Colorado PGA News
“Relationships Developed are Career Highlights,” Shares Newest Half-Century Club Member, Clayton Cole
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n rare occasions, a PGA member will have their membership reach the 50-year mark, which the PGA of America has coined as “HalfCentury Members.” This month, the Colorado PGA acknowledges and congratulates PGA Professional, Clayton Cole as he is the newest member of the Half-Century Club.
Clayton Cole was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. At the age of 8, his family moved to Monroe, Louisiana, where his dad was the Head Golf Professional at Bayou DeSiard Country Club. Calling Monroe his hometown, Clayton played basketball and a little golf in the summers. It was when he broke his arm in 10th grade during basketball that he decided to stick with golf. His high school golf highlight was being on the golf team as a Senior when the Neville High School team won the State Golf Championship for the first time. He worked at the golf shop in the summers with his dad. He cleaned the sets of clubs from the prior day’s play and racked them every morning before he could practice. Then, he picked up the range in the afternoon. It was also in high school where he met his future wife, Rena, whom he began dating his senior year. They married in 1960. Cole attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) on a golf scholarship. He then transferred to the University of Houston where he finished three more years on a golf scholarship. Upon graduation in 1963, Cole returned to Monroe, Louisiana, and worked in the life insurance business for a few years, even earning “Agent of the Year” in one agency. However, he recalls a five-to-six-hour workday feeling like it was twelve. The times he spent with his dad, working in the golf business, a 12-hour day felt like it was five-to-six-hours. He decided that golf was the route to pursue. In 1967, Cole wanted to try playing on the PGA Tour. He qualified in the fall on 1967 and played the PGA TOUR in 1968 with moderate success for eight months. Then, in 1970, he was offered an Assistant Golf Professional job at Cherry Hills Country Club and became a PGA Member. He worked at Cherry Hills until 1974 when he
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took his first Head Professional job at Dallas Country Club. After 12 years in Dallas, Cole moved to Austin, Texas, as the Director of Golf and Vice President of Operations at The Lakeway Company in 1986 and was there until the end of 1990. He oversaw running three golf courses, a golf teaching academy, 32 tennis courts, food and beverage, the air park (airport) and a 300-slip marina. Cole was able to keep his relationships at Cherry Hills from when he was the Assistant Golf Professional. The timing of the late ’80s, when The Lakeway Company was about to have new ownership and Warren Smith, PGA, was about to retire from Cherry Hills, worked out perfectly for Cole. He was contacted by the Board at
The SUMMIT
