BANGOR – Several young pros with Maine roots are playing in this weekend’s Hollywood Slots Greater Bangor Open, and they are discovering that the learning didn’t stop when they made that decision.

Toby Spector of Waterville is the newest, but the list includes second-year pros Ross McGee of Fairfield and Windham native Shawn Warren.

“You can’t practice enough, especially the short shots,” said McGee. “They really add up at the end of the day.”

Warren graduated from Marshall University in December. Now that he is concentrating on golf, Warren can see a difference.

“Once I started dedicating myself to it, I saw myself improving a fair amount,” he said.

Spector sees the change also since he graduated from Skidmore in May.

“I have nothing else going on except for golf,” he said.

That was both a blessing and a curse, said the 25-year-old McGee, who graduated from Husson College in Bangor with a business degree in sports management.

“I expected to play more tournaments,” said McGee. “But since I’m responsible for my own bills, it becomes a lot harder.”

He works at the Club at Mediterra in Naples, Fla., from October to June. Then he returns to Maine to work at Clinton Golf Course.

“It’s nice in Florida,” he said. “I don’t play in many tournaments, but I play a lot and work on my game.”

He went to Florida based on his thoughts on want he wanted to do. He wrote up a list, putting down the good and bad results that could happen based on what he decided to do.

“You have to think of the future,” he said. “Not the next 2-3 months, the next 2-3 years.”

Warren, who competes on the Hooters Tour, found a benefit to coming back to Maine in the summer.

“Since I’ve been home, I feel like I’m back to where I was before I was injured,” added the former Maine Open and Maine Amateur winner. He was referring to a fight last year where he suffered an injury near his right eye that affected his vision.

His opening-round score of 5-under-par 64 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course on Friday displayed how well he has recovered, but he also gives a lot of credit to Paul Piveronas, an assistant pro at The Woodlands in Falmouth who assists a number of people, ranging from amateur Jesse Speirs of Bangor to players on the PGA Tour such as John Senden of Australia.

“Piveronas started calling me,” said Warren. “I never took lessons, now I take them all the time.”

They work on a variety of things.

“It’s not a lot of technical stuff, just simple things,” he said.

“I’m really thankful he’s putting in that time for me,” he added. “He knows a lot, and I can learn a lot from him.”

Spector also works with a coach, in addition to his dad Gary Spector, but he admits he doesn’t have a set plan yet.

“I’m kind of winging it right now,” he said. “I figure I’ve got the opportunity, and I’m taking it.”

That doesn’t mean he refuses advice. He listens to some of the veteran players.

Yet, his plan remains open-ended.

“I’ll go to California, I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I’ll get a job at a golf club somewhere, play a little golf and see what happens.”

They each take a different approach to their playing careers, though.

“I limited my schedule to Maine this year,” said McGee, who shot even-par 69 Friday. “It’s a hard, constant grind out there.”

Warren is ready to keep pushing.

“I enjoy what I’m doing now, but it’s not even close to where I want to be,” he stated emphatically.

For Spector, who posted a 71 Friday, the newness makes it fun.

“It’s a change of venue,” he said. “It’s an adventure.”

Time for golf

Tovie St. Louis of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., is also looking ahead to a possible pro career.

“I’m taking time off from school,” said the former Barry University student. “Golf is my job now.”

In that vein, the 20-year-old is debating about playing in the LPGA Tour qualifying school this fall.

“It’s all a learning experience now,” she said before the start of the GBO.

She played in the Women’s Publinx tournament this year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. She said she shot an 80 in the first round of medal-play qualifying, “but the second day, not so well.”

It was her first appearance in a national tournament.

dbarber@bangordailynews.net

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