Inland golfers will remember Barry McDonnell for his happiness to help, his low-key approach to the game and to life and, certainly, for his success with his prized pupil, Rickie Fowler.
Mr. McDonnell died May 24 in Riverside due to complications from a heart attack. He was 75.
A memorial for the beloved golf instructor will be held Thursday at 5 p.m. at Murrieta Valley Golf Range, where Mr. McDonnell spent many years helping teach the game to many of the area’s best players under the pepper tree he planted when he and his best friend and range owner, Bill Teasdall, opened the course in 1992.
“I grew up playing there, and he wasn’t my designated coach, but if I needed help, he helped me,” said Sydnee Michaels, now a Futures Tour golfer.
Mr. McDonnell was Fowler’s only designated swing coach, helping to instill confidence and self-reliance within the former Murrieta resident, who last year was named the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year.
“He was just a one-of-a-kind guy, old school like Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones,” said Rod Fowler, Rickie’s father. “Barry passed on a lot of great stuff to all of our kids in the community. There’s not a lot of coaches like him around.”
Rod said his son was 5 when he wanted to begin taking lessons, but Mr. McDonnell, a third-generation golf teacher, made him wait until he was 7.
In the years that followed, Rickie and Mr. McDonnell established what seemed like their own language, communicating volumes by speaking just a few spare words to each other in between long stretches of silence.
“I remember Mike McGraw, the coach at Oklahoma State, said to me, ‘Well, what does Barry tell him?’ ” Teasdall said. “I told him, ‘They don’t say anything to each other, they just sit and nod at each other and every now and then, someone says, ‘I like that.’
“They understood each other without talking to each other. There was some magic there.”
Teasdall said his best friend helped as many as 60 area golfers become good enough to play in college, with one becoming among the best in the world.
“We talked a little bit as we were opening the range, how he wanted to meet some young kid and take him all the way to the Tour,” Teasdall said. “With Rickie, he had accomplished everything he needed to accomplish in his life with golf teaching.”
more golf notes
Last week at Los Serranos Golf Club, Riverside’s Bryan Bergna shot 5-under-par 139 to win the sectional qualifier into the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which will begin June 27 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon. Fellow Riversider Kevin Fitzgerald also qualified with a 141.
Cal State San Bernardino will host its annual Charity Spring Classic Golf Tournament on June 17 at Indian Hills Golf Course in Riverside. Cost is $110 for players affiliated with Cal State and $130 without. Information: 760-887-6247 or csusbspringclassic.com.
Reach Mirjam Swanson at mswanson@PE.com
