<\/p>\nAdd Preferred Source<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
In both cases, the employers pursued Reynolds rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n
“He really showed tremendous maturity for someone just a few years removed from his undergraduate experience,” Albertus athletic director Michael Kobylanski said. “We’re thrilled he is joining us. He has high aspirations and already has a plan in place.”<\/p>\n
Reynolds played more basketball than golf at East Haven High School before becoming an All-Great Northeast Athletic Conference selection at Emmanuel. During the summers while he was in college, he worked in the maintenance department at Alling.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Lockery was the course superintendent during some of those summers when New England Golf operated the facility for the city. After Lock Management took over operations, Lockery knew exactly whom he wanted as his assistant golf professional.<\/p>\n
The head golf professional hired in 2025 stayed only a short time, leaving Reynolds to shoulder many of the responsibilities of both positions. He spends long hours in the pro shop, has organized clinics, weekly leagues and member tournaments, and gave his first golf lesson in June 2025.<\/p>\n
“You don’t get an opportunity like I had at 22 years old and say no to something like that,” Reynolds said. “I can always go work an office job later in life.”<\/p>\n
Reynolds said giving lessons is his favorite part of the job. Some involve video analysis, while others take place on the course to simulate real playing situations.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
“I act as their caddie for nine holes,” Reynolds said. “We plot our way around the course. We play 10 to 12 balls on each hole, playing different shots around the green and different ways to read a green.”<\/p>\n
Reynolds is also working through the PGA’s professional certification process and expects to complete the first level by the fall.<\/p>\n
Managing the responsibilities of both a head and assistant golf professional is demanding enough. Add the duties of a college head coach, and time management becomes even more critical.<\/p>\n
Albertus competes in the GNAC, so Reynolds was already familiar with the program. The Falcons practice at both New Haven Country Club and Alling Memorial, and Reynolds regularly worked with then-coach Matt Smith last season to schedule practice times.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Another responsibility at Alling is booking outings. Earlier this year, Reynolds spoke with Kobylanski about Albertus’ annual golf tournament, which will be held in October, although a site has not yet been finalized.<\/p>\n
Then, in May, Kobylanski reached out again. Reynolds assumed it was about the tournament.<\/p>\n
Instead, Kobylanski wanted to discuss the coaching position.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Reynolds emerged as one of two finalists, and Kobylanski was impressed with both his vision and professionalism.<\/p>\n
“He had a vision going forward,” Kobylanski said. “You don’t find that in many individuals, let alone someone fresh out of college with that level of maturity and the ability to articulate a vision for the future.”<\/p>\n
Following in his father’s footsteps as a coach has always been important to Reynolds. He said he once told Lockery that if a coaching opportunity ever arose, he planned to pursue it. He just didn’t expect it to happen this soon.<\/p>\n
Jim Reynolds is a former boys basketball coach at Wilbur Cross, Guilford and East Haven high schools.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
“My dad has instilled in me that being a coach is one of the absolute best things you can do in your life,” Ian Reynolds said. “It’s kind of stuck with me. The opportunity just kind of fell into my lap. I got super lucky, but it also took a lot of hard work to get to that point.”<\/p>\n
Reynolds is now putting together schedules for both Albertus golf teams, which begin play this fall. He has also begun recruiting, with much of his focus already on the 2027 class. The women’s team competes in the Northeast Women’s Golf Conference.<\/p>\n
Kobylanski said the men’s program has recruited well in recent years, while the women’s program continues to make progress.<\/p>\n
“We feel that our women’s golf program has made solid progress over the last two years, but there is definitely room for growth, especially on the recruiting front,” Kobylanski said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Albertus will likely hire an assistant coach to help Reynolds. Although he expects to work somewhat fewer hours at Alling during the college season, he also won’t be able to attend every Albertus practice, making the balancing act even more challenging.<\/p>\n
“Coaching is in his blood,” Lockery said. “It is such an incredible opportunity. He is passionate about the game. It’s a lot to juggle, but if anyone can do it, he seems to be doing it right now.”<\/p>\n
Reynolds understands how fortunate he is and plans to make the most of both opportunities.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
“I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can to be as great as I possibly can for Albertus,” Reynolds said. “You have to attack it, and you have to attack it hard. That’s what I’m going to do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ian Reynolds is the assistant golf pro at\u00a0Alling Memorial Golf Course in New Haven. He is pictured here…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[150,44,11634],"class_list":["post-36530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-ct-insider","tag-golf","tag-new-haven-register"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}