Clayton Cole: A Storied Career in Southern Hospitality

Faces of the Game – Clayton Cole

By Jim Bebbington

It doesn’t fall to everyone to toil in one career for most of their lives, then at the same time, help launch a company that grows beyond their wildest dreams.

But for Clayton Cole, 83, that is just what he did.

Cole served for 17 years as the head golf pro at Cherry Hills Country Club. A Southerner by birth and a gentleman by training, he brought his calm demeanor to Cherry Hills in 1991 to replace a near-icon, Warren Smith.

During his time there he met and coached and mentored dozens of young PGA professionals, many of whom went on to become head professionals themselves at clubs around the country.

Cole grew up in Louisiana where his father worked as a golf professional and Cole was able to learn about the profession by working at the range and pro shop. He went to college on a golf scholarship, then kept playing while he and his wife Rena began their family and he worked in life insurance.

“After I’ve been out of college a couple of years I won the tournament called the Cotton States Invitational in 1965 and was working in the life insurance business and I said well, you know, I’ve always wondered whether I could (succeed as a touring pro.)”

He tried to qualify for the Tour in the spring of 1968 and didn’t make it. He tried again in the fall and this time got through, just in time for the 1969 season.

The 1969 PGA Tour season was not so much a passing of the torch from the old guard to the new as it was a time when both eras could go toe-to-toe on any given week. Arnold Palmer won twice at the age of 40; Jack Nicklaus won three times. A 27-year-old Ray Floyd won twice. Charlie Sifford won in LA adding to his first win in 1967 when he became the first black man to win a PGA tournament. Tony Jacklin won The Open at age 25. Lee Trevino was in his third season and the defending U.S. Open champ.

Cole went in with high hopes against this armada of generational talent. The armada had other ideas.

“I made a few cuts and I missed most of the cuts and I was already married and I said you know this isn’t the right thing for a family man to be doing,” he said recently during an interview in the gorgeous and newly-renovated lobby of Cherry Hills Country Club.

So in 1970, facing a choice, Cole picked the path that led to Colorado. “I said I feel like I work 12 hours when I work six hours in the life insurance business and I feel like I work six hours when I work 12 hours in the golf business,” he said. So he applied for and was hired as an assistant pro here at Cherry Hills and worked under 27-year pro Warren Smith.

“Warren said ‘Clayton. We like all our members here at Cherry Hills. We may like some maybe better than others, but we like them all.’ And I carried that with me,” Cole said. “And that probably is one of the reasons for my successes. I don’t hold any grudges and people are people, and I try to like them all.”

Cole took that advice and more with him when he went on to become head pro at the Dallas Country Club and then later the Lakeway Company’s three golf courses in Texas. Then in 1990, Smith retired after 27 years and Cole came back to Cherry Hills to stay.

By then Cole had moved deep into the dark arts of golf management; it wasn’t just about teaching, and it certainly wasn’t about playing, it was about leading a team of people to provide the experience that club members sought.

“I still tried to do what (Smith) did with hiring real qualified staff and training them to be well-qualified to take head pro jobs when they were ready,” he said. “A well-rounded golf professional must have playing skills, teaching skills, management skills and tournament skills – by planning high-level tournaments.”

“You’re taking care of some people who are very wealthy. They’re accustomed to very fine things and you’re teaching them, in some cases, you’re teaching their children,” he said. “You’re a big part of the environment of this entire facility.”

Through the years, his quiet professionalism won many people over.

“He is the gold standard of professionalism in the game of golf and business in Colorado and the nation,” said Doak Jacoway, a financial planning consultant and Cherry Hills member.

In 1995 he began to explore the idea that indoor golf instruction could be done better. He and a PGA teaching professional who had interned for him the previous summer,  Joe Assell, set up their first shop in the Denver Tech Center. After five months of operating under the name Driving Obsession – using video technology – the concept was a hit.

They changed the name to GOLFTEC and an industry goliath was born. Assell has led it for 27 years as it grew to more than 200 locations worldwide. Assell is being inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame this year for his contributions to the game.

Now Cole, an honorary member of Cherry Hills, remains in the Denver area with his family. He plays golf at Cherry Hills often and after being bought out of his stake in GOLFTEC is proud of his contributions. He is watching as the industry he once helped lead continues to evolve.

“It’s changed as the business has changed  – a lot more companies owning golf courses – but we still have the clubs that are traditional like Cherry Hills, Denver Country Club and Castle Pines,” he said. “But you have to know how to deal with people. I think it’s a big plus if you’re a good player. It’s a plus if you teach a little bit. I always tried to limit my teaching to about 10 to 15% of the lessons because you can’t run the rest of the operation.”

Clayton Cole’s Playing Career

PGA TOUR

1962 | Baton Rouge Invitational (71st)

1964 | Cajun Classic Invitational (T72nd)

1969 | Magnolia Classic (59th)

1969 | Kemper Open (T66th)

1974 | PGA Championship (T71st)

1976 PGA Championship (T69th)

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

1993 | U.S. Senior Open (at Cherry Hills CC); T55th

Source: Gary Baines, ColoradoGolfJournal.Com