By Joe Olenick
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
PENDLETON —
Teaching is hereditary for sisters Kristen Dolan and Gretchen Scheuermann.
Both their grandfather Leslie Mercer and mother Anne Marie Scheuermann taught people how to play golf. Mercer had been a golf pro, having won the Vermont State Amateur Golf Tournament in 1921 as a 15-year-old. Anne Marie Scheuermann was an LPGA teaching professional.
So it’s little wonder that the teaching gene has kept going. Dolan coached basketball at Sweet Home High School and Gretchen Scheuermann is an LPGA teaching professional. The two are also the owners of Pinnacle Sports Academy, a traveling athletic instruction and training program.
Now Dolan and Gretchen Scheuermann are bringing their teaching to Transit Road in Pendleton. The sisters have opened the Highlands Golf Park, a driving range and pro shop formally known as Eagle Crest Driving Range. There is also an outdoor basketball court.
The park features 15 grass tee stations, 40 mat tee stations, a practice putting green and a chipping and pitching area.
Dolan said the Highlands opened May 1 and has gotten off to a great start.
“It’s been very positive,” she said. “The people have been so supportive here. We already have some regulars and we are so appreciative.”
At the Highlands, golf and basketball training programs are available for kids. They focus on developing skills and providing the kids with practices or workouts. Dolan runs the basketball half while Scheuermann heads the golf portion.
Golf lessons are available with the Highlands’ staff of professionals, which doesn’t include the golf park’s Ultimate Golf Camp. At the camp, with an 8 to 1 student-teacher ratio, kids learn golf skills such as putting, chipping, pitching, how and when to use the proper club. There is also an instructional basketball clinic that runs for four Saturdays in August for kids ages 3 through 12. At the camp, kids learn the basics such as dribbling, passing, shooting and defense.
Dolan said they also plan to put together some travel basketball teams. There is a summer league for those in seventh and eighth grades going on through Aug. 18.
In 1997, Anne Marie and Peter Scheuermann opened the Highlands Golf Park in Ruckersville, Va. The family had moved from Vermont the year before, when Gretchen Scheuermann went to Northwestern University in Illinois. Sometime after, Dolan was awarded a scholarship to play basketball at Canisius College in Buffalo.
After school, Dolan started teaching physical education and coaching basketball at Sweet Home. After the sisters had begun Pinnacle, they thought about having a physical location. That’s when they saw Eagle Crest for sale.
“We saw the potential here,” Dolan said.
Long-term goals include expanding the basketball court into a full court, adding miniature golf and possibly lights. But for now, Dolan and Scheuermann will focus on the fundamentals, just like they teach their young athletes.
Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.
