All in the Family
The Grier family legacy at Yingling’s Golf Center continues into a more modern future
By Bill Kamenjar
Less than two miles short of the one-horse town of Chewsville and directly across Route 64 from the Wooden Keg Beer, Wine and Liquor Store hangs a sign (with an ancient golf ball globe on top) that partially belies the changes that are taking place beyond it.
Though modernization of the facility is at the forefront these days, Yingling’s Golf Center–as its dated-yet-original entrance sign would attest–remains rooted in the past. And a big part of its legacy can be attributed to David Grier, a PGA teaching pro, and his golf-devoted family.
Last year Grier sold the golf facility that includes a driving range, nine-hole par 3 course and miniature golf, to Logan Kerns and his parents, ending the family ownership but not the family legacy that has touched many of Washington County’s golfers. The Wenatchee, Washington, native, who moved across the country at a young age, attended Chambersburg High School and then Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. He bought Yingling’s (named for the original 1970s owner Bert Yingling) in 1990 and along with his wife Judy owned and operated it for local golfers to afford and enjoy.
While Kerns is modernizing the facility, Grier and the oldest of his three golf-playing daughters still teach lessons at Yingling’s, which keeps a marvelous small-town tradition alive and the Grier-family stamp preserved.
Ashley Grier, daughter of former Yingling’s owner Dave Grier, still teachings at the driving range.
“Dave has a tremendous legacy in this town,” says Kerns, who since taking over at Yingling’s has implemented a technological and aesthetic transformation that even Grier himself categorizes as nothing short of sensational. “Anybody who is a golfer from Hagerstown has heard of Dave Grier and probably has even gotten a lesson from him at some point.”
Grier got hooked on golf early by caddying at Chambersburg Country Club as a youngster. He later started working in the business, first as a part-timer at Penn National Golf Club in nearby Fayetteville then as an assistant pro at Fountain Head Country Club in Hagerstown. After leaving the area to become the director of golf at Mid Pines Resort in Southern Pines, North Carolina, for a year in 1983, he returned home as the director of golf at Carroll Valley Resort in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. Then he bought Yingling’s in 1990 and established himself as the local golf authority.
The new ownership trio has reconfigured Yingling’s driving range with a covered practice tee and 18 Trackman (ball flight) technology-enhanced hitting stations, Kerns said they have consciously tried to keep some of the Grier inspiration intact.
Logan Kerns and his parents bought Yingling’s Golf Center and are in the process of modernizing it.
“We try to keep as much history as we can,” says the Boonsboro native, “and keep many of the things Dave established. For instance, there are no reservations, just come out and play. Taking responsibility for Yingling’s, I knew the burden I inherited from Dave. There’s a lot of land here [and moving parts] to oversee. I look at it like a blue-collar, Hagerstown version of those other guys (Top Golf).”
One of Grier’s greatest contributions over the years has been his commitment to all areas of junior golf. His programs have produced multiple Maryland State High School champions and his own three daughters–Ashley, Andrea and Alicia–went on to play major college golf. In addition to promoting the game of golf to junior players, he has been influential in teaching lessons to all ages and levels of players looking to enhance their lifetime involvement in the game.
Grier met his wife, Judy, in 1980 while teaching a YMCA golf class. For nearly 34 years, the two ran the show at Yingling’s.
“Without her, it wouldn’t have worked,” Grier says. “She ran the golf shop, got to know the regulars and was definitely the face of Yingling’s.”
The new technology at Yingling’s allows players to track their shots and their progress.
His daughter Ashley (Lintelman) is a two-time Middle Atlantic Section Titleist Junior Tour champion, a Maryland State High School champion and graduate of the University of Central Florida. She has played on professional tours, competed in some of golf’s top events and teaches both in Florida during the winter and at home in Maryland during the summer.
All three of Grier’s daughters played junior golf with success. In addition to Ashley’s collegiate career, Andrea went on to compete at Marshall University and Alicia at Coastal Carolina University. But it’s Ashley who has stayed engaged within the newly refined confines known simply as Yingling’s. That’s where she honed her talented short game by playing late into the long summer nights at Yingling’s par-3 course. So, in essence, she remains loyal to it.
“A playground,” as Grier has described Yingling’s in the past.
A playground and a family affair that has helped spread golf to many Washington County residents. And now, in a more modern style, Kerns will keep the six-decade tradition moving forward.
“We kind of went with keeping the family friendly vibe, just upgraded the place with the technological aspect, adding extra layers of entertainment and practice incentives,” Kerns says.