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Growing up, golf was not really on the horizon for Derek Gutierrez.
But Gutierrez, 54, recently reached the apex of the local golf world after being named the Sun Country Professional Golf Association’s Golf Professional of the Year.
Gutierrez is the director of golf operations at Santa Ana Golf Corporation.
Making a career out of golf, however, was not something he really considered when he began school at the University of New Mexico.
“My entry in the game was almost by accident,” he said. “I grew up playing soccer, football and basketball. Golf wasn’t really available. When I was at UNM, I took a class, intro to golf. That was 1990. That was how I got started in the game and the business of golf.”
He was a sophomore at the time and the class was taught at Albuquerque’s Puerto del Sol golf course — a short course tucked into a neighborhood near the city’s airport.
And the magic of golf quickly did its thing with Gutierrez.
“I played team sports my whole life,” he said. “This was my first opportunity to play something like this, where it was just you and the golf course. I just started off hitting range balls.”
But there was so much more to it than that.
“The grass, the leaves, the warm weather was coming,” Gutierrez said. “All of a sudden, this was something completely different. My team sports career was over. Something just triggered me about being on the golf course. It was pretty incredible.”
That trigger ended up putting an end to his days as a political science/criminology major.
Gutierrez took a second golf class, this time at UNM’s venerable and notoriously long and tricky Championship (South) Course.
“It was a little daunting after Puerto del Sol,” he said. “This was the legend. It was as long as a golf course gets.”
He ended up getting a golf course job, working at the cart barn, and bumming lessons — in particular from mentor and noted golf instructor Jack Hardwick.
“Jack Hardwick, he took me under his wing,” Gutierrez said. “I couldn’t afford lessons and he was a really busy instructor. But when he had time, he’d give me instructions, 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there.”
A close friendship soon developed, one that unfortunately end in tragedy.
The two men had attended a golf event in Socorro and on the way home, Hardwick’s Ford Bronco careened out of control and rolled numerous times, killing him and leaving Gutierrez injured.
The unfortunate accident left Gutierrez without his guiding light, but it gave him a new purpose in life.
“When he had a few minutes, he would show me the short game, ball placement, and how to hit a driver irons. That’s when I got hooked with the game. Working at the golf course, operations, turf maintenance.”
When Gutierrez finished up at UNM, he went to work full time at the Santa Ana Golf Club and really began his drive to become a golf professional — not as a player but as a manager.
“I started in the cart barn, some part-time hours in the pro shop and pretty quickly I became tournament director, as assistant professional under Roger Martinez,” he said.
And 2001 when Twin Warriors opened, Gutierrez stepped in as the top assistant and graduated to head pro in 2004.
Now he’s been recognized as tops in the section, which includes all of New Mexico and west Texas.
“Anytime you’re recognized by your peers in a PGA section, it’s an extremely big honor,” Gutierrez said. “You never expect it. I try to work hard on behalf of our members. This comes out of leftfield, I was quite surprised by the honor.”
In the past two years, he has been instrumental in drawing national and even international attention to Twin Warriors and Santa Ana by bringing in acclaimed tournaments like the PGA of America Senior Professional Championship, which sent qualifying players to the Senior PGA Championship; the PGA of America Women’s PGA Cup, an international competition similar to the Ryder Cup, both in 2022; the PGA of America Professional Championship, with the top 20 going to the PGA Championship; and the PGA of America U17 Junior League Championship, both in 2023.
“To be able to showcase these golf properties, first and foremost, it always makes me proud to showcase the local courses on the national and world stage,” he said. “It was a tremendous honor and representation of golf in New Mexico.”
And he recently made the decision to run for secretary of the national PGA of America, a post that could send him on track to eventually be president of the organization. All of which sometimes makes him shake his head as he thinks back on his life.
“To be doing this work has been a fateful, serene, beautiful accident. A mistake,” Gutierrez said. “To be where I am today, I don’t take it for granted. I’m humbled and honored for everything I’ve been able to participate in. I wake up most mornings and I think, ‘How did I get here?’ It’s a true blessing every day to work in the golf business. It’s a pretty good gig.”
