In the eight decades since it moved to its new clubhouse and began playing on the Donald Ross golf course, the Country Club of Waterbury has principly been served by just five head golf professionals.

The first of these, Gene Reilly, came to the Club in the 1920's and actually made the transition from old course to new. He was an expert clubmaker, but his livelihood was not an easy one during the hardscrabble years of the Depression.

A Scotsman name Jimmy McGregor took over the head pro position in 1937 and held it until 1943. "He was a small man, dark complected, and he smoked Pall Malls," recalled Floyd Gensler, who when not caddying cleaned clubs for McGregor at a rate of a dollar a day. "His swing was from the old country - all hands, very accurate, not long - but it was tough for him to teach sometimes because nobody could understand him when he talked."

In 1943, Paul Puzak was brought in to replace McGregor, but he was almost immediately drafted into the service. The following year, Ardy Guilbault began what would become a 20-year tenure in the pro shop. Blessed with an uncanny short game, Guilbault is remembbered by many for introducing a new learning concept that he called "the Wheel" to Club members in need of guidance. The unorthodox approach involved standing and swinging a club within a large white-painted wheel that stood for years on Club property like an out-of-place piece of abstract sculpture. The concept never really caught on, in part because it was hard for others, who didn't share Ardy's commitment, to teach.

Guilbault's longtime assistant Floyd Gensler remembered him as "a good businessman." Another referred to him as "very particular about his shop" and conscious of where every penny was going. "I can see him clear as day counting out the tees you had bought and pushing them across the counter," the member recalled. Later, Guilbault objected strongly to what he viewed as the wasteful policy of letting golfers take a handful of tees at no charge. On one occasion, knowing that Ardy was playing in the group behind him, Eric Walshe began sprinkling each tee box with brand-new golf tees. As he moved from hole to hole, Guilbault's outrage reached near apoplectic proportions.

Gensler took over the head-pro duties in 1963, 22 years after he'd first arrived on the scene as a caddie. His careeer has few, if any, parallels in the life of the Club. He began as a caddie, club washer and caddie master, and he even became a kind of acting pro at the age of 16 when he filled in for the remainder of the 1943 season after Paul Puzak was drafted. He became assistant pro in 1948 and head pro 15 years later, a position he held for 30 years.

As he nimbly managed the transition from the Old School ways of the early 1940's to the end of the 20th century, he fully experienced the life of the Club, from selling precious golf balls at the 10th tee during World War II to helping Caroline Keggi develop a professional-level game; from introducing the concept of tee times to the membership to accompanying Bucky Merriman on a wildly disasterous trip to see the Masters tournament in 1950. And he remembers it all, vividly.

Tom Gleeton, whose association with the Club is detalied elsewhere on this site, came on as head pro in 1993. Although the job of head professional has become more difficult as the course has gotten busier and the demands of the members increase, his years at the Club have been happy ones.

"I feel lucky to work at a place like this," Gleeton said. "My talents are best suited to a traditional course, where the needs are for social interaction, service, emphasis on teaching, playing with members and playing in - and doing well in - pro events. I wouldn't last long in Florida, Arizona or California, I don't think. Everything there is totally bottom-line driven. Waterbury is a quality, quality place."