Kevin Welker, CGCS, a Florida native who is in his second year at El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He is hosting the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship scheduled Nov. 7-10. Photos courtesy of Kevin Welker
Happy birthday this week to Kevin Welker, CGCS. He’s spending it in Mexico. He must. It’s his job.
As director of golf course maintenance at El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas, Welker welcomes the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship scheduled Nov. 7-10. It’s his second event of that kind there. He had more time to prepare for it than the first one he oversaw in 2023.
“I started here in June last year. We verticutted and aerified to get ready,” says Welker, a 35-year GCSAA member.
The native of Stuart, Fla., once thought a golf career was in his future when his parents dropped him off at the golf course to play on numerous mornings. He remained on a golf path, but didn’t see it happening for him as a player to earn a living.
“I figured I wasn’t going to be a golf pro, so I went to the ag side,” says Welker, who was clued in on the agronomics end of it by his brother, Roger, who in those days was a golf course superintendent. “He took me to the golf course once in a while and showed me around.”
Those experiences resonated. “Just being outside drives me. You wake up in the morning, see the progression of your work, see results, the finished product,” Welker says. “That drew me to it. Seemed it was the perfect fit.”
Welker gained important industry experience by attending what then was known as Lake City Community College (now Florida Gateway College) in Lake City, Fla., a well-known breeding ground for the industry. He went on to land his first superintendent at Pompano Beach (Fla.) Golf Course after starting there as an assistant.
He departed the mainland in 2000, where it appeared that Welker was all set in Caracas, Venezuela, at Caracas Country Club. He wasn’t scared of leaving the U.S. either. “I love to travel, see other cultures. I thought it was a good opportunity,” he says. It sounded like he was on the right path at the club.
“I was young. It was fun. Challenging,” Welker says. “Great membership. They treated me like family. Probably the best job I had, to be honest with you.”
Hole No. 6 at Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal.
Off-course events, however, would end his run there in 2003. Political troubles in Venezuela, including a coup against the president, made him seek other career options. He returned to the U.S. and joined his brother to lead Southern Turf Products for a handful of years.
Ultimately, he returned to the role of superintendent — again, south of the border. He moved to Cancun in 2009, spending 14 years at Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club. When the El Cardonal at Diamante job opened, he took it. Diamante currently has 48 holes of golf which include El Cardonal (18 holes), Dunes (18), Oasis (12). Eighteen more are on the way when the Legacy course construction is completed. Welker is director of El Cardonal, a Tiger Woods design. He helps with the Dunes course.
“It’s a good design, an old California-style golf course,” Welker says about El Cardonal. “Wide open, a lot of undulation, a lot of chipping and getting up and down.”
Hosting a PGA Tour event inspires him and his team, which includes assistant Nelson Lopez-Sanchez. “It’s always prestigious to host a tour event,” Welker says. “Gives us something to look forward to, and it’s nice for the guys to see what they have accomplished throughout the year.”
Welker isn’t in a rush to move back to the U.S., if at all. He visits on occasion to see his parents and attend the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, but he and his wife of 22 years, Estrella, whom he met in Venezuela are in their happy place. “We like the people, the culture,” he says. “We recently purchased a house. We’re happy here.”
Wherever he works, Welker finds his objective remains the same. “It’s about the challenge of beating Mother Nature once in a while,” he says. “I never have, but you get lucky once in a while.”
Howard Richman is GCM’s associate editor.