LAFAYETTE – Acadiana-area golfers will have the opportunity to get some help with their games and help out their neighbors to the west at the same time on Saturday, Sept. 26.
A clinic hosted by long-time PGA Tour caddie and Lafayette native Ted Scott, golf instructor and minister Daniel Kelly, and The Wetlands head PGA professional David Gary is scheduled for 3 p.m. that Saturday at The Wetlands’ driving range and practice area.
Funds raised from the clinic will go directly to assisting those in the Lake Charles and southwest Louisiana areas that were devastated by Hurricane Laura in early September.
“It’s a way that we can help,” Gary said. “Being the man that he is, Ted came to me and wanted to do something to raise money for those that have been hit hard. He and Daniel and I have all done these kind of clinics, so teaming up to do this is a good way to show support and raise some badly-needed funds.”
Scott is best known as caddie for two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson on the PGA Tour, and as one of the most popular figures in that professional golf circle. But he’s also a standout golfer himself, having played on mini-tour circuits before a weekend caddying stint at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open turned into a full-time profession.
Before moving into golf, Scott was a world-champion foosball player, and emphasizes the hand-eye coordination he developed there in his golf game and in his educational clinics.
“He’s been around the highest level of golf for a long time,” Gary said, “and he’s worked with a player in Bubba who is a master at creative shot-making.”
Kelly, a former collegiate player at Hinds Community College and Belhaven who has more than 30 career amateur wins across Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, is the pastor of The Harvest Center Church in Lafayette where he operates a golf program aimed at inner-city youth. He has staged instructional and motivational clinics annually across the South.
Gary, one of Acadiana’s best-known golf instructors, has been head professional at The Wetlands since the Audubon Golf Trail-honored course opened in Lafayette in 2006. He has been a member of the PGA since 1992 and has been honored by the PGA’s Gulf States section for his teaching efforts in seminars and video instruction.
Fee for the clinic is $20, and any other contributions are welcome. Participants may call The Wetlands at (337) 291-7151 for information or to register. Players do not have to pre-register and may register as a walk-up, but Gary said pre-registration would help organizers better plan for the event.
