Kelly takes over as head pro at Tamarisk

When Kyle Kelly first started making regular visits to the Palm Springs, Calif., area four years ago, his ambitions were quite modest.

“I was just looking for a place to goof around and play some golf over the winter,” recalled the lifelong Spokane resident and graduate of North Central High School.

But early last week, those modest ambitions – coupled with some good timing – helped the 28-year-old Kelly land a prestigious job at one of the most storied courses in all of Southern California.

The former standout and four-year letterwinner at Eastern Washington University was officially introduced last Tuesday as the new head professional at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage, where he had worked for the past four winters as an assistant under John Shelden.

“Talk about landing in a good spot – this is just amazing,” Kelly said during a Friday phone interview from his new digs in the desert. “It’s not very often that a guy as young as me gets a job like this.”

This is the first head professional’s job for Kelly, who spent last summer working as an assistant under Matt Bunn at Hayden Lake Country Club. Prior to that, he had served as an assistant under Mark Gardner at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course, where he first started picking up range balls when he was 14 years old.

As the head pro at Tamarisk, Kelly will serve an exclusive and affluent membership that numbers almost 350. He will do it at a golf course steeped in history and tradition.

A longtime favorite of Hollywood celebrities, Tamarisk opened in 1952 and is the second-oldest course in the Palm Springs area. The legendary Ben Hogan served as the club’s first head professional, and Frank Sinatra and the Marx Brothers were among former members who built homes on the course.

The club has co-hosted the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic off and on since 1960 and is on a rotation to serve as a venue on the five-day, multiple-course PGA Tour event every third year.

“There’s a lot of great history here,” Kelly said. “I was kind of overwhelmed when I learned I had the job.”

Kelly was selected to succeed Shelden from 80-plus candidates who applied for the position. He went through two extensive interviews in front of a 13-member selection committee and the club’s new general manager.

“Every other job I’ve ever had involved somebody just calling up and saying, ‘Hey, wanna come work for me?’ ” Kelly said. “So this was little stressful – sitting in the board room and having questions fired at you.”

It helped, Kelly admitted, that he was able to forge a close relationship over the past four winters with many of Tamarisk’s most influential members. As an assistant under Shelden, his principle duties were teaching and running tournaments. When Shelden left abruptly in early March, Kelly took over the head professional duties on an interim basis.

“I think, for the most part, the membership was pulling for me to get the job,” Kelly said. “And now they seem willing to help in any way they can. They’ve been unbelievably supportive so far.”

Among the biggest changes Kelly has experienced since becoming a head professional are a massive increase in paperwork and organization duties that came with his new territory.

“And there’s a lot more meetings that you have to go to, too,” he said. “With private clubs like this, it seems like there’s a committee meeting every afternoon.”

Tamarisk’s membership is no longer as celebrity laden as it once was. But former Major League Baseball players Ted Sizemore and Al Rosen still consider it their home course.

The majority of members, according to Kelly, are high-end business people, many of whom come from the Chicago and Los Angeles areas.

When asked about the monetary compensations that came with the job, Kelly would only say that they are somewhat better than he could have expected had he stayed in Spokane.

“But it costs a little more to live down here,” he added. “Make sure people back there know I paid $75 to gas up my car this morning.”