In 1992, when Chris Rowe interviewed for his first assistant professional job at Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club near his hometown of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, PGA of America Head Professional Greg Hamilton asked where he saw himself in three to five years.
When Rowe answered, “Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas,” Hamilton chuckled and asked how he was going to accomplish that.
“I told him I’d figure it out,” says Rowe, PGA of America Director of Golf at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas, and the 2026 PGA of America Merchandiser of the Year for private facilities. “Three years later, I was working for Dow Finsterwald Jr. at Colonial.”
Rowe knew what he wanted and went after it. When Colonial members played Dornick Hills, he would carry their bag to the car and say, “Tell Dow I said hello, and I want to work for him some day.” Every year, he would get a fresh haircut and drive down to play at Colonial, making sure to shake Finsterwald’s hand and write him a thank-you note. And Rowe was responsible for founding the Perry Maxwell Junior Cup Tournament, named after the famed architect whose firm designed both Dornick Hills and Colonial, which allowed him to get to know Colonial’s assistants and gain more credibility.
“When an assistant position opened up, I got the job because of everything I had done before, and because Dow knew how much I wanted it and how hard I was going to work,” Rowe says.
It’s this type of dogged determination that not only earned him the spot at Colonial, but has helped him ever since. Growing up in Tishomingo, population 4,000 and home of the Chicasaw Nation Native American tribe, Rowe took up golf at 13, driving his three-wheeler through the back woods to play the local nine-hole course after school and all summer. He excelled on his high school team, receiving all-state honors twice and earning a scholarship to play for East Central (Oklahoma) University.
“Back in the ’80s, East Central had a connection to an Oklahoma-based golf course developer, Landmark Golf Company. Through that, I met a lot of golf professionals,” Rowe says. “I thought every one of them was cool and I wanted to be one.”
Rowe began giving lessons to local kids for $10 an hour at Tishomingo Golf Course the summer before joining the staff at Dornick Hills, where he racked up about 600 lessons a year. He also did a lot of other things at Colonial, a very active club and the site of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“It was at Colonial I experienced everything that could happen in the golf business – helping run daily operations, the tour event and being in a shop that was large and busy with a lot of merchandise coming through,” says Rowe, who was elected to PGA of America Membership in 1995.
It wasn’t until Rowe got the Head Professional job at Whispering Pines in 2004 that he really got into merchandising. The facility – a destination club with 300 members who all belong to numerous other clubs – is unique in that it has two seasons, closing in January and February and then again in July and August. And with only 1,200 square feet of space, Rowe had questions about how he was going to make it profitable. The fact that the club is family owned and doesn’t have a board of directors gave him more freedom – a “blank page,” so to speak – and he started a series of moves that took the first-year budget of $80,000 and evolved it into 2025 revenues of nearly $2 million, while increasing rounds from about 5,000 to 12,000-15,000 annually. Some of Rowe’s ideas have included:
• Taking the original logo with three pine trees and “Whispering Pines Golf Club” spelled out and eliminating the words for a classier look.
• Creating a members-only logo – the three pine trees with a gold circle around them – and sending out a catalog of products to members, drop shipping product to their homes.
• Establishing a college football merchandise program around the University of Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and LSU, with co-branded hats from American Needle and apparel from Peter Millar.
• Sending the 10 best customers each year a 20 percent off coupon and handwritten note to thank them for their support.
• Taking staff members and their spouses to Las Vegas each year for an all-expenses-paid trip to show appreciation for their work.
“These and other practices, including an employee commission program and video email blasts, have led to consistent growth in our shop over a 21-year period,” he says.
Rowe currently has two PGA of America Head Professionals on staff: Colton Escamilla and his son, Dylan Rowe. Additional staffing needs are filled by students enrolled in the PGA Golf Management University Program at nearby Sam Houston State.
One of Rowe’s biggest challenges is when the shop closes on Dec. 31 and again on June 30, as seasonal merchandise is put into storage until the next seasons (in March and September) – making it all-the-more important to choose lines wisely.
“Because we’re a Top 100 club with a really cool logo everyone wants, we have to make sure we always have great merchandise – even the last week we’re open,” Rowe says. “And when we re-open, it needs to look like we never shut down. We have to be diligent and pay attention to everything we buy.”
Rowe has many other accomplishments to his credit. He is the published author of five books; does voiceovers for Straight Down commercials; and on his 50th birthday, sang onstage with Sammy Hagar during a member’s party. But what Rowe is most proud of are the youngsters he has mentored who have moved on to great jobs in golf and other fields, as well as maintaining Whispering Pines’ lofty reputation.
“Every person who works for me, has worked for me or will work for me is part of this merchandising award,” he says. “Being recognized by your peers and by the PGA of America shows all the hard work everyone has done in pulling the rope together. The validation is incredibly humbling.”
