DeLong will leave CdA Resort

Mike DeLong confirmed Friday that he will step down as Director of Golf at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course at the end of the year.

“I’ve decide to retire,” said the 46-year-old DeLong, who has served as the resort course’s director of golf since it first opened in April of 1991. “It’s something I’ve talked over with my wife and family recently, and it seems like the right time to do it.

“My team of employees here has enabled us to reach every goal in the resort golf business that we could ever have imagined. Now it’s time to turn it over to the young people.”

As the resort’s director of golf, DeLong supervises a staff of nearly 250 and is responsible for everything from course maintenance to food and beverage service. During his tenure, the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course gained worldwide recognition for it superb conditioning and outstanding service.

It was given a five-star rating by Golf Digest and was one of only 20 resorts, nationwide, to receive a Gold Medal designation from Golf Magazine, which recently rated the course No. 53 in its list of the top 100 American courses open to the public.

DeLong, a Coeur d’Alene native and graduate of Coeur d’Alene High School, has been in the golf business 23 years and has spent the last 20 managing courses in the area. He said he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, April, and their two teenage daughters, Jenna and Lindsay, who are both active in sports.

DeLong said he and his family plan to remain in Coeur d’Alene.

“But other than that,” he added, “I have not contemplated any additional future plans. And I’m not going to do that until my time with Hagadone Hospitality is complete at the end of the year.”

Officials from Hagadone Hospitality, which owns the resort course, were unavailable on Friday to comment on their plans to replace DeLong.