Brian Manzella
Administrator
David Smith, a golf instructor at the New Orleans City Park Driving Range since about 1987, passed away this morning. He was formerly the Head Golf Professional at Timberlane Country Club in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans.
There is probably no one else I've spent as much time with that I know less about than David. He claimed to have worked for Ping in Phoenix in the early 80's, and was married when I first knew him, but wasn't for years leading up to his passing.
As far as I knew, he suffered from Parkinson's disease for the last several years.
He didn't have a family that was close to him, and as the years have gone by, almost all of the teachers are gone from the range's heyday. We talked every time he wasn't teaching when I came to visit at the range that I cut my teaching teeth on.
Over the years he taught hundreds and hundreds of golfers, working the line, the lobby, and the phones as hard and as long as anyone ever did.
He will will be missed by many, myself being one of them.
There is probably no one else I've spent as much time with that I know less about than David. He claimed to have worked for Ping in Phoenix in the early 80's, and was married when I first knew him, but wasn't for years leading up to his passing.
As far as I knew, he suffered from Parkinson's disease for the last several years.
He didn't have a family that was close to him, and as the years have gone by, almost all of the teachers are gone from the range's heyday. We talked every time he wasn't teaching when I came to visit at the range that I cut my teaching teeth on.
Over the years he taught hundreds and hundreds of golfers, working the line, the lobby, and the phones as hard and as long as anyone ever did.
He will will be missed by many, myself being one of them.