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Fall 2001

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GOLF PROFILE: GOING PRO

by Allen Woods '80




	"YOU COULD LOSE YOUR SHIRT": Dave Twohig '75 with Ed Twohig Sr., his dad and predecessor at the Amherst Country Club. Photo by Ben Barnhart.

AS HEAD PRO AND MANAGER since 1979 of the Amherst Golf Club, a gently rolling course on South Pleasant Street a few miles distant from the UMass campus, Dave Twohig ’75 still gets to see some of his old professors from his School of Management days. Never one to miss an opportunity for a joke, Twohig tells his former instructors that “It was the exciting world of business and accounting classes that drove me into golf!”

Someone might take him seriously if they didn’t know that Twohig literally grew up on the fairways and greens of AGC, and may have spent as much time in its clubhouse as he did at home. His father, Ed, was pro at AGC from 1944 to 1978 and all six Twohig sons worked as part of the operation, doing everything from cooking hot dogs to shagging balls to caddying to opening and closing the pro shop. Three of the boys graduated from UMass – Ed Jr. ’71, Steve ’73, and Dave – and two followed their dad into the business of golf. (Ed Jr., who started his career as his dad’s assistant at AGC, is now pro at the Springfield Country Club.)

Though Dave understood from the beginning that golf has a business side, he believes that a club pro’s work today “is less about teaching and more about management” than ever. While many courses in the South and West now pay their pros and managers regular salaries; in New England, many pros still supplement their earnings with sales of clubs, balls, and clothing from the pro shop.

“You’ve got to understand how to buy for the coming year, how to keep what you need in stock, how to establish a price structure, and of course, how to sell,” says Twohig. “If you don’t, and you don’t keep up with the changing market, you could lose your shirt.”

Today's competition from "the huge outlets and the national discount chains as well as mail order and Internet suppliers,” means “everybody has to match the lowest price or they won’t stay in business,” Twohig says. But what does remains the same is what pros have always offered: “We’re selling knowledge and service to go along with the equipment.”

Twohigh also likes to joke that he became a pro because “We only work a half day. The sun is only up for half the day, and that’s the half we work.” Twelve-to-fourteen hour days, not to mention six-day weeks, are standard throughout the seven-month season for New England club pros. “It’s like someone who owns their own business,” says Twohig. “It’s just not a 9-5 job.”

But it’s a labor of love for Twohig, whose family has been a central part of the Amherst Golf Club for more than 50 years. “I love the teaching and I love to play when I get the chance,” he says. “People have such a passion for the game. I’ll see a foursome playing in the rain and the wind-chill is way down there and realize that’s it’s weather you wouldn’t even work in if you didn’t have to.”

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