Nick Yaun New Head Golf Pro

Brae Burn Country Club new Head Golf Professional Nick Yaun


NICK YAUN BECOMES YOUNGEST
HEAD PRO IN TRI-STATE REGION

Bringing professionalism to the game of golf is certainly a major factor in the appointment recently of Liberty's Nick Yaun as the new Head Golf Professional of the Brae Burn Country Club at Purchase, NY.
Brae Burn Golf Chairman Jonathan Rachlin noted that the Head Golf Pro Search Committee received over 60 applications and interviewed eight applicants before selecting Nick for this position.
Twenty-seven year-old Nick Yaun was introduced to the Met at their fall meeting by Monticello professional Bobby Heins and is said to be the youngest Head Pro in the tri-state region.
When Brae Burn was formed in 1964 it was the first new member-owned club formed in Westchester County since the late 1920's and its name was achieved in a contest among members.
Frank Duane, a long-time protege of Robert Trent Jones, was retained to design the golf course, which was ready for play in June 1965.
The parkland layout is routed through hilly terrain with natural brooks and ponds in play on a number of holes. An old, elevated railroad bed crosses the course, adding an unusual man made dimension. The undulating greens are among the most contoured and challenging in the Metropolitan area.
A course renovation completed in 2000 enhanced the course's beauty and architect Ken Dye's plan reconfigured bunkers, added visibility and restored much of Duane's original design.
Over the years, several of Brae Burn's holes have been voted among the best in the area.
Nick, as he prefers to be called, started playing golf at the age of 12 and gave up playing his last year in Little League to pursue his love for the of golf and what eventually has taken him into the professional ranks of this sport.
His mom and dad, Tim and Cynthia Yaun made strong efforts in NIck's early years in golf to provide him the opportunity to compete in the International Junior Golf Tour.
At Liberty Central High School nick played golf on the varsity golf team when he was in the seventh grade with his first coach being Russ Stahl. He later was coached by Phil Fanning while playing six years of varsity golf.
Private lessons also came into play for Nick with instruction from Steve Eisenberg who provided the comment that "Nick has great potential."
Following high school where Yaun also played varsity basketball, he enrolled in Campbell University at Buies Creek, North Carolina, which offered one of the top collegiate golf programs in the country. Nick qualified and made the team as a freshman.
His college plans changed the second year as Nick transferred to Clemson University at Clemson, South Carolina. Although Nick did not play on the team that year the school went on to win the College National championship.
At Clemson University Nick entered into the Professional Golf Management (PGM) program which competed at several school locations in that area of South Carolina and out of 12 events Yaun won 9 championships while enjoying competing with a number of the players on the Clemson national championship team that are now playing on the PGA tour.
The PGM program at Clemson University proved to be a great stepping stone for Nick as part of the program he was required to do a summer internship at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, NY
The Winged Foot Golf Club, ranked No. 8 in America, had as its Golf Professional Tom Nieforte who took a liking of Nick and asked him to stay on full time at the club as an Assistant Golf Professional. Knowing he would have to leave college and his collegiate program Nick took the opportunity offered to him and became the clubs new Assistant Golf Professional.
Yaun stayed at Winged Foot through 2004 when he again made an important decision for his professional growth and went to work as a trainee at the Jim McLean Golf School at Doral in Miami, FL.
Well known for his presence on The Golf Channel, McLain is recognized worldwide as an authority on the golf swing. He has worked with over ver 100 touring professionals from the PGA, LPGA and Champion Tours. Consistently ranked amongst the best in the golf instruction business, the golf school was ranked the # 1 golf school in America by CNN, US News and World Report.
Nick noted he took quite a cut in pay to become a trainee at this school but his dedication and hard work paid off when he completed the two-year training course and received his Certified Assistant Professional degree and qualified at that time as an Assistant Golf Teaching Professional.
Through this training and school Nick made various Golf Professional contacts and at the age of 25 was employed as the 1st Assistant Golf Professional who also gave all the lessons at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, NJ.
Yaun several years ago received his Professional Golf Association (PGA) Class A Golf Professional designation.and while working at Upper Montclair helped manage the Sybase Shop-Rite Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) National Tournament, the fourth largest ladies tour tournament in the United States.
Golf Chairman Rachlin in announcing Nick's Head Golf Professional appointment said, "Nick has many new ideas that he wants to implement next season, please join me in wishing him success in his new role at Brae Burn."




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