GRANTHAM — Chris Pollard is about 30 years into aiming toward his dream job. At long last, he can see a path toward reaching it.
The Lebanon High School graduate and longtime Raider golf coach first fell in love with the game as a youth. He pursued a golf professional’s career through school and into early adulthood before life and work got in the way.
Last winter, Pollard accepted an offer to become Mark Larabee’s assistant pro at Eastman Golf Links, which reopened an opportunity for Pollard to pursue Class A certification through the PGA of America. If all goes according to plan, Pollard hopes to complete the three-year process for certification and finally get the chance to run his own course, a goal he first sought to reach in the mid-2000s.
“I started it, and I never completed it,” Pollard said on Tuesday in between checking in golfers for rounds at Eastman. “It’s been a goal in life to accomplish it and get it. I know it will take a little while, but that’s the goal. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I can be the head of a club somewhere and enjoy the job that I’ve always loved having.”
Larabee likens the process to an apprenticeship, and it’s certainly an apt comparison. Would-be pros must prove their ability to play the game before even seriously starting the study and testing involved; they must also work under a Class A-certified pro through the process if they wish to complete the program. But once achieved, a Class A license can open up any number of different career paths in golf.
“It depends on what that guy finding a job hopes to get for experience in an area he might be concentrating in,” said Larabee, Eastman’s head pro the last 14 years. “It could be a rules career. It could be teaching and coaching. It could be retail-driven. I believe there are 25 different Class A classifications. It used to be, when I started, eight or 10. There’s quite a variety now.”
Not having a Class A doesn’t preclude someone from running a golf course, but it does prevent a potential pro from capitalizing on the full benefits of the PGA. Pollard learned that lesson when he first tried for his certification.
Pollard, 48, took to golf at the age of 10; Lebanon’s Carter Country Club “was my day care,” he joked. “My mom dropped me and my brother off at 7 a.m. and picked us up at 3:30 in the afternoon. That’s what you get when memberships are $60 for juniors.”
The notion of becoming a teaching pro grew during Pollard’s one year at Burlington’s Champlain College, where he admitted spending about as much time on area courses as he did pursuing a business degree he wasn’t sure he wanted.
“I was going up there for a business major; for those of us with no idea of what to do, that’s what you choose to do,” Pollard said. “I found the golf team, started playing, and that was my demise in college, too. I could play anytime I wanted, and I got interested in it. I love this sport, and I wanted to get better and learn about, so I studied it.”
Pollard first started working with pro Harold Webb at Carter before moving to Newport and connecting with pro John Pollack at John Cain Golf Club. When Pollack decided to switch jobs to another course, he convinced the John Cain board to hire Pollard as his replacement. But without a PGA-member pro under which to work, Pollard was kicked out of the association’s Class A program. He eventually stepped away from golf employment in 2006 for full-time work with the Hanover Improvement Society as his daughters, Danielle and Olivia, grew up.
Pollard got to know Larabee the past few years as the Raiders moved their home matches to Eastman. He told Larabee that he’d be interested in getting back into the Class A program if a full-time assistant’s job ever opened up. It did: Larabee convinced the club to hire Pollard last January, he officially started on April 1 and he’s been busy restarting the certification process since then.
“The membership here and the Eastman community are so thrilled to have him on board,” Larabee said. “They love the idea that he’s been hired and that he’s doing it for us year-round. … He already brings a vibrant personality and so much knowledge to the Upper Valley and all the people playing golf in this region. It’s just a real find for us to get him on the staff.”
Teaching the game appeals to Pollard as well. He’s in his 17th year of coaching high school golf, his 12th with his alma mater following five years at Newport during his John Cain tenure. He brings a low-key approach that resonates with his Raiders.
“He’s honestly just a straightforward guy,” Lebanon High junior Ben Gillis said during Wednesday’s Eastman home match. “He’s super relaxed and really helpful. He’s super fun to play for, just like one of the teammates. Whenever we’re struggling or need help, he’s always there for us.”
There are advantages and disadvantages to doing the Class A program at a seasonal golf facility such as Eastman, Pollard said. Completing the program down south at a full-year course might speed the process along, but he also likes having the downtime of an Upper Valley winter to concentrate on the work. Once golf wraps up next month, Pollard will start running Eastman’s Nordic skiing facility.
“I hear it’ll be a slower pace, not as busy as golf season,” he said. “I also have to learn how to cross country ski. With my hockey background, they have something called skate skis. I’ll probably do that.”
He gained preliminary first-level Class A program status by passing an 18-hole playing ability test at the Country Club of Barre earlier this year; Pollard still must complete a 36-hole test and pass a written exam to officially enter the first of Class A’s three instruction levels. It will take several years to complete the work, but Pollard’s grateful for the opportunity to get another swing at it.
“I’m not looking that far forward; I would just like to make my goal of being a Class A member of the PGA,” he said. “Then, who knows?”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.