Dave Powell of Palo Verde Country Club Rates Troon Scottsdale and Desert Mountain as Favorite Courses

Tommy Accosta, Valley Bureau Chief

October 22, 1998

This week we are focusing on Golf pro Dave Powell, chosen four times Arizona Player of the year. Dave is the head pro at Palo Verde Country Club in Sun Lakes, a premier private club in one of Arizona's top retirement communities.

Dave came to Arizona from Washington State in 1979, attending the University of Arizona on a full golf scholarship. As a competing pro, Dave played in numerous tours including The Grapefruit Tour in 1998, The San Juan Open in 1989, The Hogan Tour in 1991, where he won all three.

Still competing at the age of 30, Dave just finished second at this year's Sierra Open.

As with most pros, Dave's love of golf began at a very early age.

"It started when I was ten" Dave said. "A friend who played golf invited me. I'll never forget my 7 iron shot on the 6th hole. There was this ditch I had to clear and when I swung the ball sailed right over it landing in the middle of the green. I was hooked from that day on."

Dave wasted no time devoting his life to the game, which became his passion.

"I mowed lawns during that summer and earned enough money to buy myself a set of clubs," Dave said. "A course near my house had a great junior program so I would ride my bike every day during the summer and play. By the time I was 14 I won "The Most Improved Player" title with an 18 handicap. At sixteen I tied the course record at 62. In hgh school I formed a golf team and we went to the state competitions every year after that."

Dave said that he knew early on that he would someday be a professional.

"I wanted to turn pro from 12 up," Dave said. "I got a job at the course by the age of 13. The pro there took me under his wing and I put him on a pedestal. He wore red and green pants, a popsicle hat and the coolest white shoes. I wanted to be just like him. We were like a father and son team. I did everything at the course from mowing and watering lawns, to seeding them."

It soon became obvious to Dave and those who knew him that he had a special talent when it came to golf.

"I started playing amateur tours and won seven in a row," Dave said. In 1979 I won a full golf scholarship and in 1983 investors sponsored me on a mini-tour in Florida. I won the San Juan Open five times and in 1989 I earned $40,000 playing golf."

The pressures of professional competition and raising a family began to take their toll after that and Dave found himself having to reconsider his life as a competing professional.

"In 1991, I played all year," Dave said. "It was a great experience, one which I would never trade, but with two kids and the pressure of feeding them the cup began to look like a thimble when putting for my mortgage. The life of a competing pro is not an easy life. It's very hard living in motels and sometimes your car. My son was asking me when was I coming home and I soon found myself grinding over four foot putts."

Working as a head pro has proved rewarding for Dave and now he finds himself enjoying teaching and sharing his skills with other golfers.

"I still love to play and I recently came in second in the Arizona State Open," Dave said. "Teaching golf is also very satisfying. You are not just and instructor you are also a counselor, someone they could talk to."

Dave explained his philosophy and approach to the game.

"You have to have tremendous patience in the game of golf," Dave said. "Course management and putting are 45 percent of the game. I don't care how far or straight you can drive if you can't make a put you don't score.

The game is not played in 300 yards. The real game is played inside 100 yards. Getting that across to my people is most important.

"The secret to putting is the length and speed of the putt. The stroke should be one speed, backwards and forwards. The secret to a long drive is clubhead speed. Lengthening the arc of your swing will increase your clubhead speed. The solidness and centerness of contact as well as the balance of your swing makes all the difference."

Dave also teaches the importance of one's mental attitude.

"I try to teach people how to release their stress, mentally," Dave said. "When they are out of focus, stressed, people get tight, their body tenses and this prevents a good swing. I teach them to develop a solid routine. I make sure that their set up is right so that things proceed smoothly from there. I make sure they take the same swing each time at the ball. Feel is not necessarily the same everyday. We get different signals from upstairs depending on how we feel. The trick is to get the swing as close to perfect as possible. Then let go. Sometimes we get lucky. Jack Nicholas once said that he would rather be lucky than good because when he's lucky he doesn't have to practice. Of course he was joking. We all have to practice."

Dave explained what the toughest challenge to a competing golf professional is.

"Maintaining focus is our greatest challenge," Dave said. "Paying absolute close attention for four hours is not easy. We have to shut everything off. Our mind has to be completely in the game. One cannot think about worldly troubles or personal events. We have to be totally in the present."

Much of the pressure of competitive playing has been lifted from Dave and now he finds himself enjoying competition more than ever and perfecting his game.

"The more I play the better I play," Dave said. "I am always learning something. Golf is a game where you never stop learning something new. This game will never be perfected. In bowling it's not impossible to reach a perfect score of 300. It's been done many times. In golf you would have to score 18 hole in ones to be perfect and with some holes 550 yards away I doubt anyone will ever be able to do that."

Dave said he loves Arizona and has played many of its courses.

"Troon North in North Scottsdale is one of my favorites," Dave said. "I played it in the Arizona Open. It's windy. It has a lot of difficult challenges and it is beautiful. I also like Ventana Canyon in Tucson. The desert vegetation is spectacular and it is so dense off the fairways you can't walk into it to get your ball if you make a mistake. The prettiest course I've played is Desert Mountain in Scottsdale. The scenery is breathtaking and the greens are immaculate. And of course there is The Tradition, in Scottsdale, where most of the major senior tour events are held."

For now, Dave is leading the life he wants, teaching, competing and pursuing his life's passion and earning a living by doing so. Will he ever go back to competitive golf exclusively?

If I had to do it over again I would do it in a second," Dave said. " I am grateful to have experienced what I did and I am happy to be working here in Palo Verde Country Club as its head pro. Arizona is a great place to live and to play golf. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world."