Annandale Golf Club
Founded 105 years ago, Annandale Golf Club has seen its fair share of change. Through two name changes and two renovations in that time, Annandale is now poised to host the 2011 Southern California PGA Professional Championship.
Annandale Golf Club was founded in 1906 and designed by architect William Watson. In 1922, William Bell completed the first redesign of the course, and that layout stood for 85 years when architect Brian Silva completely reinvented this venerable facility.
The club has hosted Presidents, Hollywood celebrities and the greatest names in golf, including Arnold Palmer, who hosted a golf clinic and exhibition in 1975 to benefit the Methodist Hospital of Southern California. The event continued for two decades. The 1991 clinic featured Palmer with Julie Inkster and Peter Jacobsen, along with Head PGA Golf Professional Pat Rielly, who was at the time the President of the PGA of America, and has served as past President of the Southern California PGA.
Rielly was not the only connection between Annandale and the Southern California PGA.
From Jack Malley, the first President of the Southern California PGA (1924-25), to Emil Scodeller, who won the 1962 Southern California PGA Professional Championship, to Paul Runyan, two time winner of the PGA Championship, 1947 Southern California PGA Professional Champion and inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Annandale has had some of Southern California’s greatest PGA Head Professionals at it’s helm.
Current PGA Head Professional Wade Berzas is no different, respected throughout the Section and one of it’s truly great PGA Professionals. Wade served on the Board of Directors as the Metropolitan Chapter Representative from 2004 – 2007. Now in its 105th year, Annandale is welcoming the best of the Southern California PGA to compete for its most prestigious title. And the course could not offer a better chance for some exciting golf.
Berzas, who has been with Annandale since 2005, has overseen the most recent renovation, completed in 2007, and believes the course is set up to offer some unique opportunities and challenges for the competitors.
“I think the guys will enjoy the golf course, especially since many have not been out here since we renovated in 2007,” said Berzas. It’s more of a precision driving golf course today, and if you keep the ball in the fairway, you’ll have a lot of scoring opportunities.”
Course conditions will dictate whether players are able to go low, or will be held in check.
“If the greens are relatively soft and slow, the guys will tear it up. We might see a double-digit under-par winning score if those conditions hold. It is not a terribly difficult golf course. There are a lot of good wedge opportunities. If the course does firm up a little, I think a score around six- or seven-under par will be good enough to win.”
Wade recognizes that it is a high honor to host such an important event, and he knows the course must be difficult enough to pose challenges for the Section’s high caliber players. But the facility must also remain playable to Annandale members, first and foremost.
“We’re walking a fine line to make the course tough enough that it’s a challenge for our professionals, but we don’t make it so difficult that our members cannot enjoy playing.”
Chris Starkjohann, PGA of Torrey Pines Gold Club & Outings will be back to defend his Professional Championship title. With three championship trophies already under his belt, Chris is excited about the condition of his game and is ready to take on the incredible field.
“My game is always about the same, which is steady and consistent ball striking,” Chris says. “I am always working on short game and putting. If I am making putts I am pretty tough to beat. I always like my chances.”
Starkjohann made history in 2010 by becoming the first SCPGA Professional to win both the Professional Championship and Senior Professional Championship in the same year. 2011 may be a different kind of test, as he has not played Annandale in many years, and has yet to see the course since the 2007 renovation.
“I feel my accuracy off the tee will be the key as it was at Oakmont. I am able to hit a lot of greens, so I think my advantage will be getting more looks at birdie chances than most players.”
To give players the edge they need to compete for the Championship title, Wade has a few tips for those golfers who may not be very familiar with the course and layout, with a friendly warning to those who may be lulled into a false sense of security if they are playing well.
“If you want to win, you’re going to have to do everything you do at any other course. You’ll have to drive well and putt well. You WILL make a big number somewhere on this golf course over the course of the three days.
The question is, when does it happen and how does it affect your play going forward from there. I would be really surprised if a player can go three rounds on this course and not make a double bogey or worse.”
Despite the pitfalls that await each player, Annandale gives them the opportunity to really make up ground quickly.
“The back nine here is where the tournament will be won or lost. It’s very possible to finish this course with four straight birdies. You could make a double-bogey on 14, but turn around and finish with two eagles. Number 17 is a drivable par four, and 18 is a reachable par five.”
Berzas came to Annandale in 2005 after stints at Oakmont Country Club and South Hills Country Club. He got his start in the game of golf at the age of ten, when he started playing in his hometown of Lake Charles, LA.
“I was hooked on it immediately. I loved the competitive nature of the sport, and the challenge of figuring out how to hit this little ball with basically a stick, and make it go in the right direction.”
He got his first job at age 12 working the range at Mallard Cove, earning $3 every time he picked the range. When he worked his way up to $8, he decided golf might be a good career. He eventually made the golf team at McNeese State, and soon after college moved up to Vail, CO for several years before coming to California in 1991.
“The superintendent at Eagle Vail Golf Club had a contact at Los Angeles Country Club, so I came out in February of 1991 to visit a friend and met up with Ed Oldfield, who told me that when I made the move out to Southern California, to give him a call. When I got out there, I went to work for him on the range, and that’s pretty much how it all started.”
He soon got the opportunity to work with Greg Frederick at Oakmont, and any doubt that he wanted to be a PGA Professional was erased soon after beginning his new job there.
“It’s funny, all you need to do is talk with Greg for five minutes and you’ll understand what the PGA means to me,” explains Berzas.
Eventually after moving to South Hills, he received a phone call from a member of the Annandale search committee, who was in the process of finding a new Head Golf Professional.
“They said ‘we don’t have your resume yet.’ I responded with, ‘well, I never sent one.’ At the time I was working at South Hills Country Club and was really enjoying myself, but I started a dialog with the folks here at Annandale. I spoke with members that I knew from my time at Oakmont, and everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about the place.”
He was hired soon after, and one of his first responsibilities was to oversee the complete renovation of the golf course.
“It was a great experience, although I’d never want to do it again. Seeing a 100-year old golf course torn up and then put back together was incredible, and I learned more during that time than I ever have before.”
Now in his sixth year as Head PGA Golf Professional, Berzas feels right at home, and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
“You cannot begin to understand how nice the membership is here. Many clubs have that member that you sometimes don’t want to be around, and I have yet to meet that person here. It is a really good spot to be.”
