MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 27, 2000

LAPLACE – Few sports have changed its equipment as much as golf. Headsare now made out of metal, shafts are graphite, balls are more aerodynamic and spin better and putters are weighted.

But through it all, Patrick Kelliher said the basics of the game have remained the same.

“We’ve been playing golf for a long time and it remains the same as it was a 100 years ago,” Kelliher said. “It’s still a game played against the golfcourse, against the elements. Everybody has the same enjoyment out of thegame. It’s just a fun game. There have been changes in the equipment butthe basics of the game are still there.”Kelliher is the new general manager/golf professional at Belle Terre Country Club, having started April 19. He will oversee all aspects of thecountry club, including teaching and scheduling tournaments.

“There is no specific job duty,” Kelliher said.

Kelliher’s father got him interested in playing golf when he was 5-years- old. He said he really got serious about it when he was 13 and played onhis high school team. After graduating from the University of Kansas,Kelliher went to work with his father in his restaurant before deciding to go into the golf business.

After completing the PGA of America’s program, Kelliher worked at a variety of courses, becoming the golf professional at Shawnee Country Club in Topeka for 10 years. He also worked through the building phase ofEagle Knoll in Columbia, Missouri, a course that would be rated as the eighth best affordable course by Golf Digest. He worked at Northern Hillsin San Antonio before going to Belle Terre.

Kelliher noted that golf is a game that is still growing, pointing out all the new courses that are being designed.

“A lot of new people are coming into the game every day,” Kelliher said.

One of those areas of biggest growth is in the junior programs. Kellihersaid he teaches the youngsters the basics of the game while keeping in mind that the main objective is to have fun.

“We teach them the fundamentals of the game and etiquette,” Kelliher said. “How to conduct themselves on the golf course. We teach them agame but it is a game.”And it’s a game that Kelliher said he loves to go out and play. He said oneof the things he likes most about it is the natural beauty. It is that naturalbeauty that especially caught his eye when he went to Belle Terre.

“It’s incredible,” Kelliher said. “I watched a giant egret fly overhead. Iturned my head and there was an alligator swimming in. I saw a blue heronbattling a snake. It’s a beautiful place here. The golf course has a greatlayout. There’s no doubt it is one of the great courses around.”

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