 |
Reflections |
Jim Colbert
Professional golfer
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Photo courtesy of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame |
GCSAA is close to Jim Colbert’s heart —
literally.
While playing on the Champions Tour, where his career flourished, Colbert was often seen sporting, in addition to his trademark white bucket hat, a GCSAA logo on his shirt, as well as on his golf bag — the result of a two-year GCSAA sponsorship.
And his beginnings in the sport didn’t oc-
cur far from GCSAA’s headquarters in
Lawrence, Kan.
Colbert originally earned a scholarship to play football at Kansas State University in Manhattan, but ultimately turned to golf. His senior year in 1964, he finished second in the NCAA golf championships.
Turning pro in 1965, Colbert tallied an impressive list of eight tournament titles on the PGA Tour, including the 1972 Greater Milwaukee Open, the 1973 Greater Jacksonville Open and the 1974 American Golf Classic. He won two titles in 1983, finishing 15th on the money list.
Colbert then moved into golf course management, starting and running his own company, Jim Colbert Golf, out of Las Vegas, and also worked as a golf analyst for ESPN.
In 1994, Colbert returned to his alma mater, where he helped design and build Colbert Hills Golf Course outside of Manhattan. A university-run golf course where the school’s golf teams train and where future superintendents at the school’s renowned golf course management program can study and conduct research on turfgrass, Colbert Hills also is home to The First Tee National Academy, The First Tee facility and the Earl Woods National Youth Golf Academy.
Back in action on the Champions Tour, Colbert has produced 20 tournament wins, including a senior major championship and the 1993 Senior Players Championship. He was named the Senior PGA Player of the Year in 1995 and set all-time scoring records for 18 holes, 36 holes and consecutive rounds.
Inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, Colbert spends part of the year in a home he built on the Colbert Hills course.
— Darcy DeVictor, associate editor
"I played a lot of amateur golf before I played professional golf, so competitive golfers are very aware of the conditions — the good ones and the bad ones. I’ve been a professional now on the Tour for 42 years, but even the agronomy at the Tour level has improved dramatically. Right here in Boston, the bent fairways are better than the greens we used to putt when I was a little kid… The biggest thing the superintendent has had to do, every time they find something that works, really works, the government usually outlaws it, and then they’ve got to find something else. So it’s an ever-changing profession, and in the industry of golf, the superintendent has the most difficult job at the golf course. You can be perfect one night, go to bed and wake up the next day and find out the third fairway is under water because (the irrigation system) broke in the middle of the night. It happens all the time. And so, they’re the key to the industry." |
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