DU officially took over operations at the Highlands Ranch Golf Club on Jan. 1.
Andy Benson, the head pro at the Highlands Ranch Golf Club since it opened in 1998, has been honing swings as usual this spring, albeit with one subtle change. He has become a full-time employee of the University of Denver, prompting many of his friends to give Benson a good-natured academic dig.
“They will call me up after they’ve heard about our transition and call me ‘Professor,’” Benson says.
DU officially took over operations at the Highlands Ranch Golf Club on Jan. 1. As a result, Benson and the 11 other full-time staff members who became DU employees will have the chance to meet plenty of people from DU, including actual professors.
Special rates are available to DU alumni, faculty, staff and students for daily play and annual memberships at the semiprivate club located at 9000 Creekside Way in Highlands Ranch. Corporate memberships, added since DU became owner of the course, also are available.
“We’re starting to get more people identifying themselves as DU alumni,” says Stu Halsall, assistant vice chancellor for internal operations. “It’s definitely gaining traction, and I think through this spring and summer it will continue to do that.”
Highlands Ranch Golf Club was given to DU last year by the family of the late Ron Moore (BS ’54), who attended DU on a golf scholarship and was a member of the University’s Board of Trustees from 1986 until his death in 2003. It is now the official home of the Pioneer men’s and women’s golf teams.
About 75 part-time employees will be hired for the summer season, some of them DU students. Highlands Ranch has a full-service restaurant, and an intern program has been established for students in the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management in the Daniels College of Business to work some special events.