Roger Warren began his professional career as a coach and teacher in Chicago’s western suburbs. Like many underpaid educators, Warren had a summer job to get through the leaner months. In his case, Warren worked in the operations department at The Village Links, a 27-hole municipal course in Glen Ellyn, IL.
“After my 11th year, they offered me the director of golf job,’’ said Warren, a native of Galesburg, IL. “I still coached basketball for five years, but I left teaching to go into the golf business.’’
Warren has never really stopped teaching, whether as an officer at the PGA of America (he was president from 2004-2006) or the past 23 years at Kiawah Island (S.C.) Golf Resort – the first three as director of golf and the past 20 as president. In fact, as a PGA of America officer from 2000 to 2008, Warren was at the forefront of the organization’s Career Links program that now has a search mechanism with it.
“I saw that as an opportunity for PGA members to not only enhance their personal careers, but move up to more responsibilities and authority at a golf facility if they want to do that,’’ said Warren, who will retire from Kiawah Island Golf Resort at the end of this year. “I’ve got more than 20 PGA members here at the Resort. We have moved people through different positions and moved from apprentices to head professionals. Each one of our head professionals (the Resort has five golf courses, including the fabled Ocean Course) except one has moved up from our organization.
“We’ve had people leave and go to head professional jobs elsewhere. I think it’s good for them to have opportunities. I feel proud of the number of people we have gotten into the (PGA) Master Professional program and education that went with that. Hopefully it’s raised the professionalism in our organization, which allows more people to be leaders in the game. That was one of my motivations from the beginning.’’
Warren, 76, is one of only a handful of PGA of America members who have reached a high level of executive status in the resort industry. Troon Founder and Executive Chairman Dana Garmany, and KemperSports Executive Vice President Gary Binder each are in that mix, but Warren arguably has the highest profile, which puts him in leadership and education positions as mentor and role model for up and coming PGA members.
“If you’re in a leadership position at a facility or in an organization, you have more of an opportunity to help the entire organization grow,’’ Warren said. “I’ve always believed that the PGA of America is an association that is geared toward helping the PGA members grow in their knowledge, grow in their experiences and continue to expand their earnings.
“The higher you go in the organization, the more money you make. It’s just that simple, but there also is the credibility you have and what you can do in the community. The gratification, to me, is that it’s played out like that across the country. More PGA members are in leadership positions. I hope to see this grow in the future.’’