Even though neither of her parents were golfers, Angela Aulenti spent a good part of her youth at Longshore Golf Club in her home town of Westport. ‘My mother ran the food concessions, so I was there all the time,’ Aulenti said. ‘When I was 8, I designed my own three-hole course around the pro shop. I’d also sneak on the course whenever I got the chance. My father was a policeman in town so they’d call him and say, ‘She’s on the course again.’ When I was 10, they gave up and let me play.’
Needless to say, Aulenti never lost her early love of golf. After a short stint on the LPGA Tour and 11 years as an assistant to Gene Boerk at Metropolis (NY) CC, she has been the head professional at Sterling Farms GC in Stamford for the last 18 years. She runs the golf operations there and at cross-town E. Gaynor Brennan GC. Aulenti was the first woman to be named a head pro in Connecticut and is still among only a handful in the country.
Aulenti has achieved success as a player over several decades, but it is her record as a teacher and innovative club professional that has earned her a place in the Hall of Fame. Since arriving in 1994, she has transformed the Sterling Farms golf shop from a dingy, ill-equiped room into a modern, player-friendly place for golf and merchandise. Although she has 28 employees between the two clubs, she spends nearly half her time teaching.
‘There has been a huge transition here,’ Aulenti said. ‘The pro shop was falling down. We didn’t have a teaching program. We’ve tried to bring a private club atmosphere here, get to know everyone’s name.’
Today there are active programs for men, women and juniors, including a 10-week summer program that attracts some 600 inner city kids from Stamford.
‘I love the club pro life,’ Aulenti said. ‘I get as much satisfaction from teaching as play- ing. I love watching a person who couldn’t get the ball in the air, hit it 75 yards.’
Among a long list of professional honors, she was named the LPGA national Professional of the Year in 2003 and 2011, and the top professional in the LPGA Northeast Sec- tion in 2000. She has been LPGA Teaching and Club Pro national tournament chairperson, and is now serving a two-year term as LPGA Northeast Section President.
Aulenti was named LPGA national Merchandiser of the Year in 2004 and ’06. She was LPGA Northeast Section Merchandiser of the Year in 1998, 2003 and ’11, and PGA Met Section Merchandiser of the Year (public course) in 1998. In 2010, she opened the Aulenti Club Fitting Studio, featuring Trackman technology. In 2002, Golf For Women magazine rated her among the top 50 teachers in the nation. As a breast cancer survivor since 2005, Aulenti was honorary chair for the Susan G. Komen Rally for a Cure. Aulenti describes herself as a mediocre player as a Monday qualifier on the LPGA in the late 1970s. She managed one 12th place finish and played in the U.S. Women’s Open in 1977-79, and the LPGA Championship in 1979. She won the national LPGA Club Pro Senior Championship in 2007, and the national Mixed Team Championship with Kammy Maxfeldt in 2009. In 2007 and ’08, she was named the Northeast Section LPGA Senior Player of the Year. She was runnerup in the national LPGA Club Pro Championship in 1988, placed second twice and fifth twice in the Met Women’s Open in the 1990s, won the Met PGA Assistants Championship in 1990. As an amateur, she won both the Connecticut and Met Junior Championships and the SNEWGA Championship twice in 1976 and ’78.
