Njpga Hall Of Famer David Glenz Caddies, Coaches At U.S. Open
Cover photo: David Glenz caddies for Jesse Smith at U.S. Open at Merion
No, David Glenz of Black Oak, one of the country’s top golf instructors and New Jersey PGA Hall of Fame golfer, has not made a sudden career detour and become a caddie.
But Glenz has recently been seen on the bag – last week at the U.S. Open in Merion, and beginning on June 27, at the U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack in Long Island.
It’s just that two of Glenz’s top students qualified for their respective Opens and having their instructor on the course with them is an added bonus.
Glenz, one of four golfers to win as many as four State Opens who was voted state Player of the Decade for the 1980s, caddied for first-time U.S. Open qualifier Jesse Smith of New Hampshire, one of the most interesting personalities in golf.
At the U.S. Women’s Open, he’ll be on the bag for 23-year-old Kendra Little of Oregon, the daughter of one of Glenz’s fraternity brothers at the University of Oregon, from where he graduated in 1971.
Glenz has caddied before for a number of talented female students, including Karen Noble of Morris County, who represented the U.S. in the Curtis Cup and World Cup and was runner-up in the LPGA Championship. Others include talented players such as Diana D’Alessio, Denise Killeen and Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff.
“By caddieing, I get a better sense of how their brain works in competitive situations,” said Glenz, who has been ranked as one of the nation’s Top 100 teachers by Golf Magazine for each of the past 25 years and placed in Golf Digest’s Top 20 in the nation in 1990.
“When I’m a caddie, I’m no longer a coach. I can play a part in their decision-making and we can work on that in practice,” he said. ”It gives me information I can use to help them when I am teaching. We can talk about strategy errors or where the student lacks commitment to shots they hit.”
Glenz spent six years on the PGA Tour in the 1970s, then turned his energy toward teaching golf, starting as the teaching pro at Winged Foot. In 1981, David became the head pro at Morris County where he spent 10 years.
He also maintained a phenomenal playing career in New Jersey golf by winning four State Opens, the Met Open, two Nissan Classics, the Dodge Open, two New Jersey PGA Championships, and four New Jersey PGA Match Play Championships.
In 1991, he opened The David Glenz Golf Academy offering golf schools and private golf lessons at The Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg. Because of his dedication to teaching golf, David was voted Teacher of the Year eight times by the New Jersey PGA. In 1998, the PGA of America honored him as "National PGA Teacher of the Year."
David has given golf lessons to more than 100 PGA, LPGA, and PGA Senior Tour players as well as hundreds of mini-tour players and club professionals.
Jesse Smith’s late father Guy was a full-blooded Mohawk Indian and played ice hockey at the University of New Hampshire and in the World Hockey Association, He taught his son both hockey and baseball.
When he died at age 44, Jesse turned to golf to help cope with his father’s death from a heart attack. The former Colgate walk-on golfer has been trying to earn a living playing in mini-tours from Canada to Florida.
Two years ago, he ran low on cash and Glenz, his teacher of eight years, offered him a job at Black Oak.
Glenz was on the bag when Smith was a tri-medalist at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier at the Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y.
“I’ve always had high expectations for Jesse. In differing tournaments, he’s shot 59, 60 and 61. He just needs to get to the next level,” Glenz said. “He played great in the qualifier.
“He shot 73 the first day at the Open, and in the second round was temporarily on the leader board. He got so much publicity from this, 250 emails and tests, it took all his attention.
“The U.S. Open is such a different mental ordeal,” said Glenz, who played in four U.S. Opens including a tie for 30that Winged Foot in 1974. “He ran out of mental energy. I’m hoping this experience will give him a shot in the arm.”
Smith (73-81) played one practice round with Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood, another with Steve Stricker and another with Jason Day.
“Those are four of the best players in the world. Tiger spent some time talking to Jesse. He was very friendly to him,” said Glenz, who got a chance to catch up with old friends Ray Floyd and Jerry Pate. He also chatted with fellow coaches Sean Foley, Rick Smith, Chuck Cook and Jim McLean at the Open.
Glenz also expects big things at the U.S. Women’s Open from Kendra Little, one of three to qualify at the NJSGA-administered sectional qualifier at Edgewood C.C. in River Vale. She is the daughter of former Oregon basketball player Doug Little, an All-Pac-10 performer. A third Oregon fraternity brother, Steve Mallicoat, referred Kendra to Glenz’s instruction.
Little, too, like Smith, has spent time working at Black Oak.
“I’ve never seen a female strike a ball better off the tee than Kendra. She’s good for 280 yards,” Glenz said. “She’ll play those long par 4s like guys go. She’ll be able to his wedges out of the rough and hit eight or nine irons to the green when most of the other girls have to hit a wood or a hybrid to reach the green.”
--Mike Moretti
