Golf Instructor

I grew up and played high school golf in the Washington DC area. As a junior player I qualified for the 1976 U.S. Golf Association's Junior Championship in Evergreen, Colorado. In 1977, my high school team captured the Maryland State High School Championship. 

My tutelage with Bob Toski since 1975 would later prove to be the pivotal move for my development as a golfer and instructor. My junior record earned me a golf scholarship at Wharton County Junior College in Houston Texas. I was recruited by coach Dave Williams (of University of Houston fame) to play for his son, Joel Williams, at Wharton Junior College. In Texas, my team scrimmaged with the likes of Fred Couples and Ed Fiori on the Houston Cougar Team. 

I continued with a remarkable amateur career placing with high finishes in the Azalea Amateur, Eastern Amateur, Rice Planters Amateur, The Porter Cup and the Dixie Amateur. My qualifying and fine play in the 1981 North and South Amateur at Pinehurst Country Club earned me an exemption to the 1981 British Amateur in Deal, England at the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Course. In 1985, I was hired as the Head Teaching Professional at Mission Country Club in Odessa, Texas. 

I continued to play the Florida Mini-Tours in the winter months and the Caribbean Tours. Through the late 80's and early 90's, I recorded five top-10 finishes in the Bermuda Open and the Jamaica Open against the likes of Bruce Fleischer, Stephan Ames, Mark James, Mark Roe, Patrick Horgan and Fred Funk. In 1988, I captured the West Palm Beach Invitational, defeating senior stars Dana Quigley and Tom Shaw for the Championship. I have competed in Australia, England, Spain, Wales and Alaska. In 1989 the Toski-Battersby Golf Center was opened with Bob Toski and Gary Battersby, founders, and me as the Director of Instruction. My affiliation with the PGA of America began in 1985, and I was elected as a Class A member in 1998.

Notable players I have competed with head to head include:

Fred Couples, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Fred Funk, Hal Sutton, Mark Brooks, Bruce Fleischer, Dana Quigley, Mark Roe, Steve Lowery, Mark James, Billy Andrade, Gordon Brand Jr., Billy Casper and John Jacobs.