Tag: class-of-2021

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Inductee

Tina Tombs, LPGA

Tina Tombs has earned her place in the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame as an accomplished player and well-known and decorated golf instructor who continues to give back to the game. 

Raised in New Hampshire, Tombs grew up playing the game at Manchester Country Club and was taught by fellow New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame Inductee, Phil Friel, at Green Meadow Golf Club.  She played on the boy’s golf team at West High School in Manchester and went on to earn a full scholarship to play golf at Arizona State University (ASU) where she became a two-time All-American.  While in college, he racked up four wins, including a win in the PAC 10 Championship and was selected as one of Golf Digest’s Top 10 Amateur Players.

Her amateur golfing accomplishments include winning the New Hampshire Girls Junior Championship, New Hampshire Women’s Golf Association (NHWGA) Championship, the New England Women’s Golf Association (NEWGA) Championship, and the Women’s Eastern Amateur Championship.

Following her successful college golf career, she began her professional career by qualifying for the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour in 1987.  She went on to win and the LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Classic in 1990 and finished second in the Sara Lee Classic in 1993, losing in a three-hole playoff.  She remains one of few LPGA Instructors in the world to have won on the LPGA Tour.

After 14 successful years competing professionally, Tombs moved on to become an instructor, sharing her knowledge and passion for the game to players of all ages and ability levels.  In 2002, she founded and is now President of Tina Tombs Golf at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona, where she also holds the title of Director of Instruction.

As an instructor, she has garnered numerous awards as she worked her way into being one of the best teachers in the world, including being named the LPGA National Teacher of the Year in 2014 and 2018.  She is one of four other teachers to have been honored with the award twice.  Her other awards, to name a few, include being awarded the Arizona Golf Association’s Ed Updegraff Spirit of Golf Award in 2017, Arizona Golf Association’s highest award; 2014 and 2018 LPGA Central Section Teacher of the Year; 2015 Marilynn Smith LPGA Central Section Service Award; LPGA TOP 50 Best Teachers from 2017 to 2018; GRAA Top 50 Teaching Professionals in 2018; and GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher since 2019.

She was inducted into New Hampshire’s Queen City Hall of Fame in 1993, the ASU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame in 2020.

Outside of playing and teaching, she continues to give back to the game and donate her time.  She recently served at President of the Central Section of the LPGA T&CP and has been on the Executive and Leadership Committees for the T&CP.  She has been a guest instructor and presenter at numerous clinics and expos around the country and continues her dedication to the game as one of the busiest golf instructors in the world.

The New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame Committee is thrilled be inducting Tina Tombs into the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame in October.

 

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Inductee

Jim Sheerin, PGA

Through his service, dedication, contributions and professional accomplishments in the Granite State and New England, Jim Sheerin has earned his way into the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame.

Sheerin’s golf career started at the age of 11 at Andover Country Club in Massachusetts as a caddie.  By the age of 14, he worked his way up to caddie master and then up to managing the bag room before he enrolled in the PGA Apprentice program.  He earned a business degree from the Andover Institute of Business and became a PGA member in 1972. 

Three years later, in 1975, he became the Head Golf Professional at Abenaqui Country Club where he served his entire 40-year career.  One of his first contributions at Abenaqui was establishing the caddie program, which still exists today thanks to Sheerin’s commitment to the program.  His dedication to growing the game is evident in his Master Professional thesis titled “Junior Golf: Commitment and Purpose”.  In 1995, Sheerin achieved the status of PGA Master Professional, which is the highest status to be achieved in the PGA of America.

Outside of Abenaqui Country Club, Sheerin has dedicated much of his time to the New Hampshire Chapter of the New England PGA (NHPGA) and to numerous committees associated with the New England PGA (NEPGA), along with other notable organizations around the area.  He was instrumental is bringing The First Tee of New Hampshire to the Granite State and served on the first board of directors for the organization.  He also spent many years serving the McDonough Scholarship Foundation, which now has an endowed scholarship in Sheerin’s name for his work with the organization and for growing junior golf in the seacoast area of New Hampshire.

Sheerin is also a talented golfer having won many Pro-Am tournaments over the years, along with winning the New Hampshire PGA Stroke Play Championship eight times and the New Hampshire PGA Senior Stroke Play Championship 15 times.  He has also won the New England PGA Senior Championship three times.  On a larger scale, Sheerin has qualified and competed in three U.S. Senior Open Championships, three Champions Tour events and one Senior PGA Championship.

Sheerin has won numerous awards with the New Hampshire PGA and New England PGA, including being named the NHPGA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1998.  He has also been awarded Merchandiser of the Year in 1993, the Bill Strausbaugh Award in 1997 and 2005, and in 1998 was the NEPGA Professional of the Year.  Sheerin was inducted into the New England PGA Hall of Fame in 2015.

The New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame is honored to be inducting Jim Sheerin into the 2021 Class of the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame.