HE’S a legend among local and visiting golfers and at the age of 80, teaching pro Leo Custodio is showing no signs of slowing down.Better known as “Mr. C”, the PGA senior has been teaching golf since the early 1950s, first at hotels and local clubs and today from the Bermuda Golf Academy in Southampton.

His passion for golf has also taken him to North America, the United Kingdom, the Azores and Europe to compete in numerous tournaments where he rubbed shoulders with golfing legends including Gary Player.

And while some golfers discovered they had a talent on the green, Mr. C’s introduction to this gentleman’s game came purely by chance with the discovery of a broken club and ball at the age of ten.

“I remember that as if it was yesterday,” he says with a broad smile.

“I found half of a club and a golf ball and thought ‘I think I’d like to try that’, so I took a swing and this ball took off in the air and went right out of sight.

“I said to myself, ‘Man, that’s terrific!’ Of course I couldn’t afford to play golf, but that first swing stuck in my mind.”

It was only later, while working as an engineer at the Belmont Hotel that he thought he would give it another try, but first he had to convince the general manager to let him use the hotel’s green.

“When you worked at a hotel, you couldn’t play golf there because they did not want staff to mingle with guests,” he explains.

“I told the general manager, Mr. Bauer that I really liked golf and wanted to try.”

Despite first turning him down, the general manager found it hard to refuse the enthusiastic youngster and eventually gave him permission, but on the condition that he always move aside and allow paying guests to play through.

Over the next few years Mr. C’s talent continued to develop, as did his dream to be a golf pro.

“I always wanted to be a golf pro, but it took a lot of time and money back then,” he recalls, so instead he started teaching as an amateur and spent close to 40 years offering free clinics at clubs across the island.

“I couldn’t get paid because I didn’t want to lose my amateur status, so they paid me in kind,” he says. This “payment” included a lifetime membership to a local golf club.

To pay the bills he worked in retail, including J.M. Smith & Son, a retail store in the city where over a period of 13 years his boss, an avid golfer, gave him time off to play in golf tournaments.

In fact over time Mr. C ended up teaching the boss’ whole family.

What few know is that Mr. C also designed clothing and at one point owned three retail stores in Hamilton, including Custodio’s Limited.

When the Golf Academy opened its doors ten years ago, Mr. C saw it as a great opportunity to teach from one location.

He says the facilities proved very popular with youngsters who came to play mini-golf and invariably ended up interested in learning more about the game.

With a chuckle he admits that you’re never too old to learn and he is always open to advice from other golfers.

In fact, he is hoping to watch the legendary Tiger Woods in action in October this year at the PGA Grand Slam taking place in Bermuda.

“Everyone, including myself, loves Tiger Woods,” he says with a smile. “I will be watching his swing to see what I can learn... I teach a lot of golf, but I’m always open to see what I can learn to help my game and then pass on to others.”

He and fellow teaching pro, Richard Farge have been passing on their experience and talent to countless golfers at the academy and recently added the sought-after “one-plane and two-plane swing” to their curriculum.

Mr. C would love to see Bermuda host more international tournaments and feels a championship golf course at Morgan’s Point would lure international stars like Ernie Els and Tiger Woods to our shores.

He adds that Bermuda has a wealth of untapped talent, something he wanted to help develop 50 years ago when he and Kenny Monkman started Junior Golf in Bermuda.

“We started with about two or three people and grew to about 50,” he recalls, adding that with this growth he found it hard to devote enough time to the students, especially with a severe shortage of golfing pros on the island to help.

“Whoever is running it now is doing a terrific job with Junior Golf. It’s an outstanding programme,” he says.

Despite Bermuda’s size, Mr. C feels the island has a wealth of local talent,

When asked what his greatest challenges are as a teaching pro, Mr. C responds: “At times you get students who don’t get it at first. They try and try and after a while you feel guilty that maybe you’re not doing it right, but they eventually get it. Then you get others who instantly get it.”

His greatest rewards are when someone calls wanting a lesson because their friends have referred them to him or being spotted on the green and asked for advice by fellow golfers on ways to improve their game.

As for the future, Mr. C says he’s open to anything: “I’m the type of fellow... I really trust in the Lord to make great things happen.”

As for the immediate future, Mr. C plans to travel to Egypt with this best friend and “partner in crime” J.J Madeiros where the two have been invited to play.

The two men have been inseparable over the years and have competed in various tournaments, along with Mr. C’s wife Kay who sometimes doubles up as his caddie.

The couple have been married for 57 years and have three children and hope to sponsor their oldest son Robert when he turns 50 to try out for the PGA<\p>Senior Golf Tour in the US. In fact, despite their ages, Mr. C and Mr. Madeiros plan to join in on this new adventure.

“Right now Robert’s a better player than I am,” he says with a chuckle. “But it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

“It’s only a dream to play, but just to be around those guys I’ve always read about, it will make me feel very young!”