Joe Connerton (left) knew early in life that he wanted to be a teaching golf professional.
As Joe Connerton prepared for an interview for the head professional position at Hartford Golf Club in 2008, he received a piece of advice from a member at his employer at the time, The Country Club, in Brookline, Massachusetts.
“He said I needed a story to give people a quick sense of who I was and why they should hire me,” Connerton recalled.
The then 28-year-old heeded that counsel, and it no doubt had a lot to do with his securing that job – and also a comparable one some 11 years later at Round Hill Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. Because Connerton has some story.
“I grew up in southern New Jersey, right off Exit 2 on the Turnpike,” he said. “I was 10 years old when my father, who read meters for the gas company, took his own life. He had drug and alcohol problems, and after that, it was just me, my mother and my younger sister.
“All...