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THE CENTRE COUNTY GAZETTE
MAY 17-23, 2012
Lifetime love of golf inspires professional Frey MINGOVILLE — It’s not often that one finds a passion in life that eventually becomes your life’s ambition and a family business. Such is the case for Nittany Country Club PGA Club Professional Scott Frey. “I started when I was 4-5 years old when I would walk the golf course with my dad, Terry,” explained Frey. “When I got a little bit older I got into playing competitive golf at 8. I caddied and I shagged balls for Ted Sheftic (PGA golf professional in New Oxford) down in York County’s Red Lion Country Club. I just wanted to be on the golf course all the time and it just sort of grew from there and into high school and college golf (California State, now California University near Pittsburgh and played four years out there.” “Scottie was one of my junior players, this goes back from 1965 to 1969 when I was the head pro at the Red Lion,” Sheftic said of Frey. “I remember I was giving Scottie a lesson and he was not paying attention so I picked him up and dropped him into a small creek that ran through the club, after that I always got his attention. Scott became a good player along John Dixon writes a with his brother Jeff. I weekly golf column was very proud of him for The Centre when he became a County Gazette. He PGA Professional.” can be reached at As to becoming a jwd1@psu.edu. golf professional, originally that was not in Frey’s future. Or so he thought. “I really wasn’t looking to get into the golfing business,” explained Frey. “But was thinking of being park ranger. I was a biology major in college until I transferred out of that. I then majored in economics and business. I thought about the golf business because I really enjoyed it.” Frey turned professional following graduation from California State in the summer of 1981. This summer Frey celebrates his 31st season in the golf business and third at the Mingoville golf course. “I worked at several golf courses as an assistant professional after college,” said Frey. “I then moved to State College in 1981 and started at Centre Hills Country Club as an assistant to Tom Hanna (now Maryland University’s head golf coach) and John Kellogg (professional at Radley Run in West Chester) for a year.” Frey was born and raised in Red Lion, but has been in the central Pennsylvania area for the past few decades at various golf courses and currently resides in Boalsburg with wife, Tracy, and their son, Nathan. Following his stint at Centre Hills, Frey’s next stop was the Lewistown Country Club as the head PGA professional in 1986. “I stayed in Lewistown until 1990 when the opportunity came to head to Boalsburg as the head PGA professional at the State College Elks Country Club in 1991,” stated Frey. “So I’ve kinda stayed in the area since 1981 really.” “Nittany Country Club is a great, little
JOHN DIXON
golf course,” Frey said of the par-72, 6,014yard layout in Mingoville. “It’s fun. It’s private. It’s nice. We don’t have tee times. We don’t have to worry about booking tee times all day long. Probably the one thing I was more concern with than anything was getting people off No. 9 green to No. 10 tee and the people going off No. 1.” Since Nittany is a nine-hole course layout, No. 1 and No. 10 share the same tee SCOTT FREY box. “But the members seem to know the policy and they just kinda let it happen,” Frey said of the overlapping tee shots for the front and back holes. “I was actually raised on the Red Lion course that was a nine-hole golf course. Red Lion Country Club, unfortunately, is no longer in existence. It was closed due to eminent domain and that took a few holes. The high school ended up with it and run their cross country meets on it.” Golf wasn’t the only thing that drew Frey to central Pennsylvania. He met his wife while working at the Lewistown golf course and she worked at the course. “The relationship kinda grew and one thing lead to another,” Frey said. “And we’ve been happily married for 22 years. It’s pretty much been a family business. She’s my right hand. She handles most of the paperwork and the backside of the business and she’s very knowledgeable of the business. “She has a full-time job and this is her ‘other’ full-time job,” laughed Frey. “She works full-time for Rex Energy. But when she’s here she works hard for the club. I have a staff of three, part-timers, plus two Tracy, and myself who is full-time but not paid. I work six days a week, too many hours to count, but probably ballpark 6070 hours a week. And that’s minimum at that, maybe closer to 90. Ten hours a day during the summer is not uncommon.” But with the hours is minus in the golfing business there are always pluses that make the job worthwhile. “I would say the golfers,” Frey said. “There aren’t any better people than golfers. We do it because we love it and a lot of people can say they worked all their life doing something they really didn’t enjoy. We enjoy it. Golf professionals, if you are going to spend 80 hours a week at a place, you gotta love it. And that’s why we do it. “I love to teach,” added Frey. “I love to run the tournaments. The other hard part is watching people play golf. There’s a big fallacy in that golf professionals play golf, well we don’t play golf unless you are at one of those big country clubs that have a lot of staff and you can go out and play with the members a lot. I’m fortunate if I get out once a week. Most club professionals are in the pro shop making the club money.”
