Member Clubs
“He is respected not only for his tenure
and knowledge of his profession, but
for the way that he treats every single
person with kindness and respect.”
— Matt Smiley
with dignity and class, and a reminder of
the old-school mentality of showing up to
work every day with a servant mentality
to help others.”
Barry doesn’t like being the center of
attention. He’s all about the other person.
He greeted everyone who walked into his
pro shop with a handshake.
“He’d be sitting at his desk—when he’d
actually sit down for a second—he’d hear
the door open…then he’d jump up from
the desk and the hand would come out,”
Shanley says. “Every person who walks
through the door, when they were coming
in or when they were leaving, two times
a day times 100 rounds, that’s 200 hand-
shakes in one day, and those are just for
the golfers.”
Barry was inducted into the MAPGA
Hall of Fame in 2014 for his service, ded-
ication and contributions to a game he
became involved with when he was 9
years old in Chicago Heights, Ill.
The MAPGA recognized Barry with the
Horton Smith Award (three times) for
excellence in PGA member education;
the President’s Award (1990); the Bill
Strausbaugh Award (1992); and the Pro-
fessional of the Year Award (1994). The
VSGA honored Barry with its “Service to
the Game” award in 2012.
He held officer and committee posi-
tions in the Virginia section/Southern
Chapter of the organization.
Johns says, “He was one of the best
Rules officials in the entire region. When-
ever there was a question about some-
thing, you could call Tom or [the VSGA’s]
Clyde Luther or Dr. Lew Blakey ( both
of whom are in the Virginia Golf Hall of
Fame). If anybody knew anything about
rules or integrity it was Tom Barry.”
vsga.org
Barry says he will continue to keep
his Rules knowledge up to date and
will continue to be available to answer
Rules questions.
What Barry is most famous for are the
handwritten notes he’s penned to more
people than you can count.
“He was the king of the thank you note,
a long-forgotten art,” Guhl says. “It is
amazing to me how many of our PGA pro-
fessionals, who accomplished something
big like playing in the PGA Championship,
or winning an award, who mentioned to
me that they received a note from Tom.”
At Barry’s retirement party at the club,
Shanley asked everyone in the room who
had received a note from Barry to raise
their hand.
“There were 400 people in here. Every
hand in that room went up,” Shanley said.
Said Wilson, “The supportive (one of his
words) part was what really impressed me
because anything that any club member
wound up doing that represented Lakeside
well or won something Tom was there, and
he would always write these notes.”
The notes were Barry’s way of serving.
They thanked. They congratulated. They
encouraged. They consoled or commis-
erated. He went to funerals of family
members of club members.
“The number one thing I’ve learned is
how to carry yourself as a professional;
how to treat people; how to take care of
your members; how to take care of their
guests. He’s the most special person I’ve
ever encountered,” Shanley says.
Says Unowitz, “It’s hard to describe in
a few words what Tom Barry meant to me
as our PGA club professional. If I were a
young person getting into a club pro job,
I would want to emulate him.”
Then there’s the sports jacket.
“They are not tech fabric; they’re old
school. They don’t breathe very well,”
says Shanley, who has not followed his
mentor’s footsteps.
When was working at a club in Chicago,
his boss, David Ogilvie, made his assis-
tants wear one all the time.
“He said it makes you pretty distinctive
if you have a coat on,” Barry said. “If you
want to keep a wallet in there or nowadays
a phone or whatever, you’ve got some-
where to put it. I could write notes down.
If somebody gives you a card, you have
somewhere to put it.”
He wore one no matter the tempera-
ture. He washed carts wearing one. He
wore one everywhere at the club.
Barry says his life as a club professional
has “probably been better than I thought
it would be…I enjoyed every minute of it.
I rubbed elbows with a lot of good people.
My work was respected. I couldn’t ask for
a whole lot more than that.”
Asked if he felt like an institution or an
icon, he laughed loudly and said, “I don’t
know about that. That’s a little much.
There’re a thousand guys who do a lot
better and work harder than me…I’m glad
to get all the good comments I get about
myself. That’s always nice.”
TROPHY CASE
Tom Barry’s
achievements and
contributions to the
game of golf were
recognized with
many accolades.
Among them, he received:
I nduction into the
MAGPA Hall of Fame
he Horton Smith Award
T
(three times)
The President’s Award
The Bill Strausbaugh Award
The Professional of the
Year Award
The VSGA Service to the
Game Award
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