The Colorado PGA finds itself following a nice January routine, one the Section would love to repeat every year.
Representatives of the Section head down to Florida in January each year for the PGA Merchandise Show and associated functions, and for three consecutive trips they’ve had the honor of also celebrating a national achievement of one of their own members. The PGA of America holds its annual awards gala in conjunction with the Merchandise Show, and this year marks the third straight that one of the top national honorees is a Colorado-based professional.
Kyle Heyen, the head pro at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen for the last quarter-century, on Thursday will receive the PGA President’s Plaque for “extraordinary and exemplary contributions” in player development. The Arvada resident will be the first member of the Colorado PGA Section to receive the award, just as last year former Cherry Hills head pro Clayton Cole was the Section’s first recipient of the Bill Strausbaugh award, given for mentoring fellow PGA pros.
Danny Harvanek of The Golf Club at Bear Dance started the national-award run two years ago by earning the PGA Junior Golf Leader honor.
“Kyle is our third national award winner in a row,” Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth said from Florida on Monday. “That shows that PGA professionals in Colorado are some of the best in the business.”
Ainsworth said the Colorado Section is planning a Wednesday celebration in Orlando for Heyen and his family, with about 30 people expected to attend.
“It’s always exciting to be the first recipient of an award from the Section,” Heyen said last week. “It’s also nice to be the first national private club recipient (of the President”˜s Plaque). It will be great. And with it being the third straight year for a national award winner from the Section, that’s quite an accomplishment.”
And it’s possible Heyen will double his fun this week as Hiwan is one of three finalists for being designated the top facility in the player development category of the Get Golf Ready program. Get Golf Ready is designed to teach new players — or those returning to the game after a layoff — the key things they need to know to play with confidence, all in five lessons for $99.
The winner of the Get Golf Ready award, out of the 1,200 facilities that are certified nationwide, will be honored on Friday.
“For us to be in consideration as a private club with a small audience to draw from, speaks for our program,” Heyen said.
Heyen will be one of nine individuals to receive national awards on Thursday. Since 2006, the President’s Plaque has been awarded for supporting Play Golf America initiatives.
In that vein, Heyen and Hiwan have long operated programs that bring new players to the game, as well as luring back people who have stopped playing for a time. Over the last six or seven years, Heyen and his staff have worked with about 660 people, both Hiwan members and non-members. Heyen and company ran a dozen clinics involving 160 participants in 2009.
“There’s a fear factor in golf,” Heyen said. “It’s like, “˜I’m horrible. No one else is this bad.’ But you try to make them feel comfortable.”
One outreach program Heyen has participated in involves exposing students at Evergreen and Clear Creek High Schools to golf with indoor-friendly BirdieBalls. A total of 150 kids were introduced to the game at Clear Creek.
“At Clear Creek after one session, the sheriff who was there said he had never seen this one girl smile before that,” Heyen said.
Heyen, who has worked at Hiwan since December 1980, has been an active member of the Colorado PGA, including serving as Section president from 2004-06. He was named Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year in both 2005 and 2006 and four times he’s won the Section’s Horton Smith Award, given for developing and improving educational opportunities for PGA professionals.
“He’s clearly the leader in the Section in new player development, which is what the President’s Plaque is all about,” Ainsworth said.
Noted Heyen: “We’re at a point in golf where we have to look at all different avenues to expose people to the game.”
And, in that regard, Heyen demonstrates the same determination that’s helped him finish all nine marathons he’s entered since the mid-1980s.
“There are times you feel like you can’t make it, but you just keep going,” he said.
