This week’s PGA Professional Championship is being played at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL (April 27-30). The field includes the professionals who combine a range of golf talents starting with the club connections they work at yearly.
Darrell Kestner (Glen Cove, N.Y.) registered a first-round score of 8-over-par 79 on the Ryder Course. The PGA Director of Golf at Deepdale Golf Club is playing in his 31st PGA Professional Championship, setting a new Championship record by surpassing Jim White’s previous mark of 30. Kestner also holds the event record for most rounds played, 95.
The Kestner Story
The PGA Director of Golf at Deepdale Golf Club (Long Island, NY) and PGA of America member since 1980.
Kestner has played in 11 PGA Championships and 19 majors overall. In 2012 he became the first PGA of America Golf Professional since World War II to compete in a major in five different decades.
Kestner has won numerous PGA of America and Metropolitan PGA Section awards, including 2017 PGA Golf Professional of the Year as well as 2004 and 2005 Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year while he also captured the 1996 PGA Professional Championship.
Additionally, Kestner is a three-time Met PGA Player of the Year, six-time Met PGA Senior Player of the Year and was inducted into the Met PGA Hall of Fame in 2010. Kestner appeared in his 31st PGA Professional Championship this week, a new Championship record.
***
What prompted your interest in getting started in golf?
I grew up in West Virginia and my summer jobs were working in the coal mines. I found out real fast that it’s easier to swing a golf club than a coal shovel.
I gravitated to it real quickly.
You have been the long-time Director of Golf at Deepdale Golf Club on Long Island. What prompted your interest in seeking employment there?
I’ve been at Deepdale for 37 years. It was my first head pro job. I was always an assistant over in the Westchester area – Winged Foot, Century, Sunningdale, Fisher’s Island, Westchester Country Club.
The opportunity to be head pro at Deepdale came up. I went and interviewed, got the job and it’s been my home and heaven ever since.
What’s the key secret sauce in being a successful club professional?
I always said the secret to being a PGA Pro is very easy. All your membership expects of you is that you play like Tiger Woods and teach like Butch Harmon. You run a golf shop like Ralph Lauren.
You be as funny as Jimmy Fallon and you be as nice as the Pope. You do that and the career is very easy.
You will be competing this week in the PGA Professional Championship. You previously won the event in 1996. What does it mean for you to still be in the field for the event?
It’s like a dream come true to play in this as long as I have. It’s the premier golf tournament for the PGA of America. To be here with all of your peers and watch them play, and one thing I enjoy as much or more than anything is watching all my assistants play in it.
I had three of them in front of me today and one of them behind me. It was just a lot of fun watching them play and do well and try to further their careers. I enjoy that mentoring part as much as I do still playing.
What do you enjoy more — playing in competition or teaching?
I tell you what it’s kind of a toss-up. My friend Rick Hartmann, who is the golf director at Atlantic Golf Club, cannot believe I teach as much as I do and that I enjoy it as much as I do.
He kids me a lot with that. I do enjoy that, but also like to get out there and play with him and try to stay competitive too and also work with my assistants.
Best advice you ever received – what was it and who was it from?
I played a practice round with Arnold Palmer at Inverness at the PGA. After about 15 holes he came over and stood over me. I hit this 20-footer. I made it and he looked at me and said “never lose that putting stroke, kid.”
If you have a good short game, chipping and putting goes a long way and you can play a long time if you can do that.
What advice would you give to those aspiring to join the ranks of the PGA of America?
To keep learning, to try to be as well rounded as you can and to most of all, enjoy the journey.
Complete the sentence Darrell Kestner is —
Margie Kestner’s Husband.
***
For more info on the Championship go to:
