Golf: Most likely to succeed

Richard Dunn

When Andy Crinella of Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club attended his

10-year high school reunion three years ago, some jaws dropped when old

friends were told what he was doing for a living.

After all, Crinella failed to make the high school golf team at Mater

Dei.

Now, Crinella is not only a golf professional, but considered one of the

area’s top teaching pros.

“I think he’s the best teaching pro around,” said Big Canyon Country

Club’s Danny Bibb, the all-time area men’s club champion with 11 career

titles (six at Big Canyon, five at Newport Beach Country Club), all won

between 1977 and 1984.

Not long ago, Bibb brought his wife, Lynda, to see Crinella.

“She shot 111 and 106 at Big Canyon (in April), then after two lessons

with Andy Crinella, she shot an 86 at Big Canyon,” Bibb said of his

wife’s lifetime-best round earlier this month. “(Crinella) is different

than most (instructors) I’ve ever had.”

The son of a UCI psychologist and researcher, Crinella has developed his

own twist on matters.

“As guys get older, I mainly work with their balance and get them

stretched out,” said Crinella, who lives in Costa Mesa and whose father,

Frank, won the Irvine Coast Country Club (now Newport Beach) men’s

championship in 1981.

“I’m able to work with them on flexibility, which is not unconventional.

But I don’t teach the complete package. I get their flexibility back,

talk to them about nutrition and about the mental game of golf, too. My

dad teaches the mental game.”

Crinella, an assistant pro at Costa Mesa under head pro Brad Booth,

practiced hard for two years after meeting legendary swing guru Mac

O’Grady and taking lessons from him. O’Grady gives lessons to players on

the PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour, including 1999 Toshiba Senior Classic

champion Gary McCord, who said his playing career turned around after

working with O’Grady.

“The first lesson I had (with O’Grady), McCord was out there, too,”

Crinella said of his 1990 experience at Canyon Country Club in Palm

Springs. “Then, a year later, I made the college golf team (at Orange

Coast College).”

Crinella, who later starred at the University of San Diego, played a

couple of years on the mini-tour and won a Golden State Tour event at

Torrey Pines in 1995. But he knew his future was in teaching.

“That’s where I want to go,” Crinella said. “I’ve been working with (my

dad). He’s worked with a few tour players to get them thinking right and

they play better.”

When your gross score drops 20 strokes in one round, you figure it must

be something in the water.