By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Originally from Denver, Colorado, PGA of America Golf Professional Rick Zarlengo wanted to be a golf pro since he was in kindergarten. When other kids aspired to be astronauts and firemen, Zarlengo knew golf was his path to a happy future.
“My dad was great, getting me into the game at an early age,” Zarlengo recalls. “I even built a little golf course in our backyard and would spend hours playing the game with tuna fish cans buried in the grass as the cups.”
Zarlengo caddied for his father and would hit some shots here and there on the course. He got better and was a decent junior golfer, finishing second in the state high school championship. He played at the University of Colorado for one year before trying his hand at the professional level.
In his teens, he initially worked at Applewood Golf Course, a public facility owned by Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado. There he learned the ropes from Gene Root, a 1976 Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee and member of Wilson’s professional staff who knew such luminaries as Bryon Nelson, Sam Snead and Mickey Wright. When they were in Colorado, Zarlengo got to meet them. When Mr. Root passed away, his son Larry, “L.G.”, assumed the reins.
“I learned to mow greens, pick the range and manage many other aspects of the business of golf,” Zarlengo adds. “I even vacuumed the pro shop from the age of 11 in exchange for range privileges. In fact, Mr. Root was great about finding jobs for me that not only allowed me to practice on the range but fostered my love of the business itself.”
Zarlengo then worked at nearby Lakewood Country Club for four years, coaching students and sharing an eye for teaching the golf swing that he had at the early age of 17 or 18. He left Lakewood to play the Australian and New Zealand professional tours. Rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the professional game – Payne Stewart, Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch and Tim Graham, a member of the McNeese State University Sports Hall-of-Fame – Zarlengo saw the superiority and skill that it took to be a Tour professional.
Zarlengo tells a story of sharing a putting green down under with New Zealand golfing professional Bob Charles that rendered his putter useless when he realized a crowd had gathered and it was just him and the left-handed legend on the putting surface. “I had to practice my putting while my hands were shaking – not the stuff of seasoned veterans,” he admits.
“I also played in one PGA Tour event and was on the range before the tournament when I realized who I was hitting balls beside – the very best in the game. I had to go to the far end and distance myself from the stars to be able to focus on my own task at hand. Eventually, it got so crowded on the range that I found myself hitting balls between Davis Love III and Bernhard Langer. All of a sudden, I wasn’t hitting the ball the same.”
Zarlengo says a big part of being a Tour player is believing that you belong there, and that’s when he really started focusing solely on teaching.
With more than four decades of teaching and coaching experience under his belt, even owning and managing his own destination golf school in Phoenix, Arizona for a few years, the two-time GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional and Quarter Century PGA Member is now the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Roanoke Country Club in Virginia.
Over his four years there, he’s fostered a welcoming and supportive culture that encourages his 350 golf members to play the game and improve their skills. He credits the professional who preceded him with creating a successful junior program that Rick is proud to continue growing into the future.
“We have some real successes within our junior program, like the Virginia State Junior champion who just got a full ride to George Mason University and a young woman who played in the Junior Solheim Cup last year,” Zarlengo said with pride.
He adds that RCC juniors have won AJGA events and work hard at pursuing their dreams in golf, just like the ones that took Rick all over the world as a young man.
Zarlengo conducts many custom club fitting sessions and was recognized by Callaway in 2023 for his success in promoting Callaway equipment and helping eager golfers find clubs that meet their specifications and maximize their performance and enjoyment in the game.
He conducts group classes eleven times per week in addition to the private lessons and fittings he does. These supervised practices help provide specialized attention to individuals while ensuring the group as a whole is on target to meet their goals. “While people are definitely learning, they also have a lot of fun,” he boasts.
Zarlengo has also worked with Links to Freedom, one of the original “Wounded Warriors” golf programs, at the Fort Belvoir Golf Club in Fairfax, Virginia, near Washington D.C., where he even met President Barack Obama. He now brings this expertise to Roanoke with PGA HOPE.
He hosts junior classes weekly and a men’s class twice per week. Kudos to Rick for getting men involved in group instruction when so many of us in the industry understand the challenges that this demographic has posed over the years.
His skills, however, include more than just playing, teaching and promoting the game of golf – he’s got a musical side, as well. “I played bass in a (semi) working R&R band called typeA in NoVA for 18 years, and now occasionally play with a local Acoustic Americana group. It’s a great hobby!
Throughout his storied golf career, Rick Zarlengo has touched many people and helped grow the game of golf beyond the cliche. He’s made a tangible impact on thousands of individuals across the country and is a classic example of a great PGA of America Golf Professional.
