Hey Team Titleist.
We want to recognize a member of the Team Titleist family who is being honored for his remarkable career and for the many contributions he has made to the game we all love.
Tomorrow, Barry Evans, the Head Golf Professional at Berry Hills Country Club in Charleston, West Virginia, will be inducted into the West Virginia Golf Hall of Fame. Barry will be joining some big names in the sport, including Slugger White and Sam Snead.
"He's the epitome of a Pro's Pro."
This is how Barry was described to us by Eric Davis, Titleist Sales Representative for our Virginia and West Virginia territory. "He does everything the right way – from teaching, to running the golf shop, club fitting, organizing tournaments. But what has always stood out to me about Barry is how deeply he cares about people. That's why he's so good with his members. He genuinely cares about the person standing in front of him in every interaction he has... and he can play a little bit, too."
Barry grew up in New Jersey and attended Ramapo College there, where he earned honors as a first- and second-team All-America selection. He won the West Virginia Open in 2008 and captured the PGA's Tri-State Section Championship titles in 1998, 2001, 2009 and 2010 (The Tri-State Section covers Western PA, Western Maryland, and the state of West Virginia). In 2002, Barry won the National Club Pro Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, which earned him a spot in that year's PGA Championship. He earned his way back into the PGA Championship in 2006 and also played in the inaugural year of the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic.
We wanted to celebrate Barry's achievement with everyone in Team Titleist, so we reached out to the man himself, and he was kind enough to share some highlights from his career and his life in golf. Learn more about Barry in our Q&A below and please help us in congratulating a long-time member of the Titleist family and a true credit to both his profession and to the game.
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TEAM TITLEIST: Barry, how did you get your start in the game?
BARRY EVANS: I grew up in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey and my dad was a really avid golfer and he probably got me started hitting wiffle balls in the yard at probably eight years old. My dad was a member at a club called Apple Ridge Country Club for a while and he was a member at a semi-private place called High Mountain Golf Club, which actually just shut down a year or so ago. I started really playing a lot when I was about 13. Then I played in high school, and then I played in college.
TT: What was it about the game that that first hooked you? Was there one shot or one round where you said, 'Man, this is the game for me'?
BE: I've thought about this many times over the years. I was super, super competitive and I gravitated to golf because I didn't want to have to rely on teammates. It was funny because I played baseball, I played basketball, I played football, but there was just something about golf and the fact that it was just you. You against the world. And I was so competitive, I just gravitated to it.
TT: I bet there aren't a lot of people outside of New Jersey who are familiar with your alma mater, Ramapo College. Tell us about Ramapo?
BE: I was decent coming out of high school, I wasn't any superstar or anything, and at the time, Ramapo was one of the best teams in the nation, Division 3. In the four years I was there, we finished I think second, third, first, second, something like that. But we won the National title in 1982. In college, my team was so good all the tournaments we played in were mostly Division 1 tournaments. So we played against a lot of really good schools and a lot of really good players. I remember playing with Jim Hallett, who played the Tour for a number of years. You know what, there's really great talent at every level. It's just in Division 2 and Division 3 it's not as deep. The top players are every bit as good as it guys and D1.
TT: Coming out of school, did you know that you wanted to make a career out of golf?
BE: When I got out of college, I really didn't know what I wanted to do. Like any young kid I wanted to play so I went down to Vero Beach, Florida. I lived there for eight years. I played some mini tour golf, but then I started working at a club down there and one of my friends that I had met got the head pro job at Berry Hills. He called me to see if I wanted to come up and work for him in West Virgina. At that time I really didn't like living in Florida. I know everybody does, but I just grew up in the Northeast. I love trees and mountains, and I jumped at the chance and I've been here, 29 years now.
TT: Had you ever been to West Virginia before?
BE: I had never been there. I couldn't even have told you where it was on the map. But it's an awesome place. I mean, it's so much more laid back than what I was used to, You know, I came from Northern New Jersey, so you can imagine.
