Sometimes you just know when you've found the right place–like Leonard Thompson, when he first drove through the gates at Greystone Golf & Country Club.
“We couldn't have been 500 yards into the property. And my wife looked at me. She said, 'I could live here,'" Leonard reflects. That first impression would lead the former PGA Tour professional to call Greystone home for decades.
"It's like one big family," he shares. That protective, close-knit spirit defines the Greystone experience—and it's the same spirit that helped make the Bruno's Memorial Classic one of the most beloved stops on the senior PGA circuit. Today, that same passion lives on through the Regions Tradition, a PGA Tour Champions major tournament.
Few tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions (formerly known as the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) created the same feel as the Bruno's Memorial Classic at Greystone.
"The crowds were huge before they moved the tournament the first four or five years," Leonard recalls. "The way they took care of the players, the wives they had spa days for them, all these things." And it was thoughtful touches like these that earned the event recognition from Sports Illustrated as the number one stop on the Champions Tour.
The tournament's departure from Greystone proved the special connection between the club and the event. When PGA Tour Champions play finally returned as the Regions Tradition in 2016, now as a major event, players and fans celebrated what Leonard calls "coming home."
"It's been here ever since," Leonard notes, "and it's the best thing the tour could have done for the tournament."
Leonard's impressive career in golf began at Wake Forest University, where he played on one of the university's most talented teams. This early success laid the foundation for decades at golf's highest levels.
"Three of the four of us on the team won tour events," he recalls. "Arnold Palmer kind of took us all under his wing a little bit," he adds, noting how the legend mentored some of the school's players.
His journey to the PGA Tour came through one of the most talented qualifying school classes ever assembled.
"Tom Watson was in the same qualifying school class that I was in," Leonard shares. "There were 26 guys that were in the qualifying school I came out of, and I think 17 of us won tournaments."
After a successful career on the regular tour, Leonard found a "second life" on the senior tour. His approach to professional golf reveals the discipline that kept him competitive across the years.
"The guys that make it on the tour, that last, are the guys that approach it as a job,” he notes. “You do your job. However long it takes you during the day to do it, you do it every day. Do the best you can do. You try to improve."
Greystone's courses offer a balance that accommodates golfers of every skill level.
"Any kind of golfer can enjoy them," Leonard explains. "It's difficult enough for the good players to have a challenge. And it's also easy enough from the forward tees that the average golfer can have a good day."
This design philosophy reflects Leonard's own appreciation for courses that welcome players while still testing pros.
For those looking to improve their game, Leonard offers the same advice at Greystone that he shared with countless amateurs during PGA Tour pro-ams: "How much time are you willing to give it?"
His approach to golf improvement is consistent practice and treating it seriously. This wisdom, gained from playing over 1070 PGA Tour events (a number surpassed by only six players in tour history), now benefits Greystone members who have the rare opportunity to learn from a professional who calls their club home.
See the legends of PGA Tour Champions for yourself at the Regions Tournament at Greystone.