Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Former Penn-Trafford baseball player and golfer Dan Obremski is a post-graduate student at the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., a prep school for golfers seeking to improve their game and land a college scholarship. Click photo for larger image.

Hugh Royer played 14 years on the PGA Tour, one of which was spent living in the South Hills with his wife, Heather, who is from Baldwin. Now Royer is trying to teach a young, talented player from Western Pennsylvania in the hope the teenager can make it to the PGA Tour.

And Royer thinks Dan Obremski, a Harrison City resident who played golf and baseball at Penn-Trafford High School, has a chance.

"The kid is a heck of a talent," Royer said. "He's just a great athlete. It hasn't taken him long to know what to do."

Obremski is a post-graduate student at the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., a prep school for golfers seeking to improve their game and potentially land a college scholarship.

After graduating in the spring of 2005 from Penn-Trafford, where he was an all-section second baseman/shortstop, Obremski enrolled at the academy in the fall to concentrate solely on golf.

The decision has proved wise ... and beneficial.

Obremski won the most recent IJGA event at Kiawah Island, S.C., posting a 54-hole score of 3-over 219 to beat the field by six shots. Prior to that, he won two other IJGA events and finished second in another, making him the top-ranked junior player in the IJGT/Nike points race. In nine tournaments, he has three wins and four other top-five finishes.

Not bad for someone who began playing golf just five years ago.

"He's put everything he's had into it," Royer said. "Once he made the commitment, he really turned it around. He hits the ball really well and his swing has improved tremendously. He does whatever he has to do. That's half the battle."

Obremski has taken to the game as easily as his swings a club. As a junior at Penn-Trafford, having played for only three years, he finished third in the WPIAL championship. But, after finishing sixth as a senior, he took another giant step when he finished sixth in the PIAA championship after leading the 36-hole event with an opening 69.

Now he works with Royer, one of the instructors at the academy, and has hopes of playing on the Nationwide Tour or one of the mini-tours as soon as possible. Eventually, he wants to play on the PGA Tour.

"It's so young in his career," Royer said. "We'll have to see. He's a kid who will play as a freshman in college. It's just a matter what he does with it. The kid has a good chance."

Trivia

Who is the only player to record an eagle in the Masters each of the past five years? Answer at end.

Membership drive

Youghiogheny Country Club in McKeesport is another one of those aging private clubs that is finding innovative ways to combat declining membership and reduced club participation.

And some of the changes have nothing to do with golf.

Youghiogheny has taken a number of steps designed to get more family involvement and address what the club found to be a change in taste of the membership. The result has been a more diverse atmosphere that appeals to a younger, more upscale audience that tries to juggle family, golf and entertainment.

"Our frame of mind is become more resort-geared and try to attract more families," said general manager Carl Germaine, who conducts exit interviews with departing members in an attempt to identify the club's needs. "To do that, you have to change the environment."

Since 2002, Youghiogheny built a new pool and bathhouse on the site of the old swimming facility, added a fitness center, began offering classes such as yoga and Pilates, hired culinary-school graduates to its cooking staff to expand the menu and implemented an elaborate happy hour featuring boutique vodkas and martinis.

All designed to enhance the atmosphere and increase the amount of people who frequent the club. Private clubs have seen a sharp drop in membership since 2000, primarily among baby-boomers who don't have the time on the weekend to play golf because of family commitments with soccer, baseball and basketball.

Other private clubs in Western Pennsylvania, faced with an aging membership and a sharp decline in rounds of golf, have tried similar approaches to stimulate membership. Churchill Country Club, for example, recently formed an alliance with the LeMont in which the tony Mount Washington restaurant will handle all the restaurant and catering duties at the club. A group of eight clubs, including Willowbrook and Alcoma, have formed a consortium called the Tri-County Golf Association in which members of one club can play another for $20.

"In my opinion, the industry fell asleep at the wheel," Germaine said. "They skipped a generation. Young people don't have the time [to play golf] with the kids. We wanted to make [the club], not a luxury, but a way of life, and we wanted to let them know we're here in your own back yard."

Golf with Hines

OK, so fans will never get the chance to play with Hines Ward on the football field. But they can bid to play golf and spend a weekend in Birmingham, Ala., with the Steelers receiver and Super Bowl XL MVP.

The VIP package, which is available for auction on eBay, includes weekend accommodations for four at the Ross Bridge Resort and two spots to play with Ward in the Softech Celebrity Shootout that benefits the Joe Cribbs Youth Foundation.

The event is scheduled for April 26-28.

Performance package

Kiawah Island (S.C.) Golf Resort is offering an intensive two-day Total Performance Golf Package that combines instruction and golf with strength training and massage therapy.

The session includes a two-night stay at the Sanctuary, the resort's beachfront hotel; two rounds of golf (including the Ocean Course), Model Golf instruction and club-fitting, a golf specific personal-training session and a sports massage. Price per person is $1,526. Call 877-683-1234.

In addition, Kiawah and Sea Pines resort in Hilton Head, S.C. are offering a "Best of the Lowcountry" package in which golfers can stay two nights and play two rounds of golf at each resort. Sea Pines is home of the Harbour Town Golf Links, site of a PGA Tour event.

Quotable

Bubba Watson, who leads the PGA Tour in driving distance: "I don't drink. I don't hunt. I've never been camping; never done any of that stuff. I don't drink beer. I've never been drunk. NASCAR is not my thing. That makes me a new-age redneck."

Dissa and data

Oakmont Country Club, site of the 2007 U.S. Open, will play host to the Pennsylvania Women's Golf Championship this summer -- a demanding venue for the 104-player field. The match-play event begins with a qualifying round Aug. 14 and ends Aug. 18 with the championship round in three divisions -- championship, senior and super-senior.

The Palmer Course at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, W.Va., voted one of America's Top 100 resort courses by Golfweek, has opened for play. Early season greens fees are $50 through April 23. Regular rates are $69 weekday, $85 weekend (includes Friday). Tee times can be made online at www.stonewallresort.com.

The American Junior Golf Association will hold its annual tournament, called the Enterprise Wellness Junior Championship, July 10-13 at Tom's Run Golf Club in Blairsville, Pa. A qualifier for the 120-player field will be July 9.

Trivia answer

Ernie Els has 11 career eagles at Augusta National, including four on the par-5 13th hole. He has eagled at least one hole each of the past five years.