Rich Langston has lived in Colorado for about 45 years now, but there’s no mistaking his West Texas roots.
He can regale anyone within earshot with mesmerizing tales or anecdotes, complete with that distinctive West Texas twang. And, after 23 seasons as a highly-regarded volunteer rules official in Colorado, he certainly has plenty of material.
For instance, ask him about his most unusual ruling, and he’ll recount a story from the final round of a CGA Public Links Championship in the mid-1990s. That was when he was stationed at the par-3 16th hole at Hyland Hills Golf Course.
He noted how a competitor hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker, and when he took his stance, the ball moved. The player asked Langston how to proceed, and Langston told him to replace the ball and add a stroke. The golfer replaced the ball, took his stance and … once again his ball moved.
“He turned around and I looked at him and he said, ‘What the hell?'” Langston remembers. “At that time, probably a 2-foot-diameter big greenback turtle raises up out of the bunker (from beneath the surface of the sand). Part of his stance was probably mashing that turtle and underneath the sand she was moving around and raised up out of there. I said, ‘Go to a different part of the bunker, drop your ball and forget about that one stroke we talked about.’ We got to looking and I raked some sand and I saw some eggs. I called the golf shop. Eventually 74-75 (turtle) eggs were pulled out of there.
“It was funny as could be. … And by this time there were about three groups backed up on the 16th tee. But it’s sort of like when you make a birdie putt on 18 — something always keeps you coming back. Well, that’s what always kept me coming back.”
But after being a mainstay as a rules official in Colorado since 1993, Langston won’t be coming back in that role — at least not on a regular basis. Langston, who turns 75 years old this week, recently sold his house in Lakewood and will be relocating on Nov. 2 or 3 with his life partner Janet to Bartlesville, Okla., just north of Tulsa.
Though he plans to return next year to work the Colorado PGA Professional Championship and possibly the CoBank Colorado Senior Open, he’ll no longer be the fixture in Colorado golf he has been. That will leave a big void, considering that he estimates he’s devoted about 1,250 tournament days over his lifetime as a rules official — not counting travel days.
“Rich is a workhorse. He carries a lot of the load,” said Mike Boster, a fellow prominent chief rules official. “It’s not going to be easy to make it up. Losing Joe (Salvo, the CGA Rules Commitee chairman who passed away) in April and Rich in the fall, we’re going to be looking for talent. Rich has just been a mainstay of our rules group. Nobody is irreplaceable but it’s not going to be easy.”
How important has Langston been to Colorado golf? Important enough that the Colorado PGA granted him honorary membership, which Langston calls “the coolest, neatest, nicest thing that I’ve ever had in my life.” (At left, Langston was presented with a flag, signed by the players, at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship by executive director Eddie Ainsworth.) And important enough that the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame gave Langston its distinguished service award.
“I’m not sure how you say thank you for all the stuff he’s done for the CGA,” executive director Ed Mate said after Langston worked his final event for the association, the Mid-Amateur, early this month at Lakewood Country Club. “It’s incredible. I’ve never met somebody who loves golf as much. What he does as a rules official is his outlet for that love of the game. He’s just as good as they come.”
Langston has run the gamut with his golf volunteerism as a rules official over the years, working events run by the CGA, CJGA, Colorado PGA, AJGA, USGA, Colorado Open championships, Colorado High School Activities Association, Junior America’s Cup, Kansas Golf Association and college events. He plans to look into helping out with selected Oklahoma Golf Association tournaments, but no longer will work anywhere close to the 70-some tournament days — with the accompanying 30-some travel days — he’s worked this year.
“Even if I didn’t have this move being planned, I would still cut back this coming year,” he said. “And it’s not because I’m an old guy. I’m still 10 foot tall and bullet-proof (said with a smile). But it’s time. When I shut my business down 11 years ago, it was time to do it. There was no other reason.”
Langston admits that his hectic rules official schedule has taken its toll.
“This last year, I think in the month of May and into June I was on the golf course or traveling to and from a golf course 26 out of 34 days,” he said. “I was tired. There were a couple of days I really wasn’t ready to be on the golf course. It wasn’t because of the event or the people or the players; it was me. I was tired. And one time during that stretch there was 13 straight days. Maybe I’d have liked to play a round or two of golf in the springtime. I mean, sometime you’ve got to take your laundry to the cleaners. Sometimes you’re hard-pressed to find time to go get the oil changed in your car.”
