About Larry Emery

My name is Larry Emery and I grew up in the small town of Carterville in Southern Illinois. Growing up in a small rural community has many advantages and easy access to golf was and still is something to appreciate.

Gateway Shootout with John Daly

My dad and older brother both played golf regularly so it didn’t take many years for me to follow. By the age of ten all other sports had really taken a back seat as golf became my first love. Crab Orchard Golf Club is where we played and lived during summer. ”The Crabs” as we called her in those days, was the home for our high school, John A Logan College and Southern Illinois University golf teams. This gave us some excellent golfers to emulate in our formative years. I played high school golf all four years finishing in top 5 as a senior at state. 

After high school it was a natural progression to take my game to Southern Illinois University. My career in the business of golf started at Crab Orchard working for Steve Heckel. Home remained Southern Illinois until 1987 when T. D. Morris brought me to his staff at Old Warson C. C. in St. Louis. It was here that my game began to mature and I qualified for the U. S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco. 

In 1987 and 1988 I was Gateway PGA Player of the Year and missed getting my tour card at the finals in 1988. I was fortunate in 1989 to be named the first head professional at The Country Club at The Legends. The interview process was chaired by Jim Hardy, whom later went on to write books on the one and two plane swings. The Legends was a blank canvas with no history, so I could be creative in starting all the golf programs. We had all the traditional programs but special emphasis was placed on caddies and teaching. 

1990 Gateway PGA Section Championship

Personally, I had been working with David Leadbetter and he was our featured instructor in our first member golf school. David’s associate, Mitchell Spearman, returned several times for follow up schools. We were getting busier and I hired Brian Fogt, who was working at the Leadbetter Academy, to be our first teaching professional. Brian and I started doing our own schools for members and corporations. It was a great time and I know I learned a lot in the experiences at The Legends.

Following one season in 1994 at Glen Echo I was hired at Norwood Hills to give new direction to a club rich in golf history and golfers.  While Norwood was already a golfers club it was easy to introduce full time teaching professionals and expanded programs. Junior golf was a focus as well as the continued promotion of caddies. I am getting to the age that my memory is not as sharp as I would prefer - my wife calls it selective - but I know well over 20 Evans Scholars went through the club and the membership became the second largest par club membership in the country. Several excellent golf instructors came on staff -  Rob Sedorcek, Susan Fromuth and Jo D. Duncan. 

Learning how to teach was a big part of my focus in these years. Attending PGA Teaching Summits, schools with Jim Maclean, Butch Harmon, Mike McGetrick, Phil Rodgers, and a week with sports physiologist Dr. Debra Graham highlighted a few of the experiences. Passion for learning has always been a part of golf that has captured my attention even to this day. 

1995 PGA at Riviera

Ten years went quite quick and along the way I played in 1995 & 2001 PGA Championships, was GPGA Player of Year 1994, inducted into SIGA Hall of Fame, instructor for national PGA seminar on Playing and Callaway Master Staff Professional of the Year 2002. 

Sometimes in life things don’t always turn out the way you anticipate and so I left Norwood in 2004. My next golf chapter was a great experience at one of the most beautiful areas in our country - the mountains of Western North Carolina. The next two years I was the Head Professional at The Cullasaja Club in Highlands. If you ever desire to get out of the summer heat, plan a trip to Highlands. At 4200 feet of elevation, summers are quite pleasant compared to St. Louis and the golf courses are truly special. 

After two short seasons, club open for six months in summer, my wife and I decided it was time to return to Southern Illinois. Our parents were getting older, though we weren’t, and we had been away raising our family and chasing a golf career for over 23 years. Going home was a change and besides doing some summer teaching most of my time was spent in a completely different business – helping with a spirits, food and floral retail store. My wife and two other talented ladies undertook starting a new business at a perfect time; the economy was at its worst point in 100 years. 

Despite the obstacles, they are still going and I continued to feel the pull of golf. In 2010, The Green Grass Group took over Kokopelli Golf Club in Marion and I was fortunate to start teaching there. The Golf course is excellent and a great test for all golfers to enjoy. Junior golf has continued to be a focus, and a junior elite program was started where I actually played each week with the students. This year finds me splitting my time between Kokopelli and the newly renovated Highlands at Forest Park in St. Louis. Here you now have a totally renovated nine holes and practice facility at the Highlands, formerly the old Triple A club since 1902. Tennis was a lot of the focus here as Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe played there regularly in their formative years. A wonderful practice range has been added where teaching and fitting for golf has become a priority. 

Spring is about to unfold and I am anxious to get out on the lesson tee with new and familiar golfers, so please give me a call and let’s get started!

--- Larry