John Connelly III of Gulf Stream. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Pike
Athletes are often judged on two things: talent and IQ, the latter of which has nothing to do with test scores. Here’s all you need to know about John Connelly III’s golf IQ:
“Spyglass Hill is a hidden secret. It’s a better course than Pebble Beach,” Connelly said as he sat in his Gulf Stream home. “Pebble is just more famous.”
Understand that most golfers see the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links near Carmel, Calif., as the mecca of American golf. Spyglass Hill is just an afterthought. Also understand the Connelly just turned 17. Seems his eye for golf course designs comes as natural as his swing.
“I’d say that’s where he really got hooked on golf,” said his father, John Jr., who owns Nautical Furnishings Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, and who is a member at The Country Club of Florida.
John Connelly III, a junior-to-be at the Culver (Ind.) Military Academy, along with Gulf Stream’s Caulen Coe, each competed in the prestigious Western Junior Championship, June 18-22 at The Country Club of Florida in The Village of Golf. The “Western,” as it’s known, is the oldest junior tournament in the U.S. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have played in the event, which has been won by such future PGA Tour stars as Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan.
Caulen Coe
Coe was in the hunt for a top 10 finish until a final-round 78 left him with a four-day score of nine-over-par 297, tied for 49th. Connelly shot opening rounds of 83 and 78 and didn’t make the cut.
The Western marked the beginning of the season for Connelly, who has been playing golf since he was 8 years old. He played in the U.S. Golf Association Junior Amateur qualifying tournament following the Western. He also plans to play in the World Series of Junior Golf this month in Stratham, Mass., as well as the Deutsche Bank Open in August in East Falmouth, Mass., not far from where his family has a home on Nantucket Island and a membership at Nantucket Golf Club. Connelly’s mother, Bessie, often plays in tournaments at the club.
Between tournaments, her son practices daily and makes occasional visits to see Martin Hall, well-known swing coach at Ibis Golf & Country Club in West Palm Beach. Connelly has working with Hall for the past six years.
Next month Connelly will travel with his father, mother Bessie (an avid golfer) and older sister, Kelly, a student at Georgetown University, for a golf trip to Ireland, where they will play such fabled courses as Ballybunion and Lahinch.
Then it’s back to Culver Military Academy, which has some surprising connections to Gulf Stream. For example, famed course architect Pete Dye, a part-time resident of Delray Beach and a member at The Little Club, designed Mystic Hills Golf Club, just a few minutes away from Culver’s 1,800-acre campus.
The late Frank Batten, founder of The Weather Channel, was a Culver alumnus and part-time Gulf Stream resident who donated more than $70 million to the school.
The Connelly family at one time owned Batten’s house on Palm Way before moving into their current home next to The Little Club.
“We didn’t know that at the time,” John Connelly Jr. said. “But around Culver we kept seeing all these plaques and references to Frank Batten and began wondering if it was the same man.”
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