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Obituary

Golf and smiles inspired her

By MARTY CLEAR
Published March 2, 2007

Most people who knew Patti Burris remember her as a wonderful golf teacher, a familiar and always smiling presence on Cypress Creek and Falcon Watch courses.

"She had a gift, an absolute gift," said her friend Anne Davis. "Golf was her talent, but teaching was her gift."

Ms. Burris, 48, died Feb. 15. Her health had been deteriorating for five to 10 years as the result of a genetic condition that eventually caused her death.

She started playing golf with her father when she was about 10 years old.

"She started playing with her father in Maryland," said her mother, Barbara Burris. "He was a once-a-year golfer, but she just loved it."

She was good at it, too. After getting a degree in structural engineering and spending a short time working in a shipyard, she was determined to become a professional golfer. She played on the Futures Tour for about a year, but the constant traveling and the meager income caused her decide to teach golf instead.

It soon became evident to Ms. Burris and her students that teaching golf was her true vocation.

"She was able to teach you the way you could learn," Davis said. "She didn't have a set of rules. She wouldn't say, 'You have to do it this way.' You might not end up on the pro tour, but you'd enjoy your game."

Ms. Burris taught in the Chicago area for a while, but when she came to Florida for a visit in the early 1980s she decided to call the Tampa Bay area her home.

"Her sister is an equestrian, and she came down here to show her horses," her mother said. "She liked it here, and she decided to stay."

Ms. Burris taught first at the Cypress Green Golf Course in Sun City Center, where she served as a consultant for the development of the second nine holes. That course is now called Falcon Watch. Later, she was an instructor at the Cypress Creek Golf Course in Ruskin. Her teaching methods and sunny disposition endeared her to her students.

Her mother played golf with Ms. Burris one day and was impressed by the fondness of the women on the course for her.

The Burrises had always been close, and within a few years the entire family moved to the area to be near each other.

Davis was a local tennis instructor and one day about 15 years ago Ms. Burris came to her for lessons. It turned out Ms. Burris was a better golf teacher than tennis student.

"She had a sister with whom she was very competitive, and the sister was a tennis player so she wanted to learn to play," Davis said. "She was the worst tennis student I ever had in my life."

Because of her athletic ability and competitive nature, Ms. Burris often refused to take instruction, insisting she could do things on her own. And, in fact, Davis said, Ms. Burris developed into a good tennis player.

But, more important, Davis and Ms. Burris became friends.

"My brother said it best," Davis said. "He said there was just something about her, that when you looked at her you wanted to smile. That was the kind of effect she had on everyone."

Besides her mother and Davis, Ms. Burris is survived by sisters Lisa Lobo and Kathy Burris.

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 07:56:32]