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Profile: PING Equipment Loyalist Alan Alsheimer
06 May 2015
by AmateurGolf.com Staff

see also: , Alan Alsheimer Jr. Profile

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Alan Alsheimer Jr. has been a golfer nearly his whole life and has been carrying a full set of Ping clubs almost as long.

Describing one of his original sets of Ping irons, the AmateurGolf.com player staffer says, “I played the Ping Zing 2s and you had that little knob sticking out of the toe. There was nothing classic-looking about it. It looked more like a garden hoe but I loved it.”

Alan took up the game at age seven and immediately fell in love with it. He became a scratch golfer when he turned 15 and earned a full athletic scholarship to the University of Maryland to play golf where he lettered every year.

After a brief career playing professionally on the Golden Bear Tour and South Florida Tour, Alan regained his amateur status in 2002. In 2007, he married Amanda at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan. Together, he and Amanda are raising two sons (Aidan and Owen) and a daughter (Riley). Alan currently works for Permanens Capital LP as a Senior Investment Officer.

Alan and his family reside in Manhasset, NY and he is a member of The Creek Club, in Locust Valley, where he plays to a 1 index. While many things in Alan’s life have changed since first picking up a golf club as a middle- class kid growing up in central New York, one thing that hasn’t is his trust in Ping equipment.

Ping clubs fill out the bag of Alan 
Alsheimer Jr.
Ping clubs fill out the bag of Alan Alsheimer Jr.

“I grew up playing Ping i2s. I played Ping equipment through college. I played Ping equipment after college,” says Alan. “And despite tinkering with other equipment manufacturers - I end up going back to Ping. There’s a mental comfort, a feel, and a look when I have their stuff in my hands.”

A brief summary of Alan’s accomplishments as a golfer includes:

  • All-ACC Conference Academic Honors
  • Athletic Directors Honor Roll
  • Competed in several invitation-only, Amateur Majors including the Monroe Invitational, Porter Cup and Northeast Amateur
  • Former GolfWeek Men’s US Amateur ranking
  • Best national finish, 2nd, to eventual PGA Tour winner Arjun Atwal
  • Career low, 62; competitive career low, 65
Q&A with Alan Alsheimer Jr.

When did you begin golfing, and whow were the most influential people in your life?

I first picked up a club when I was seven. Both my grandfather and my uncle were scratch players. My grandfather was shooting his age into his late sixties before he passed away from a heart attack.

Both my parents were athletes, they loved golf. On Sundays, my parents, myself and my younger brother would go to church together, then lunch, then golf. So it quickly supplemented baseball and other sports because it meant being with my family; plus I enjoyed getting better at it.

Then of course when you start winning tournaments and beating older kids, all of a sudden it catches on and becomes as addictive as anything else you can imagine at a young age.

Did you always assume you would get better at it?

I had certainly hoped so because I so loved the game. I would walk as much as 54 holes a day, from sun up to sun down. It got to a point where I would be skipping days from high school to go play golf; the principal would call my mom at work saying your son's not in school. My mom would put him on hold, call the pro shop and ask if they've seen me. And they would say, 'Oh yeah, we've seen Alan a while ago.'

So I knew it was a passion and, being a decent young athlete, I hoped the game would take to me as much as I took to it.

Which golfers did you admire growing up?

This might sound obscure, but I admired Wayne Levi and Fred Couples. People forget that Wayne was the 1990 PGA Tour Player of the Year.

He grew up in my hometown and my uncle actually played college golf with him. So here I had a PGA Tour professional from my home town. So you can imagine all throughout my childhood in the 1980s, growing up in central New York where they hosted the B.C. Open, this was like having exposure to a homegrown hero at the top of his game.

Most people don't know who he is, but he had success.

Editor's note: Wayne Levi won the B.C. Open in 1984; Fred Couples in 1991.

So naturally his success meant a lot to you

It certainly did. On weeks when he wasn't traveling the tour, you would find him at the local golf courses (private and public). Being from central New York he truly was a middle class guy and he never changed, even after winning PGA Tour events. I always thought that was very admirable.

