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Winfield resident featured in new Golf Channel Series

September 05, 2008 @ 12:00 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Reality TV is striking Putnam County once more.

Winfield's Derek Keeling, a runner-up on the national network hit "Grease! You're the One That I Want!" can no longer lay claim to the title of the only reality TV star from Winfield.

As of Sept. 2, Keeling had to start sharing that distinction with Winfield's Sam Booth, who is featured on GOLF Channel's eight-part series, "School of Golf: Hilton Head Island."

The program follows the lives of young men and women who live and learn at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., during the 2007-08 school year, according to a press release from the GOLF Channel. The academy is "a place where talented young golfers try to balance the demands of golf competition at the highest level with the normal stresses of teen life, including academics."

Booth, 16, is a high school sophomore in the series, committed to making his dream of playing professional golf come true. He appeared in the first episode, which premiered at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2, and will appear in subsequent episodes.

Hank Haney, swing coach for the world's No. 1 golfer, is the academy's director of instruction, and the series showcases how Haney and his team make huge improvements in the technical and mental aspects of the students' games.

"Sam is determined to do whatever it takes to play collegiate golf," Coach Jeff Fisher said in the press release. "Sam will be a top Division I golfer if he continues to work hard at his game and his focus."

Booth plans to return to the golf academy for the spring 2009 semester.

For more information on "School of Golf: Hilton Head Island," visit www.golfchannel.com/schoolofgolf.

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