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Bob Barrett
Bob Barrett
By Ian Thompson
When I started this open-ended series of Golf Memories I envisioned it as a way to pay homage, if you will, to the golfing careers of various people with Alabama ties. I must admit, my primary focus for most of the features has been the playing careers of those featured: Mac McLendon, Dave Ragan, Sam Farlow, Steve Lowery, Jerry Pate, Phillip Hancock, Hank Johnson and Jackie Cummings.
For this feature I chose to go in a different direction, but one equally noteworthy.
Bob Barretts resume reads like a virtual road map through some of the best courses in the country. At 49 years old, he is now the CEO of Honours Golf and very much master of his domain. He is without doubt one of the major players in the golf scene in the southeast.
I sat down with him at his Birmingham office recently as he reminisced about his life in golf. This is his story...
Think of one town above all others that is known for golf in this country and many would answer Augusta. Indeed it is Augusta that Barrett hails from and his earliest golfing memories are of playing the muny in Augusta with his older brother Bill as a nine-year-old boy.
Dad would drive us to the course in the morning on his way to work and pick us up on his way home. We did this all the time for a couple of years. He saw how much we enjoyed it and chose to join Augusta Country Club. He saw it as a great place to keep us all (Barrett also has two younger brothers and a sister) out of trouble.
The Augusta Country Club is a fine club in its own right, having hosted The Titleholders, a major at one time on the LPGA Tour, which folded in the mid 1960s. No. 9 on the country club runs behind the famous 12th hole at Augusta National.
I started going to The Masters as a kid at eight-years-old and Ive not missed a year since. This year marked my 41st in a row and I wouldnt miss it for anything.
I worked the tournament in high school - the scoreboard, marshaling - it was all quite a thrill. Schools are closed in Augusta that week and so we always looked forward to the week.
He talked of his junior golf.
I was never a real superstar. Maybe the second or third best player around. I went to Aquinas High School but we just played matches against other local schools, not tournaments.
I got a scholarship to play golf at Middle Junior College in Cochran, Ga. In my sophomore year I was runner-up in the State JUCO tournament, but I didnt go on to play golf at a four-year school. I went to Augusta College and took a part-time job at West Lake Country Club. I probably could have made the team at Augusta College, but I didnt have the desire. I was more interested in making money (he was also working part-time for Merrill Lynch) and graduating.
During his senior year he found at that The Augusta National was looking for an assistant professional.
In August 1973 I interviewed for the job and got it. Augusta is closed during the summertime, so I got to work at some other great clubs during the summers. In 1974 I worked at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton on Long Island, close to Shinnecock and National Golf Links.
Augusta Nationals co-professionals Dave Spencer and Bob Kletcke took Bob with them for different summers and he accompanied Kletcke to Grandfather Golf & Country Club in Linville, N.C. from 1975-77.
Working at Augusta National was such a great experience because of the all of the history, but as much as anything I enjoyed the membership which was made up of such terrific people. Many top executives from around the world are members, but they are completely unpretentious.
The opportunities for golf were fabulous. I played a lot of golf with the members. I probably played the course at least 200 times. Clifford Roberts (Chairman of the club at the time) and I became very close. In 1974 he wrote a book about Augusta along with Ken Bowden. He (Roberts) would also visit Linville for the summers and I became his valet. He always called me Bobby and he asked me to get him a paper every day, but the problem was I didnt work every day, but I did it anyway. He always used to say 'Bobby much obliged until youre better paid. He really did appreciate my help and I remember him giving my wife a 14-carat gold Masters pin which were given normally to the wives of members.
Noted author David Owen wrote a book about The Masters and Augusta National. In it there is a piece about Barrett playing golf with Roberts. Ill let Bob take it from there...
Cliff Roberts played a game based on pars and birdies including handicap. During the members only jamboree he calls for me as one of his group had to drop out. Now I havent played in at least six weeks. He says to me 'Bobby we expect four birdies on the front and four birdies on the back. Well I par one and then have a long eagle putt on two. Mr. Roberts warns me that its fast, but I roll it seven feet past and miss the return. 'Damn it, you dont pay attention, I told you it was fast he barks at me.
I ended up with nine straight pars, pretty good for not having played, but he sends me on my way. 'Go to the showers and get me one of those others who can make four birdies. Neither Bob or Dave wanted to go out, but Dave got the short straw, shot 40 and didnt make a birdie either. Mr. Roberts and I laughed about that day many times later.
Barrett also talked of the thrill of The Masters.
It was a great experience every year. I remember in 1976 that I had a great golf round scheduled for the week before the tournament with Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf. That very morning Im helping to move one of the portable pro shops and I strained my back, spent the next two days in the hospital and ended up having to have surgery on it in 1980.
It was out of Bobs association with Augusta National and Grandfather Golf Club that he met Hall Thompson, who was, and still is, a member of both clubs and whos vision was Shoal Creek .
Hall wanted the same concept of co-professionals for Shoal Creek as at Augusta and he wanted me to be one of them, but I told him I was not interested. He hired someone else, but that didnt last long and he came back to me. I accepted and started as head professional in December 1977.
