Leo Feser Award winner Dennis Lyon speaking at the USGA Public Links Championship held in 2008 at Murphy Creek Golf Course. Lyon was the Championship’s General Chair. Photo courtesy of Dennis Lyon
Editor’s note: GCSAA and GCM are saddened to report that Dennis Lyon passed away Feb. 19, 2025. We celebrate Lyon’s contributions to the industry, including to GCM, and our thoughts remain with his family.
Dennis Lyon, CGCS, says he doesn’t really write all that much.
But his wife of 55 years, Penny, begs to differ — or at least, she says, it would have to depend on what counts as “writing.”
“Writing is a big part of who Dennis is. I get notes from him all the time,” Penny Lyon says.
“Whether he’s explaining himself or it’s sort of like a love letter, writing is one of his ways that he communicates. Usually, he’s explaining why I think he’s in trouble,” Penny jokes.
She says Dennis has written one such note about every other month or so since they were married 55 years go. In fact, one note made the case for getting married.
“Most of his notes are pleading his case,” Penny says. “Sort of like when we met, and he was going to be in the Army, and I was against the war. He pleaded his case why he thought we really could be together. That’s when it all started, I guess.
“I keep all the notes. They make me laugh. I have a box full of them.”
She said Dennis is also known to write to the city council or his homeowners association.
“He spends a lot of time ‘clarifying,’ as he calls it. When he’s clarifying for the homeowners association, it’s to tell them the certain way that they’re doing things, well, he thinks should be done another way. Or with his wife of 55 years, it’s clarifying why I shouldn’t be annoyed at him,” Penny laughs. “‘It’s another way to see things,’ he’ll say.”
GCSAA’s Leo Feser Award
Longtime readers of GCM magazine may recognize Dennis Lyon as an occasional contributor to this magazine. The first of some dozen articles dates back to 1983, with most contributions coming more recently.
Lyon’s most recent contribution to GCM — “Reflections of a veteran golf course superintendent,” appearing in the May 2024 issue — has won him an award, the 2024 Leo Feser Award from GCSAA. The award is presented to the author of the best superintendent-written article to appear in GCM over the previous year. Members of GCSAA’s GCM Editorial Board Task Group select the winner of the award each year.
Lyon speaking as a GCSAA Board member in the 1980s. He served as association president in 1989. GCM file photo
Lyon, a 51-year member of the association, said the “Reflections” article — which imparted 12 broad lessons learned on leadership, communication and life — was special to him, as is the award and recognition from his peers.
“That article, for me, was 40 years in the making,” he says. “It really was a reflection on my life and my career. It was really good to sit down and communicate things that I had learned, and getting some recognition from peers for sharing that is very valuable to me.”
Lyon was superintendent/manager of golf for the city of Aurora, Colo., for 37 years before he retired in 2010. He served on the GCSAA board from 1986 to 1991 and was its president in 1989. He also won GCSAA’s Col. John Morley Award in 2013 and the USGA Green Section Award in 2011.
Lyon’s article drew on his career with Aurora Golf — which during his tenure grew from one course to seven — and cautioned, “This experience, although successful, included many mistakes, miscalculations and questionable decisions.”
Lyon said many of those mistakes were in communication. “Those mistakes are often where I think someone understood what I said, but they didn’t understand. So that’s on me,” Lyon says. “I think I tend to talk too much. Occasionally I’ve said things that I’ve regretted and felt bad about. That can be painful. Sometimes it’s better to spend more time listening than talking.”
Lyon in the City of Aurora boardroom during a planning meeting with staff on the future Murphy Creek Golf Course, which opened in 2000. Photos courtesy of Dennis Lyon
‘The sage’
However, to others, Lyon’s words are more often welcomed as wisdom, said Ed Mate, executive director/CEO of the Colorado Golf Association. Mate said he’s known and been fond of Lyon since the early 1990s when Lyon served on the CGA’s board.
“I affectionately call him The Sage. I really mean that, and I’m not prone to hyperbole. He is one of the wisest people I know. He’s in a very special category in terms of people who have influenced my life. He’s just very, very wise,” says Mate.
While serving on the CGA board, Lyon sometimes encouraged Mate to write what he called “white papers” in order to put down the association’s thinking on a given subject.
“He was a big believer in writing to know what you think,” Mate says. “It slows you down. White papers were the closest thing to that. They were a good habit to form while Dennis was on the board.”
Mate said Lyon was careful to pay attention and talk with everybody in his line of work. “When he worked for the city, he knew everybody. He knew everybody’s name, no matter what their role was. It didn’t matter whether you were an irrigation tech or the mayor of the city, he knew their name,” Mate says.