TT: Was it difficult to transition from a focus on playing to a career as a golf professional?
BE: Once I got into it, I really, really enjoyed it. I tried to get good at all aspects of the golf business. It's a really fun business, but it's not for everybody. It's long hours. It's hard on a marriage, because you're pretty much married to your job. But it's been great. It's been a really good career and I've been able to play a lot of golf and I've won a lot of money playing golf. So I had the best of both worlds.
And you get to meet so many nice people. And I love people. I love my interaction with members. A lot of them are my friends. Very early on I learned that when people come out to play golf, they don't want to be in bad mood, they want to be in a good mood. So, I try to help people get in that good mindset and enjoy themselves.
TT: One of the highlights of your career has to be winning the Club Professional Championship in 2002. What was that experience like?
BE: Well winning the PNC... It's funny you go to something like that and obviously you want to play well, and you always want to win, but yet you don't go to something that big thinking you're going to win. It's different than going to a section event. And all of a sudden I won. I was like, "Oh my God, what did I just do?" But playing in the PGA Championship, I don't think I've ever been that nervous hitting a shot in my life.
I have to tell you a quick story. At the PGA, there's a PGA member on the first tee announcing everybody and he comes up to me quietly and he goes, "Do you want me to introduce you as the CPC Champion?" I'm shaking my head back towards him, saying, "No, please do not do that." Well, sure as hell I get up on the tee and it's, "Now on the tee, the 2002 CPC Champion, from Berry Hills Country Club..." I mean I was standing over that shot just saying don't top it. I'm literally in my mind saying, "Please don't top it in front of these 3,000 people watching me." But it was an awesome experience.
TT: Did you get off that first tee okay?
BE: I hit it a little in the neck, but it got off the ground. I actually got in the fairway. But the most fun I ever had in competitive golf was at the Cup Matches.
TT: Cup Matches?
BE: The PGA Cup Matches between club pros from the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland. Just like the Ryder Cup matches for PGA club pros. Bagpipes and everything! I played in 2003 and I mean, first of all you're playing against some of the best club pros in the country and if you weren't hitting it real good, you're like, "What am I doing here?"
And it was in the end of February. So I mean, I hadn't even played much in three months. I went down a week early and hit about a million balls, but my whole team hit it off really, really great the very first night. Tim Thelen and I became friends after we played the last round where I won the Club Pro. So they went to every guy on the team and they're like, "Who do you want to play with?" And I said Thelen. They went to Thelen and he said, "Barry G," which is my nickname.
And we waxed both – I mean we won both our matches handily. Our team set like five records. We actually won in two days. We were up 15 to one. Of course everybody got over served that night and we lost the final day, but we ended up winning 19 -7, I think.
TT: Why is your nickname Barry G, not Barry E?
BE: When I won the Club Pro, you fill out this player profile, and I've always signed my name Barry G. Evans. My middle name is a family name, it's Gunn, G-U-N-N. So they kept calling me Barry G. Evans on TV on the Golf Channel and it stuck. Everybody in my section and everybody now across the country calls me Barry G.
TT: After you turned 50, you won the Senior Section Championship four years in a row. Did your game improve after 50?
BE: Oh no. No, I was still playing good, I mean for sure. But no, it's like anything else, you don't get better as you get older. You start losing speed and stuff. I think I played my best golf from about 37 years old to probably right around 50. I mean I was still playing good in my early 50s, but it got a whole lot harder to play on the national level. Just because I couldn't hit it quite as far as I used to. I don't know that my skills have diminished that much other than I can't hit it as far. I could still hit it in the middle of the face, and I've got great products to play with.
TT: In 2008 you won the West Virgina Open at your home course, Berry Hills CC. How did you pull that off?
