Richard and Lynn Cerrone
Pound Ridge Golf Club​
Pound Ridge GC has become almost a second home for Richard and Lynn Cerrone. You’ll find the couple on the course at least twice a week during the season now that Richard has retired as a globetrotting corporate officer with Xerox. “My game is a social game,” he explains, “whereas Lynn will spend time on the practice tee, the bunker, the short-game area, and practice green. My definition of a good drive is if I can find it.” While they have considered joining private clubs, Pound Ridge suits their needs perfectly. As Richard points out: “We have guests from all over Europe and the US, and they find the course a special spot.”
Leo Chu
Leewood Golf Club
Leo Chu may be the most articulate 11-year-old golfer you’ve ever met. “The feeling of a good golf shot is just great,” he says. “It’s an amazing sport. It engages your mind, too.” The student at Scarsdale Middle School started playing at the age of 4 and has been competing in tournaments with US Kids, IMG, and the Met PGA almost as long. He credits head pro Dean Johnson and the teaching staff at Leewood Golf Club with steady improvement in his game and perhaps inspiration for his future. “There are thousands of boys who want to be PGA Tour players, and they shoot really low scores. It’s very hard to beat them because they practice every single day. My goal is to be maybe a golf teacher.”
Laurie Gersten
​Fenway Golf Club
“Golf is my happy place,” says Laurie Gersten. “No matter how good or bad I’m playing, I’m there.” Not only does the Fenway ladies-golf chairperson play several days a week, she’s immersed in the game in other ways, too. “I not only love to play, I love to be around the game,” she explains. “When the LPGA and PGA came into town, I volunteered at the events, and we opened our home to players and their caddies.” Perhaps most important, though, is the time she spends on the course with her husband, Rich, and their two college-age kids, Hallie and Tyler. “I can’t play basketball with my son or soccer with my daughter,” she says. “But we can spend four hours together on the golf course as a family, and that takes the game to the next level for me.”
The Lee Family
Westchester Country Club & Winged Foot Golf Club
It’s a fun family fivesome when Steve and Linda Lee tee it up. All three of their kids, Kaitlyn, 16, Steven, 15, and Emma, 11, are avid players who started early in life. “At first, I had to be bribed with candy and cool clothes,” Kaitlyn recalls of her introduction to the game at age 7. “Now I just love to play — although I still take bribes.” The strategy apparently works, since she and her father have won both the Winged Foot Father/Daughter Tournament and the World Invitational Father/Daughter Tournament in Ireland. Steven and Emma both compete in club and Met PGA events, as well. All the kids study with Westchester CC director of instruction, Gary Weir. “We play golf as a family fivesome every Sunday,” their father says. “It’s a special time for us.”
James McHugh
Rye Golf Club
James McHugh started hustling adult golfers for money when he was 7 years old. It wasn’t for personal gain, though; during the last 12 years, he raised more than $80,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in “Beat the Kid” closest-to-the-pin contests. The Penn State freshman’s golf career had numerous other highlights, too, including back-to-back NYS Section One titles representing Rye High School and a 2015 six-round win of the Met Junior Championship. In 2016, he took home the state Federation Cup in a playoff at Bethpage Black. Now, though, McHugh’s eyes are on a place in the starting lineup on the Penn State Golf team. He’s planning a full schedule of Met area events to prepare for his sophomore year.
