While on assignment for a wine country story, I had to stop in ad hoc, Thomas Keller’s newest Yountville eatery. Chef de Cuisine Dave Cruz was nice enough to step into the back garden to chat about the menu and his style of cooking. Chef Cruz graduated from the CIA in New York and worked at various restaurants in New York City before joining the staff at Bouchon. He was instrumental in ad hoc’s opening in 2006 and now leads and supervises the kitchen.
Michael Voltaggio began cooking when he was a teenager in Maryland. He has been the recipient of several awards including the AAA 5 Diamond and Mobil Award while serving as Chef de Cuisine at the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida as well as a Michelin Star while serving as Chef de Cuisine of Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in California. In 2009, he was a finalist for the James Beard “Best New Restaurant” award. He served as Chef de Cuisine at Bazaar by Jose Andres before moving to the Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa earlier this year. He is competing against his brother Bryan, also a chef, on this season of Top Chef on Bravo TV.
While staying at the lovely Phoenician resort I was lucky to grab a private golf lesson with pro Michael Lamanna. He taped my swing and provided a detailed CD of our lesson at the end of the hour, which is really helpful if you are trying to improve your game. Michael began playing golf at age 4 and earned a golf scholarship to the University of Idaho. After graduating he worked as a club professional for 10 years. He has taught golf using video training techniques since 1979. During the past 18 years he has dedicated himself to teaching full-time. First as a Master Instructor, then as Director of Instruction and Director of Schools for three Jim McLean Golf Academies. In 1998, he became the first Director of Instruction for Resort Golf Group and opened and operated golf academies at Sierra Nevada Golf Club in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Mesquite Golf Club in Palm Springs, California, Cimarron Golf Club in Cathedral City, California, The Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California and at Doral Arrowwood Resort in Rye, New York. In 1999, he was named Director of Schools at the PGA TOUR Golf Academy in Saint Augustine, Florida and in 2002, he was named Director of Instruction at the prestigious The Academy at La Cantera, located at The Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas.
Michael has worked with teaching legends Jim McLean, Bob Toski, Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Scott Sackett, and Golf Digest Top 50 Teacher, Tim Mahoney. He has conducted clinics with Hall of Fame members Billy Casper, Ben Crenshaw, Gary Player and Tony Jacklin, and with tour legends Bruce Lietzke, Calvin Peete, Bill Rogers, Dale Douglass and Gay Brewer.
Michael has been affiliated with the PGA and teaching golf for more than 27 years and is a Certified Golf Fitness Instructor with the Titleist Performance Institute. He was named “2004 Harvey Penick Teacher of the Year” in the Western Chapter of the Southern Texas PGA and has written articles for About.Com, Avid Golfer magazine, Texas Golfer, AZ Golfer, Northwest Golfer and numerous local and regional newspapers and periodicals. He has hosted local golf talk radio programs and has appeared in numerous TV golf tip segments. He has taught players of all levels, including the San Antonio City Girls, Boys and Men’s Champions, the Texas State Mid Amateur Champion, Arizona Amateur Champion, Phoenix Men’s Amateur Champion, Montana State Open Champion, Arizona State Boys and Florida State Girls Junior Champions, collegiate golfers, members of the LPGA, Nationwide Tour, The Champions Tour and PGA TOUR.
Here is our conversation about golf and the three nine hole courses at the Phoenician.
While in Arizona for a golf story I got to take a private lesson with head golf pro Ron Heraty at the Arizona Biltmore. Ron has been a member of the PGA for 15 years is a graduate of the Professional Golf Association Business School in San Diego and in Denver.
View of adobe course, 14th hole
We talked about his golf background and the two 18-hole courses, The Links and The Adobe, at the Biltmore.
