NEVERSINK--"Believe in yourself...the world is yours to do as you please....enjoy and have fun in the process," retired fifty-three year-old Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) golfer Sherri Steinhauer told the Fallsburg Girls Varsity Golf Team following their visit to her Memorabilia Room located in her seasonal home in the Town of Neversink.
Fallsburg Girls Varsity Golf Coach Brian Garber when asked about their tour noted that the Memorabilia Room, "is on her property in Neversink and I was blown away with how welcoming she was towards my golf team."
"Sherri was great...she answered all of the students questions, reflected on some career highlights and even let the girls putt on her indoor green," Garber noted.
Garber pointed out that Steinhauer, "has an amazing collection of her personal memorabilia from her days as a young player all the way through college and her professional career."
The Memorabilia room "is filled to the rim with trophies, awards, plaques, player bags, scorecards, photos with celebrities, leader-boards and everything else you can imagine that is golf related," the Fallsburg coach said.
Comments from members of the Fallsburg Girls Varsity golf team following their visit with Sherri included Katelyn McCarthy saying "the visit to see Sherri Steinhauer was truly an honor and it was wonderful to see how she came to be an excellent golfer. Before visiting her I didn't really value golf and after I really came to realize that it is truly a lifetime sport and in my opinion is one of the most calming and relaxed sports, despite getting into sticky situations."
Madison Levine, a senior on last year's team felt "it was so nice of Sherri Steinhauer to open her home to our golf team and it was an honor to be in the presence of a golfer who has accomplished so much." Levine went on to state, "Sherri's golf museum was filled with artifacts from her junior golf years through her 26-year professional career and walking around and seeing all that she has accomplished and still is can make any golfer not matter age or ability want to work hard so that they can reach their potential."
Levine noted that "Sherri analyzed each team member's putting stroke and then gave them tips to improve and these tips were greatly appreciated and helped the team to go on to win their fifth straight division title."
"Sherri is a wonderful woman and an inspiration to all young women," Levine added.
Freshman Fallsburg Varsity girls golfer Hayley Weiner said her experience in visiting Sherri Steinhauer "was one I will truly never forget whether is was seeing al of her triphies or speking to her about how the game of golf impacted her life so much."
"Sherri Steinhauer left an impression on me about how greatly a sport like golf can affect a person while growing up and Sherri showed me how if you really can put your mind to something there is nothing that you can't accomplish in life," Weiner added.
This one of a kind museum which Sherri refers to as her "Memorabilia Room" covers both her amateur and professional career and in the far end of the room is the family room, slash media room.
Steinhauer earned more than $6 million during her 26-year career.
"I've got family pictures of all of my brothers and my mom and dad because that's how my mom decorated our family room," Sherri noted.
The room also contains video and disks which she put on a hard drive.
Steinhauer said most of the items came from a massive collection maintained by her mother, Nancie, who passed away in 2010.
When she realized the extent of the treasure trove of memories she knew that a storage garage she had just built had a second floor that would be a perfect place to display everything.
The second floor "Memorabilia Room" is 60 feet long and 14 feet wide and she hired a builder to build the furniture and her nephew, Alan Steinhauer got into the project and 18 months later it was finished.
Steinhauer, a two-time major champion noted that "as you're playing on the Tour, you're going through the motions every week and you never really reflect," but "this has given me a chance to reflect on my career."
Equipped with reader rails that lay out Steinhauer's career in writing, the museum takes on a storybook-type feel.
"I equate it to an autobiography that actually is a visual autobiography," she said.
Steinhauer has hosted cub scouts, youth golf teams and plans to bring more children to he facility which promotes the game of golf and where serving as a mentor to children has become a passion project.
The museum was opened up to groups in the fall of 2014 when the museum was completed.
Sherri pointed out that "I hope to inspire kids, I'll take them through and ask them what they want to do with their life and I'll just talk to them and tell them that dreams can come true."
It's a great place for me to take kids and give them any kind of inspiration I can. I started dreaming about what I wanted to do at a young age and I really do feel like my dream did come true." she said.
