COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Students enrolled in the Professional Golf Management Program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs will have the opportunity to hone their golf skills without cost as part of a new agreement with Pine Creek Golf Club.
Gary Klein, interim dean, College of Business and Administration, announced March 2 an agreement with Escalante Golf, the general partner and manager of Pine Creek, to create the Pine Creek Golf Scholarship that allows the university’s PGM students unlimited free access to the Pine Creek course in northeast Colorado Springs. The agreement also gives the students discounts at the club’s driving range and pro shop. In exchange for the access and discounts, students must maintain their academic standing and provide voluntary service at the course.
“It is important for students in the Professional Golf Management Program to polish their skills while observing highly professional managers at work,” Klein said. “To do so without cost is a tremendous benefit to our students. We are deeply appreciative of Escalante’s generosity in opening the course to our students and helping them become top-level golf professionals.”
Klein estimated the retail value of the scholarship to each student at approximately $18,000 while they are enrolled in the four and a half year program. This year’s class consists of 36 individuals, with the consequence that the gift’s value is about $650,000. PGM program goals call for as many as 200 students to enroll.
David McDonald, President of Escalante Golf, agreed, saying that “This partnership will be a key component in our efforts to promote the game of golf to the youth in our community and in a small way help give the university one more tool in its quest to make the Professional Golf Management Program the best in the country.”
In exchange for the free rounds of golf, the students are required to provide 10 hours of public service to the course per semester by doing such things as assisting with Pine Creek’s junior golf program and a Golf for Business and Life program that introduces members of the business and university communities to golf. Students will also help Escalante conduct tournaments at Pine Creek.
CU-Colorado Springs is among only 15 universities in the nation offering a Professional Golf Management Program under the accreditation of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America. Offered through the College of Business and Administration, the PGM Program prepares highly motivated men and women for careers in the industry by providing them with a university degree and PGA membership. The students also complete three cooperative internships and a PGA/PGM training program.
The university’s PGM Program is one of only six west of the Mississippi River and is the lone program in Colorado. Applications for the fall 2004 semester are being accepted. Applicants compete for a limited number of positions and must meet academic entrance requirements and have above-average golf skills, including a handicap of 12 or less. The PGM Program is far more focused on professional management than golf, according to Douglas Wert, program director, and Paul B. W. Miller, professor of Business and the program’s academic director.
The College of Business and Administration is among the fewer than 30 percent of all business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, and one of only six AACSB schools to offer a PGM Program.
CU-Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls more than 7,600 students annually.