Remembering a Mentor and Friend

One of the Best Golfers You Never Heard About

This week I had planned on writing something different than what you are about to read. For some reason, I felt a little nostalgic this week.

At the beginning of last week, I started reflecting on my previous career as PGA Professional and my brief one-year stint as a mini-tour player. Two PGA Professionals I worked for popped into my mind. Both impacted me in my career. Both played the PGA Tour. Both left the Tour to become two of the best club professionals in the business.

As the years passed, I lost touch with both of them. From time to time, I looked for them online. Neither of them has an online or social media presence. Only Wikipedia and PGA Tour have information on them. With the nostalgia flowing through me, I decided to take a quick search for them again.

I was saddened to find one of them had passed away last August at the age of 88.

I decided I needed to introduce you to him.

Rex Baxter.

If you’ve heard of Rex, you are a true golf fan. He played the PGA Tour in ‘60’s during the the age of Hogan, Snead and Palmer. Despite his obscurity in golf history to all but hard-core golf fans, he was well-known during his playing days.

Rex was born in Amarillo, Texas February 28,1936. He found golf at an early age and showed talent for the game. In 1953, he won the US Junior Amateur at Southern Hills in Tulsa. From there, he attended the University of Houston. As a member of the golf team, Rex was a two-time Missouri Conference Team Champion (1956-57), a two-time Missouri Conference Tournament Individual Medalist (1956-57), a two-time NCAA Team Champion (1956-57), the 1957 Trans-Mississippi Amateur Champion and the 1957 NCAA Individual Champion.

His year in 1957 landed him a spot on the victorious US Walker Cup Team, and he was a member of the victorious 1958 Americas Cup Team.

Following a stint in the military, Rex joined the PGA Tour full-time in 1961 playing a full season of 27 events and making the cut in 23. His best finish was a 2nd at the Waco Turner Open Invitational. He played a full tour schedule through 1968. His only win on the PGA Tour came at the 1963 Cajun Classic. He did win two other professional tournaments, the 1965 Waterloo Open Golf Classic, and the 1966 Brazil Open.

Over the course of his short PGA Tour career, Rex played in 250 events making 209 cuts, 1 victory, 2 runners-up, 3 third places, 11 top fives and 25 top tens. It’s a pretty impressive resume.

After leaving the tour, Rex became one of the best club professionals in the country. In 1970, he won the PGA Professional National Championship. In 1971, he was inducted into the University of Houston Athletics Hall of Fame as the first golfer to earn the honor. Other golfers in the University of Houston Hall of Fame include major champions John Mahaffey, Steve Elkington and Fred Couples as well as announcer Jim Nantz. He worked at various top end country clubs and served as an instructor at the Golf Digest Schools at PGA National.

I knew he had been a tour player and had been a pretty good one when I worked for him, but I had no idea how truly accomplished a player he was. We talked about the game and playing for a living. Life on tour, especially during his playing days, was hard. Players didn’t make the kind of money they do today. He loved the competition but started to dislike the travel. Home and stability became more important, but he never regretted for a moment the years spent on the road. He told me life always involved risk. Might as well take a risk pursuing something you love. Following that path never leads to regret even if you fail.

His humility and love for the game were always on display. His Texas drawl combined with his wry smile always put you at ease. Though I only knew him for a relatively brief time, he encouraged and inspired me to see if I had what it took to play for a living. I will always be thankful our paths crossed. Because of our conversations about playing golf professionally, our paths diverted as I took a different path. I will forever be thankful to Rex for his mentorship and friendship. RIP Rex Baxter.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!