05/29/2026
Copper Hill lost one of it’s finest and most dedicated professionals last week. Vic Svenberg, lifelong PGA professional, passed away on May 19 at age 87 after a long illness.
Always quick with a joke, Vic was determined to make Copper Hill a place where golf was just a fun diversion from every day life, where people would go to breathe and live life through the game of golf.
For Vic, golf was never about rigid rules or perfect swings. It was a way to make friends, laugh. He dedicated his decades-long career to proving that the game belonged to everyone, especially children. He was “Coach Vic” for countless kids through Copper Hill junior programs and the First Tee of CT. As a coach, he was legendary for his patience and his refusal to let the sport feel too serious.
Vic taught a lot of golf, but it was clear that his passion was with the work that he did with kids. Before the Copper Hill Golf Academy and he didn’t have the facility, he created one. If he didn’t have the training aids, he made them. His methods were colorful and incredibly creative. Kids loved it.
On the lesson tee, he was a master storyteller and an inventor of unorthodox drills. Whether he was having a student hit exploding golf balls or using everyday objects to explain swing mechanics, Vic brought an infectious energy that reminded adults why they fell in love with the game in the first place. He measured his success not by the trophies on his own mantle, but by the successes of his students and smiles on the driving range and the generations of young players he inspired to love the sport. He would tell anyone who would listen about the success of his pupils, young and old.
Later in his career, he was coach for the First Tee of CT as well as a PGA coach for Project Hope which is a program which enhances the lives of veterans through learning golf. He was inducted into the the CT Section PGA Hall of Fame, an honor greatly deserved. Many in the CT Section of the PGA call him ‘legendary’.
Beyond his professional achievements, Vic was a devoted husband, stepfather, grandfather and great-grandfather. The Copper Hill family misses you Coach Vic!