Meet Newport Beach Country Club's Head Pro

When Paul Hahn was a kid, his family moved to a house that happened to be on a golf course.

“My brother and I had nothing else to do, so we picked up some clubs and started swinging," he recalled.

Hahn stuck with it and developed his natural talent, eventually landing a scholarship at San Jose State. Golf turned into a career for Hahn, who has been the head golf pro at the Newport Beach Country Club for the last sixteen years.

"It’s a nice feeling to be an expert in the field, to interact with people and see them feel good about themselves and their golf game," Hahn said. "To be able to do something you love, that has never felt like work. There has never been a day in 35 years that I didn’t want to go to work.”

Although he enjoys teaching and “playing  pretty good golf in local tournaments to keep the juices flowing,” it was always Hahn's dream to be a tour player. That dream sort of came true in 2004, when he turned 50 and was eligible to play in the PGA Champions Tour.

The director of the event, Jeff Purser, thought it would personalize the event for members and the community if the head pro participated. So he provided a Hahn with a special sponsors exemption.

The Toshiba Classic Champions Tour is a major PGA event and to be included was a big deal. The closest Hahn had come to PGA competition before was participating in smaller Southern California PGA Section events. The Champions Tour includes professional tour players 50 years and older and is televised, it also attracts a huge crowd of spectators—more than 75,000 at the Newport Beach Country Club last year.

“The first time I played I was extremely nervous, especially with all of those people watching, and realizing what an accomplishment it was" Hahn said. "Because everyone embraced me with open arms and was so kind, it helped make it a lot of fun.”

Hahn is on the disabled list this year so he won’t be playing in the Toshiba Classic. But that hasn’t put a damper on his enthusiasm because, he said, it’s always an exciting time for the club and the community to host the event.

The Toshiba Champions Tour runs March 7-13 at Newport Beach Country Club.