By Teaching, Gunn Learns to Play Better

Roger Gunn leads an interesting dual life when it comes to golf. He teaches the game because he loves to and he plays it because he has to.

Gunn, an Agoura resident, gave up on a lackluster career as a touring pro five years ago to begin a career as a teacher.

Now director of instruction at Lindero Country Club in Agoura, he has developed into one of the most highly respected and successful teachers in the region.

But with the competitive fire still burning, he has continued to play tournaments and, at 36, is playing the best golf of his life.

He will play in the Nissan Open this week at Valencia Country Club after finishing second in a qualifier Feb. 9. Last April he qualified for the U.S. Open. In October he qualified for the PGA National Club Pro Championship and has a chance to earn one of 25 spots in the PGA Championship later this year.

“Playing in tournaments is what keeps me sane,” said Gunn, who plays about 25 tournaments a year. “I would be very envious just watching golfers all day if I couldn’t play myself.”

But it isn’t just about playing for Gunn. It’s about 270-yard drives down the middle of the fairway, perfectly flush iron shots at the flagstick and the rattle of 15-foot birdie putts dropping into the cup.

“It’s a real passion of mine to be a good golfer,” Gunn said. ‘I can’t stand being a bad golfer.”

Gunn toiled on mini tours, the European PGA Tour and the Nike Tour for eight years after finishing at UCLA in 1985. But with a child on the way in 1993 and the golf career not panning out, Gunn decided to take a different route.

“It became evident that tournament golf was not going to cut the expenses, so I started teaching,” Gunn said. “And I was lucky because I enjoyed it and seemed to have a knack for it. A lot of players who go from playing to teaching don’t like it so much.”

The list of his students speaks volumes about his ability as an instructor. Westlake High phenom J.T. Kohut has seen him for three years. UCLA’s Ross Fulgentis, the 1996 Southern California junior player of the year, takes lessons from Gunn. Former Wood Ranch Country Club champion Al D’Amato, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur last summer, is a regular client as are current club champions from North Ranch Country Club and Calabasas Country Club.

Even PGA Tour players Steve Pate and Tom Lehman have asked Gunn for advice.

“He’s the most knowledgeable and best teacher I’ve ever had,” said Kohut, who has been playing golf for 13 of his 18 years and is expected to be one of the most coveted college recruits in 1999. “I like everything about him and how he teaches.”

But it’s not just the upper-echelon golfers that Gunn teaches. Hackers and middle handicappers are among his clientele as well and he says that teaching those levels is equally satisfying.

“Some people get the ball in the air and they are just happy as a clam,” Gunn said. “Just as happy as a tour player who hits a straight shot or gets a certain feel.”

Teaching golf was something Gunn never thought much about growing up in Napa. Then again, he didn’t think much about any golf-related careers. He looked at golf a little differently then.

“I just wanted to make my high school team,” he said. “People ask me if I always wanted to turn pro, but back then that was a crazy idea. I never thought about it. I just played and practiced and enjoyed getting better and that’s how I went about my business.”

Gunn said when he first started playing competitively at 14 he would routinely finish near the bottom of the leaderboard. He stuck with it because he could not fathom giving up on his goal to play for his high school.

“When I look back on it it’s amazing to me that I could finish 30 or 40 strokes back from the winner and not give up,” Gunn said. “But I guess it was not in my nature. We had a great high school team and that was always a goal that was right in front of my face. I had something tangible to work toward.”

And so he worked. Through hours of practice and lessons, Gunn got his handicap down to scratch by the time he turned 16.

He not only made the team at Vintage High in Napa, but he became the No. 1 golfer by his senior year and led the team to the Northern California Championship.

He attended UCLA without a golf scholarship, but made the golf team as a walk on. And this was no ordinary golf team.

Gunn played with PGA Tour pros Corey Pavin, Jay Delsing, Steve Pate, Duffy Waldorf and Tom Pernice while he was at UCLA. Still, without a scholarship, Gunn moved his way up the team ladder and was No. 2 on the team by his senior year behind Waldorf.

Gunn turned pro, won a Golden State Tour event in his professional debut and went to Europe to play the European PGA Tour.

“My goals were not lofty and I made sure they were all right in front of me,’ Gunn said. ‘I went after them one by one.”

After two years on the European Tour and three on the Nike Tour (it was the Hogan Tour his first season in 1990) and seven failed attempts at qualifying for the PGA Tour, Gunn realized playing golf for a living might not be his calling.

“I wouldn’t say it was hard to admit,” Gunn said. “That type of thing doesn’t frighten me. I know it was the right decision from playing against some of these guys. I played with Tom Lehman in a practice round at the U.S. Open. Here’s a guy who hits it just as straight as I do, but 30 yards further, so, you know, that’s pretty hard to compete against. I still took his 10 bucks, but that doesn’t mean I want to pay for my house playing against him.”

So Gunn took to the life of an instructor, and seems to have found his niche. But, despite a schedule that sometimes includes up to 10 hours a day of teaching in addition to administrative duties, and a home life that includes a wife and two children, Gunn has also managed to maintain a reasonably high level of play.

“He is the best combination teaching pro and playing pro in the state,” said Lindero teaching pro Scott Schopp, who has helped Gunn achieve the swing that has produced his high level of play over the past year. “He isn’t a typical instructor and he’s probably the most thorough pro I’ve seen as far as preparing to play in a tournament. I’ve never seen anyone go to the extremes he goes to. He makes his own yardage books and walks off the sprinkler heads. He never wants to make a preparation mistake.”

Gunn, who has played four other PGA Tour events and made the cut once--at the 1994 Buick Invitational--is not setting any major goals for the tournament this week. He chooses, rather, to judge each day as it ends.

“I certainly have the ability to shoot 65 or 66 at Valencia,” he said. “And if I post four 65s then I win the tournament. How probable that is, who knows? But if I can keep my focus and walk away from the course each day pleased that I’ve done that, then I’ve done my job.”