Columnist Peter Benton: Welch’s achievement award highlights chapter awards dinner

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The Paiute Golf Resort was the site last week of the annual awards banquet for the Las Vegas Chapter, Southwest Section of the PGA.

Without doubt, the highlight of the evening was when Dale Akridge, head professional of the SouthShore Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas, introduced the now-retired Don Welch as the recipient of the rarely bestowed Lifetime Achievement Award.

The affable Welch, perhaps the most popular, candid and self-critical professional we have ever had in this area, is a native of Whitefish, Mont. His love of sports started at an early age and his commitment to golf was instant. In high school he lettered in three sports -- basketball, football and, naturally, golf. He graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in health and physical education, and he played on the college golf team each of his four years.

Welch was voted into the Montana Golf Hall of Fame (player division) and also into the Whitefish High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Some of the many accomplishments in Welch's career include winning three tournaments twice -- the Montana High School Golf Championship, the Montana State Amateur and the State Jaycee Championship. In the 1951 Jaycee National Golf Tournament in Durham, N.C., he was nipped on the final day of play by colorful Doug Sanders.

Welch's first foray into the professional golfing arena was in 1961 when he was hired as a teaching pro at the old Desert Inn Country Club. In 1964 his abilities and leadership qualities were rewarded by his promotion to head professional, and in 1967 he was appointed director of golf, a position he retained until 1976.

From there it was to the Dunes Country Club to fill a similar post until its closing in 1990. For the next four years this unassuming gentleman assisted Economic Research Associates with feasibility studies for the Paiute, Rio Secco, Lakes Las Vegas and Coyote Springs golf courses. Following that he became tournament and marketing director at the Paiute Resort until 1997.

During Welch's years in Las Vegas, he hosted three Nevada Opens, was on the committee for the first Las Vegas Invitational, was on the selection committee for hiring UNLV men's golf coach Dwaine Knight, and has been a strong supporter of both the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association and the UNLV golf program.

There is not a position he did not hold with the LV professional chapter over the years (which is indicative of the man's caring and dedication to the game he loves.) He also served as the secretary of the Rocky Mountain Section of the PGA.

Aside from Welch, others who were recognized for their excellence included:

I would like to offer my personal congratulations to Don Welch, who befriended me when this column first came into existence in 1976. Don is the epitome of honesty and integrity and I cannot think of a person I would rather see honored with this most prestigious award.