season. Even though
we may not have played well, we did learn a lot about the game and culture,
playing with a student of the game that did not know very much English when he
got to Miami. Juan was a great addition
to the community and school, and I hope to see him again one day.
There were some influential people that were in our lives and golf games that helped mold our games and specifically mine since I am writing this piece. I cannot speak on behalf of the others, so I will tell how it helped me find my game. Steve Becker was the PGA Professional at MG&CC during this time, and he taught me to teach myself. He told me what I needed to know, but more than anything taught me to have confidence in myself. I was a shy kid growing up and never quite felt like I could or would be good enough at the game. He taught me to be on the good side of cocky, but not arrogant. Marshall Smith Jr., Steve Hill, Jeff Ramsey, Keith Neal, and Mitch Jones. There were so many more, but these are ones that I either worked with or had many games within the years preceding and during high school golf. I have always said that it is not golf course that makes the game, it is the people who you play with that makes the rounds memorable.
Around 1993, Cotton Montgomery came to the
club to be the Golf Course Superintendent.
This man could grow some grass!
The greens had never been better, and the club was in the best shape
since I had been there. He also brought
his son into our golf world, Brian Montgomery.
Brian had just finished up college at Oklahoma State and was preparing
for the Mini Tours and Professional golf.
This really changed my game for the better. I was challenged every time I put the peg in
the ground. I was playing Brian one day
and he happened to shoot the course record, 63, and I believe I shot 71. I got blown out of the water on our
Nassau! I learned so much watching him
practice the short game and I no longer focused on a perfect swing but
perfecting a good swing.
My junior year consisted of teammates: Charles Haney (Junior), Michael Rapp (Junior), myself (Junior), Brett Vaughn (Sophomore) and Greg Smith (Sophomore). All of us had been playing together for the past couple of years and we thought we had the chance to finish well. This was Charles Haney’s year, he played very consistently through the season, but he did not get much help from his team. It was like all the preparation for the season during the summer went to waste but wait there is another year. Sometimes what we are preparing for does not come until the right time, not our time. (Sounds like living life with faith). What we did get to do was go to Norman for a mid-season tournament. That was the exposure we needed. We went to play the bigger schools and statewide schools in the Sooner Classic. Great tournament experience that HT and Miami High School gave to us that had been lacking the prior two seasons.
The Senior season finally arrived! We were missing a teammate by the time the
season started, but we forged forward with the four +1 who were ready to
play. We were confident that the four
regulars would put the numbers where we needed them. I had begun practicing earlier than normal
due to an ankle injury in December playing for the basketball team. I had started my golf season about two months
earlier. It showed when we started the
season with a team win at Shangri-La and I finished first place individual with
68-70. A couple of weeks later won the
Joplin Invitational at Loma Linda and I won individual with a score of 68. We rolled this right into Regionals and won
at MG&CC and went to State expecting greatness. We played good golf instead of great, but it
was the journey that was memorable. We
ended our Senior season where we began our freshman season, at Shawnee
Lake. We finished a little off the pace
in 3rd place and I put three good rounds together to finish in a tie
for 2nd (70-72-72).
Note: won in a playoff. As I am writing this, I don’t think I have
ever lost in a playoff since high school.
On the academic side of things, Miami Boys Golf Team did win the
Academic State Championship in 1994.
Post High School
I proceeded to walk on the golf team at
University of Arkansas, and after a struggle with my game and adapting to
college life I walked off the team later that spring in 1995. I was at a crossroads with my golf game and
did not really know what I wanted to do.
I don’t like to look back on my life and ask for a mulligan, but if I were
going to go down the golf path for a career, I think I would take a mulligan on
that drive. Anyhow, I took a year off
from golf and focused on school, then transferred to the University of Oklahoma
and graduated in 1998 with a degree in Business Management. I decided to go into the golf business, just
like any other player, thinking I will be a golf pro and try to make it on
tour. Well, I proceeded to start working
80 hours a week and no longer played to the level that I was accustomed to, and
the game fell away.
My career path started at Bailey Ranch Golf Club, in Owasso and I worked there for 3.5 years where I learned the first part of the business. What is a PGA Professional? That was my training ground, and I will never forget it.
In 2001, I went to Tulsa Country Club to work under Jeff Combe, and later received my PGA Membership in 2005. The summer of 2005, I made the move to Boca Raton, Fl to Bocaire Country Club to become the First Assistant Golf Professional under Russell Carlson, who was previously the PGA Professional at Bailey Ranch during my time there. He did not hire me at Bailey Ranch, but he taught me. I have only worked for two PGA Head Golf Professionals in my career, and both had different approaches to the business, but both helped mold me into the Golf Professional that I am today. I spent 16 years at Bocaire Country Club (12 as Head Golf Professional). I am now at Boca Woods Country Club, a 36-hole residential club with 600 Members. We host 60,000 rounds of golf per year and I am now going through my third golf course renovation as a PGA Member.
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| Boca Woods Country club, Boca Raton, Florida |
As you can see, the game of golf is a part of
me, and the history of Miami Golf & Country Club molded me into who I
am. Many of my lifelong friends along
with my parents’ friends were established at that club. Although the club and course are no longer
there, the games and memories I had at that club can never be taken away from
me. They are a part of me, and I still
tell the stories today when I speak of the game I so love!
Jeff Gullett
