Spector eager to continue down path to professional golf

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For years, seven-time Women’s Maine State Golf Association champion Abby Spector Kershner had dreams of becoming a pro, playing in tournaments around the country.

Emergency open-heart surgery in October 2003 left her with severe complications that focused her efforts on health recovery, not golf.

This spring, though, she became an assistant pro at Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland Center and started down a slightly different golf path.

“This was a backup plan,” said Kershner. “But now that I’m doing it, I love it.”

Kershner had been working with her husband Josh at Lake Winnipesaukee Country Club in Wolfeboro, N.H., where she was a shop assistant and retail manager. She found the Val Halla job while searching the Internet.

“I was looking for something available on a Web site that specializes in golf jobs, and I saw the Val Halla job was available,” she said.

New head pro Brian Bickford was putting together his staff and she interviewed for the position in late winter.

“We hit it off real well,” she said.

Kershner, 25, said she is performing the usual duties of an assistant pro.

“I give lessons. I concentrate on women and juniors,” said Kershner, “and Brian does mostly the men. It’s been working out real well.”

Most of her lessons are with local people, so far.

“A lot of them are members or people from the area,” she said. “It’s been great, though. There have been a lot of people.”

She also sets up tournaments, handles shop duties, and works with the junior program.

“We have a big junior program here, I’d say one of the largest in the state,” said Kershner. “We have 110 junior members, and there are 91 in the junior program.”

One thing she doesn’t get to do much, though, is play.

“I don’t play as much as I used to, but I play more than last year,” said Kershner.

She also has less time to practice.

“I used to practice six hours a day, now it’s a half-hour a week,” she said with a chuckle.

A lack of stamina bothers her a little bit, she said, and she’s working on regaining her coordination.

“I still have trouble with short-term memory, and my vision is 85 to 90 percent back,” she said. “Other than that, I feel great.”

She expects to become a head pro at some point in the future.

“That’s where this is supposed to lead, eventually,” she said.

She plans on going through the same LPGA process that Lori Frost of Brewer is working toward.

“It’s a six-year program, but I have to pass the PAT [Player Ability Test] first,” Kershner said.

Originally, she was scheduled to take the PAT in May, but it was canceled due to bad weather.

“That was good because I wasn’t ready,” said Kershner.

She worked a Southern Maine Women’s Golf Association clinic with Maine pros Lisa Jensen (who formerly played on the LPGA Tour), Anne McClure, Andrea Martin and Holly Anderson.

“They were full of advice,” said Kershner. “I picked their brains. It was good to see what options there were for the future.”

Her future at the moment includes going to Arizona in the winter and working with Josh, who is an assistant pro at Toddy Brook Golf Course in North Yarmouth.

“That’ll be exciting,” said the 2004 University of North Carolina grad. “I don’t ski, so winters in Maine were just a matter of waiting until the golf courses opened.”

Golf hall inductees named

Peter Hodgkins of Rockport, who coached the Rockland High School golf team to six state titles starting in 1980, is among five people who will be inducted into the Maine Golf Hall of Fame on Sept. 8.

Hodgkins, now the head pro at Northport Golf Club, will be enshrined along with Paul Browne, James Dodson, Davis Richardson and Bryce Roberts.

Browne built Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro, which has since grown to be the only 36-hole facility in Maine, and was a big proponent of junior golf. He died in 1981, but his family has carried on in the business and owns Lakewood Golf Course in Madison as well.

Dodson, of Topsham, is a columnist and author who wrote Arnold Palmer’s biography, “A Golfer’s Life,” as well as a book on Ben Hogan and others.

Richardson, of New Gloucester, was a tournament administrator for the MSGA for two decades who retired after last year. He still steps in on occasion, though.

Roberts, of Cape Elizabeth, was a 40-year club professional who helped develop a number of pros, including TV analyst Peter Kostis and Maine club pros Bob Darling Jr. and Ken Raynor.

A tournament at Sable Oaks Golf Club in South Portland opens the day, followed by a reception, banquet and induction.

A reservation form is available by calling 799-0983 or can be downloaded from www.mainegolfhall.com.

88 entries for B&C

Eighty-eight players are registered for next week’s Maine State Golf Association Class B&C Championships at Boothbay Country Club.

It’s the first time the B&C has been held over two days, and the decision to do so was in response to a survey following last year’s event at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.

A 62-4 vote in favor of the two-day event led the MSGA to set up the B&C that way, and Boothbay, site of last year’s Maine Amateur, will be the first host of the new format next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.