From Farmstead to Florida: Scott Pruden’s Golf Journey Comes Full Circle
LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP N.J. –– For more than four decades, golfers have walked into the golf shop at Farmstead Golf & Country Club looking for tee times, available dates for outings, and swing advice. More often than not, they were greeted by the familiar face of Scott Pruden.
Since joining Farmstead in 1982, Pruden has become much more than the club’s Head Professional. He has been a teacher, mentor and steady presence for generations of golfers, helping beginners discover the game, guiding juniors as they developed their swings and welcoming thousands of players through the doors of the facility that sits on old farmland in the depths of Sussex County.
Now, after 44 years at the course where his professional career began, Pruden is preparing to step away from his full-time role. While retirement will eventually take him back to Florida, the place where he first fell in love with golf, his greatest legacy may be the countless golfers whose own journeys began because of him.
“It gets me choked up thinking about it,” Pruden said. “My grandfather got me involved in golf when I was about eight years old. He let me hit my first golf ball at Picatinny Arsenal Golf Course, and from that moment, I was hooked.”
That first swing shaped the rest of his life.
About a year after his first time out on the course, Pruden’s grandparents relocated to Florida. Every summer he boarded a plane alone to spend his school vacations with them, filling his days at Bent Tree Golf Course in Sarasota.
“I’d go to the club pretty much every day to play and practice. I loved the golf course atmosphere,” Pruden recalled.
Those summers introduced Pruden to John Kildred, Bent Tree’s head professional, and one of the most influential people in his career.
“I’d hang around the golf shop, play, practice and just admire him as a professional,” Pruden said. “I called him within the last year to thank him for the mentorship he gave me as a kid.”
Long before he realized it, Pruden would become that same mentor for countless golfers walking through the doors at Farmstead.
When high school ended, Pruden wasn’t sure what path he would take. He only knew golf would be part of it.
“I walked over to Farmstead, where I played my high school golf, and applied for a job,” Pruden said. “I started here on my 19th birthday in 1982.”
Pruden began his career as an amateur and worked his way up during a time where non-member professionals only earned a half-credit toward their PGA membership requirements. By 1998, Pruden had worked several years to become a PGA Class A member and begin his teaching professional career.
“After 44 years, I still get excited to come to work every day,” Pruden said.
Owned and operated by the Phoebus family since opening in 1964, Farmstead offered Pruden a place to work filled with history.
“If you know Farmstead, you know it’s a great story,” Pruden remarked. “Byron Phoebus bought it as a dairy farm and converted it into a golf course, and it’s still owned and operated by the family today. It’s a beautiful public facility with beautiful property.”
Over the next four decades, he grew alongside the club, working with three generations of the Phoebus family while helping oversee nearly every aspect of the operation. Pruden helps coordinate more than 200 golf outings each year, teaches lessons, manages tournaments and ensures the day-to-day success of one of northern New Jersey’s busiest public golf facilities.
“They are a great family to work for,” Pruden said. “We have over 200 golf outings each year, and you build relationships with the outing chairmen year after year. It’s the same people coming back. It’s just a great atmosphere.”
As the years passed, those familiar faces became one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
“I’ve had some of my members here for 30 or 40 years,” Pruden said. “It’s those long-term relationships that mean the most.”
While those relationships kept Pruden at Farmstead for more than four decades, helping others discover the game also became a meaningful part of his work.
“I love working with young kids because they come in like a blank canvas,” Pruden said. “From a golf standpoint, you can build their golf swing and help shape their development. It’s rewarding to watch them grow through the game. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve developed a much greater passion for sharing what I’ve learned and helping people improve.”
Unlike many sports that fade with age, Pruden believes golf offers something different.
“I also enjoy helping adults who may have taken up golf later in life. You’re helping them enjoy a game they can continue playing for the rest of their lives.”
As golf evolved throughout Pruden’s career and through the post-pandemic boom that introduced a new generation to the game, his approach remained remarkably consistent through what he calls “controlled chaos.”
“There are challenges,” Pruden said. “When you work at a public golf course, you’re dealing with different people every single day. Every day brings new personalities, new situations and new expectations.”
At the same time, Pruden has watched as the younger generation has found a new love for the game that he built his career around.
“That’s exciting because golf is truly a game you can play for a lifetime,” Pruden said. “Many sports phase out as people get older, but golf doesn’t.”
The next chapter of Pruden’s golf career isn’t about leaving the game behind, it’s about returning to where it all began.
He plans to relocate to Florida, where he hopes to remain involved in golf through teaching in a part-time role at a local facility. While the familiar setting of Farmstead will change, his passion for introducing others to golf will not.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever fully retire” Pruden remarked. “I’m stepping away after 45 years, but I think I can still be an asset to somebody.”
Leaving Farmstead, however, won’t be easy.
After more than four decades, the course has become intertwined with every step of his life. It was where he built a career, raised a family, celebrated friendships, and watched generations of golfers grow alongside him.
“My family is here,” Pruden said. “I have three children and two grandchildren, so it’ll be hard to leave. But hopefully they’ll get on a plane and come visit me the way I used to visit my grandparents.”
Looking back, Pruden is quick to give credit to the people who made the years at Farmstead so meaningful rather than the milestones themselves.
“I’m just proud to be part of the team here.” he continued. “I’ve had some great staff members throughout the years. We’re just one big team, and we all seem to gel and make it happen.”
Pruden laughed when asked if retirement meant slowing down.
“Between me and you,” he said with a smile, “I don’t want to be responsible for anything anymore. I just want to go to work. And maybe I’ll finally get a chance to play a little golf myself.”
More than four decades after a young boy boarded a plane each summer to spend his days at a Florida golf course, Pruden is preparing to make that journey once again. This time, he leaves behind not only a career, but a legacy built through thousands of lessons taught, countless friendships formed and a lifelong commitment to the game that first captured his heart.
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