Marlatt’s course work in classroom

As general manager of the University of Idaho Golf Course in Moscow, Dawes Marlatt could gaze out his office window and see the rolling hills of the Palouse.

These days, the view from his office has changed – even more, perhaps, than his responsibilities.

Those rolling hills he had grown so familiar with as a longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest have been replaced by …

“The spiny backs of alligators,” the 37-year-old Marlatt said from his new digs at the PGA Education Center in Port Saint Lucie, Fla., where he now serves as the Director of Education for the PGA of America.

“Outside my back window, there’s a pond, and they’re there all the time. They’re everywhere down here.”

Still, having to share space with the plodding reptiles seems like a small price to pay to Marlatt, a PGA Master Professional, whose career took a major uptick last November when he was named to his new, prestigious position in which he oversees the education of 28,000 men and women golf professionals and apprentices cross the country.

“My primary focus,” Marlatt explained, “is to provide an environment where educational opportunities can be distributed to our professionals that will elevate their performance, showcase value to their facilities and promote their careers.”

Which was also a main part of his duties at the University of Idaho prior to landing his latest gig with PGA – albeit on a different scale.

Marlatt, who grew up at the Stoneridge Golf Club in Blanchard, had always dreamed of carving a career out of the sport of golf, but as a player rather than a teacher. So instead of heading directly to college after graduating from Priest River High School in 1989, he turned pro and “bounced around” for a few years before landing back in the Palouse at the University of Idaho, where he earned an undergraduate degree in business marketing in 1996 and a master’s in sports recreation management in 2001.

In 1998, he was hired as the head pro at the university’s golf course and was quickly promoted to Director of Golf and then to GM. It was during his 10-year stay there that he designed and implemented a PGA Golf Management Program, which became accredited in 2001, for the university’s College of Business and Economics.

“At the University of Idaho, I was an influencer, just like I am now, but on a much smaller scale,” said Marlatt, whose PGM program at UI reached only the students in his program and PGA professionals in the Pacific Northwest. “Here, I have the ability to touch 28,000 men and women professionals – which if you were going to do what I do, makes this the place to be.

“I’m definitely flattered by the opportunity, and humbled by the experiences, so far.”

Marlatt traveled to Bejing in April to represent the PGA at China’s first Golf Expo. And back in Florida, he recently hosted a conference of national PGA officers, district directors and sections leaders that was attended by Steve Prugh, the head professional at Manito Country Club, and Jeff Ellison, the executive director of the Pacific Northwest Section of the PGA.

Among the other projects Marlatt has recently undertaken are a complete revision of the PGA’s apprentice education program, the implementation of a learning management system that will allow the association to put its education programs online, the construction of new framework and competencies for PGA Member education, and the providing of assistance for education in other emerging markets, like China.

“Since November, when I first got here, it’s been one thing after another,” Marlatt said. “I arrived at a very challenging time, economically, to say the least.”

The biggest drawback to being offered his new job, Marlatt admitted, was the timing, and not because it coincided with recent economic downturn.

He and his wife, Carmen, had just moved their family – which includes 14-year-old twin daughters Alexis and Jordan, and 2-year-old son, Dawes, – into the new home they had built in Moscow, Idaho, when they first learned of his hiring.

“They had no more pounded that last nail in the house when I was offered the job down here,” Marlatt said. “So we had to put in on the market immediately and try to sell it.”

As a result of that decision, Marlatt’s family is still living in their new home in Moscow, which leaves him to fend for himself in Florida most of the time.

After accepting his new position, Marlatt made it back to visit his family for a day on Thanksgiving and for two more days during the Christmas holidays. He also spent a couple of days in Moscow in early May and his wife and son have managed to make it down to Florida for a short stay, as well.

“It’s been difficult not having them here,” Marlatt said. “But it makes it easier to work some of the long days I’ve been putting in.”

The plan, according to Marlatt, is to move the family to Florida in September whether the house sells or not. And to get them accustomed to the state’s tropical climate and wildlife down there, as well.

“It’s certainly been interesting so far,” Marlatt said. “When you go from an area like the Palouse, where there are two university towns right there, and where the population is very transient and energized about education, to a metro area like this, where it’s much more fast-paced and corporate, it’s certainly not going to have the same personal touch or feel that small towns have.

“It’s one of the tradeoffs, I guess. But I can tell you this:

“My favorite place is still the Pacific Northwest. It’s just unbelievable there, compared to anywhere else I’ve been.”