What's the strongest part of your golf game and how did it get that way?

My strength has always been driving and ball striking in general. I'd like to point out a quote that sums up my approach - "the will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

That was something that meant a lot to me growing up. I was only going to get what I was going to put in. I was also brought up to believe that practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. It's ironic that the ideas that became popular later with people like Lynn Marriot and Vision54 was part of my routine.

During my range sessions I would play 18 holes in my mind and concentrate on hitting shots I would need on the golf course. So when it came to the driver, I imagined hitting shots in what amounted to golf course conditions as opposed to sending shots into this big, wide open field where it didn't matter where it landed.

What essential piece of golf equipment can you not live without?

That is such a great question!

I will not play a round without my custom Maryland Tinbox Scorecard Holder in my back pocket. It means a lot to me as a middle-class kid from Syracuse. If I didn't get on a golf scholarship, God only knows what my choices would've been. Having had the opportunity to play for a nationally-ranked program like Maryland's - I owe a lot back to that place.

Do you have a favorite golf course or course architect?

I belong to a C.B. Macdonald course and National Golf Links of America is my favorite golf course I've played. I would certainly list him as my favorite architect among old school classic designers. In terms of present day courses, I have yet to play a Jack Nicklaus design that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed and felt challenged by.

Drive, chip or putt? Which skill is the most essential to shooting lower scores?

Drive. You can't shoot lower scores from the trees.

We've all been in situations where we've hit a wavered drive, chipped it out sideways, stuffed a 7-iron and made a 10- footer for par. But you can't make a living doing that.



Golf Bag
Driver Ping G30 9.0 (set at 8.4 degrees actual) w/Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 6.2 S (frequency 7.0) 45" length Graphite Shaft
Ping G30 Driver On Trackman, I consistently gained 1.5 mph in club head speed, pushing me up into the 115 range.
3 Wood Ping G30 14.5 (set at 13.5 degrees actual) w/Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 7.2 S (frequency 6.7) 43" length Graphite Shaft
Ping G30 Fairway The majority of my fairway wood play comes from the tee box and there is nothing more comfortable than knowing you have a reliable fairway finder in your hands when the driver isn’t an option.
Hybrid Ping G30 17.0 2H w/Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 8.8HB S (frequency 6.4) 41" length Graphite Shaft
Ping G30 Hybrid While it is the longest hybrid I have hit to date, it does one thing no other hybrid has done - produced zero draw bias.
Irons Ping i25 Blue Color Code, Tour Lofts w/Other Aerotech Steelfiber 110cw (constant weight 110 grams) Steel Shaft
Ping i25 Irons The satin “foggy chrome” look is stunning. Ping has really nailed it here - glare free - and very scratch resistant.
Gap Wedge PING i25, L 50 degrees loft, Aerotech Steelfiber 110cw (constant weight 110 grams) - 50 Degrees
Lob Wedge PING i25, L 56 degrees loft, Aerotech Steelfiber 110cw (constant weight 110 grams) - 58 Degrees
Putter Ping 2015 Cadence TR Anser 2 35" Blue Color Code Standard
Ping Cadence TR Anser 2 I simply loved the Anser 2 and Ketsch, to the point where I couldn’t decide which one would go in the bag.
Grip Golf Pride New Decade Whiteout Red
Ball Titleist 2015 ProV1x #9
Titleist 2015 ProV1x #9 My dad and my wife both share April 9th as their birthday and my dad passed away from pancreatic cancer before ever meeting Amanda. I had adopted the number 9 before Titleist allowed you to use 2 digits for playing numbers, back when it was only 1 through 8 and 9, if you asked for it!
Shoes FootJoy Icon Traditional My Joys NCAA Maryland Terrapins 11.5M
FootJoy Icon Traditional My Joys I get to wear a top level tour shoe personalized to my liking.
Glove FootJoy Pure Touch Tour Only Cadet L
FootJoy Pure Touch Tour Only 
Cadet It is super soft, unlike any others made. It lasts - the superior cut of leather doesn’t wear as quickly.
Distance Device Bushnell Laser Tour Z6 JOLT




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