With a wife, two children and a monthly house payment, Ryan Colemere left his job in the mortgage industry to wrangle golf carts for $7 per hour.
Any regrets, 22 years later? “I’ve never had a day since then,” Colemere said, “that I woke up and didn’t want to come to work.”
Further validation of Colemere’s value to South Mountain Golf Club is the 2022 Assistant Professional of the Year award in the Utah Section PGA. Accompanying recognition is due to Natalie Colemere, whose approval of her husband’s career move makes her a candidate for Golf Spouse of the Century.
“I don’t like what I’m doing,” Ryan had declared in 2000, before taking on that hourly work at South Mountain. His new path came into clearer view two years later when Head Professional Jerry Brewster made him an assistant, bringing him fully into the Salt Lake County golf division. Except for a four-year stint at Mountain View GC, Colemere has stayed at South Mountain in Draper.
He likes being involved in the management of a golf facility and even enjoys all the routine tasks that come with it, describing his job as “a fun way to spend my day.”
South Mountain Head Professional Brian Schramm labels Colemere “the ultimate assistant” with all the traits of a capable head pro, crediting him with “stepping out on the lesson tee to teach, on top of the long hours in the shop.”
The love of golf stems from his father’s taking him to Fore Lakes GC, where Jay Colemereworked one day a week. Fore Lakes’ Brad Asplund gave Ryan his first job after graduating from East High School and, except for that detour into the mortgage business for the sake of financing his marriage and fatherhood, he has happily stuck with golf.
Colemere is thankful to his Salt Lake County bosses Brewster, Todd Meyer, Wade Olsen and Schramm. “I’ve learned a lot from all those guys,” he said. “I appreciate the teaching and mentoring.”
Written by Fairways Media senior writer, Kurt Kragthorpe