Sometimes, life throws you curveballs. And sometimes, it seems like you’re facing nine innings worth of “hooks” from Bert Blyleven.
Which brings us to the case of Jerry Walters, perhaps best known in the Colorado golf community as the longtime host of the “In the Fairway” radio show.
About the only thing consistent for Walters in 2010 was inconsistency. And that pertained to both his personal and professional lives.
“I’m sure glad to say goodbye to 2010,” the Littleton resident said this week.
First, there was that matter of going through a traumatic divorce. Then Walters’ radio program was uprooted from its home of the last three years, KKFN “The Fan”. And then on Oct. 22, Walters was told his 10-year gig working as a representative of Denver-based Yes! Golf — best known for making C-groove putters — was ending abruptly, as in that same day. Shortly thereafter, Yes! Golf’s parent company, ProGear Holdings, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The year wasn’t a total downer, fortunately. Walters said he has a “cute girlfriend,” and in November he received his second Dave Nelson Award for Excellence in Golf Journalism from the CGA and CWGA.
The new year is certain to bring plenty of change for Walters, though golf will continue to be a mainstay in his life.
He’s already found a new home for “In the Fairway”. The show, which began its run back in the 1990s, will move to “The Ticket” (87.7 FM), where it will air from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and be replayed from 7 to 9 a.m. on Sundays. The show will debut on Feb. 12 (time to be determined) at the Denver Golf Expo, though its weekly run will begin on April 2.
Though “In the Fairway” will be bumped from its Saturday time slot when The Ticket carries college football in the fall — the golf show will still air on Sunday — Walters hopes he’s found a station and a time where the program can build an audience over the long haul.
The radio show also will go “Back to the Future” in a sense by reuniting Walters with Jon Lawrence, his co-host for eight years until the two were forced to split up as Lawrence continued to live in Florida. Now Lawrence has moved back to Colorado — Golden, to be precise — full-time.
“We have great chemistry,” Walters said of he and Lawrence. “And it’s not just me that thinks that. I’ve heard from a number of different people who say that “˜you guys are good together.’ We feed off each other. I’m not saying we don’t have our moments, but “¦”
As for Yes! Golf, Walters had worked there since 2000. And, beginning in 2005, he was a tour rep for the company, regularly traveling to PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour sites — sometimes spending more than 40 weeks a year on the road. But he hadn’t traveled to a Tour venue — where he tried to convince players to use Yes! Golf equipment — since The Players Championship last May, so he knew something was awry.
But that didn’t make the loss of his job in October any easier to take. (An auction of Yes! Golf assets is scheduled for Tuesday.)
Walters said he’s looking to land another job as an equipment rep on Tour.
“I love going out there and doing that,” he said. “I miss the camaraderie. I miss shaking hands and talking to everyone — caddies, other reps, the people around. There’s something about being at a Tour event and around the greatest game in the world.”
In the meantime, Walters has lined up a job as a putting and short game instructor at the Trent Wearner Golf Academy at the Meridian Golf Learning Center. Walters also will handle putter fitting at the facility.
