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Druga finally got his dream job at Shinnecock

Erik Boland

July 19, 2007

It seems real enough by now, though Jack Druga is still a bit awed by landing what he tabbed nearly two decades ago as his "dream job."

"It's still pretty magical driving up here every day," said Druga, in his first season as the head professional at Shinnecock Hills. "Certain places just have that special feeling about them."

That is attributable to the famous Stanford White clubhouse - the oldest in the nation - an exclusive membership that for the most part avoids the spotlight, and the aura of the course itself, annually ranked among the world's best. In Golf Digest's most recent Top 100 U.S. course rankings, Shinnecock came in at No. 2 - Pine Valley in New Jersey was No. 1 - its highest ever ranking.

There is an aura surrounding the club's head professionals as well. Shinnecock pros have had the job security of Supreme Court justices and actually last longer as Druga is just the third head professional since 1906. Charlie Thom served as Shinnecock's head pro for 55 years before giving way to Don McDougall, who retired at the end of last season after 45 years.

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"I'm very aware of that," said Druga, 48, previously the head professional at the Country Club of Fairfield in Connecticut from 1995-2006. "To be here, following two guys like that, is very humbling."

Druga's roots gave no indication he would one day end up at one of the world's elite clubs. He grew up in Pittsburgh and learned the game at Schenley Park, a municipal facility in the truest sense. Druga played collegiately at Florida International and competed in the 1979 U.S. Amateur at Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland (Mark O'Meara won) and the 1980 Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina (won by Hal Sutton). Druga turned pro in 1981 and gave the mini-tour circuit a try

"I realized playing that year that I wasn't good enough to play with these guys," the self-effacing Druga said.

He took an assistant's job at Oakmont, working for renowned Oakmont head professional Bob Ford. Druga stayed until taking the head job at The Creek Club on Long Island in 1987. The move to the Island benefited Druga twofold: He met his wife, Eileen, a Massapequa native - the two were married in 1992 - and he was given the opportunity to play Shinnecock, a course Druga had only admired from afar. After his second round at Shinnecock, in 1988, he declared to himself that it was his "dream job."

"And then to get it almost 20 years later is pretty cool," said Druga, who stayed at the Creek Club through 1993 before heading to The Loxahatchee Club in Jupiter, Fla., for two years and Fairfield after that.

The course Druga now presides over has never looked better. The remnants of the USGA's mismanagement of the 2004 U.S. Open, when the organization left the classic layout looking like Atlanta after Gen. Sherman's march, are a distant memory. The course always earned a top-five spot on best-courses lists and Druga, during a recent round at Shinnecock, said superintendent Mark Michaud, who arrived from Pebble Beach in 2000, is the reason for this year's No. 2 slot.

"We're there because of Mark and his staff and the condition of the course," Druga said. "I hope I can take the golf operations to the level Mark has reached with the conditioning."

As for how long he runs those operations, Druga said with a laugh he doesn't expect to last quite as long as his predecessors. He does, however, know there isn't another job out there even remotely tempting. "I'm just off the charts lucky," Druga said. "To be here, with my wife being from Long Island ... that's important for her to be back home, to have her as a part of this. You really can't script it out any better."

Today's tip

All in the wrists

"To hit pitch and chip shots you must learn to hinge your wrists correctly. The days of stiff arms and wrists on short shots are over. What is 'hinge?' Put your hands together, palms facing, and point your thumbs up. Now point your thumbs toward yourself. You have just hinged your wrists. To use this hinge on short shots, swing the club low and around while allowing your wrists to hinge. This will reduce shoulder turn and allow the club to swing through the ball more aggressively without hitting the ball far."

Jeffrey A. Cowell

PGA head professional

The Woodmere Club

Aces

Stephen Athan, Colonial Springs Pines Course, eighth hole, 137 yards, 8-iron.