PEOPLE The Game Builders

JEFF BRAUER IS LITERALLY A GOLF BUILDER. As president of GolfScapes, an Arlington-based golf-course design company, he’s made a major contribution to building the game through course construction, here in our area and nationwide. That’s why Brauer is included in our list of the area’s top 20 golf builders.

When considered as a whole, the Dallas-Fort Worth area is one of the most prominent and powerful golf communities in the country. Many of the individuals on our list have helped make it so and are still active in maintaining the community’s clout nationwide.

Some on the list have made a contribution through administrative positions, while others have devoted time and effort to maintaining the organizational structure of golf’s governing bodies, both local and national.

Others scored big points for their dedication to junior golf. Any building begins with a foundation, and many on our list have realized that the junior golfers of today are the club members, managers, architects and professionals of tomorrow. The philosophy: The best way to assure golf’s continued growth is through junior golfers and junior golf programs.

The roster includes young movers and old shakers, course designers and swing designers, club pros and PGA TOUR players with several common ideas and goals. They all spread the influence of the game within our area and help our area affect the game on a national level.

FRANK ANGLIM, United States Golf Association: A fixture on the Dallas golf scene for nearly 50 years, the 82-year-old retiree is likely busier now than he was when he actively operated an industrial catering service for railroad workers. Like other area USGA committeemen, Anglim acts as the Dallas eyes and ears of the USGA, but he’s been at it officially since 1970. He is responsible for all phases of USGA men’s competitions held locally, from course set-up to tee times to presenting trophies to winners. In 1990, Anglim was approached by Northern Texas PGA officials, who asked that he assist in organizing and running tournaments for their section (also on a volunteer basis), and Anglim agreed. He works an estimated 12 to 15 events a year for both organizations.



BURT BAINE, co-owner, Brooks-Baine Golf: Baine was smitten by the design end of the golf business while planning for the redesign of Ridglea Country Club in the early ’80s, when he was director of golf. From 1985 to 1990, Baine served as the project manager for Mira Vista Country Club, supervising the construction of the golf course, club facilities and residential infrastructure. He formed Brooks-Baine Golf with PGA TOUR pro Mark Brooks in 1992, and the company completed its first major project last year with the construction of the Oak Course at Mansfield’s Walnut Creek Country Club. The firm also has completed the design work for two new area courses. Southern Oaks in South Fort Worth and The Golf Club at Hidden Lakes in Keller. Construction at Hidden Lakes is expected to begin in the fall. Baine also is the director of golf at Fort Worth’s Carswell Golf Club.

JEFF BRADER, president, Golf Scapes: Brauer has made the biggest design impact on this area recently, opening three courses for area cities in the past three years; all have earned rave reviews. His Arlington-based design company, GolfScapes, has produced Ridgeview Ranch Golf Course (with the IRI Group) for the city of Piano, Tangle Ridge Golf Club for the city of Grand Prairie and Cross Timbers Golf Course for the city of Azle. The Links at Sierra Blanca (Ruidoso, N.M.; designed with Jim Colbert Golf) and Wild Wing Plantation (Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Larry Nelson, PGA TOUR player-consul-tant) are two of his top layouts in the country. Brauer served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1995-96.



KIM BROWN, head golf professional, Graver Keeton Golf Course, Dallas: Currently the presidem of the Northern Texas PGA, Brown is one of two Master Professionals (the PGA’s highest ranking) in the section. But he made his name by organizing the area’s junior golf scene before junior golf was cool. He served as the chairman of the NTPGA’s Junior Golf Academy in 1982, then helped form the Northern Texas Junior Golf Association in 1983. When the NTJG^rovea^ùccesstuT Brown helped the section begin the NTPGA Junior Golf Foundation in 1987. He was named the section’s Junior Golf Leader for five straight years (1986-1990) and served as vice-president of the section 1993-1995. Brown acted as interim executive director of the section prior to the hiring of Darrell Crall in June 1995.

BETSY CLIFFORD, USGA Women’s Committee member In December 1996, Clifford was reelected to the USGA Women’s Committee for the 11th straight year. Before her first appointment, she served for 10 years on the USGA Junior Girls Committee. Yet Clifford said her stints as president of the Texas Senior Women’s Golf Association, Women’s Texas Golf Association, Dallas Women’s Golf Association, Central Texas Golf Association, Dallas Athletic Club’s Women’s Golf Association and former River Lake Country Club (now Sleepy Hollow Golf and Country Club) probably had more to do with her national appointment than her USGA experience. Clifford is in charge of officials at USGA events and, as chairwoman of the Women’s Intercollegiate Relations Committee, manages officials at | key NCAA tournaments.

