ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160111
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
He'S the son of Dr. Golf, yet Doug Kenney's passion is baseball.
Not that the Cave Spring senior shortstop detests golf. He played varsity for four years.
His best days, though, have been in baseball. After a great sophomore golf season, Kenney bulked up on weights for baseball. His golf game was never the same.
All is not lost. Kenney has earned a partial scholarship to Longwood College in baseball, where he'll probably move to third base, hit for power, he hopes, and earn a shot at the pro game.
Meanwhile, his father, Harold Douglas ``Doug'' Kenney, who owns the Dr. Golf shop, a discount retail store for golf equipment, is a former PGA teaching pro and was a member of the University of Tennessee links team. He has no problem with his son's choice.
``Everyone has to choose their own path and when he gets out of college, he has time to come back to golf. He has just always loved baseball, so I'm not disappointed,'' says the elder Kenney.
Doug Kenney says he was never pushed by his father. ``He encouraged me. He'd give me golf clubs for my birthday, but he never insisted I play golf. He let me go with what I wanted to play.''
Still, Kenney earned a spot on the Knights' golf team as a freshman. In 10th grade, he reached for greatness. After the first round of the Group AAA state tournament, Kenney was tied for third place, just four strokes in back of the leader in the quest for a state title.
Things didn't go well in the final round. ``I was only four back with four to go and in high school golf, anything can happen,'' said Kenney. ``I don't know if I had the jitters or what, but I was 7-over [par] the last four holes.''
So much for a great golf career, although Kenney was still a factor in a good Group AAA program. He would never come as close again to a state title, though.
If the muscles didn't work for golf, they've done wonders for Kenney in baseball. Last year, he smashed six homers as a junior.
``I had never touched weights until a little after my freshman year. After my sophomore year, I really started, though I always stopped while I was playing baseball,'' said Kenney.
``As I bulked up, I lost some of my golf skills. But if I had practiced in the summer [instead of concentrating on American Legion baseball], it might have been different.''
This year, Kenney was No. 3 or No. 4 on the Knights' golf team and didn't qualify for the Group AAA state tournament. The team finished sixth in the Northwest Region. ``I put a lot of pressure on myself this year. I didn't relax. I had talked to my mom and dad, and wanted to have one of my best years. Sometimes, it's just not meant to be,'' said Kenney.
Still, there's no disappointment in baseball as he tries to follow former Cave Spring great Dee Dalton and Patrick Henry's Barry Shelton as players from the Roanoke Valley District who have most recently made it in pro baseball.
When Longwood offered a partial scholarship, Kenney hesitated, but then took it. Longwood, a Division II school, has players in the pros, including Michael Tucker at Kansas City in the American League.
``They'll move Doug to third base at Longwood,'' said Cave Spring coach Roger White. ``He definitely has the power. He's got an excellent chance to start for them as a freshman.''
White says some Division I schools were interested in Kenney. ``Why they didn't pursue him, I don't know. Sometimes, a Division I school sees a good player and figures they can get him cheap as a walk-on, whereas a Division II school can give someone a little bit more money.''
This year, Kenney has only three homers, half of the six he hit last year in his biggest surge of power.
``In rec ball or anything, I had never hit more than two homers in any one season,'' said Kenney of his newly acquired skill.
Kenney, who has been battling a partially torn tendon in his left wrist, is also hitting just under the .390 batting average required to make the Timesland leaders.
``I felt something pop one day when I made a quick move. It still bothers me a little bit, but not as much,'' said Kenney, who suffered through a 3-for-16 slump right after the injury. Last year, he knocked in 34 runs, compared to 20 before a game Friday against William Fleming, and hit .500 for the regular season.
Even if Kenney doesn't get it done on the field and his golf game doesn't return, he probably won't have a problem making it in life. The Knight infielder has a 3.53 grade point average and is 58th in his graduating class of 375. He plans to major in business economics in college.
``Doug's a good person. He has a lot of manners. He's a `yes sir, no sir' type of athlete and you don't see a lot of them today,'' said White. ``You tell him to do something, it's coming out of your mouth and he's doing it.''
The son of Dr. Golf might not have picked up his father's game, but it's a safe bet that no one in the Kenney family or at Cave Spring would like to change the course in which this athlete is headed.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL L. NEWBY II/Staff. Doug Kenney's weight liftingby CNBdidn't do much for his golf game, but it has helped turn the Cave
Spring player into a power slugger. color.