Fred Bruno was first introduced to golf as an eight-year-old caddie at Triggs Memorial Golf Course. That experience gave him the opportunity to study the game by watching members, guests, professionals and amateurs.

 

He would turn those lessons into success. Bruno won the Rhode Island Caddy Championship at age 14 and the New England Caddy Championship just a few years later.

 

Bruno’s biggest impact came as a PGA professional. He got his start at Alpine Country Club in 1965 as an assistant and spent time at Crestwood Country Club.

 

In 1971, he started at Rhode Island Country Club, the place that would become his home for the next 31 years. He was an assistant for four years before becoming the head professional. A position he kept until his retirement in 2002.

 

He was a renowned teacher. Some of his students included Brad Faxon, Billy Andrade and Brett Quigley. All members of the Rhode Island Golf Hall of Fame.

 

“Fred Bruno took me under his wing and taught me a work ethic like no other,” said Faxon in Rhode Island Country Club’s Centennial Book. “He often arrived at the club at 5 a.m. and then would be the last to leave at 8 p.m. He gave me several golf lessons and some sage advice that I remember to this day."

 

“A great golf club cannot run without a first-class golf professional,” said Andrade in Rhode Island Country Club’s Centennial Book. “Fred Bruno was the best. He set the standard for all golf professionals in Rhode Island."

 

The New England PGA honored Bruno with its first Teacher of the Year award in 1986.

 

In 1997, Rhode Island Country Club honored his years of service and legacy at the club by naming the practice facility the “Fred Bruno Golf Range.”