DARRELL CRALL, executive director, Northern Texas PGA: Crall, 30, was chosen in 1995 by the new power council within the NTPGA to be the savvy youngster to guide the section into a new era. So far, he hasn’t been a disappointment. The former captain of the Duke University golf team served as tournament director for the Carolinas PGA section, one of the largest in the nation, before accepting his post at the NTPGA. Crall immediately went to work on shoring up the section’s staff and sought to improve tournament organization, participation and purses-as mandated by the section’s board. Grail’s 1997 priority for the section office is to continue upgrading all phases of PGA member services.



ROBERT DEDMAN, founder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, Club Corporation International: Dedman, an oil industry honcho by profession, began Club Corporation International (aka ClubCorp) in 1957 with one property, Brookhaven Country Club. He has since built the company into a $1 billion-plus concern, with more than $750,000 in gross annual revenues and more than 200 golf courses. The company has bred several spin-off subsidiaries: ClubCorp of America handles the company’s private club sector, while Club Resorts, Inc., one of the latest affiliates to come under the CCI umbrella, operates golf properties at The Homestead (Hot Springs, Va.) and Pinehurst Resort and Country Club (Pinehurst, N.C. ). ClubCorp’s infusion of money and personnel is credited with “saving” both of the resorts.



ROBERT DEDMAN JR., president and chief operating officer, Club Corporation Interna-ional; chairman of the board, Club Corporation of America: As president and COO of ClubCorp, the younger Dedman oversees all operational aspects of all the company’s subsidiaries. The son of ClubCorp International’s founder has worked for the company for more than 10 years, after a brief career as a Wall Street investment banker, and is already a major stockholder in the company. He is expected to eventually inherit the empire, and he has the hands-on experience to make educated decisions when expanding that empire in the future. Maintains a 13 handicap.

HANK HANEY, SMU men’s golf coach, president of Haney Golf: Haney is known primarily for his success as a teacher, which helped him launch [he Hank Haney Golf Ranch. The Ranch is now generally regarded as one of the nation’s first upscale practice ranges, complete with a nine-hole course on-site. Haney Golf now operates three area practice facilities and the nine-hole McKinney Municipal Golf Course. Haney built his teaching reputation working with more than 100 touring pros and has worked with Mark O’Meara since 1983. Haney has been named the Northern Texas PGA’s Teacher of the Year five times and the PGA Teacher of the Year in 1993; he serves on Golf Digest’s advisory staff. He became SMU men’s golf coach in 1993.



BILL and FRANCIS KAY, Dallas Public Links executive director, USGA committeeman (Bill); tournament organizers (Bill and Francis): While the Ded-mans are their own men making their own contributions, the husbahaan^wifeteamofBilland Francis Kay can’t be separated. They come as a package deal, forming a tournamentorganizing unit that goes back 38 years. They’ve been at it so long, they’ve wiped out a generation of trainees, leading some scramble and amateur tournament veterans to ask, Who will fill the void when Bill and Frannie quit? Bill has served on the USGA Public Links Rules and Championship Committee since 1970 and helped initiate the Wylie Moore Memorial Tournament and the Erwin Hardwicke Memorial Day Tournament. He estimates that he has worked “thousands” of tournaments in some type of organizational capacity.

MARTY LEONARD, owner, Leonard Golf Links: Leonard is the daughter of the late Marvin Leonard, founder of Colonial Country Club imiiShady Oaks Country Club. She has served on the USGA Women’s Committee and USGA Women’s Advisory Committee for nearly 30 years, and as chairman of the Women’s Committee 1984-1986. She is currently vice president of Shady Oaks and president of Starr Hollow Golf Club in Tolar. She has used her legacy and influence to make golf available to players in areas with modest or no golf facilities. To that end. She spearheaded the construction of the Leonard Golf Links on family land in west Fort Worth for the express purpose of providing the area with a state-of-the-art practice facility.

LINDY MILLER, head so professional, Mira Vista Country Club: The Fort Worth native enhanced the city’s golf reputation as an All-American at Oklahoma State, leading the Cowboys to two NCAA Championships in the late ’70s. Now the head pro at Mira Vista Country Club for 10 years and loving it, he decided it’s payback time. With the help of club members and the Mira Vista Development Corporation, he has established the Lindy Miller Junior Golf Foundation. The foundation’s community outreach program takes golf to the city’s recreation centers in an effort to hook urban juniors on golf. The ultimate goal of the foundation is to establish a golf course and practice facility designed specifically for junior golfers and Miller’s junior golf programs.



BYRON NELSON, retired professional golfer and local golf god: Nelson’s existence seems to guarantee both the area’s future interest in golf and respect for the game’s past. Now 85, the man who strung together a legendary 1 ! straight professional tournament wins in 1945 still keeps the schedule of a person half his age, working with the Salesmanship Club on his namesake PGA TOUR stop and overseeing operations at his Byron Nelson Golf School at Las Colinas’ Four Seasons Resort and Club, along with Mike Abbott, director of golf at Four Seasons. He makes frequent public appearances and inevitably shows up in the media dispensing sage opinions and giving blow-by-blow accounts of 1940s Masters tournaments upon request. Dallas will always feel connected to the history of golf just by its association with Byron Nelson, and he is obliged to-and does-act accordingly.

