Dennis Lyon — Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, former president of the CGA and of the national Golf Course Superintendents Association of America — dies unexpectedly, but leaves remarkable legacy
By Gary Baines – 2/20/2025
If you want to get some perspective what Dennis Lyon has meant to Colorado golf, it tells you plenty that in 2015 when the CGA held its “Century of Golf Gala” to celebrate its 100th anniversary, Lyon was selected as one of the six people honored as Colorado Golf People of the Century. Specifically, Lyon was named “Superintendent of the Century.”
Lyon, a very prominent and influential fixture in golf in the Centennial State for more than a half-century, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday after being hospitalized. He was 76.
Lyon may have been a golf course superintendent by training, but he played many prominent roles in Colorado golf and beyond. He was the City of Aurora’s manager of golf for more than three decades and worked for Aurora’s golf division for 37 1/2 years until retiring in late 2010. He served as the CGA’s president (2002-03) and as general chairman of the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship that Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora hosted. He was also national president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America in 1989-90, becoming the first person in that position who represented municipal golf facilities.
It’s little wonder why Lyon was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2005, then received the Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
“If we had a Mount Rushmore for golf administrators in the state of Colorado, he’d be on it,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said of Lyon when the latter was retiring in 2010. “He’s been a (course) superintendent, business guy and a great person. He remembers everybody by name whether they’re the head professional or the guy who cuts the greens. I think the world of him.”
Lyon, a onetime superintendent at Aurora Hills Golf Course, also served as a president of the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association.
In 2015, Lyon (far right) was among six people named Colorado Golf People of the Century. Joining him with that distinction were (from left) Barbara McIntire, Judy Bell, Will Nicholson Jr., and Vic Kline. (Not pictured was Hale Irwin.)
In 2011, he received the USGA’s national Green Section Award, given to individuals who contribute significantly to the game of golf through their work with turfgrass. Two years later, he was presented the national Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award, given by the GCSAA to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent’s profession. He also earned the Ike Grainger award for 25 years of volunteer work on USGA committees.
And just last year, the GCSAA selected Lyon the winner of the Leo Feser Award, which goes to the author of the best superintendent-written article published in “Golf Course Management”, the association’s flagship publication, during the previous year. The article, “Reflections of a veteran golf course superintendent,” ran in the May issue. In the first-person piece, Lyon outlined his career path, then provided “leadership and life” advice to readers — fellow golf course superintendents. Outside of golf, Lyon was even once appointed a volunteer citizen representative to the Arapahoe County Retirement Board.
If that seems like enough major honors and service for three lifetimes, it’s appropriate for a person who devoted so much of his life — and his effort — to the game of golf.
“I just think I’ve been driven by a desire to contribute to my profession and the golf industry,” Lyon told ColoradoGolf.org in 2013. “You do the best you can, and it’s nice to be recognized.
Lyon, who served on the CGA board of directors from 1991 through 2009, added in 2011: “You don’t aim to receive awards like this. I just wanted to contribute to the game.”
Mate remained close to Lyon over recent decades.
“I am so grateful that my career with the CGA overlapped with Dennis Lyon,” he wrote in an email on Thursday night. “He was kind to everyone. He was always learning and loved sharing ideas. He might have stopped working but he never retired from contributing to the betterment of golf in Colorado. He was very proud of his roots in agronomy. That foundation gave him his appreciation for what matters most in the game of golf — a humble green plant. His humility and respect for everyone in the golf operation, regardless of title or pay grade is what made him such a successful leader. I loved the guy and earning his respect was one of my proudest accomplishments.”
Lyon passed away roughly 13 years after suffering life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a truck while walking his dog, Putter, near Murphy Creek GC. In the wake of that major accident, he spent seven weeks in hospitals — including 10 days in intensive care — and underwent multiple surgeries after suffering a broken back, pelvis and two shoulders, along with some significant internal injuries, along with an ear nearly being torn off and enduring some bleeding from the brain.
In the wake of the accident, The Tradition Tournament in Honor of Dennis Lyon was held, with all of the money raised from entry fees and donations going toward Lyon’s medical and recovery costs.
The Tradition tournament was not a new event, though. In fact, it debuted in 2004, when Lyon, Mate, Gail Godbey and Bill Jewell started it at Fitzsimons Golf Course. Many years, it was just those four players participating, though other times as many as 30 golfers played. Lyon, Mate, Godbey and Jewell would get decked out in circa-1900 attire for the event — “we wear plus-fours and ties and get a lot of funny looks from people,” Mate once noted with a laugh.
After his big accident, Lyon said, “I want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me. It’s changed my life to some degree. I always have considered myself a people person, and now I want to be even more so.”
Noted Mate at the time: “Dennis is so well liked and loved. He’s touched a lot of lives.”
Lyon, who was born in Hayden in northwest Colorado and grew up in Craig, specialized in turf management in receiving a horticulture degree from Colorado State University. He later added a Masters in management from the University of Northern Colorado. He started working in the golf business in 1969 as an intern at Boulder Country Club and, following some time in the Army, he became an assistant superintendent at HeatherRidge in 1972. He was hired as the superintendent at Aurora Hills in 1973, starting a 37½-year association with the City of Aurora.
Over Lyon’s years as manager of golf, among his highlights were the opening of two highly regarded championship courses, Saddle Rock and Murphy Creek. And Lyon was instrumental in bringing significant tournaments to each site.
When Lyon heard the Colorado Open was planning to leave Inverness Golf Club after a six-year run (1992-1997), he contacted tournament representatives and convinced them to bring the tournament to Saddle Rock. The course hosted the Open from 1998 through 2000.
“The city was interested in promoting (Aurora) through the golf courses, and that was a good way to do it,” Lyon said.
Later, the Aurora City Council wanted to lure a national championship to one of its facilities, and Lyon was a point man in doing just that. In 2008, Murphy Creek hosted the U.S. Publinks, where current PGA Tour players Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel drew the most attention.
“The Publinks was a perfect fit for us, and the city really appreciated the value that it brought to (Aurora),” said Lyon, who noted that the city’s “Team of the Year Award” went to the group that put on the U.S. Publinks.
Lyon’s family is expected to announce a celebration of life for Dennis at a later date.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com