A number of outstanding golf professionals reside in the Chattanooga area, offering instruction, managing prestigious private facilities, encouraging young players, and occasionally swinging their own sets of sticks. Long hours and working weekends go with the territory, but these guys are surrounded by the game they love and would never change their career choices.
With spring weather approaching, CityScope Magazine caught up with several of these busy golfers, who lead many of the area’s finest private golf clubs, to learn more about their passion for golf, their commitment to their profession, and their perspective on service to club members and the community at large.
Adam Campbell
Lookout Mountain Golf Club
A native of Jonesboro, Ga., Adam Campbell relocated to Chattanooga with his wife, Teresa, and young son, Charlie, from the Atlanta area. At Lookout Mountain Golf Club, he is surrounded by a game that he describes as “… an individual sport. I like being the one responsible for my success and the one that calls penalties on myself. Golf teaches life lessons. If I have a bad start to my round, I can give up or battle back. The choice I make is mine.”
Adam’s interest in golf began at the age of 5, as both his mother and father were avid players. He loved going to the course with his parents, and when he and his brother were old enough, they joined the local junior program where their mother joined as well, eventually becoming a junior golf leader for the next seven years.
As a young player, Adam competed in American Junior Golf Association events, winning two tournaments. As an adult, he has had two tournament wins and three top five finishes in the Georgia PGA. He played football at West Georgia College, and while looking for a summer job that might include free golf he was interviewed three times by the same course. Instead of offering summer work, they hired him as an assistant pro, prompting a change from a career as a social studies teacher and coach. Since then, he has held positions with Capital City Club of Atlanta and the Atlanta Country Club, which has hosted the Atlanta Bellsouth Classic for the past 26 years. While there he became friends and played rounds with three-time major champion Larry Nelson.
“We have a great membership at Lookout Mountain, and they have been very supportive in the new things we are trying to put in place,” he comments. “Teaching golf is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Watching a student find success with the advice you have given them is a great return.”
The toughest hole at Lookout Mountain, says Adam, is the 455-yard, par four 7th, with a dogleg right and a blind uphill shot to a rugged green.
Jeff Craig
Windstone Golf Club
When Jeff Craig came to Windstone nearly two years ago, he made something of a full circle. After time working at Valleybrook and Signal Mountain golf clubs and several years at The Farm in Dalton, Ga., he took on the role of golf professional at the 500-member Windstone Golf Club in Ringgold, Ga.
Growing up in Hixson, Jeff was introduced to golf at the age of eight by his father, Ralph, and remembers playing regularly at Chattanooga Golf & Country Club. He also played golf at Hixson High School.
“My job involves taking care of the members and making sure they are happy, taking care of the business side, putting on tournaments, giving lessons and junior clinics, and merchandising the golf shop,” says Jeff. “Golf is just a great sport, and I am around great people. From a sports standpoint, there is nothing better than being outdoors for four hours. There was a time when I was really competitive growing up, and now I see more of the social side, talking to people and finding out what is going on with them.”
Jeff is now in charge of the local junior tour in which he participated while growing up. Following his senior year in high school, he “threw (his) clubs away” for a while. Then, he went to work for a retail golf shop and got the bug again, crediting former Valleybrook manager Rob Landham, along with Lee Cantrell and Bryan Raines for reinvigorating his interest.
Jeff says the toughest hole has to be the 346-yard, par four, No. 18, which demands a good drive off the tee box followed by a 140 to 180-yard shot to a two-tiered uphill green. Married to his wife, Betsy, last October, Jeff is the father of 11-year-old, Lauren.
Bruce Etter
Chattanooga Golf & Country Club
The most memorable round in 32 years of golf for Bruce Etter was a 60 during a Pro-Pro tournament in Nashville. Along with Council Fire pro Hunt Gilliland, the duo shot a combined 57 that day. Bruce also played golf at Southwestern Oklahoma State University and was part of the first team in the school’s history to play for a national championship. Since becoming a professional, he has won numerous pro-am titles as well.
Prior to coming to Chattanooga Golf & County Club in 1998, Bruce served as head professional at Ridgewood Country Club in Waco, Texas, and as first assistant at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, the site of the second oldest stop on the PGA tour. Along with numerous other highlights, including personal conversations with legends Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, he considers the move to Chattanooga a real blessing.
“God placed my wife and myself in Chattanooga,” he says, “and that was one of many great happenings. Since then, Elisa and I have expanded our family by two boys, Jackson, 11, and Preston, 6, and two Jack Russell terriers, Hogan and Lizzie.”
Active with Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church and an officer in the local PGA chapter and the Tennessee Section, Bruce became interested in golf at age 11. His mentors include Jimmy Tidwell, the professional who taught him the game, gave him his first job at age 14 and stood up as his best man, and Roland Harper, golf pro emeritus at Colonial Country Club.