DAVID PRICE, head golf professional, Bent Tree Country Club: Price has established himself as one of the PGA’s top rules officials nationwide, having served on the PGA’s Rules of Golf Committee for the past 11 years and as a rules official in nine of the past 10 PGA Championships. He hopes those credentials will eventually earn an invitation to serve as a rules official at The Masters or The RyderCup. Price was named PGA Professional of the Year in 1995, which he has called his greatest achievement. However, he also has been twice named the Northern Texas PGA Professional of the Year and is a three-time recipient of the NTPGA Horton Smith Trophy for outstanding and continuing contributions to professional education.

JEFF SILVERSTEIN, chairman, IRI Golf Group: Silverstein has been in the golf business since 1978, when he co-founded Silband Sports, a golf-course leasing and management company that merged with ClubCorp in (986. In 1991, he began IRI Golf Group and, in the Dedman tradition, began to lease and purchase financially troubled clubs with comeback potential. Los Rios Country Club and Lost Creek Golf Club were among his first contractual acquisitions, and the company picked up The Shores Country Club last fall. The group operates two other courses in Texas and two in Los Angeles, Silverstein’s hometown. The company firmly established itself as a player in the local management and development business with the completion of Ridgeview Ranch Golf Club late last year.

LEE SINGLETARY, president and owner, Singletary Golf Services Like Burt Baine, Singletary is not only a golf course designer, he’s also a PGA TOUR pro. The 1974 Class 3A state runner-up from Kilgore was a two-time NAIA All-American at Sam Houston State in the late ’70s. As a grown-up, he has operated SGS since 1983, providing course design, facility management, consulting and development services for projects in Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Briarwood Golf Club (Tyler), The Nutcracker Golf Club (Granbury) and White Bluff Golf Club (Lake Whitney) are among his Texas projects. He is currently developing plans for a course to be built in conjunction with a new housing development in Wylie and is designing a course in Huntsville for his alma mater.



DAVE SMITH, executive sports editor, The Dallas Morning News: Smith gives golf top billing in a sports-crazed yet saturated town, literally keeping the game on the front pages. His decision to have professional and amateur beat writers is one indication of the priority he places on golf. Another is his decision to make the professional beat one of Sports Day’s high-profile jobs, always filling the slot with a top staff writer such as Jeff Rude, who’s now a senior editor with Golfweek magazine. Smith is a 12 handicap player at Dallas Athletic Club, where he served as club president 1991-93.

RANDY SMITH, head golf professional, Royal Oaks Country Club: Smith was honored by the PGA of America as the 1996 Golf Professional of the Year. He became Royal Oaks’ head pro 16 years ago and has since raised more $275,000 for junior golf through PGA National Golf Day events; he has been awarded 10 President’s Plaques by the PGA of America for those contributions. Smith is largely credited with beginning the benefit golf tournament craze in Dallas-in 1978, he started the tournament that is now Chili’s/Gatlin Golf & Gala for MDA. He also was named the Northern Texas PGA Teacher of the Year in 1995 and received the NTPGA Horton Smith Trophy in 1984. A member of Golf Illustrated’s pro advisory staff, Smith has served as an analyst for local radio during coverage of the area’s PGA TOUR events.

LANNY WADKINS, PGA TOUR professional: Wadkins’ tough-guy image suffered when his Ryder Cup team/selections withered in 1996, but it would be damaged further if more people knew about the Virginian’s local off-tour activities. Wad-kins annually rounds up spare clubs on the PGA TOUR, adds them to others donated by co-members of Preston Trail Golf Club and donates them to seven South Dallas high school golf programs. He extended his local influence last year with the reopening of Lake Park Golf Course in Lewisville, which he co-owns (co-designed by Dick Watson and Jeff Brauer). Lake Park is meant to be a low-cost alternative to upscale daily-fee courses. Wadkins is a player consultant for the under-construc-tion TPC at Myrtle Beach.

D.A. WEIBRING, PGA TOUR professional: Weibring is an Illinois native but has thrown himself into the local golf scene with a volunteer’s passion- Weibring has worked with the Byron Nelson Junior Golf Clinic for 18 years and on the advisory board of the Northern Texas Junior Golf Foundation. In 1980, he hooked up with Sam Swanson, Don Armstrong and Steve Barley to form Irving-based Golf Resources, a golf-course design and management firm. Weibring serves as design consultant for the group, which recently produced Bridlewood Golf Club locally and the Byron Nelson Country Club in Japan. Weibring and Swanson go back to their home state with their next project, designing the TPC at Deer Run in Moline, III. The course will be the future home of the PGA TOUR’s Quad City Classic.