Paul Hahn, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Even the occasional bad day at Newport Beach Country Club isn’t as

cruel as the rough in other places.

Paul Hahn, the club’s head professional, realizes this. That’s why, when

a difficult day arises, club president Jerry Anderson will joke with Hahn

and say, “You know, you could still be in Pomona.”

For golf pros, living, working and breathing in Newport Beach is about as

close to paradise as it gets, and Hahn, once the jack-of-all-trades

operator of Mountain Meadows Golf Course in Pomona, knows a good thing

when he sees it.

When American Golf took over as concessionaire and operator of Mountain

Meadows in the late 1980s, Hahn and his partner were, for all intent and

purpose, “kicked out.”

Hahn thought he was in line for a job in Temecula, but found out someone

else was hired -- a former assistant at Newport Beach. So Hahn, who

already knew Anderson and NBCC head pro Monty Blodgett, figured there was

an opening at the club. He was right.

“I told them I’ll pick up range balls. I just want to get my foot in the

door,” said Hahn, who was hired Aug. 8, 1989, as an assistant golf pro

and has been a fixture at the club since.

Hahn, who spent 13 years at Mountain Meadows, where he and his partner

leased the facility from the County of Los Angeles, has worked at only

two golf courses in his career -- a rarity these days in the business.

“It was almost like starting over for me,” Hahn said of his early days at

Newport Beach. “You know, you go from running the joint to being an

assistant. But, in our business, sometimes you have to go down to go up.

You can’t always be up; and, plus, it’s a nice spot -- to work at the

beach, let alone live at the beach.”

Hahn, who became a member of the Southern California PGA in 1982, has

built a solid reputation at the club for being an excellent instructor.

“I think it’s because I care about (my pupils). It’s not just turnstile

teaching and cranking out lessons,” said Hahn, credited for taking club

member Debbie Albright, at the time a high handicapper, and helping to

turn her into a four-time women’s club champion.

“I try to get involved and make better players. They can trust me.”

Hahn, who turned 46 on Feb. 11, replaced the retiring Blodgett as head

pro in 1994, and, since the club took over as host of the Senior PGA

Tour’s Toshiba Senior Classic, it has “enriched” his job.

“There are 25,000 golf pros out there, and to be able to be associated

with something like this, to be around something like this, I just feel

lucky to be part of it,” said Hahn, who serves as the liaison between the

club and the Senior PGA Tour rules officials.

This year, Hahn’s most famous student has been former major league

pitcher Jim Abbott, who has been taking golf lessons from Hahn since

January.

“He can hit that ball,” Hahn said of Abbott, who played for Milwaukee

last season and is finished with his big league career. “Actually, it’s

been kind of fun giving him lessons, and trying to understand how he

handles (swinging a golf club) without the (right) hand.”

Hahn, who grew up in Central California and graduated from Paso Robles

High in 1972, earned a golf scholarship to San Jose State. Hahn played

football, basketball and golf in high school, but got tired of the

pounding he took as a quarterback and decided to focus on golf.

“As a kid, I wanted to be a (PGA) tour player, but it didn’t pan out that

way,” said Hahn, who, after one good year at San Jose State, broke his

shoulder and “wasn’t the same after that.”

With golf as his passion, Hahn pursued a vocation as an instructor, and,

following his general management stint at Mountain Meadows, his career

took off like a Tiger Woods tee shot.

Hahn often competes in the televised Subura Team Championships with

Albright and the Newport Beach men’s representative -- most recently, Bob

Kraft -- in the three-player format that includes the head pro, and

women’s and men’s club champions.

“I enjoy playing good golf at my level, but the next level is something I

don’t know anything about,” Hahn said. “In order to get there, it takes a

lot of time and practice. It’s funny ... when you play good golf, you say

to yourself, ‘If only I could do this all the time.’ But it’s hard to do

that all the time and make a living at it.

“(Playing on the Senior PGA Tour) is not something I see myself doing. I

played with all those guys in college, guys like (Craig) Stadler and

(Steve) Pate and (Curtis) Strange. I couldn’t beat their tails then, so

how can I beat them now?”

Hahn, however, hopes to get a sponsor’s exemption into the 2004 Toshiba

Senior Classic after he turns 50 -- if he’s still at the club and if the

club still hosts the senior tour event.

Who knows? Hahn could become the senior tour’s biggest story in four

years.

After all, the Corona del Mar resident and latest member of the Daily

Pilot Sports Hall of Fame might find another paradise outside of Newport

Beach.