Cobleskill G&CC lands another elite playing pro

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob Weiner

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Cobleskill Golf & Country Club’s new head pro has a lot in common with his predecessor.

Both Dal Daily, who served as the club’s head pro from 1999 to 2006, and new head pro Bob Meheran, who was the golf director at Berkshire Hills Country Club from 1999 through last season, are outstanding players with superior resumes.

Daily became the only golfer in Northeastern New York PGA history to capture four consecutive Stroke Play Championships. He won 25 tournaments, including the section’s Match Play Championship and the Donald Ross Classic, en route to claiming five

NENYPGA Player of the Year honors.

He left Cobleskill G&CC to go back home to Albuquerque, N.M., early last season, leaving that club without a head pro for the entire 2007 season. Several assistant pros, along with Delhi pro Tom Philion, helped fill in last summer.

But now Cobleskill G&CC has another top playing professional in the fold.

The 43-year-old Meheran was the 2006 NENYPGA Player of the Year, and he won both the Donald Ross Classic and the section’s Club Professional Championship qualifier, considered two of the four majors.

“My goal is to get all four section majors,” said Meheran, who admitted that several close calls in the other two big section events are among his few golfing disappointments.

“A couple of years ago at Wyantenuck Country Club, I led after the first round of the Stroke Play Championship. I shot a 65 that day. But then we battled in the rain, and I ended up losing by just one stroke to Jim Jeffers.”

In the section’s other major, the Match Play Championship, Meheran had a pair of close calls. He lost to Jeremy Kerr of Oneonta Country Club and Jimmy Marston of Stockbridge GC in the finals.

“It kind of wears on you a little,” he said.

“But the one title I really want to get my hands on is the section [Stroke Play] championship. There are some really good names on that one.”

Among them is the legendary Gene Sarazen, who won PGA Tour’s Grand Slam [Masters, British Open, U.S. Open and PGA Championship] and also invented the sand wedge.

Probably the main difference between Daily and Meheran as players is their length off the tee. Daily was a solid ball-striker with an excellent short game, but he was never considered a monster with the driver.

Meheran, however, still remains one of the region’s longest hitters, even though he is in his early 40s.

“I’ve always been known as a long driver, but I’ve gotten a little shorter and a lot straighter in the last couple of years,” he said. “When I play with the guys down in Florida, they get mad at me, because they say I shouldn’t be hitting it that long at this age.

“I play with what works for me,” he said of his equipment. “I’ve been using a TaylorMade 425 driver. I’m using the same Titleist irons that I’ve been using for a while now, and I still use the same putter I played with in college, the Ping Anser. I’ve got four of them, and they’re all identical. I switch them when one of then gets nicked.”

Meheran wishes he was a little better with the flat stick.

“I’d like to become a better putter, he said. “I’m a little too streaky sometimes. If there is one thing that frustrates me, it’s my putting. I’m not super, but when I’m good, I’m pretty good, and I can make my share of putts. But when they’re not dropping, it can be frustrating. I’d like to have a good stroke all the time.”

Born in Weatherfield, Conn., Meheran played varsity golf at both Arizona State and New Mexico. He finished in the top 10 at the

William Tucker Invitational while competing for New Mexico.

Meheran returned home to become an assistant pro at Weatherfield Country Club before accepting an assistant pro position at Wampanoag Country Club for two years. He later become head pro there for three years before moving on to Berkshire Hills Country Club.

Meheran said that Berkshire Hills CC and Cobleskill G&CC are very much alike.

“Berkshire Hills is a little longer. It was built in 1925, while the front side at Cobleskill G&CC was built in 1929,” he said. “Cobleskill G&CC still has some nice elevation changes, and some very good holes. Both courses have old-style designs.

“I just felt it was time to move on. It seemed like a really good opportunity for me. I’m really looking forward to the change.

“I think Cobleskill wants a little more from their head pro than Berkshire Hills did. They want me to be more involved in the decision-making and the membership. I did some of the same kind of stuff at Berkshire Hills, like dealing with the caterer and the food. They want the head pro’s input on things, and that’s fine with me. That’s why we do what we do. We want to be leaned on, and we want to give people our ideas.”