CHRIS PIANO His Game is Golf
By Sandra McKinney
It is always intriguing that a person can find a sport at a young age that they truly love and that they can later make
a career of. That is the case for Chris Piano. Though he had a few detours along the way, Chris is now in his element as the Golf Pro and Pro Shop manager at the Gallup Fox Run Golf Course. Born in Gallup in 1980, Chris is a hometown boy. Chris started playing golf at the very young age of five years old. Starting around
Chris Piano, Golf Pro and Manager at the Pro Shop.
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July 2018
“Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with, something that can’t be learned…something that’s got to be remembered.” ~ From the movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance 4th or 5th grade, Chris went to play golf every Wednesday with his grandpa and many of his grandpa’s friends. This cemented his love for the game. Chris’ mother is originally from Chico, California where his parents met during college. “During summers, we would return to Chico and I would play golf there. I started out on the kid’s 9-hole, Par 3 course, but I wanted to play the ‘big course’ with my older brother, cousins and the grown-ups,” Chris states eagerly. “My dad’s cousin was the Golf Pro at Bidwell Park, which allowed me to play a lot of golf,” Chris states. It was common for Chris to be bugging his dad to take him to play golf. “When I was in 8th grade, I tried out for Varsity Golf at Gallup High School. I was really excited that I made the team and I was the youngest team-member playing with the juniors and seniors on the 20-man high school team,” Chris states proudly. He beams when he says, “From my sophomore to my senior year in high school, I was the Number One player. I just really loved the game of golf !” Chris decided it would be a good idea to continue playing golf in college and did receive an offer for a full-ride scholarship in Chico,
California. “It sounded like a great plan,” Chris says. “But I ended up opting for New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. I started out as an engineering major as I wanted to design golf courses. The bad part of that plan was that I was always indoors studying and not outside playing golf !” Chris switched his major to Pro Golf Management (PGM). “That was more exciting, and I was on the path I wanted,” states Chris. “I got to do an internship at Carson City, Nevada and also at Lajitas, Texas. Lajitas was an interesting project; Steve Smith bought the remote Big Bend town of Lajitas in 2000, dreaming of building a lush, five-star retreat that would attract the likes of Tiger Woods and Tom Cruise. Instead, he paid dearly to learn an age-old lesson: The desert always wins. ‘It was a long eight months there, as I had to drive about 120 miles to find civilization,” Chris shakes his head sadly. From there, Chris spent some time in Alabama working the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. This was an exceptional experience. Dr. David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, took a page from the movie Field of Dreams: Bronner decided to “build it and they will come” — not to a baseball diamond in a cornfield, but to a dazzling collection of public golf courses in the state of Alabama. “It was supreme golfing in beautiful, lush, green country. The courses were surrounded by pine trees; but the down side of all that greenery was the humidity! I am a Gallup boy from the high desert and I could not handle the humidity,” Chris states. “One great thing about being in Lajitas, Texas was the opportunity to meet Gene Burdine, a golf course developer in many states. But, very sadly, the night I met Mr. Burdine, he suffered a heart attack and died,” Chris says. “I was to later interview with Gene Burdine’s daughter for a position in Ruidoso at the Kokopelli Golf Club. I truly