When asked what prompted her to make the decision to open the museum to visitors Sherri siad, "first, what prompted me to build the museum was finding all the memorabilia from my golf career and childhood trinkets tucked away by my Mom in our family home."
"After my Mom passed away in December 2010 I sat on these items for a while wondering what I was going to do with them and that's when I decided to built the museum and when I finished my family flew in from Madison, Wi. to see it," Steinhauer said.
"They (my family) suggested I should bring people in to tour," and "remembering back to my youth and what a shy person I was, I thought maybe I could inspire kids with my story...that with a dream you can set out to do anything you want as long as you are willing to work hard, stay focused and persevere though difficult times," Sherri added.
Steinhauer pointed out that she has focused on "kids because I think they have the most to learn from it and I have had friends fly in to see it as well as some local friends who have requested to see it."
When youth groups visit her it has strictly been on a referral basis and she has received referrals through word of mouth in the local community.
When asked how she made the decision to locate in Neversink and what her major reason for locating here was Sherri said, "a friend of mine and her family had a piece of property for sale, I took a look at it and fell in love with it."
Asked if she is playing any competitive golf at this time Steinhauer pointed out that "my last round of golf was with my family on September 26, 2015 where we played a nine-some on a private resort course and what a great memory that was."
Her last competitive round was a one day Legends Tour event earlier in September of that year.
Sherri spends her winters in Palm Springs, California and the summer months in Sullivan County and she travels back to Wisconsin from New York to visit her family in the summer.
When she was playing competitive golf she practiced at the Grossinger's Golf & Country Club in Liberty for about 10 years.
Asked if she played any other Sullivan County golf courses Sherri said, "the first time I called to see if I could come out and practice at Grossinger's all the staff there made me feel right at home so I basically did all of my practicing there as the golf course offered everything I needed to prepare for my LPGA tournaments and what a beautiful setting they have there."
Grossinger Club House Manager Kenny Cogswell in speaking about Sherri said, "Sherri is a sweetheart, a very nice girl and always was very polite." When asked about Steinhauer's style of play while practicing at Grossinger's Cogswell noted "she was an excellent player and had such great skills."
Cogswell added that "one day Sherri and I got into a little putting contest on hole number 18 for $1 for the first one to sink their putt and she had about a 30-foot putt that snaked at the end and she put it right in the hole and I quickly lost my dollar."
"She's a lot of fun," Cogswell added.
Steinhauer, who no longer plays any golf, noted "I dedicated my whole life to golf starting when I was eight years old when I won a dime in a two-hole competition."
"At that point I first felt the thrill of competing and at 12 I was competing in the state championships and lost my match to the gal who went on to win the tournament," Sherri said.
After that state tournament she knew that she wanted to play profesionally and relayed that to reporter and her journey began.
"After 40 years of playing I began to suffer with hip issues...orthopedic surgery helped prolong my career a few years but when I realized I couldn't compete or play like I used to I lost the desire and the game became a responsibility instead of a pleasure so I then decided to put the clubs away," Sherri noted.
Steinhauer pointed out that "the only problem was I yearned for the competition and missed it terribly so I picked up another game called pickleball and I thoroughly enjoy this sport and it gives me the competition I longed for while staying in shape and making new friends."
When asked professionally what tournament she thinks the most about and why her answer was "on the LPGA tour I think most about the British Open tournaments as I have great memories of winning it three times."
Sherri's Sullivan County summer residence is located on some 68 wooded acres about two hours northwest of New York City and is some 10 miles from the nearest stoplight but this also is allowing her to throw herself into a new hobby of raising horses. She now has three horses and started riding and taking lessons about four years ago but unfortunately riding horses became too painful due to her hip issues.
"I still very much enjoy the horses, often walking or hiking while others ride and having them with me on the property and being able to watch them from the house brings a lot of joy, fun and excitement to my life, "Sherri said.
Although this Sullivan County home is some 18 minutes to the nearest grocery store, "I just love the quite," Steinhauer commented.
Her willingness to share with today's youth what golf has done for her is a genuine beautiful gesture for this outstanding former LPGA champion.
She said that "golf afforded me a wonderful life, I loved my career on tour and I was able to live out my dream and I feel so fortunate, I'm just grateful."
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