I spent 13 and a half wonderful years at Shoal Creek. In late '78 I also became the club manager on an interim basis, which lasted 12 years.
I had a great relationship with Hall Thompson. He was almost like another father to me as well as my boss. Ive always admired his integrity for both the way he has lived his life and the way he played the game of golf. He was a perfectionist (which I got from him), but extremely fair. He gave us the tools to work with.
While at Shoal Creek Bob held every leadership position with the Alabama Chapter of the Dixie Section of the PGA and then in the Section as a whole culminating in 1989 and 1990 when he was president of the section. He was also awarded National Merchandiser of the Year by the PGA of America for a private club in 1987.
When it came time for me to leave he complimented me on always standing up for what I believed in. It was simply my time to look at other things.
Other things turned out to be the advent of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
When I left Shoal Creek I had started talking to Bobby Vaughan and David Bronner in the early fall of 1990 about the Trail. The announcement of the first site - Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham - had come that July. I partnered with SunBelt Golf and stayed 26 months. When SunBelt started they had just three employees. Thirty months later we had 450 employees and had properties in various stages across the state.
I had as much fun with that tenure, although it was relatively short, as with any Ive had, but the time constraints were too much. Working on so many courses was a mammoth task - seven days a week, 15 hours a day got to be too much.
Garry Drummond approached me saying he was wanting to get into the golf/real estate business. This offered me a less frantic pace and I came to work for Drummond Company in 1994. Old Overton was under construction at that time. Next came Rancho La Quinta in California, which I helped to build. Grasslands in Lakeland, Florida was already open and I also assisted Larry Drummond and Scrappy Edgemon on Kiva Dunes.
We had some great accomplishments. Old Overton was named the best new private course in 1994 by Golf Digest and Rancho La Quinta hosted The Skins Game from 1996-98.
The Skins Game came about through a relationship I had with Chuck Gerber of Ohlmeyer Communications. Initially he was looking for a site for an 18-hole par 3 skins game, but it never happened. We had some dialogue and Garry decided he'd like to try to get The Skins Game at Rancho La Quinta. It took two years to make it happen, was expensive to put on, but meant a lot to the development. Three years was enough though. We had Tiger and John Daly the first year and the TV ratings were very strong. Tiger came back in '97 too.
But Bob was getting a little restless and yearned to strike out on his own.
Why not do it (manage, develop and own golf courses) for myself? I had the experience and felt I was ready so I formed Barrett Golf Management in the Spring of '98. I continued to work for Drummond on a contract basis managing their facilities.
Things definitely didnt slow down when Bob took the plunge into business for himself.
Kelly Plantation (in Destin, Fla.) and Highland Park (in downtown Birmingham) came along at the same time. I joined John McNeil and Buddy Runnels with some other investors in Kelly.
On Highland Park the city had sent out to various people a request for proposals. I approached Mark Elgin of Torchmark about putting together a deal. We agreed that if the city would give us a long enough lease then we could make it work. We showed them (city hall) that we were serious with a $3.5 million total renovation plan. We were committed to making it work. And we are pleased with the results. It just goes to show that you dont have to have 200 acres on which to build a golf course. It is the type of course on which you can have fun and we pride ourselves on the courses conditioning. Bob Cupp who designed it and Bill Kubley of Landscapes Unlimited who build it are both partners in the project as well.
Both courses opened in December 1998, but Bob was not about to sit on his laurels.
I was perfectly happy at that time. Wed just opened two courses, but I got a phone call from Frank Broyles, who I knew from my days at Augusta, who said he had some people for me to meet. Bob Julian of Omaha, Nebraska and his son-in-law Rob Shults of Atlanta wanted to put a golf business venture together and Frank thought wed be a good match for one another. We met, kept in touch and put together a partnership. They had the capital and I had the expertise so hence Honours Golf was formed in June 1999 as a golf course management company. We also own some courses too under other names.
Their acquisitions came thick and fast. Rock Creek in Fairhope, Ala. in July 1999; Peninsula Golf Club in Gulf Shores in November 1999; The Slammer and The Squire and The King and The Bear golf courses at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. in November 2000; and Limestone Springs in Oneonta, Ala. in January 2001.
The last two or three years have flown by. Weve expanded greatly and we have other facilities in the pipeline. Our business plan calls for the acquisition of two or three courses every year for the next 10 years. Were also looking at getting more and more involved in fee-based management work mainly covering construction and renovation projects at golf courses.
Indeed, Barrett is as busy as ever, but with one big difference - hes now working for himself.
Ive always thought I would be successful because of my work ethic. I suppose Ive matured at an early age. Im working at Augusta National when Im 22; head professional at Shoal Creek at 25 and club manager at 26. I may not be all that bright, but Ive got a lot of common sense and Im an opportunistic individual. Equally as important Ive surrounded myself with great people. Weve got north of 400 employees and I want them all to share our philosophy of being the best in the business.
Yes, Bob Barrett has lived a full life in the golf business, but he has the drive and desire to do so much more. He wont be slowing down anytime soon. I look forward to continuing to chart his progress.
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