Aces of Trades: Denison golf pro Trevor Bright lives for the game
GRANVILLE – Trevor Bright teaches golf at Denison Golf Club. No surprise there, certainly not to him.
“I’ve always had a feeling I would grow up to be in the golf business,” he explained.
It’s a journey that began decades ago, before he was even in kindergarten. “I started playing when I was 4 years old,” Bright recalled. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to play golf. And I’ve always had my sights set on working in this industry in one form or another.”
“I started working at Denison when I was a sophomore in high school,” he added. “Back when it was still known as the Granville Golf Course.”
Now 28, Bright grew up in Granville. He graduated from Granville High School in 2009, then attended Eastern Kentucky University for a golf management program. But he soon decided he would be better suited to the PGA Apprentice Program.
“It’s basically a program,” Bright explained, “where you study under an accredited PGA professional, take classes and earn your PGA card that way. You get a lot more hands-on experience.”
“I still have a couple months to go before I finish it,” he added. “Working full-time and still trying to finish it is a little more difficult than people think.”
Now a veteran at the Granville club, Bright feels his main role is to make sure everything runs smoothly day-to-day, “and to make sure everyone enjoys themselves out on the course.”
Beyond that, he feels some of his best moments “almost always come from teaching juniors because they’re always having a great time learning to hit the golf ball.”
They’re times others notice. “He’s good with the kids,” assessed Nick Contini, a coworker at the club. “He knows golf and he’s good at giving lessons. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s a good teacher.”
“Trevor has great knowledge of the golf swing,” agreed Todd Bishop, the general manager and director of golf at Denison Golf Club. “He’s a down-to-earth straight shooter and he can relate his knowledge in laymen’s terms so his students can understand.”
“Plus,” Bishop added, “with Trevor being a great player, people love to talk to him about golf. His enthusiasm about the game rings true to everyone.”
“The biggest reason I do what I do,” Bright responded, “is because I enjoy playing the game and I like to see other people enjoy it as well.”
“I would never even consider changing anything I have done in my life,” he concluded. “I am more than happy with the way things have turned out for me.”
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Denison Golf Club is located at 555 Newark Granville Road in Granville. For more information, call 740-587-4653 or log on www.denisongolfclub.com.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.