Avid Golfer Says Goodbye to Colorado Legends

Jon Rizzi

Warren Smith, 1915-2015

“It’s the end of an era.” So said Cherry Hills Country Club member Gene Neher at a dinner honoring PGA professional Warren Smith upon his retirement in 1990. Twenty-five years later, those words again apply.

Smith, who passed away May 3 in Palm Springs at age 99, spent 27 of his 50 years as a golf professional at Cherry Hills—the longest tenure of anyone to hold the position. He never lost his Alabama accent or the respect of his peers and his members. Known simply as “The Pro,” he was, in the words of the legendary Dow Finsterwald, “the golf professional’s golf professional,” and Hall of Famer Ron Moore called him “the epitome of everything wonderful about this game of golf which we love.”

These quotations come from The Pro’s Pro, Tripp Baltz’s colorful 2009 biography about Smith. That a clean-living club pro could generate enough copy to fill a book testifies to the man and his influence. He became an honorary member at Cherry Hills at a time when only Dwight Eisenhower—a close friend of Smith’s predecessor Rip Arnold—and Arnold Palmer had that distinction. Palmer, who won the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, helped Smith, who had just earned the PGA of America’s 1973 Golf Professional of the Year award, slip on his red jacket.

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inducted him in 1978, and every year since 1986 the Colorado Section PGA has given one of its members the Warren Smith Award for “special contributions to the game of golf, the Colorado Section, junior golf and to their facility.” One wonders why it took until 2005 for the national PGA of America Golf Professional Hall of Fame to enshrine him.

During his time at Cherry Hills, Smith presided over the 1976 U.S. Senior Amateur, the 1978 U.S. Open, 1983 U.S. Mid-Amateur, the 1985 PGA Championship, and the 1990 U.S. Amateur. He mentored Cherry Hills members Jill McGill and Brandt Jobe to careers worthy of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, and groomed 16 assistants to become head professionals, including his successor, Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Clayton Cole. With a swing as effortless as breathing, Smith played in the 1963 and 1966 U.S. Opens and the 1956 and 1957 PGA Championships, advancing to the quarterfinals in ’57, the last year of the event’s match-play format. His seven consecutive birdies at the 1955 Texas Open tied a PGA Tour record and stood for six years.

Every September Cherry Hills hosts the Smith-Cole, an invitation-only pro-am where the best pros (and their amateur partners) from around country are paired with two Cherry Hills members. And until Smith moved from Denver a few years back, there was a button on the dining room computer called “Pro” that logged a BLT and iced tea.

It was the regular order for an extraordinary man.

Marv Mazone, 1940-2015

Even if he had a different name, “Marvelous,” would still be Marv Mazone’s moniker. During his 32 years at Hyland Hills Golf Courses—20 as Head PGA Professional and 12 as the PGA Director of Golf—“Marvelous Marv” oversaw the expansion of the Westminster facility’s original 18-hole layout and 9-hole par-3 course to its current 27-hole regulation course with two par-3 courses. 

A Denver North graduate who attended both the University of Colorado and Arizona State, Mazone inspired Hyland Hills’ staff and players with his witty, easy-going style and his prowess as a player. Sixteen of his assistants ascended to head professional positions, and he gave lessons to thousands of players.

For his efforts he received dozens of honors, awards and recognition. Among those was the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 2009, the year of his retirement, and the Colorado PGA Section’s 2011 Warren Smith Award. His commitment to educational programs earned him the Section’s 1979 Horton Smith Award, and in 1988 and 1989 he won its first two Golf Merchandiser of the Year awards for public courses.

On his watch, Golf Digest named Hyland Hills one of the “Top 25 Public Golf Courses in America,” and in addition to numerous CGA and CWGA championships, Hyland Hills hosted the 1990 USGA Women’s Public Links.

Taking a special interest in making golf available to young players, Mazone committed himself to developing the District’s Junior Golf Program. He coordinated golf outings for patients from The Children’s Hospital, and his dedication to kids and other novice golfers endeared him to the neighborhood and golf community at large.

Mazone’s involvement in the local business community and civic associations resulted in numerous Chamber of Commerce awards for Hyland Hills.

A gentle, glib and good-natured man, Mazone charmed the staff with his stories. “I remember him telling me he had to give a very unusual ruling to a player during one of our ladies leagues,” longtime colleague and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Greg Mastriona says. “He said, with a straight face, ‘She wanted to know what the ruling was when her ball fell off the tee in the fairway.’”

A large bronze plaque honoring “Marvelous” Marv Mazone greets entrants to the Hyland Hills golf shop. Mazone retired in 2009, and despite battling Alzheimer’s Disease, he often visited his old haunt, courtesy of Kathy, his wife of 53 years. Mazone passed May 5.