Lessons key to the kingdom

I figure a month or two is considered fair warning. That's 60 days of relative calm on the valley's courses. After that, players on adjacent fairways will have to be more alert, more aware of a miss hit, an errant shot gone astray -- more keen on listening for that shout, "Fore!"

You see, I gave my lady friend a set of clubs for Christmas and a flight of lessons designed to determine if the game of golf and her are mutually compatible. Or, if they are mutually exclusive.

There's a grave risk here. I know you recognize it. I preach after a round of golf how mentally and physically drained I am. Not enough energy to cook dinner -- would you? Not enough left in the tanks to clean up -- would you? Worse, she may have a natural ability, an affinity for the game that after hours, days, months and years of practice allows her to reach a level where her skills surpass mine. Scary, but I'll accept that challenge.

The choice of her instructor was interesting. Men provided me with all my training, a few of which were left-handed so I could utilize them as role models. I searched for a female instructor so to make her comfortable in discussing those particular challenges faced by female golfers. It was by sheer luck that I found Kristen Sunderhaft. Kristen is a teaching professional at the Callaway Golf Center. Her resume is impressive. She attended Upper Arlington High School in Columbus, Ohio, which also is the home school to golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Her summer job was working at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, which allowed her to play free on Mondays. Again, that's where Jack learned to play the game. A college graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, Kristen accepted an accounting position with a firm in Chicago. After two years and many counseling sessions with her dad, she made the move to follow her dream of a career in golf.

After serving stints at Naperville Country Club in Chicago and Mayfield Country Club in Cleveland, Kristen left with her LPGA teaching credential and moved to Las Vegas and Callaway Golf. But the lure of the tours swept her away, and for the next three years she competed in the Futures Tour, the Players West Tour, the U.S. Challenge Tour and the West Coast Ladies Golf Tour. During that time, she took a position at Legacy Golf Club, which allowed her to continue teaching and practicing for the rigors of competition.

Her touring career ended in Year Three, when she sustained a back injury, a familiar circumstance we all face when we play the game. The result forced her off the tour, and she subsequently joined Rio Secco Golf Club to teach on the opposite side of Butch Harmon's golf academy. Here's the neat part -- while vacationing on Maui, Hawaii, she was introduced to Marty Keiter, director of golf at the Kapalua Golf Academy.

To make a short story shorter, she was offered a position as a teaching professional there, accepted it and began a three-year love affair with golf in paradise.

Wanting to be closer to her family and further some business opportunities, Kristen moved back to Las Vegas and again hooked up with Callaway Golf.

When I spoke with her and asked if she had ever worked with total golf newbies, she chuckled. "Yes, I have," she said. "I worked with Jonathan Ogden, a professional Pro Bowl football player with the Baltimore Ravens and a Super Bowl winner. He's 6-foot-9 and I'm 5-foot-4, which was a challenge. In fact, Jonathan had his first hole-in-one while I played with him at Anthem Country Club."

Kristen's course includes four one-hour lessons on four successive Saturdays or Sundays. Included with the program is a video analysis of the student's swing. After that portion of the course concludes, a private, half-hour lesson is scheduled to further help golfers polish up their game. The cost for the instruction is $190.

As for me, we're into Week Two and the first goal seems to have been reached -- the girlfriend is finding the process fun and interesting. She's even experiencing some of the muscle soreness that I relate to her after my rounds. The second goal, her skill set and level of play is slow coming. It has reached the level of ball contact about every other shot, with those that go straight and in the air a little less.

With Week Three comes the warning. So far, basic grip, stance and swing have been covered. The pitch and the chip were covered during lesson two. Week Three will bring the introduction to the woods. So, players on those adjacent fairways be cautious.

I'll be in no way responsible for any collisions.

Fore!

John Asay is a golfer and local freelance writer. Contact him at jasay@reviewjournal.com.