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PANTHER WOODS COUNTRY CLUB ... IN THE NEWS |
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July 2008: THE BALL HAWK |
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Article by Peter Chapin. Reprinted with permission from Florida Fairways |
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FORT PIERCE — Some golfers get a bit antsy when the foursome ahead hold up play. Paul Havekotte uses the lull to pursuing two other hobbies: catching lost golf balls and fish.
He’s been considerably more successful as a golf-ball angler — he’s given away exactly 21,910 balls as of June 10, keeping score on a cardboard box in the corner of his garage where he cleans his catch.
That’s why they call him the Ball Hawk at Panther Woods, where he lives and golfs.
"I’ve worn out four of these," he said, holding up a double-wheeled ball retriever that holds up to four balls. "I use the broken ones for spare parts."
Sometimes he finds them while moseying around the rough or bunkers as he waits the group ahead to move out of range.
"After playing, I might start looking at the edge of ponds," said the 73-year-old retired Grumman Aircraft engineer. "Or I drive my cart around. I go about 10 mph and I can spot them — I have an uncanny knack for finding them."
Or he’ll find them while wandering the course in the evening.
Formerly from Smithtown, N.Y., Havekotte began this pastime 9½ years ago.
"I was playing on a course in Pennsylvania with a teacher from Baltimore Community College who hunted for golf balls just for exercise," he explained. "He gave me 12 balls, and I didn’t even know him."
He said his greatest bonanza occurred seven years ago on a pond along Panther Woods’ 18th hole.
"The water was unusually low that year. On a sandbar that’s usually to deep to see, I pulled out 132 balls."
Another time, a friend "seeded" a hole, placing a ball on the 15th hole he was sure Havekotte would find.
"He wrote on it, ‘Hi, Paul.’
Then there was the fellow who, knowing Havekotte was approaching, carefully placed a golf ball near an eight-foot-long alligator that was napping on the 17th tee.
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Paul Havecotte washes a bucket of golf ball he rescued from the course.
Golf balls can run, but they can’t hide when Paul Havekotte prowls Panther Woods. |
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"The alligator spooked when I came around and left," the Ball Hawk recalled, adding grimly: "It was just a range ball."
As with fishing, some catches are better than other. Range ball are the bottom feeders compared to Titleist ProVIXs, worth up to $4 each.
Havekotte cleans the retrieved balls with a wire brush and soaks them in a Clorox-water solution. The cleaned ones are separated into some 40 plastic jugs and buckets according to brand. Some are bagged in groups of 10 and labeled.
"Sometimes I put a box of balls in my cart or bag them with people’s names on them," he said. "I given them to people I play with."
He has a bucket of balls reserved for his wife, and another batch is set aside for his son and daughter, when they visit.
"Some people don’t want them," he added. "They think balls don’t carry too well after they’ve been in the water."
But many are delighted when the Ball Hawk lands.
Havekotte’s fishing sideline at Panther Woods hasn’t been quite so lucrative. He carries a couple of poles on his golf cart and will take a cast or two when play slows down. So far he’s caught five bass this year.
They’re the only Panther Woods residents not happy to see Paul coming.
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April 30, 2008 |
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I would like to commend the efficiency and professionalism of the St Lucie Fire Rescue Service and the Florida Division of Forestry for the expeditious way in which they handled the brush fire on the 30th April 2008 that broke out at the edge of the Panther Woods Country Club development, home of the late Sam Snead, which resulted in no property damage or injuries.
It took the crew from both these groups only a little over an hour from receiving the 911 call at 2 pm on a windy afternoon to get the brush fire under control which burnt 8 acres of brush stretching from I-95 to
within fifty feet of homes on the western edge of our Panther Woods Country Club development. The swift action of these teams, which fire officials indicated included over 20 fighters and Division of Forestry
personal on the scene tackling the blaze and assisted by three brush trucks, three engines, two tankers, a bull dozer and a helicopter which doused the fire with three thousand gallons of water from the nine trips
from area lakes.
We especially appreciated the Fire Department watching over the scene on the site till 8:30 pm that night ensuring that the fire was extinct before leaving.
Gratefully,
Alf D'Silva
President, the Board of Governors
Panther Woods Country Club
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