For Bruce, the choice of golf as a career was simple. “I enjoy making a difference in people’s lives,” he says. “Golf gives you many opportunities to touch people and build relationships with them. Helping someone enjoy this great game is the greatest thrill, whether it be helping them with their swing, fitting them with a better club, running a quality event that they enjoy, or making their golf experience a great one each and every time.”
Bruce says the toughest hole at Chattanooga Golf & Country Club is a toss-up between the 245-yard, par three 18th and the 478-yard, par four 8th, which parallels the Tennessee River. “Many tournaments have been won or lost on these two,” he adds with a smile.
Hunt Gilliland
Council Fire
At Council Fire since day one, Director of Golf Hunt Gilliland went to work at the club in December, 1991, and the facility opened the following March. A native of Chattanooga and a graduate of City High, he was a member of the state champion golf team in 1972. After attending the University of Memphis, he traveled to Florida and became an assistant pro at Turtle Creek Club in Tequesta.
Among Hunt’s greatest accomplishments on the golf course was a 1987 victory in the nationally televised Skins Game. He played in the U.S. Open in 1988 and the PGA Championship in 1990 and was named Player of the Year twice in South Florida. He was named Tennessee Professional of the Year in 2002 and is a four-time Chattanooga PGA Professional of the Year.
“I love being around so many different people,” he says of his association with Council Fire, “and for the most part they are in great moods when they are coming out to get away from their troubles and stresses. You can have a great course, great food, and all that, but the members make the club. We are fortunate to have a wonderful base here, and I believe that with all my heart. They are very supportive of everything I have tried to do.”
Hunt gravitated toward golf as a youngster, playing with his father and brother. He currently serves as president of the Tennessee PGA and was just elected a director of District 3, which places him on the national PGA board of directors for a three-year term.
Through the years, he has been a member of the Junior Achievement board and most recently has served as president of First Tee, an organization which uses golf to teach life skills to at-risk children.
The toughest hole at Council Fire, he says, is the 440-yard par four 9th from the back tees. From the member tees, the 390-yard, par four 16th is the club’s signature hole.
Todd McKittrick
Black Creek Club
For Christmas 1994, Todd McKittrick received a set of Northwestern Blades golf clubs from his brother, Phil, as a joke. The two had been very competitive despite playing different sports as kids.
“His quote to me was that if you ever beat me at golf I will quit the game and declare you the winner,” Todd remembers. “I had never touched a club at the time and didn’t begin to play until I met my best friend Dave Narvaez, a six handicap, who took me out the following spring. By July 1997, I broke 80 for the first time and beat my brother on his home course. He did not quit playing golf.”
Neither did Todd, who is originally from Woodbridge, New Jersey. In 2000, he moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., to pursue a golf career. After an exhaustive search, he found work at the Talking Stick Golf Club, and just two months later he was named an assistant pro. By 2006, he had become a Class A PGA member. Today, he credits professionals Tim Mahoney, Mike LaBauve, Stan Utley and Manuel de la Torre with instruction and encouragement along the way.
Arriving at Black Creek Club a couple of years ago, Todd made his mark quickly, receiving Teacher of the Year awards from the Chattanooga Chapter of the PGA in both 2007 and 2008. “I am a perfect example of what makes this game so great,” he reflects. “I picked up the game as a 22-year-old and became a professional in the sport in less than 10 years. It is a game in which hard work and determination always prevail. Absolutely anyone can play anyone else, and the game can be made fair.”
Todd spends much of his time teaching and has had three junior players under his tutelage win state titles. During his career, he has been active with First Tee and completed a golf marathon of 393 holes in 12 hours to benefit that organization. He and his wife, Jessica, met when both were employed at Talking Stick in Arizona. They have been married two years.
He says the 458-yard, par four 12th hole is the most challenging at Black Creek, with hazards to the left, right and long.
Neil Scott
Cleveland Country Club
A Lee College graduate, Neil Scott played golf while there, as well as at UT-Chattanooga, and Chattanooga State, receiving all-Conference honors during his senior year at Lee. “I can tell you that my passions are for junior golf, as well as being part of growing this game every day,” says Neil. “I would describe my job as bringing this great game to all those who walk my golf course as well as touching as many in the community as I can.”
Neil has put his community concerns into action with the Bradley County Golf League, which essentially functions as the First Tee of Bradley County, introducing kids to the game of golf. He has also been active with the Trousdale School, which provides continuing education for young adults with special needs.
“My passion for the game comes from the competition, as well as seeing what this game can do for young people,” remarks Neil, who has lived in Cleveland most of his life. “I can’t think of a better game to learn the life skills that it takes to make it in the world today. Watching young people grow in this game is just another of the many great things we see in our profession. My parents are the driving force for me to compete and pursue a career in this game.”
