After 26 years of teaching, the shoe is on the other foot now for Lori Frost of Brewer.

Instead of giving tests, she has entered a program to become an LPGA teaching pro where the first thing she will have to do is take two tests.

“I’m waiting to take my [Player Ability Test], then my written test,” said Frost, who won the last two WMSGA Championships. She also won the 1993 Paul Bunyan Amateur women’s division title.

She’s eager to take the tests, set for June 26 in Delaware.

“I feel like I’m treading water,” Frost said.

She has been studying since November, when she first received some of the information that the test will cover.

“Then the first week of May, I went to Arizona for instruction on the swing model,” she said.

She feels the pressure to pass both tests as soon as possible.

“If I don’t pass the PAT, then I can’t take the written test,” she said. She does have until November to pass the tests.

“I want to get that part out of the way. Once I pass that, I’ll officially be an apprentice,” she explained.

“It’s important getting through the hoops and having time to get on with it [continuing the process and building hours before school starts up again in the fall],” Frost explained. “I don’t want it to sound like it’s not necessary. It is, but I’m ready.”

Her studying is in addition to her job in the Orland school district as a health and physical education teacher and putting in a couple of shifts a week in the shop at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, plus she is helping friend Thea Davis with the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program run by the Abnaki Council Girl Scouts.

“I have a lot on my plate right now,” she said.

Having a full plate is good, though.

“Anything I do [in golf] counts as hours in the golf system,” she said.

One reason she is going through all of this now is because she doesn’t know how many more years she can perform her school job, which involves students from kindergarten through eighth grade, at the same level she does now.

“My job now is very energy-driven. I can’t see doing it for the next 15 years [until state teacher retirement age],” she pointed out. “This way, I combine teaching … with what I love, which is golf.”

“My goal [eventually] is to be a teaching assistant pro during our winter time in Florida,” said Frost, who is married to Jim Frost, the principal at Washington Street School in Brewer. “It may not happen, but we’ll see.

“I would like to do six months down there and six months where I’m at right now [PVCC].”

When school ends in a couple of weeks, Frost said she will be putting in more hours at PVCC, where she and her family have been members for a number of years.

“I’ll help with women’s leagues, junior clinics, in the shop, with the junior girls league, and I hope to be giving lessons, subject to demand, of course,” she said with a chuckle.

She said it’s a little strange going from the membership side of the club to the staff side, but she feels that the membership is behind her decision.

“They have supported me through my competition side and now on the other side of the coin,” Frost said.

There is only thing she misses because of her decision.

“Losing my amateur status was the hardest pill to swallow,” she said. “And it’s really coming up now. My friends are making plans to play in tournaments [and she can’t].”

Frost gives thanks to many people as she starts her new endeavor.

“[PVCC head pro Colin Gillies] has been really supportive,” said Frost. “And [PVCC assistant pro] Chad Curley, [Hermon Meadow Golf Club pro] Thea Davis, [former Island Green Golf Center head pro] Mark Hall. A lot of people have helped me.”

Her family – which includes sons J.J. and Andy and daughter Katie – is included in her thanks as she takes the plunge.

“I’m excited, that I have the health and family support to pursue this,” said Frost.

A chance at a free membership

Pine Hill Golf Club in Brewer will host the sixth annual Bob Little Memorial Tournament on June 17, and the top door prize is a one-year membership to the club.

“And if a member wins it, they get their money back for the year,” said Pam Foss, one of the three Little children who took over the club after the death of their father.

The event is a three-man scramble with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start. The entry fee is $35 per person, but it’s $15 off per team if the team pays its entry fee by today.

Proceeds benefit the Bob Little Scholarship Fund. For more information, call the club at 989-3824.

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