Dan Snider, Alotian Club COO, has helped manya golfer, including the PGA’s Bryce Molder andGlen Day, refine their games.talk about how each is doing.Molder blossomed into afour-time college All-Americaplayer at Georgia Tech. As aprofessional, 2011 was Molder’sbest season on the PGA Tour,as he earned nearly $2 million,then followed up with a$1.2 million season in 2012. Hehad earned a quarter of thatthrough two months in 2013,and Molder has topped $7 millionin career earnings.Day, who played collegiatelyat the University of Oklahoma,was already taking lessons fromSnider before the pro movedfrom Houston to Little Rock.Day, who is 47 and nearly twoyears ago had surgery on an ankle,is competing on the Web.com Tour after several years asa PGA Tour pro.“I guess I’ve always said thiswhen Glen and Bryce have hadsuccess, they put in the workand they do it. I don’t thinkthat I should get credit for that,”Snider said.Two pros who have turnedto Snider recently are veteranPGA journeyman Dicky Pride“Dan Snider is oneof the finest, not justgolf professional,but gentlemenin golf that I’veknown in my life.”-- Jay Foxand Little Rock nativeRon Whittaker.Pride never wonanother event aftertaking the 1994St. Jude Classicin Memphis andstruggled for yearsbefore finding Snidera couple of yearsback. Pride, whoplayed at Alabamaand calls Orlando,Fla., his regularhome, brings hisfamily to the GreersFerry Lake areaeach summer whenschool is out.Pride has enjoyed a resurgencethe past two years, andwas runner-up in the 2012Byron Nelson Classic at LasColinas, Texas.“Dicky would tell you, it wasthe two of us together,” Snidersaid. “I told him the things heneeded to do and he boughtinto that. We stayed on thesame principles until it becameconsistent for him. He had agood year and has started outplaying well this year.”Whittaker has bouncedaround between the smallertours and the PGA Tour, tryingto find some consistency sincestarring in college at WakeForest.“I had helped Ron before,then he came back last fall andasked me if I could work withhim,” Snider said. “We did thesame thing I did with Dicky. Isat down with him and said,these are the things he needsto do. He agreed with me. He’sbeen diligent about working onthose things and I look for Ronto have a good year.”Fox said he first met Sniderwhen the pro tookover at Chenal.“He cares deeplyfor the game ofgolf and is just atrue credit to thegame,” Fox said.“He’s a wonderfulgolf professionaland wonderful humanbeing. I wasproud to say he’s afriend of mine.”Fox said that Snider’s inductioninto the state hall of fame“is probably long overdue. …The year before we inductedhim, the South Central Sectionof the PGA inducted himinto their hall of fame. To beinducted into two halls of famein a span of 12 months tells youwhat people think of him andhow highly respected he is.”Snider is also a member ofthe Palmer Cup board. ThePalmer Cup is an annual competitionbetween American andEuropean collegians.Radio DaysSnider remembers BobSteel, the former televisionnews director and now a hoston the Arkansas Radio Network,calling about a weeklygolf show Steel was proposing.Steel asked if Snider wouldappear.“I thought he meant forone time. It’s been five years,”Snider said with a laugh.“Arkansas Fairways andGreens” is broadcast via ARN(KARN in Little Rock) onSaturdays from 7-8 a.m. Sniderand Fox join Steel on a showthat offers discussion and avariety of national guests. Steelcredits Snider with landingmany of the show’s interviewsand said Snider lends the showcredibility and an eye for detailinvolving the better golfers thatfew others can offer.“He is the best golf instructorin the state of Arkansas. Andprobably others that he hashelped would echo that,” Steelsaid.Steel, who also works inpublic relations, has gotten toknow Snider well through handlingAlotian’s public relations,particularly during the fiveyearrun of the Jack StephensCharitable Trust tournaments.Steel has taken his shareof tips from Snider and likensSnider’s teaching personality tothat of a military general.“He has bearing. He’s animposing figure. But once youdevelop a relation with him,he’s one of the nicest, mostgenuine people you will evermeet. And God, does he knowthe game of golf.”Falcon Point in Houstonwas suffering from financialproblems during the late1980s oil crunch and fell intoreceivership. Snider sensed theclub was likely to change handsand undergo a staff overhaul.A friend had connections withMurphy Oil Corp., whose DelticTimber subsidiary was buildingthe Chenal subdivision andclub in west Little Rock.“Little Rock is beautifulto someone who has neverbeen here before,” Snider said.Having seen what Chenal hadplanned with Robert TrentJones on the design, he happilysigned on.A quarter-century later,Snider isn’t leaving. Two of histhree children graduated fromthe University of Arkansas,and his roots are firmly in theground here. Inquiries fromTexans asking him if he’d wantto return to run their coursesare answered with “ ‘Thanks,’and that’s the end of the conversation,”Snider said.“He’s embraced Arkansasvery much so,” Steel said.“You’d have to call him anArkansan now.”Snider turned 65 in February,but he’s hardly thinkingretirement.“I love what I do. I love thisclub. I love Little Rock, the stateand the golf,” Snider said of hisadopted home. “I can’t see notdoing this. … If it was just aboutcoming and getting paid, I’d belooking to quit at 66 like everybodyelse. No, no. As long asWarren will have me out here,I want to keep coming out hereevery day.”32 ARKANSAS BUSINESS EXECUTIVE GOLFER / 2013
GreystoneResurrectionSEPARATEOWNERSHIPSRESTOREGOLF AT TWOCOURSESIN CABOTCOMMUNITYBy Jim HarrisJim Cooper was only looking for a dealon some golf course maintenance equipment.He came away with an entire golfcourse.Cooper was already owner of the Cooper’sHawk course in Melbourne and hopingjust to break even when he attended anauction last year attempting to find a fewgood buys.He wound up as owner of yet anothercourse, Greystone’s Mountain Springs inCabot, which had sat idle for almost a year.Cooper worked out a deal with WilsonAuctioneers and Metropolitan NationalBank, which held the note on the course,to buy the property.Adding one more course to his acclaimedCooper’s Hawk — the No. 1 public/dailyfee course in the state as rated by ExecutiveGolfer and Arkansas Business readers —was enough for Cooper.But the Greystone development hadanother 18 holes, dubbed Cypress Creek,also sitting idle.A similar deal was worked out with aninvestment group that included MitchWard, who owns Red River Dodge in HeberSprings, and some silent partners. RickySelf, a golf professional who helped get thestate-owned Ridges at Valley Creek StatePark up and running last year after aninitial stumble, was brought in to join theCypress Creek group.So two scenic tests of golf in centralArkansas for the past decade-plus buckeda nationwide trend that had seen coursesshutting down. They rose from the deadthanks to ownership groups committed toputting the money back into their coursesand not concerning themselves with profit.Since the nation’s financial crisis of2008, the golf business has taken a hit.Nationally, the number of golfers reportedlyis stagnant at about 30 million, andthe number of people taking up the game2013 / ARKANSAS BUSINESS EXECUTIVE GOLFER 33
Change language