Historic Brownsville Open: Boehmer spends days at golf course fixing clubs

RANCHO VIEJO — Paul Boehmer has a pretty big family, and the members all play golf.

A Mission native, Boehmer lives in Dallas now but spends most of his days on the LPGA Tour inside a small trailer repairing golf clubs.

He’ll do everything from reshafting and regripping clubs to regular maintenance and degree adjustments.

This week Boehmer’s trailer sits idle on the grounds of Ranch Viejo Golf and Country Club offering his services to the Duramed FUTURES Tour and the women playing in this weekend’s Historic Brownsville Open.

Boehmer was adjusting the degrees on Kim Augusta’s clubs Tuesday as players would come by his trailer to drop off their clubs.

Boehmer joked with the girls and made them laugh. He seemed at home inside the repair trailer and on the golf course.

"It’s not exactly something you prepare to do in life," Boehmer said of working as a club repair specialist. "But it’s been fun ever since I’ve been doing it."

Boehmer’s been in the business of fixing pros’ clubs since 1999. And he stumbled upon this gig-turned-career by accident.

"I got called by the LPGA in 1999 as a two-week replacement for the guy that normally did this," Boehmer said. "The guy never came back, so I kept the job."

Boehmer graduated from Sharyland in 1974 and spent several years working offshore oilfields for Halliburton. In the early 1990s, Boehmer worked for Clubhouse Golf in McAllen. He later moved to San Antonio for three or four years in the mid 1990s to run a shop there. Then in 1999 he got the call from the LPGA.

Boehmer has been on the road since working with pros like Annika Sorenstam and the now-retired Lorena Ochoa.

Like the players on the tour, Boehmer said the traveling is part of the fun.

"You get used to it," he said. "When I worked for Halliburton I was always on the road. So it’s part of life."

Boehmer, a golfer himself, attempted to make it a living like the players he works for now.

He picked up the game at age 27 when he was working for Halliburton. Now 53, Boehmer still occasionally plays but his golf days are confined to the trailer.

"At my best I was probably a scratch player," Boehmer said. "I thought about it (going pro) and even went to Mexico to play on a pro tour there. But I decided I didn’t want to starve to death. But I love working for the LPGA."

This is Boehmer’s first time on the FUTURES Tour.

He had some time off from the LPGA and was asked to work the Historic Brownsville Open and next week’s Texas Hill Country Classic in San Antonio.

Naturally, he said yes.

"I get to see my family," said Boehmer, whose sister still lives in Mission. "I have a couple of brothers in Dallas too. I guess I should make more of an effort to come down here. I still have family here."

But over the past 12 years, the players on the LPGA and now on the FUTURES Tour have served as Boehmer’s family.

Boehmer has endured a lot while on tour including the death of his parents. And it’s his golf family that was always there to comfort the usually jolly Boehmer.

"I’ve been through a lot of stuff over the years," Boehmer said. "I lost my parents when I was on the road. And every time I looked forward to coming back to work and being around these people … my family."

Eladio Jaimez covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 430-6285 or via e-mail at eladioj@valleystar.com.