Familiar faces are new hires

Seldom does a great deal of job hopping take place among Spokane-area head golf professionals during the winter.

But one of the few off-season position changes that did take place this year shook up the pro-shop staff at one of the region’s most acclaimed courses.

Circling Raven Golf Club in Worley, Idaho, announced earlier this spring that Tom Davidson has been hired to replace Dave Christensen as its Director of Golf. Christensen, who left near the end of the 2007 season to accept a similar position at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield, Conn., had been at Circling Raven since it opened in the fall of 2003.

With the course shooting for a Wednesday opening, Davidson and his staff have been working feverishly to get the pro shop in order.

“I’ve only been on the job about 30 days now,” said Davidson, who had served as general manager of the Coeur d’Alene Golf Club the past five years. “So we’re still scrambling to get up to speed from both a marketing and service perspective.

“But if we’re planning to open on Wednesday, we’d better be ready.”

Davidson was hired following an exhaustive six-month search, and takes over a 30-person staff that handles pro shop sales, outside services and course maintenance for the ultrapopular par-72, 7,189-yard layout that adjoins the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel.

“It has been a fantastic opportunity for me,” Davidson said. “It was a little overwhelming at first because there was so much information to digest with such a high-profile position. We’re bringing in a lot of additional new staff, too, so it’s been pretty hectic with everyone running around trying to get used to the procedures around here.

“But we’re all excited to get the course open and start building on what’s been accomplished here the last five years. We are going to continue being very aggressive in promoting the course nationwide and continue to make every effort to have our service match the quality of our golf course.”

Circling Raven’s former head pro, Steve Caruso, who also served as the course’s interim director of golf during the search for Christensen’s successor, has decided to get out of the golf business, according to Davidson. The head professional position belongs to Tony Cuchessi, who had been an assistant and teaching professional at Hayden Lake Country Club the past few years.

Cuchessi also spent time as the head professional at Highlands Golf and Country Club in Post Falls and Hidden Lakes Golf Club in Sandpoint.

In addition, Mark Nelson, who has worked in the past at Twin Lakes Village Golf Club, the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course and The Club at Black Rock, has been hired as an assistant under Cuchessi.

Dave Hobson is the new Director of Golf at Coeur d’Alene Golf Club.

There is also new leadership at The Fairways at West Terrace, where Kris Kallem has replaced Dave Lowe as general manager. Kallem, a former assistant under head pro Jerry Zink, is handling the budget and staffing duties at the course for second-year owner Buster Heitman.

In another job change involving a longtime local pro, Chris Runyan has taken over as head professional at Sun Dance Golf Course after spending the past five years at Priest Lake Golf & Tennis Club. Prior to taking over at Priest Lake, Runyan spent nine years as an assistant pro at Downriver Golf Course and also served a brief stint as a teaching pro at Indian Canyon Golf Course.

Will Styler replaced Runyan at Priest Lake.

In an effort to better acquaint golfers with the men and women responsible for the day-to-day operations of our region’s public courses, The Spokesman-Review will run a profile of a local head professional each Saturday throughout the summer.

The series kicks off this morning with a look at Esmeralda Golf Course head professional Rex Schultz.