“My Dad taught me to never quit and to never give up. He told me that once you start something, you should see it to the finish. Good or bad, you will have a positive experience. You’ll either know not to do that again, or you’ll find you like what you did enough to do it again.”

Hale Irwin, Three-time US Open Champion

In our fast-paced world, not many people take a moment to look back and appreciate history and those that have set the path for future generations. And with our breakneck speed and seemingly annual implosions and renovations, nowhere does history seem to be forgotten more quickly and effectively than in Las Vegas.

But one local Las Vegas golf professional, Jerry Holley, is a guy who takes time to smell the fresh-cut, golf grass in the air, and does his best to recognize those that have gone before through an annual golf event dubbed, “A Day With Golf’s Greats.” Over the years, Holley has organized this golf tournament as a way to honor some of golf’s biggest names, including Dave Stockton, Billy Casper, Tony Jacklin and Ken Venturi, and 2007 honoree Hale Irwin, a three-time US Open champion and two-time US Senior Open Champion. Irwin also was the champion of the Champions Tour’s Las Vegas Senior Classic in 1997 and 1998.

Event attendees are treated to a round of golf on a great Las Vegas golf course—this year’s event was played at the Pete Dye-designed Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort—and then are included in a very private banquet that features a custom-produced tribute video, and a speech from the honoree and other notables in attendance.

While Holley says putting together the annual event is always challenging, he openly admits that it’s a labor of love, and that it is difficult for him to classify it as “work”. The neatest thing about the event is that the players are very appreciative, and the day also honors brave civilians who put their lives on the line on a daily basis for the betterment of their community.

Over the years, Holley and the event have brought together former prisoners of war and other veterans. This year, Sheriff Doug Gillespie spoke about three Las Vegas Metropolitan police officers that had received the purple heart, including Henry Prendes who was killed in the line of duty, and who also happened to be an avid golfer.

“We are so fortunate to have so many willing to put their own lives on the line, both in Southern Nevada and in military action, to keep us safe and free,” says Holley.

Holley came to Las Vegas about 30 years ago when he went to work for legendary Las Vegas golf pro Dave Johnson at the famed Desert Inn Golf Club. Holley worked at the DI (Holley and Johnson helped the pro shop eclipse total sales of a million dollars in 1981, an unheard of number back then) for about seven years before following his father Lum’s footsteps into the self-employment world. Lum created a successful aerospace sales career, and Holley was always inspired by his Dad’s work ethic. Holley created the All-World Sports Corporation, a golf event company, when he left the Desert Inn and hasn’t looked back.

Holley—whose son Jason qualified as a junior for the Nevada State High School Golf Championships--saw a niche, and developed his company, even if he wasn’t completely sure of himself along the way. “Being young and naïve does have its benefits at times, like playing a golf course for the first time,” says Holley about starting his business. “You don’t know where all the trouble is, so you swing freely and hope for the very best. I did just that. … It has been a wonderful challenge and a great education, and tremendously gratifying. It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done, but in many respects it’s not work at all.”

Irwin, a 1992 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, is a perfect golfer for a Business Under Par: Success Through Golf column. Over the last several months, we have chronicled those folks that have a positive outlook and who work hard to achieve the best in life. Irwin epitomizes all of the attributes needed for Success Through Golf.

“I’m a believer in its half full and getting fuller,” Irwin told Holley during the tribute video, when asked if he saw a glass as half full or half empty. “I just don’t like to think it’s going down. I’m one of those people that enjoys looking at the brighter side of things, and expecting the good things. If that doesn’t happen that’s OK, but I want to deal on the positive side of things. You have to maintain that attitude if you are going to get farther along in life.”

Irwin is a true family man, and met his wife, Sally, while the two were undergrads at the University of Colorado. While at Colorado, Irwin was the starting quarterback, was twice All-Big 8 as a cornerback, and won the 1967 NCAA golf championship. And he was an academic All-American. Hale and Sally have also spread their love of family to their work in creating and supporting the Hale Irwin Center for Oncology and Hematology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Over the years they have helped raise $8 million are very active in the effort.

In 2003, Irwin and his son, Steve, won the 2003 Father/Son Challenge, competing against other golf legends and their sons. Irwin also strongly agrees with the sentiment that “There is no success in life that can compensate for failure in the home.”

Irwin has always let his actions speak louder than his words, and his more than 60 combined professional wins have done just that. “(My philosophy has been) If I can do the right things with these (golf clubs) then I don’t have to open my mouth,” says Irwin, known worldwide for his hive-five-filled dash around Medinah at the 1990 US Open, which he won at the age of 45. “I’ve told my children, and they’re tired of hearing it, that you don’t learn when you’re mouth is open. You learn when you listen.”