Sep. 24—Greg DelPrince recently retired and gave up his share of Jefferson-based Hickory Grove Golf Club after 35 years, but his mark is much more indelible than a deep dimple on a green.
A conglomerate of owners take care of Hickory Grove.
His yearly youth golf clinics have attracted many aspiring players for more than about three decades, having 38 at this year’s camp normally held the second week after school lets out for the summer.
“Me being from this area, playing golf at [Ashtabula] Harbor [High School], I thought it would be a nice way to give back to the area,” said the 63-year-old DelPrince. “It would give the kids an opportunity as far as fundamentals, and see how many future golfers we could keep around here.”
The clinic starts with etiquette, fixing ball marks, replacing divots, where to stand and raking sand traps and being considerate of people behind you.
It goes to putting, chipping, half-moon swings and full swings with mid irons and hybrids and finishing with drivers.
So how long will he continue to teach these summer clinics at Hickory Grove?
“As long as they’ll have me,” DelPrince said. “I enjoy doing it.”
DelPrince came to the course after a five-year stint at Aurora Golf and Country Club, where he earned his professional status.
He then became an owner eventually, taking care of plenty of facets of the venue such as outings, golf leagues and promoting internal events. He also served hot dogs, served drinks, took care of carts and was even the custodian.
“I wore a lot of hats out there,” DelPrince said.
What will people miss about him not being there?
“Familiarity of having the same person there, pretty much for a generation — knowing what to expect day in and day out from Greg,” said Scott Barber, who has been the Jefferson High School boys golf coach for the past 29 years.
The two have worked together at Hickory Grove to mold golfers throughout the years.
“Scott, for as long as I’ve known him throughout the years, he conducted a lot of great practices with the kids,” DelPrince said. “He encouraged the kids, too, with questions of him or myself.”
Barber said DelPrince was always supportive of the children and community — taking pride in his job. The younger players were comfortable talking to him, taking golf all the time.
“He treated them like one of the regular members,” Barber said. “They really appreciated it. Freedom on the range and golfing on their own. The kids took advantage of it. That’s why the kids have been successful.”
DelPrince said Jefferson is a thriving and close-knit town with plenty of support for Hickory Grove.
“Everybody helps everybody anyway they can,” he said. “As far as the golf outings, we had a good number of members that supported the gigs.
“Every outing that we had, there were three, four or five foursomes that would support any given event. There was a lot of support within the golf course.”