Par excellence: Local golf pro Danny Balin earns a spot in PGA Championship

Every athlete dreams of one day getting the chance to play with the "big boys," they see on TV. Whether it's football, baseball, basketball, hockey or golf, anyone who has played the game has, at the very least, sat back and said "One day I want to be a pro."

For Assistant Golf Professional Danny Balin of Burning Tree Country Club in Greenwich, that dream is about to come true. After successfully navigating the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort in Indiana, finishing fourth in the PGA Professional National Championship, Balin and 20 other club pros qualified for the PGA Championship, the final major in the PGA Tour season, in August at Whistling Straits in Kohler, W.I.

Balin, 28, carded a four-round 284 in the club pro championship, six shots behind three-time champion Mike Small, the head golf coach at the University of Illinois, and actually entered the final round in second place before settling for fourth.

Recently, Balin took time out of his teaching and practice schedule to speak with the Citizen about his thoughts on, among other things, qualifying for the "season's final major," what the response among the membership at Burning Tree has been and how he hopes competing in the PGA Championship will help him further his golf dreams.

Danny, thanks for the time and congratulations on qualifying for the PGA Championship.

Thank you very much.

What's been going through your mind now that you know you'll be competing?

You know it's every young golfer's dream to qualify for a major. For me, in particular, to qualify for the PGA Championship is amazing because it's run by the PGA of America, which is the organization I'm a part of. It's long been a goal of mine to be able to say that I got to be one of those guys I would always watch on TV. So, when I went out to Indiana for the club pro, my goal was to just make sure I came in the top-20. I did have a chance to win but my mind wasn't set on winning so much as it was on just not blowing up.

That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself. How did you handle it?

Winning wasn't an issue because I've never really been in that position before. I didn't putt great the final day but that was OK. I just didn't want to blow up with seven or eight bogeys. I self-talk a lot and just kept telling myself to keep focused on my goal, which was to make the PGA, and if I could keep doing the same things I always did when I played I would be OK. And now, to see my name on the list of the field for the Championship and to see it with all the names of the "big boys" is something really special and a big deal.

Talk a bit about the qualification process.

The country is divided into 41 regions and each region is allocated a certain number of qualifiers for the national club pro tournament based on the number of pros there are. Here in the Metropolitan PGA, which consequently has some of the best pros and players in the country, there were 200 pros looking to qualify for 11 spots in the national tournament. I finished fifth in last year's regional championship, which got me into this year's national championship and the rest there is history. There were 312 guys looking for 20 spots overall so it's really special to be one of those 20.

What's been the response at Burning Tree?

Everybody is really excited. I don't think anyone really expected this since I've only been playing golf for about seven years and haven't won a lot of local tournaments yet -- but I keep getting better every year and people have been coming up to me every day congratulating me and saying that I was going to be a great representative of Burning Tree, the metropolitan golf community and, most importantly, myself.

You've really only been playing for seven years? What got you into the game?

I grew up in Rockville, M.D. and didn't have a lot of opportunity to golf. My parents didn't play and I was more into soccer growing up. Then, when I was 13, I had an uncle in Cleveland who got me a set of clubs and said "let's play golf," and from there I figured let's give this a try. I hurt my knee in soccer but knew coming out of college I still wanted to do something in the sports industry where I could make money so I thought I'd try golf. So I moved up to the metropolitan area and got connected with Michael Breed who now hosts "The Golf Fix" on the Golf Channel and he wanted me to teach since that was the best way to make money. At the time, I was a 21-year-old kid who hadn't played a lot but saw this as an opportunity to do what I could to get better.

Did you take many lessons when you were starting to learn how to play?

I did take some from Michael when I was working with him but really I just watched a lot of people and felt that as long as I had a club I could figure it out. This is what I want to do with my life and I know I'm going to have to practice as hard as I can as often as I can to get where I want to go.

And where is that?

I want to get on the PGA Tour. A lot of people say that I need a new dream because I don't have the game or whatever. But honestly, that just lights a fire under me to prove them wrong. It's the same thing I tell the kids I teach. I'm not going to tell them `No it won't happen. Change your dream.' I'm going to tell them that if they have the opportunity -- go for it. Will they make it? I don't know but that shouldn't stop them from trying.

Have you ever tried to qualify for the PGA Tour by going through Q-School?

I did last year for the first time and since I hadn't competed in anything major I had to go through the whole four-stage process. I made it through pre-qual's but failed to get past the first stage by two shots. Now that I finished high in the club pro and qualified for the PGA Championship I get an automatic exemption into the second stage. If I at least make it into the third and final stage there I do get some playing privileges on the Nationwide Tour (essentially the minor league tour) and the PGA Tour. And if that doesn't work then I'll keep doing what I'm doing now because I love teaching whether I do it here at Burning Tree or somewhere else in the area.

For now, though, the focus is on the PGA. What has your preparation been like for the championship?

I've been reading up on the course and I'm heading out in early August before the mayhem to get a few quiet practice rounds in. Then I head back out there the week of the tournament, which is August 9-15. As far as my game goes, I'm pretty confident in my driving off the tee -- because, while I'm not a long hitter, I'm fairly straight and don't miss many fairways -- and my mental game. The thing I need to work most on is my putting and just making sure my nerves are calm when there are thousands of people watching.

Any final thoughts?

Golf is my life and I love playing it. It's very satisfying to be this accomplished with all the work I've done and to know that I can and will accomplish so much more.

Thanks for the time Danny and best of luck come August.

Thank you I'm looking forward to the challenge.