Among the many stories about Lyon from over the years, Mate said one perhaps best illustrates how he carried himself professionally. The CGA was going through a redevelopment of its golf course, CommonGround, and Lyon was on the board and the committee to oversee it.
“By then, Dennis had overseen the construction of Murphy Creek Golf Course (in Aurora). So he was by far the most experienced person on that committee,” Mate says. In the course of the committee’s work, he said, a difficult architectural decision arose.
“Everybody — there were eight of us — was going around, giving their 2 cents. Eventually it came around to Dennis. Everybody kind of waited to see what he was going to say. He said, ‘I don’t know — I would ask an architect,’” Mate says with a laugh.
“It was kind of embarrassing for the rest of us, because we were going on and on about our opinions, but we’re not architects. Dennis, who was the most well qualified to have an opinion, said, ‘Ask an architect.’ That’s a great summary of what, to me, was his wisdom,” Mate says.
Lyon with his wife of 55 years, Penny.
Reflections on a career
Mate said Lyon’s award-winning “Reflections” article is a great representation of the kind of person he is.
“In his retirement, Dennis has continued to be a fount of knowledge. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees because you’re so busy answering emails. It’s refreshing to come up for air for what he has to say,” Mate says.
For his part, Lyon said he writes because he enjoys it, and he thinks he’s gotten to be good at it over the years.
“I enjoy writing,” says Lyon, a 51-year GCSAA member. “Maybe you have a talent or gift of writing, but for me writing is something you learn mostly through experience. If you want to be a good writer, you just write. There’s a lot of things I’m not very good at. I’m certainly not mechanical, and I’m not a very good golfer. But I think I’ve been pretty good at communicating and leadership.”
In his “Reflections” article, Lyon lays out 12 points of advice for leadership in the workplace and for life in general.
Among those reflections that Lyon said he’s found to be most valuable over the years is “Follow the platinum rule.”
“Where the golden rule is to treat others like you’d like to be treated, the platinum rule is to treat others the way they want and need to be treated. We all bring different needs to the organization,” Lyon said.
Another reflection is, “One cannot not communicate.”
“That’s one I’ve carried through with me throughout my career,” Lyon says. He explains it like this: “Say your dog made the neighbor mad, and you’re upset about that. And you walk into the shop and someone says, ‘Hi,’ and you kind of grumble, ‘Hi.’ Then they wonder, ‘Geez, what did I do wrong?’ Even though it has nothing to do with them. You are always communicating, and we evaluate each other all the time.” Further, he says, it affects employees’ performance: “If you’re the type of person that always complains about how screwed up everything is, then your employees are not going to perform very well.”
A better way for a manager to handle themselves on the job comes in Lyon’s reflection to “Accept full responsibility when things go wrong, give credit to others when things go right.”
“Self-promotion is a waste of time,” Lyon says. “A strong leader doesn’t blame his employees when things go wrong. They look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, that’s on me. And I’m going to fix it.’ And then when things go right, if you want to motivate and empower your employees, give them the credit for it. They’ll respect you for that.”
Lyon golfing with grandchildren Aedan and Abby in 2022.
An overarching point of advice that can be applied to most any situation is Lyon’s reflection, “Kindness is free.”
“Sometimes we can get bogged down in the details of trying to get the job done,” he says. “We can miss the connection with our people. Genuine kindness for who people are and what they do motivates them. It’s a great resource that costs you nothing. It is free, and it’s of great value.”
Lyon said for the sake of the article’s length, he limited the reflections he offered to 12 — but he said he has quite a few more.
One that didn’t make the cut is “The myth of accomplishing more with less.”
“I call it a myth because superintendents can make it look like we are accomplishing more with less, but really we are just moving things around to prevent problems and satisfy our bosses,” Lyon says. “Over time, the ‘myth’ will prevail. In reality, we are actually accomplishing less with less.”
Another reflection that didn’t make the original article’s cut is “Listen to the vibe; the vibe does not lie.”
“Our employer and those around us emit information and feedback nonstop. I call this nonstop information ‘the vibe.’ When the information is negative or uncomfortable, we sometimes choose not to listen,” Lyon says. “We all know of someone, including superintendents, who get fired or disciplined and had no idea about what was coming. However, those around them are not surprised at all. That can happen because the impacted person was not tuned into the ‘vibe,’ while those around them were,” Lyon says.
“My advice is: Always stay tuned into the information and feedback coming from those around you, especially the negative information. Why? Because the vibe does not lie.”
Lyon officially received his Leo Feser Award during the 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in San Diego. He will also have his name engraved on a plaque that is permanently displayed at GCSAA headquarters in Lawrence, Kan.
Phil Cauthon is GCM’s Managing Editor.