MEMBER PROFILE – GENE KEMPER

My name is Gene Kemper.  I became a Level III teaching professional in the year 2000. My son Phil (also a Level III instructor since 2003) and I purchased a golf course in 2006 in a small town called Denmark in South Carolina.  Phil recently moved to the Louisville, Kentucky, area and continues to teach golf.  I oversee the clubhouse duties and maintenance of the course.  The course has 40 tee boxes, 18 bunkers, and water comes into play on eight of the nine holes.  We have re-routed several holes to make room for a driving range that is now open.  What a rewarding challenge that was! I am the club pro and I continue to offer individual and group lessons.  In July 2011 we hosted our fifth year of junior golf camps. We had a total of three week-long camps this year.  We started out hosting a one-week camp, but now with all our returning campers, we have had to increase it to three camps.  Through the generosity of local businesses, I have been able to offer the camp to local kids.  The juniors receive free, a golf bag with a set of clubs, shirt, hat, accessories, lessons for a week, and a Captain’s Choice tournament, followed by a cookout. I have enjoyed playing golf for 37 years.  My son Phil has been my #1 competitor and golf partner since he was five years old.  He received a partial golf scholarship to play at Lee University in Tennessee.  I tutored Phil throughout his high school career and I became involved in a program in New Jersey called “Hook a Kid on Golf.”  Teaching the juniors has become one of my favorite things to do.  Kids are the future of the great game we call golf, and I want to do my part to promote it. For several years in New Jersey, I was also involved with the Special Olympics.  I was a golf coach and teacher to two Special Olympians, Dominick and Mike.  In all, they won one bronze medal and six gold medals.  After I moved from New Jersey, my son Phil continued on coaching Dominick in his effort to go for the gold! Golf has been my life, and I am thankful to the USGTF for providing my son and I the opportunity to share our passion of golf with others.