Tom grew up in Cheshire playing golf at the Country Club of Waterbury where he became one of Connecticut’s best amateurs during the 1970s. He won the New England Junior, qualified for the U.S. Amateur, reached the semifinals of the Connecticut Amateur and became a three-time All American at Florida Southern College.
In 1979 Tom became the first player from Connecticut to capture an NCAA Individual Title in golf while leading Florida Southern to their first NCAA Team Championship. Longtime Florida Southern Head Coach, Charley Matlock often credited Tom with jumpstarting what would become one of the nation’s most successful college golf programs, a program that to date has won twelve national championships and produced players such as Lee Janzen, Rocco Mediate and Marco Dawson. Tom was the first golfer to be inducted into the Florida Southern Sports Hall of Fame.
“Tom was the one who really got us started,” said Matlock. “He proved that we could be a program that could attract and develop great players, and win NCAA individual and team championships. He helped create a recruiting pipeline for us in the Northeast that led to bringing in players like Tom Patri and Steve Sokol and many more. We are a small school, but what Tom did for us can’t be overstated. He was to Florida Southern what Arnold Palmer was to Wake Forest.”
Tom turned professional after college and earned full PGA Tour status in 1986. In a playing career that has spanned more than three decades Tom has won more than 70 professional events, including the CT Section PGA Stroke Play Championship five times. He has won the PGA Section Match Play, Club Pro Championship and Section Championship, finished runner-up in the Connecticut Open, and been named CT Section Player of the Year.
CSGA Executive Director, Mike Moraghan describes Tom as “a great competitor and an idea man, always thinking of ways to improve and ways of helping others improve.”
“For many years I’ve been in the habit of calling on Tom just to find out what he is thinking and what he’s working on,” recalls Moraghan. “He has a wonderful nature about him, a calmness and reflectiveness with real world knowledge and experience. He is a ‘still waters run deep’ type of guy.”
Tom’s service to golf as a club professional is as impressive as his competitive record. A past president of the Connecticut Section PGA, Tom served eight years on regional and national boards including the PGA’s Scholarship, Education and Employment Boards. He has spent many years directing mentor programs for assistant golf professionals, and has developed and personally supported golf programs for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Waterbury.
Tom is currently in his 25th consecutive year serving as Head Professional at the Country Club of Waterbury. He is widely credited with leading a rebuilding effort when the club’s membership declined after the 2008 recession, establishing a model since adopted by other private clubs.
“It is very satisfying to bring new people in and show them what we have here,” says Tom. “We walk out onto our first tee and just look around and it has a real effect on people. Of course, we think our place is special, but really every club and every golf course has so much to offer people. That’s the message we want to share with everyone in the golf business, take pride in what you are doing and be enthusiastic and willing to work hard to grow your operation.”
Sharing, whether it be his time, his ideas, or the golf course that has been his home for so many years, has always come naturally to Tom. It is primarily because of Tom that so many Connecticut state championships, including the CSGA’s annual Russell C. Palmer Cup continue to be held at Waterbury.
The entrance wall at the Connecticut Section PGA office in Glastonbury is adorned with four large wooden plaques bearing the names of Connecticut’s most accomplished professionals who have earned their place in state history. Every member of the Section Hall of Fame, every Section Player of the Year, every Past President, and every Section Champion is listed chronologically. When Tom Gleeton was inducted into the CT Section PGA Hall of Fame in 2014, he became the only person in Connecticut history to have his name inscribed on each of the four PGA plaques. In 2016 Tom adds yet another life achievement, as a unanimous selection into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame.
