GOLF : Tom Addis III Is PGA Golf Pro of Year

There are more than 17,000 golf professionals who are members of the Professional Golfers’ Assn. of America.

Tom Addis III, director of golf and head professional at Singing Hills Country Club in El Cajon, is No. 1 among the non-PGA Tour playing members after having been named PGA golf professional of the year by his peers. Addis, a second-generation golf pro who turned 44 last Thursday, is the first Southern Californian selected since the award was inaugurated in 1955.

The award is based on a PGA member’s total contribution to the game, his community and his fellow professionals.

Addis has been at Singing Hills, a 54-hole San Diego County golfing resort owned by Steve Horrell and Jerry Hollingsworth, for half his life.

“It was absolutely super that Tom received such a recognition,” said Horrell, a former member of the United States Golf Assn. board of directors. “His dedication here has been obvious. He is second to none when you talk about people who put something back into the game.

“Tom is truly the type person who is not in it for self-recognition, but for the satisfaction of helping others.”

The Singing Hills complex consists of two 18-hole championship courses, Willow Glen and Oak Glen, and an 18-hole, par-three executive course. After much of the facility was washed away in a flood several years ago, Addis played a major role in redesigning the clubhouse and rebuilding the courses.

Addis was 20, working with his father, Tom II, at a nine-hole pitch-and-putt course in La Mesa when his father decided to move to Fresno. Young Tom wanted to remain in the San Diego area so he caught on as an assistant pro with Laddy Drake, then the head man at Singing Hills. Two years later, on May 1, 1969, Drake moved to the Carlton Oaks course in Santee, and Addis was elevated to head professional.

“I became eligible to join the PGA in 1972, and as soon as I became a member I became involved in the organization, was elected to the board of the San Diego chapter in 1974 and have been heavily involved ever since,” Addis said.

He was president of the San Diego PGA in 1978 and ’79 and the Southern California chapter from 1980 to ‘82, and served on the national board from 1986 to ’88.

Perry Dickey, manager of the Seacliff Country Club in Huntington Beach and president of the Southern California chapter of the PGA, praised Addis as “one who has deposited more than he has withdrawn, whose leadership transcends ordinary expectations. He qualifies for this award on any and all counts.”

Before getting the national award, Addis had to be named pro of the year by the local chapter. Then he and 41 other sectional nominees were judged by a screening committee, which narrowed it down to three finalists before another committee selected the No. 1 honoree.

He received the award at the PGA’s annual meeting in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where Pat Rielly, golf director at the Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, was reelected president of the national organization.

Last year, Addis ran unsuccessfully for treasurer of the PGA of America, the first stepping-stone toward becoming president. He may have been handicapped because the current president is from the same section.

However, Rielly’s two terms will conclude in 1990, and Addis is planning to run again for the treasurer’s position.

“Maybe this (award) will help in my campaign,” he said.

It was not the first award for Addis. Twice he has been honored for his achievements in golf professional education, first in 1981 when he received the Horton Smith Trophy from the PGA and again last year when the National Golf Foundation presented him with its Joe Graffis Award.

Only three have won the Horton Smith Trophy and also been named golf professional of the year.

He is also an honorary member of the National Amputee Golf Assn. for his contributions to the organization and its members, and of San Diego State College’s Aztec women’s golf hall of fame for having organized and promoted the Lady Aztec Invitational tournament.

“When you watch amputee golfers and see what they accomplish, it makes you realize what a great game golf is because just about anyone can play regardless of their natural ability, age or physical condition,” Addis said. “The PGA is taking a leadership role in physically challenged golf, trying to provide as many opportunities as possible for them to play the game. It’s therapeutic as well as challenging.”

Also honored by the PGA was Tom Sargent, 42, head pro at Yorba Linda Country Club, who was acclaimed for his work in junior golf. His major contribution was merging the Junior Golf Assn. of Southern California with the junior golf program of the local PGA section into a membership of 1,200 youngsters.

Golf Notes

Rancho Park, after being torn up for nearly a year, is back to 18 holes with a radio-controlled, computerized irrigation system. . . . Also back at full play after major reconstruction of three holes is the north course of Jack Kramer’s Los Serranos Country Club in Chino. The north course is the original of the two Los Serranos courses, where the California Amateur qualifying rounds are held each spring. The ninth hole is being changed from a par-three to a par-four, turning the course into a par-72. The newer and longer south course remains a difficult par-74.

The 1990 LPGA tournament schedule lists three Southern California tournaments: March 29-April 1, Nabisco Dinah Shore at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage; April 5-8, Red Robin Kyocera Inamori at Stoneridge Country Club in Poway, and Sept. 20-23, NBS LPGA, Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. . . . The fourth annual Ellsworth Vines Invitational, a two-man, match-play tournament for amateurs, will start Thursday with a qualifying round at the La Quinta Hotel’s Citrus course.

Brandie Burton of Rialto and Leta Lindley of Carlsbad were named to the Rolex Junior All-American first team, with Emilee Klein of Studio City, Stephanie Martin of Camarillo and Sheri Vincent of San Diego on the second team. Boys honored included Joon Lee of Fullerton, second team, and Austin Maki of Costa Mesa, third team. Junior players of the year were David Duval of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and Vicki Goetze of Hull, Ga., who defeated Burton in an all-junior final for the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship.

Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia will be the host of a celebrity tournament Monday at Industry Hills to raise funds for the Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona. Pitchers Dave Stewart and Bob Welch of the World Series champion Oakland A’s are scheduled to play, as are 10 members of the Western Amputee Golf Assn., including five-time national champion Corbin Cherry of Mill Valley.

Memberships are not yet available for Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, but owner David Murdock is about set on a $150,000 tab with monthly dues of $500. Sounds stiff, but look at it this way: The Jack Nicklaus-designed course cost $20 million and the massive clubhouse another $20 million. Tee markers alone--figurines of Robin Hood with bow and arrow at the ready--cost $187.50 each, and there are 144 of them for four tee placements on each hole, making a cost item of $27,000.

Jim Brotherton has been named director of golf at Oak Valley and Moreno Valley Ranch, two Landmark courses in Riverside county, with Herb Moore the head professional at Oak Valley and Kenny Winn at Moreno Valley. . . . Len Kennett was recently feted by members of the Los Verdes Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes for his 25 years as head professional--the only one the county course has had. . . . Golden State Tour members will play Monday at Mesquite Country Club in Palm Springs and Dec. 11 at Shadowridge Country Club in Vista, with the pros also playing Friday at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto.