 | | Photo By Jason Horton | | Jim White |
|
By Jason Horton
After 35 years in the golf industry, Jim White is retiring.
White, who has been the golf pro at Senior Estates Golf and Country Club since July 1, 1979, along with his wife Jeanie, purchased McCully Reality in July and he will become the principal broker in January.
"I am looking forward to not getting out of bed at 5 a.m. every day to get to work by 7 a.m.," White said. "That's going to be big. I can stay in bed and slip in the office at 9 a.m. - that's very appealing."
White moved to Oregon from Bellingham, Wash., where he was part owner of an executive course and driving range. He sold his stake in that and took the job at Senior Estates.
"I was looking for a job and they were looking for a guy," White said. "It was a very good fit. It's been a good place to work."
One of the things White is proud of is the tournaments that Senior Estates puts on each year.
"The tournament program for the members is one thing I worked real hard on to develop and we have a fine program to keep our members happy - more than just the normal play and that was a big thing," he said. "There was a small tournament schedule - three or four tournament - but we've brought it up to about a dozen and a couple invitationals that are big. In our mixed tournaments, especially on holidays, we'll run up to 200 people in those tournaments, which is pretty big. We can't handle too many more people than that - it's been good, though, and we always have had people standing in line, so we're doing something right."
White also received the Junior Golf Leader award from the Pacific Northwest Pro Golfers Association in 1999 and 2000 for basically saving golf in the Salem-Keizer School District.
"We had a golf organization called "SAY Golf" - Salem Area Youth Golf Association and we funded the whole golf programs for all of Salem-Keizer School District," he said. "We promoted golf and it was a little unusual for a guy coming from Senior Estates getting a junior golf award, so that was big for me."
Some career highlights for White, who played golf at Western Washington University in 1972-73:
n 1985 qualified for the National PGA Club Professional Championship in Mission Hills in Palm Springs, Calif.
"That was pretty neat to go to that," he said. "The standing joke is that Jim White finished second and won $17,000, only it was Jim White from Lincoln, Neb. - I missed the cut."
n Taught his daughter, Jerilyn, how to play golf.
"I taught her how to play golf and she won the Oregon Amateur (2001), won the 1998 and 1999 PNGA women's championship and was runner-up twice (2000 and 2001) and she played in three women's U.S. Amateur's, made it to match-play once in 1999," he said. "I am pretty proud of all that."
Jerilyn graduated from McNary High School in 1997 after winning the state title that year, she went to the University of Oregon where she finished 13th in the nation in 2001.
"My biggest mistake was probably caddying for her," White said. "Parents have to let go and I kept trying to hang on. It was OK for those tournaments but she tried to play the tour school and I went with her one time and I thought since I was a golf pro, I knew more than other parents. If I had to do that over again, I probably wouldn't have done that."
n Beat Jerilyn in a golf tournament
"We got to play in the same tournament once, the Oregon Open in 2001, and she has all the hardware so we finally got to see who the best golfer in the family was," White said. "Ole dad shot a 68 at Black Butte and Jerilyn shot a 76 in the first round. She's got the hardware on the trophy shelf, but I beat her that day - I proved I was the best in the family."
As his career as a golf pro winds down (he'll officially retire in December), he said that Senior Estates is well-equipped for the next generation of retirees.
"I think Senior Estates is very well-positioned for the Baby Boomers that will be retiring," he said. "They will be looking here and this golf course is very well suited for retired folks. It's not a long course, about 5,500 yards and its plenty of golf course for 90 percent of the people and the price is right for the people here. Not everyone can afford $200-$300 a month to play at a fancy course. We stay pretty busy here - golf is down all across the country right now, but when that group retires - they're just hitting their strides in retirement - this place will be a great place to be."
With his time on the golf course now, White hopes to play more.
"I might get a chance to play some golf now," he said. "Most club pros go to the golf course every day, but they don't get a chance to play. Now I will get to work on my game - I like to play, but right now my game is pretty sad."
White, 58, also may play in some senior golf events.
"I'll probably play in some Pro-Am's, the Oregon Senior Open and the one in Washington - I'm looking forward to that," he said. "But, as you get older, your game goes south. I don't hit the ball as far as I used to. We all think we are better players than we are, but that's the way it is."
|
