From Arnold Palmer's Club to Fall River. See what this PGA golf pro from Somerset is up to

FALL RIVER — It stopped Tim Leigh in his tracks.

The Somerset High School graduate was scanning the job board at PGA.org this past winter and saw the post: Fall River Country Club was seeking a new head professional.

“It was always kind of in my mind to get back to home,” Leigh, 32, said recently. “It was always kind of a goal. You never know what jobs will be out there.”

Armed with an impressive resume for a PGA pro his age, the Rhode Island College graduate and former Little East Conference Player of the Year, threw his golf visor into the ring.

And then waited, admittedly anxiously. And waited some more. “It eats at you a little bit,” he said, “but there’s always a waiting period.”

The folks at FRCC decided Leigh was their man. They agreed to terms. He was hired on April 28 and had boots on the turf May 4.

Leigh's experience

Leigh's resume includes the following stops — head pro at Brownson in Shelton, Connecticut; senior assistant pro at The Union League of Philadelphia; first assistant pro at The Bedens Brook Club in Skillman, New Jersey; assistant pro at Adios Golf Club in Coconut Creek, Florida; assistant pro at Jupiter Hills Club of Tequesta, Florida; assistant pro at the Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

His first PGA professional job is the one that people most ask him about. It was at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, from October 2014 to May 2016. Palmer died in September of 2016, 15 days after his 87^th birthday. Leigh said that Palmer would still come out and hit balls. And the golf legend, as friendly as can be, made it a point to know the staff, including the big kid from Somerset, Mass.

"We'd practice right near him on the driving range," Leigh said. "All the stories you hear about him are true. I'd watch him sign autographs on the range for an hour and a half.“

Leigh's last job, prior to FRCC, was as general manager at Golf Galaxy in Boston.

During his high school days, competing for Somerset High School, Leigh played at FRCC when the Raiders faced Durfee High and Bishop Connolly high schools. He played in youth tournaments at FRCC. He played in the annual CYO tournament there.

Bishop Connolly graduate Nate Chhim is Leigh's assistant pro.

Playing at the Fall River Country Club

Blessed with amazing water views of the Taunton River estuary, FRCC is a course that golfers who play it — even once — remember for a lifetime. He admires his new home track not just for its beauty but for the different ways it can be played. "It's a fun place to play," he said.

The 6-foot-4 Leigh said his teaching philosophy is rooted in the short game. "I like to build a golf swing from the ground up, with an emphasis on proper body mechanics to make the golfer's swing as efficient and repeatable as possible," he said.

He and wife Jillian have a son, Tucker, age 2, and they are expecting their second child, another boy, in the fall. They are living in Canton but want to move back to this area by year's end. The prospect of settling in for the long haul at FRCC appeals to Leigh.

"I don't know if I can rival Tom Tetrault's tenure (FRCC head pro for 35 years)," Leigh said. "But I'd like to be here a long time."

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Somerset native and PGA pro takes talents to Fall River Country Club