BE: Honest to God, it was probably almost the highlight of my career, even almost over the CPC, because I live here. I finished in the top six, like 15 times. I finished second twice. I lost in a playoff. I had so many opportunities, and then to finally win it and to win it Berry Hills made it even that much more special.
TT: Was there a huge celebration at the club afterwards?
BE: Yeah, it was pretty wild. The bigger celebration, when I won the National Club Pro, they had a party like nine days later and it was the biggest turnout of the membership ever. So, that was the party. There was 300, over 300 or 350 people at the party. It was really cool. Other than I had to give a big speech.
TT: You talked about being nervous on the first tee at the PGA Championship. Does that compare getting up and speaking in front of a crowd?
BE: I think it's worse. It's one thing getting up and giving a speech about golf or something. That's not very hard for me, because I'm the expert. But getting up in front of people and talking about yourself? I can't stand it. I'm too emotional. I hate it. I am dreading this speech at the hall of fame thing.
TT: You mentioned how golfers lose speed as they age and it made me think of your son, Will, who is a fine player. And a long hitter, from what we hear.
BE: Man, it's been cool to watch. I mean, he hits it so far. I mean, he out drives, I'm 58 years old, but he out drives me by 80 yards now. It's really cool. I mean, he's got more talent than I ever thought of having, but it's a different kind of game. His is very overpowering and mine was very tactical. I was just hitting point A to point B. He's flying it on the green. It's fun. I mean, it's really fun to watch. When he plays good, it's really fun to watch.
I did not teach him the way I learned. I taught him very differently. I taught him speed from day one, and I think modern technology has made the game very different. Not necessarily that the ball's going farther, the clubs hit it farther, whatever. It's just the bigger heads and everything. I think younger kids now are growing up swinging harder to begin with, so they're creating more speed. And there's no fear. I mean with the little persimmon head I had growing up, you swing that hard you whiff.
TT: Barry, you're a Titleist staff member and have also served as a member of the Titleist Leadership Advisory Staff, a group of PGA Professionals who work with Titleist leaders and consult us on products and how to better serve golfers. Can you tell us about your relationship with Titleist?
BE: I've been on Titleist staff going back into the 1990's. It's been amazing. I was on the national advisory council for eight years. My relationship with executive leaders in the company and getting to form relationships with guys like Bob Vokey, it has been just awesome. I mean, I love those guys.
The professionals who I sat with, too. I mean, as you can imagine, they were the best of the best in the country. So it was really an amazing experience. Being a little bit on the inside, it's eye opening to me how Titleist just does everything right. Everything is so well thought out. It's been great to be part of it.
TT: What do you think about when you tee up a Titleist golf ball?
BE: I can't imagine playing another ball. I can remember, growing up when I was in high school playing Titleist DT balls. I mean, it doesn't look right putting anything else on a tee. The technology is awesome, but I think what strikes me the most is the quality control. I got to see that first hand when I went on a tour of the Titleist Ball Plants. You don't ever have to worry with the Titleist ball. You just take it out of the package and put it on a tee. You know that every ball you play is going to be exactly the same.
TT: Finally, what advice would you give to golfers, members of Team Titleist who want to get better?
BE: It definitely starts with instruction. Find a good PGA teacher and learn the fundamentals. You have to build your game from the fundamentals up. Then get fit. The game is so personal and there are so many options. Using the right clubs and the right golf ball for your game is critical. It helps you get so much more out of your natural talent.
And lastly, I'd say enjoy the time you devote to the game. Whether that's playing or practicing. Too many people try to rush through their golf and don't enjoy the free time they have. I actually saw a member last night that I hadn't seen in a month or so and he was walking off the fourth hole walking towards the clubhouse. He just looked at me, he goes, "I only had an hour." I said, "Cool." Get out and play four holes. Whatever free time you have, enjoy it.
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Barry, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us and congratulations on your induction to the West Virginia Golf Hall of Fame! It's a well-deserved honor and we're very proud to have you as part of the Titleist family.
#TeamTitleist