By Terry Mosher

Editor, Sports Paper

When Daryl Matheny put together the 2009-10 Olympic College men’s golf team he didn’t realize he would be doing it with a 40-something retired military man hammering golf balls off tees during practice at Gold Mountain Golf Complex.

Al Braunstein, however, is on the squad vying with young college men for the right to be on the six-man OC travel squad that will compete this spring in the NWAACC North Division.

“He’s one of my projects,” says Matheny of Braunstein, who turned 49 in January. “He grew up playing golf and plays quite a bit at Gold Mountain.”

That is where Matheny, the head golf pro, discovered Braunstein, who retired here after 22 years of service in the Navy and in September began going to school at Olympic College.

Braunstein is a native of Smithtown, N.Y. – population about 115,000 and located on the north shore of Long Island – is married to his second wife (Ann, a school teacher in the South Kitsap School District), and has six kids and three grandkids with two more on the way.

And a bag full of golf clubs.

“I’ve played golf off and on, but really haven’t had a chance to hone my game,” says Braunstein, who played soccer at Smithtown High School and spent one year at The College at Brockport (near Rochester, N.Y.), then worked for a while before joining the Navy, where he eventually reached the rank of Chief.

“It was a great career. I loved what I did in the Navy,” said Braunstein, who worked in communications. “I was in chat rooms before there were chat rooms.”

Braunstein, who has lived in Port Orchard since 1996 and calls this area home, started playing golf with his dad when he was 13. Because his golf playing was limited to where he was stationed with the Navy, Braunstein wasn’t always able to get out on the links. But in 1992 when he was in Hawaii for four years, his playing picked up.

“I went from a 24 handicap to six in two and half years,” says Braunstein, who now plays in the low 80s while balancing marriage and books with his golf game.

Along the way, Braunstein has learned how build his own golf clubs.

“I am a master club builder,” he says. “I haven’t had anybody ask me to build them clubs, but I have built my kids’ clubs. I also regrip clubs.”

His golf courses of choice around here are Gold Mountain, Trophy Lake and Horseshoe Lake.

“I love the game,” Braunstein says. “Walking 18 holes (around here), you get to take in the beauty and the fresh air of the Northwest. Many times I have seen deer in the fairways. I like playing at 6 a.m. when the air is fresh.”

When Braunstein retired from the Navy in 2005, he opened Shooterz, a bar in Port Orchard. The recession was a big factor in him closing it three years later.

“It was something new to be self-employed after 22 years in the Navy,” Braunstein says. “I didn’t want to go into an office and work for somebody else. Once you are in management, and I was in management in the Navy, it’s difficult (not to be your own boss).”

Braunstein said the bar had four pool tables, a dance floor and live music.

“We were busy,” he says. “I had a cab I paid for on weekends so you could take a cab home free.”

But license fees, taxes and the recession put a big dent into the business. Braunstein said the only people making money were his employees, so he had to close.

Then he found out he could go to school with the financial help allotted him as a retired military man, and the rest is history.

One benefit of owning a bar with pool tables is that Braunstein has become a good pool player. He plays in the Kitsap County Pool League, and says the sport has helped him with his putting.

“I can read the greens well,” he says. “They are a similar game. It all depends on the five-inches of gray material between your ears.”

Up until a year ago, Braunstein was still playing soccer. He had been playing it since high school, but his ankles have been giving him trouble so he took a year off from playing indoor soccer at the Olympic Soccer and Sports Center.

Now it’s college golf that has his attention. He practices with the team at Gold Mountain,

“I play with a bunch of young studs who hit the ball long and shoot very well,” says Braunstein. “Its very good competition.

“I hit it pretty long off the tees. I’m itching to go back out with a new driver. With new clubs I purchased it takes a little time to get used to chipping around the green. I have a decent game. I get up and down very well. I have to work on course management.”

Braunstein got a 3.87 grade point in his first semester in computer science at OC. His plan is to get his AA degree in the summer of 2011 and then go for his four-year degree at the UW-Tacoma. He would eventually like to work for Homeland Security in communications.

In the meanwhile, he’s aiming to get better on the course.

“I will be challenging those kids this spring for a starting spot so I can go on those weekend tournaments,” he says.