Bellefonte Softball Golf Tournament benefitting a scholarship fund at the Bellefonte High School in Wetzler’s honor was held this past weekend at the Nittany Country Club in Mingoville. Over $10,000 was raised from the event to benefit the scholarship fund. “We had an awesome tournament on Saturday,” commented organizer JohnWetzler, and also B.J.’s father. “The weather was picture perfect. We had 115 golfers participate with and additional five golfers donating their fee but did not play. The silent auction was amazing and many great deals were secured by golfers and the general public who stopped by.” Winners of he gross division with a score of 59 was the foursome of Bill Workman, Earl Yarnell, Thomas Workman and Rich Letters. Second with a 61 after matching scorecards was the team of Mark Johnson, Ken Bean, Dallas Gallo and Jeff Burns. Also shooting 61 was the group consisting of Bill Luther Jr., Ron Benton, Don Richards and Ray Andrews. Fourth was Larry Walker, Lana Walker, Ron Witmer and Dave Fuentes shooting a 62. Fifth place, with a 63, was the foursome of Barry Reese, Chuck Colyer, David Hipple and Jim Dobson. Winners of the skill prizes were: Frank Webster, GC “Your Cigar Den” on hole No. 4; Bill Luther Jr., Werner Ladder “Home Depot,” No. 8; Tom Novitsky, GC “Miller’s Detailing,” No. 13; Ray Andrews, GC Pro Shop “The Committee,” No. 17; Nicole Carnicella, Golf Balls “Walker Family,” No. 9; Doug KcKee, Golf Balls “Walker Family,” No. 14; and Whitey Noll, Golf Balls “Walker Family,” No. 7. 13th annual Jack Frank Memorial The 13th annual Jack Frank Memorial Golf Tournament was held this past weekend at the Philipsburg Elks Country Club. The year’s event benefits the 2012 Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties’ Baseball program. Taking first place in the net division was the foursome of Adam Bears, Jason McCliment, Jim Willis and Mike Willis posting a round of 56. Seven teams tied for second place shooting a net score of 60. The first foursomes was Jim Haversack, Charlie Haversack, Joel Albert and Jim Green. Second was the team of Jeremy Adams, Fred Arnold, Tyler Arnold and Jim Green. Third was the group of Andy Brickley, Barry Kline, Dave Williamson and Dan Socash. Fourth was Lou LaFuria, Aaron Levonick, Brad Wood and Cory Wood. Fifth was the team of Pat Coval, Tony Kovalski, Dan
Stricek and Georgiann Way. The sixth team consisted of Ryan Dobo, Jeremy Potter, Josh Potter and Derick Weitoish and the seventh team was Devin Grimaldi, Jim Soltis, Scott Webster and Greg Whitehead. Shooting a 55 to win the gross division was the foursome of Nate Lucas, Bob Mitchell, Josh Muir and Jack Frank Jr. Placing second with a 58 was the team of Don Johnson, Matt Johnson, Bo Sankey and Doug Sankey. There was a three-way tie for third with a round of 61. That group included Frank Conklin, Keith Hahn, Dan Wachter and Harlen West. Second of the three was Jeff Herr, Al Herr, Dave Arnold and Stan LaFuria. The third group consisted of Gary Byron, Mouse Dixon, Sam Peterson and Ed Yarger.
UPCOMING EVENTS Bald Eagle Area Varsity Club/Gary Confer Memorial Tournament The 23rd annual Bald Eagle Area Varsity Club/Gary Confer Memorial Tournament will be held on June 16 at Belles Springs Golf Course, located in Mill Hall. Registration begins at 7:15 am, with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Cost is $75 per golfer and includes 18 holes of golf, riding cart, commemorative gift, on-course refreshments and door prizes. There will be an awards presentation directly after golf has concluded. Please contact Doug Dyke at (814) 3555721 or (814) 308-4650 or via email at ddyke@beasd.org with questions or to register a team. Sponsors also welcome to call. Please make checks payable to BEA Varsity Club. Please note that the tourney will only accept the first 36 foursomes. Please mail checks to: 751 S. Eagle Valley Road, Wingate, PA 16823-4799.
COMING UP ACES Renee Marks of State College recorded her first hole-in-one on the par-3, 108-yard hole No. 4 at the Centre Hills Country Club New Course using a 7-iron hybrid. Her husband, Don, witnessed the ace.
GOLF QUOTES “Golf is an ineffectual attempt to put an elusive ball into an obscure hole with implements ill-adapted to the purpose.” — 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
GOLF NOTES Good news for golfers in the Huntingdon and Philipsburg Areas. Beginning this week, items pertaining to Standing Stone Golf Club and the Philipsburg Elks Country Club will be listed in this column.
STATE CHAMP
TOURNEY RESULTS Fifth annual B. J. Wetzler Memorial Bellefonte Softball Golf Tournament The Fifth annual B. J. Wetzler Memorial
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Submitted photo
GAGE MCCLENAHAN won the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling State Championship in the 9- and 10-year-old 70-pound weight class recently. It was the third consecutive year that McClenahan reached the finals. He was the state champion in 2010 and runner-up in 2011. The championships were held at HersheyPark Arena.