TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >> Kyle Bell has done a lot of commuting in recent years as he’s worked as a golf professional in the area. In his last job as the head professional at the newly reopened Monster Golf Club at the Resorts World Catskills casino and hotel in Monticello, he drove over an hour to work each day from his Kingston residence.

But one of the perks in his new job as Wiltwyck Golf Club’s first Director of Golf and Sports, the 43-year-old Bell can ride his golf cart to work from his Hillside Terrace home that is located one street over from Wiltwyck’s par-4 fourth hole.

“I’ve been commuting over an hour for the last 10 years of my life,” Bell said in a phone interview with the Freeman. “So this is going to be a beautiful thing. I’m looking forward to working at the course that I grew up playing, and bringing my different perspective to it to make it even better. It couldn’t be a better scenario for me. And I think for the club, too. I think it’s going to be a great relationship.”

Prior to working at the Monster Golf Club, Bell was the head pro and manager at Copake Country Club in southern Columbia County for five years.

Bell went to John A. Coleman High for three years and then attended Rondout Valley as a senior and played on the golf team with John DeForest Jr. and John Durcan Jr.

“Baseball was my main sport, though,” Bell said.

Bell played two years of Division II baseball at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in aviation business administration.

Bell worked four years in airport management. But he always loved golf and particularly Wiltwyck where Coleman played its high school matches.

“That was back when it was kind of rip and roaring,” Bell said. “On the customer side of things, it kind of drew me in. I’ve always been a people person and that’s kind of what I pride myself on — providing a seamless experience for members. That’s what led me into the management side of things and into golf operations.”

Bell’s first job in the golf business was as an assistant pro for one summer under head pro Jan Urso at the former Nevele Grande Resort and Country Club in Ellenville. He also had stints working at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz and at The Club at Crested Butte in Colorado.

Bell will start at Wiltwyck Golf Club on Dec. 1. He will report to General Manager Eric Atkins and will be responsible for overseeing and managing all of Wiltwyck’s sports-related operations, activities and programming, including those associated or arising from the golf pro shop as well as the club’s pool, tennis/pickleball courts and the summer camp.

Bell and his wife, Laura have two children, Kaia (9) and Vail (7).

The club is in the early stages of searching for a new head golf professional to replace former pro Trevor Alexander, whose contract was not renewed on Nov. 1 after four seasons at Wiltwyck.

In a statement to its membership, Wiltwyck said it hoped to have a new professional hired “sometime early in 2026.” The new head pro will report to Bell.

“We’re excited to bring Kyle Bell on board,” Atkins said. “He’s grown up admiring Wiltwyck for years and he now gets a chance to work with a great management team to continue to create the exceptional member and guest experience to which we aspire at Wiltwyck.”

It is the first time Wiltwyck has hired a Director of Golf and Sports to run different aspects of the club’s sports operation.

“It’s a little different structuring rather than just having one head pro and assistant pros,” Atkins said. “I think it’s the model Wiltwyck needs to use.”