THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507080025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Women in Golf
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Being good is never good enough for Bridget Pendergast.
The head pro for Honey Bee Golf Club is not just a member of the LPGA - she's a Class A member. Pendergast hasn't just given lessons - she's been invited to conduct teaching programs at Pebble Beach and at The Homestead.
In 1990, Pendergast founded the Career Women's Golf Association. It was the first organization where women could gather weekly for golf, fellowship and the kind of business networking men take for granted. It earned Pendergast a 1992 excellence award from the National Golf Foundation.
As head pro at Honey Bee, Pendergast, 48, directs a staff of 30. She is ultimately responsible for everything golf-related, and is the semi-private club's most visible ambassador.
There is only one other woman head pro in Virginia, Kandi Kessler at Glenmore near Charlottesville. The LPGA says there are less than 200 women head pros in the United States. There are 14,600 golf courses.
``I devote most of my time to people and problems - and I love it,'' Pendergast said. ``I love solving problems, not just for people but for the course. I love people coming to me, looking to me to solve problems. I love being in charge.''
Her golf career started 28 years ago, shortly after she married Jim Pendergast, a retired Marine Corps captain. She was teaching school in New Orleans, and starting golf to spend more time with her husband.
``We didn't start a family for five years and during that time, I threw myself headlong into golf,'' she said. ``It just grew and grew until, finally, a very dear friend suggested I look into being a golf professional. To do so, the LPGA has you go through playing-ability tests, teaching tests, written tests and schools. I did it, even though we moved from New Orleans to Northern Virginia to Syracuse to Oklahoma.''
Nine years ago, the Pendergasts and their two children made the last of 17 moves, to Virginia Beach. Six years ago, she started teaching at Honey Bee. Eighteen months ago, she became head pro. Six months ago, she was the only person retained when Honey Bee was bought by American Golf, Inc.
``Bridget has a very strong following in this area,'' Honey Bee general manager and American Golf representative Wayne Rohauer said. ``She's known for both her lessons and their quality.''
Pendergast's day consists of making sure that a staff she praises lavishly is properly scheduled, that every tournament goes off without a hitch, that new programs at Honey Bee have sound marketing strategies, that the beer is cold and the sandwiches are hot, that her course superintendent has the greens rolling true and smooth, that new equipment and clothing have been ordered and that her students receive her undivided attention on the practice range.
Once, she admits, she felt she had to be better because she was a woman. That passed.
``I am who I am,'' she said. ``I just happen to be a woman. I know I belong in this position and I'm very confident. I also know the people who work with me and who come here to play are very confident in me as a professional, not with me as a woman professional.''
Rohauer agrees.
``On this kind of course - a semi-private or daily-fee course that has a membership - it's very difficult to keep a membership happy and also keep the paying public happy,'' he said. ``Bridget rides that fine line real well, and the membership body respects that. Bridget tends to be a friend to a person, as well as being with them on a professional level.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
Honey Bee golf pro Bridget Pendergast gives a lesson to Jennifer
Auer, 19, of Virginia Beach. ``I am who I am,'' she said. ``I just
happen to be a woman. I know I belong in this position and I'm very
confident.''
by CNB