News and Notes from the MGA Foundation
By Julliana Bravo
From working on the driving range and caddieing to learning about business in the retail shop, Tim Manzello’s life has been filled with golf, and he’s not stopping yet.
Manzello’s golf journey began after suffering a serious leg injury playing soccer the summer before his freshman year of high school. His brother introduced him to the game. For Manzello, golf was different from any other sport he had played before. Although he was a natural athlete, he wasn’t good at golf right away.
But he stuck to it, and his love for the game deepened. The summer before his senior year of high school, he landed a job as a caddie at National Golf Links of America, one of the most highly regarded courses in the country, after his brother inquired about a job for him. Manzello was at the club the next day at 6 a.m. ready to go.
When deciding where to attend college, Manzello was attracted to Penn State and its PGA Professional Golf Management Program, a four-year course that teaches students about everything relating to golf – from swing.
techniques to coaching to the business of the golf industry. It’s a unique program and Manzello fits in quite well.
The summer after his freshman year at Penn State, he interned at Westhampton Country Club on the South Shore, working on the outside operations team and doing everything from working at the driving range to caddieng. The head professional, Kirk Satterfield, gave Manzello his first introduction to the business side of the golf industry.
That same summer, he applied for a scholarship from the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund and got it. “The support is something that I'll forever be grateful for … no matter where you come from and what your parents do, it's not easy to finance and put yourself through school,” says Manzello, who also received the prestigious R&A Scholarship – which is only awarded to 10 recipients each year – in the fall of 2024.
During the summer of 2024, he interned at Noyac Golf Club in Sag Harbor. It was another valuable experience, learning the ropes of the golf shop and marketing to a variety of customers.
“It made me realize that I was super interested in the retail and marketing side of the industry,” he says.
His schedule for the upcoming year is not any lighter. Now in his junior year at Penn State, he’s looking forward to heading to the Masters for the third time, working in the South Village merchandise shop. “Being behind the scenes has definitely moved me towards that side of the industry as something that I would want to do when I'm older,” he says.
In the summertime, he’ll head to Whistling Straits in Wisconsin for a seven month marketing internship where he’ll take all the skills he’s learned and apply it to a new environment in golf.
The Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund (LICSF) provides need-based financial assistance to deserving caddies and others who work in service to golf, assisting in the pursuit of a higher education. To learn more, visit longislandcaddiescholarship.org.