Don Donatoni of White Manor (left) and Todd Vonderheid of Huntsville (right) will captain their respective teams.

Newcomers Huntsville, White Manor ready for Division AA

  The handcrafted sign out front reads “Division AA.” The saloon doors creak open. Huntsville Golf Club and White Manor Country Club enter assuredly. Their anxious eyes survey a room filled with cutthroat BMW GAP Team Matches cowboys.

  Amid the silence and stares, Huntsville and White Manor pull up their rightful chairs at the card table. Both smile as the deck is dealt; the room’s gaiety resumes.

  “We’re glad to be back in AA. For us, it’s a real thrill to be back playing that level of competition,” Todd Vonderheid, Huntsville’s team captain, said.

  “We have worked very hard over the last few years to finally reach the pinnacle of the GAP Team Matches,” Don Donatoni, White Manor’s captain, said. “I’m very proud of those players who have helped us achieve this lofty goal, especially all of the new young guns at White Manor.”

  Huntsville returns to Division AA following a five-year hiatus. It triumphed in a Challenge match against Jericho National Golf Club to advance. White Manor’s AA history is different. Throughout 65 years of participation, White Manor never made an appearance. A 10-point victory over Laurel Creek Country Club in a 2014 Challenge presented a breakthrough.

  Youth is another difference between Huntsville and White Manor as the BMW GAP Team Matches approaches. Huntsville will be without two of its younger stars in Chase Makowski, a freshman at Monmouth University whose availability may be limited, and Austin Smith, who recently turned professional.

  “Those two loses are pretty difficult for us. We’re working hard to overcome them,” Vonderheid, 46, of Lewisburg, Pa., said.

  For White Manor, it’s a heap of young guns, as Donatoni referenced, that will be relied upon for key contributions in 2015. Players such as Ethan Heller (19), Matt Kocent (20), Michael Lamond (18), Cameron Liebert (22), Steve Skurla (23), Sam Soeth (19) and Conrad Von Borsig (28) account for half its roster.

  “We have all these younger players, but at the end of the day, our leader (Donatoni) is one of the oldest and wisest tenured GAP players in history,” Liebert, of Malvern, Pa., said. “It’s a really interesting dynamic having him personally lead our team. Hopefully, we young guys can bring the fire when we know that Don is going to go out there and give us consistency. On a personal level, he’s our friend, but at the same time, he’s one of the biggest competitors I’ve ever met.”

  Such a fountain of youth further fuels Liebert’s anticipation for White Manor’s Division AA debut. Throughout the previous four years, he hasn’t been able to contribute because of school obligations (Liebert graduated from Loyola University Maryland in May 2014.).

  “I’m really eager to be a part of it. This is my time commitment,” he said. “Now that we’re in AA, we kind of have all of the ammo we need to be a competitor there and definitely keep our place. It’s going to be a nice learning experience.”

  Huntsville may view AA as an educational experience, too. The team looks to learn from its youth losses by leaning on veterans such as Jason Barkley, Brian Corbett and Sam Lewis. Huntsville sits in Section II alongside Fox Hill Country Club, Little Mill Country Club and Llanerch Country Club.

  “The clubs that are there are really good. Our expectations against them are not high,” Corbett, 56, of Shavertown, Pa., said. “We’re going to do our best. We’re going to play hard. We really have to be strategic.”

  “We know that Little Mill and Llanerch are both filled with a bunch of good players and golf courses that require a level of local knowledge,” Vonderheid added. “Part of my task will be picking the six guys to travel correctly. We’ll try to put the guys on the road who are attuned to being in a strange land and battling it out.”

  Nearby Fox Hill isn’t foreign territory to the Huntsville crew. Both clubs circled a Week Three match-up on the calendar.

  “I think there will be a little grudge match between Fox Hill and Huntsville for bragging rights,” Corbett said. “That will probably be the most important match for us.”

  In Section IV, White Manor will square off against title tested Aronimink Golf Club and Tavistock Country Club as well as Glenmaura National Golf Club. Donatoni believes the team is prepared for the challenge ahead.

  “I think we will represent ourselves well, but clearly recognize the talented and stiff competition we will be facing,” he said.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 150 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.