But there’s also a care-free reason for cutting back.
“I’m going to be 75. If you hit ‘three-quarters’, what you ought to do is just go play like Lewis and Clark,” Langston said. “You just start a brand-new adventure. And Janet is game for it. I’ve been in Denver for 45 or 47 years, and she’s been here for 24 years. Denver has been good to us, but I’m not going to miss certain things about Denver, and there’s going to be things that I will miss. But as far as taking an hour and 15 minutes to drive crosstown at 6 in the morning because of traffic, I can live without that.”
Langston, who retired 11 years ago after owning a construction business, took a shine to Bartlesville a number of years ago when he was visiting Bryan Heim, a former Cherry Hills Country Club assistant professional who had taken a job as PGA head professional at Hillcrest Country Club in the Oklahoma town. Heim has since returned to Colorado as PGA head professional at Columbine Country Club.
Langston was working the Ping Junior Invitational in Oklahoma when he made the side trip to visit with Heim and his family.
“I just really liked what I saw in Bartlesville,” he said. “It’s a town of 35,000 but the feel of the town is more like a town of 300,000 or 400,000. … They’ve always taken care of the town. So many smaller communities anymore — especially those outside a metro area — have experienced some decay. I hate it; it’s not what I grew up with. In Bartlesville, they’ve taken care of it nicely. And it’s an affordable town.
“Bartlesville felt right. (But) I don’t know anybody there; I don’t know a soul.”
After getting in only four rounds of golf so far in 2015, Langston is looking forward to playing more, rather than just observing others playing. (Though he didn’t do it this year, Langston has shot his age — or better — about a half-dozen times.) And Hillcrest CC in Bartlesville is a Perry Maxwell design, and Langston loves courses designed by Maxwell.
Without a doubt, though, many golfers in Colorado will miss the thin Texan who has long made the Centennial state his home. That’s especially true for the thousands of junior players — and former junior players — Langston has impacted over the years.
“If you find (tournament players) who are in their 20s, 30s, even 40s, they know Rich from being a rules official and being so personal and personable,” said fellow chief rules official Greg With. “He knows every one of them.”
Langston (left, filling divots at Lakewood Country Club during the recent CGA Mid-Amateur) remembers silencing the room at a pre-tournament banquet for the 1999 Junior America’s Cup held at Perry Park Country Club.
“I said I do not enjoy being on the golf course with a bunch of kids,” he recalled. “But I love being out there with young players — and there is a difference.
“I don’t in any way, shape, fashion or form think that I have helped ‘sculpt their youth’. Hey, that’s for their mom and dad to do. But I enjoy being around young people. What I’ve always found is, you treat them with respect, and it comes right straight back to you.”
One of those instances came at the 2013 Ram Masters Invitational at Fort Collins Country Club, where a one-stroke penalty incurred on the final hole by freshman Jimmy Makloski, who was making his college debut, made the difference between host Colorado State finishing second or forcing a playoff for the team title. Langston was the rules official who dealt with the matter, one in which Makloski addressed his ball on the green and the ball subsequently changed position. When Makloski and then-assistant coach Bret Guetz acknowledged that Makloski had addressed the ball, Langston informed them it would be a one-stroke penalty.
“About two weeks later and I saw Ray (Makloski), Jimmy’s dad,” Langston said. “I said that was probably one of the toughest decisions I ever got brought into. Ray looked at me and said, ‘We were glad it was you.’ That was as big a compliment as a person could ever have. In all likelihood Jimmy would have been able to secure the (team) victory for CSU (if not for the penalty). You’ve got to remember this was his freshman year and his first (college) tournament. There’s not many people around that exhibited the class that Jimmy showed and that Bret showed. But you know what? In this business that’s what I’ve grown to expect.”
And people in Colorado golf have known what to expect from Langston (left) — nothing less than his all.
“I remember once I teed off (for a round of golf) and my phone rang,” he recalled. “I’m walking down the fairway talking to a member of the (Colorado PGA) who was on the Western Slope and he had a member-guest four-ball going on (and had a rules issue). It was important to him that he get it right. For God’s sake, if you can get something right by making a telephone call … it takes more maturity to do that than it does to make a wrong decision. I’ve always told every pro I’ve dealt with, ‘Don’t ever hesitate to call me.’ I don’t care what day of the week it is; that’s why I gave you my cell number. You owe it to your constituency: Get it right.”
And Langston can be assured as he leaves Colorado that he got it right.
