Former GCSAA President Dennis Lyon, CGCS, dies at 76
Former GCSAA President Dennis Lyon, CGCS, died at the age of 76 on Feb. 19, 2025.
Lyon, also a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and former president of the Colorado Golf Association and Rocky Mountain GCSA, was superintendent/manager of golf for the city of Aurora, Colo.
“Through his knowledge, activities and dedication to volunteer service, Dennis has set a very high standard for golf industry professionals,” Jim Snow, former national director of the USGA Green Section, said of Lyon after awarding him the 2011 Green Section Award. “In particular, his influence on municipal course management practices extends well beyond the borders of his home state.”
Lyon also won the GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award in 2013, given to an individual who, through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf, has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.
A Colorado native, Lyon graduated from Colorado State University with a horticulture degree and followed that up with a Master’s in management from the University of Northern Colorado.
Lyon’s first assistant superintendent position came at Heather Ridge Golf Course in Aurora, Colo., in 1972. A year later, he took over as superintendent at Aurora Hills.
In 2011, Lyon received the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was named the Colorado Golf Association’s ‘Superintendent of the Century’ in 2015.
“A lifelong supporter of the game, he has always had a commitment to promoting public golf and the public golfer. In 2008, one of the Aurora courses, Murphy Creek, hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, and Lyon served as general chairman,“ Lyon’s Colorado Golf Hall of Fame bio reads.
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