Official Sue May Part of 2019 Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame Class
As per usual with each Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame Night of Induction, several more worthy inductees are a part of the Class of 2019, including longtime SNGA rules official Sue May. Joining May are Kim Dolan, Garry Goett, Christina Hixson and Don Welch. Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame Weekend is Sept. 27-28 at Spanish Trail and TPC Summerlin. Click to Buy Your Tickets Now.
May probably could have never imagined how far her journey in golf would take her and she now oversees the rules team for most of the top amateur and some professional and collegiate events that are played in Las Vegas. Her journey has included being a walking rules official for several major championships including the U.S. Women’s Open and the men’s U.S. Open. May went through her first rules school in 1989 and recently was recognized with the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of service.
“The SNGA gave me the opportunity to be the rules official I am today,” May says. “They put me on their Board and sent me to rules school. I was then hired as their Director of Rules and Competitions and was taught how to mark a golf course and run tournaments. When the USGA needed a person from Nevada to be on a USGA Committee, SNGA recommenced me. That led to being on the USGA Rules Committee and becoming a walking rules official for major tournaments. Then they appointed me to the Pacific Coast Amateur as the first Women Trustee and last but certainly not least, I met my husband, Larry, because of SNGA.
Upon earning the Grainger Award in 2016, May reflected on her quarter century serving the game.
“I never thought I would make it 25 years, but it has been special,” May sais. “What really stands out to me are the friends I have made and the people I have met over those years. We are a close-knit family and I have become personal friends with people who I have served the game with during that time. That is what has meant so much to me and what I will always cherish.”
About the Class of 2019
Kim Dolan is a respected teaching professional at Siena, but as an amateur, won the 1978 SNGA Las Vegas City Amateur and the Southern Nevada Amateur in 1978-79. As a professional, he won more than 120 club tournaments and in 2005 was the Southern Nevada PGA Chapter regular and senior division player of the year.
Don Welch (1933-2010) turned professional in 1961 and became the Desert Inn head pro in 1964. From 1976-1990, he served as Dunes Country Club director of golf. Over the years, Welch coordinated the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions, was on the planning committee for the first Las Vegas PGA Chapter and later served as the chapter’s secretary, vice president and president.
Garry Goett is the founder of Olympia Companies and opened Southern Highlands in 1999, which is the home of the UNLV men’s golf team. The course was the final project by hall of fame architect Robert Trent Jones and one of four courses created by he and his son, Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
Sue May is the preeminent rules official in Southern Nevada and has officiated hundreds of local, regional and national tournaments including both the men and women’s U.S. Open tournaments. She is currently the vice president of the SNGA and a previous president of the Nevada State Women’s Golf Association and Women’s Southern Nevada Golf Association. She also educated thousands on the new rules of golf that launched in January.
Christina Hixson is the sole Lied Foundation trustee and known as the “pioneer” of UNLV men’s golf. She was the first to substantially donate upon head coach Dwaine Knight’s arrival in 1987, which set the foundation for 1998 NCAA title.