His parents, Jim and Maggie Scott, are indeed strong golf role models. Maggie is a former Tennessee State Amateur champion and has competed at the national level, finishing in the top eight in the 2007 USGA Senior Amateur. Jim won the city championship several times and competed at the state level.
Neil considers his mother to be his “playing mentor,” while Lamar Mills, his current boss, is his career mentor. “I could name many things about how he goes about the business that make him a mentor, but the most noticeable thing is his work ethic and his ability to treat everyone equally,” he says.
Neil says the toughest hole at Cleveland Country Club is the par four, 350-yard 12th with a slight dogleg to the left. He and his wife of two years, Meredith, have one child.
Henrik Simonsen
The Honors Course
It’s a long way from Silkeborg, Denmark, to Ooltewah, but Henrik Simonsen is right at home at the Honors Course. When he came to the United States in 1987, it was to attend Houston Baptist University in Texas, gain an education and play golf. He completed three years on the golf team at Houston Baptist, played his senior year at the University of Houston, and in the process met and married his wife, Tamara, who was on a volleyball scholarship at Houston Baptist. The couple has one son, Oliver, 11, who plays golf, baseball and “everything else.”
Henrik played full-time for six years, including tournaments in Asia, Europe, Canada and the United States. Five of these were PGA Tour events, and his most memorable round was a 63 to qualify for the Houston Open in 1992. As a club professional, he has worked at Spanish Oaks Golf Club in Austin, Texas, River Oaks Club in Houston, and at the Cirano Golf Club in Northern California.
Since coming to the Honors Course in 2007, Henrik has found a great course and outstanding membership to work with. “I am glad to be here and hope to stay a long while,” he comments. “As head golf professional, I am responsible for golf operations and teach quite a bit. Teaching is a high priority.”
Henrik’s home course in Denmark was the place where he discovered his love of the game. The junior program there was strong, and Thomas Bjorn, a long-time Ryder Cup golfer, was a member of the same club. Currently, Henrik is a member of the PGA Section tournament committee. He has been involved in First Tee, and each year looks forward to the Honors Course hosting the Coca-Cola Chattanooga Junior Classic.
“No doubt, what keeps me involved is my love of playing the game,” he says. “I like to play with as many members as possible, and the passion for playing drives your work despite all the other things that get thrown your way.”
The toughest hole at the Honors Course, according to Henrik, is the 490-yard, par 4, 15th with water to the left and all the way down, then again on the second shot, which is usually with a long to mid-iron.
Jay Underwood
Signal Mountain Golf & Country Club
Since starting out in Athens, Tenn., at the Springbrook Country Club in 1995, Jay Underwood has spent his entire professional golf career in the Chattanooga area. A Cleveland native, graduating from Bradley Central High and Tennessee Tech, he has also served at Moccasin Bend Golf Club, Black Creek, and the Honors Course prior to assuming the head professional role at Signal Mountain Golf & Country Club in 2008.
“I have been playing golf for more than 30 years,” he reflects, “ my dad introduced me to the game. He is the biggest reason I got started. I would tag along with him and thought it was the best thing in the world to play golf with him. Golf is a game for a lifetime. Not many sports give a person the opportunity to play from the time you are a toddler to the time you are an old man. Dad and I still mix it up, just like we did 30 years ago. The second thing that makes golf so great is the feeling of accomplishment when you hit a good shot in the heat of competition.”
As a junior and an amateur, Jay has known his share of success. Among his achievements were back-to-back Cleveland Junior Invitational championships in 1988 and 1989 and runner-up finishes the same years at the Chattanooga Coca-Cola Jr. Classic. He also placed second in the Signal Mountain Junior Invitational in 1988 and third in the Chattanooga City Prep the following year. While at Tennessee Tech and as an amateur, he was named to seven all-tournament teams, was part of the 1990 Ohio Valley Conference championship team, won the Ironwood Parade Classic and Cleveland City Championships in 1991, and the Suwanee Invitational championship in 1992.
Jay donates 25 to 40 golf lessons annually for fundraisers and group sessions for juniors. “My job is simply to make the game of golf more enjoyable for my membership,” he relates. “I wear many hats to achieve that, from merchandiser to teacher to businessman to customer relations.”
Jay and his wife, Cheryl, have two sons, Addison, 5, and Preston, 1. He believes the toughest hole at Signal Mountain is the 205-yard, par three 14th, where a lot of double bogeys are made.
A passion for golf, a love of people and a competitive fire have contributed to the success of these local professionals. To them, golf is more than simply a game. It offers mental and physical challenges, a rewarding leisure activity, and a venue to build character and lasting friendships. Their dedication and contribution to advancing the game of golf, introducing newcomers to it and helping players to improve, is enjoyed and appreciated by club members and the community at large.