Chris Cole, first Oak Tree head professional, remembered for key Landmark roles and as someone who never met a stranger

By Ken MacLeod

Chris Cole, one of the key figures in the rise of legendary Oklahoma golf development company Landmark Land Co. and the first head professional and general manager of Oak Tree Golf Club (now Oak Tree National) in Edmond, passed away Dec. 28 at the age of 75 due to complications from pneumonia.

Cole, a native of Frederick and an All-American golfer at Oklahoma State in 1972 and 1973, was hired by Ernie Vossler to be an assistant at Quail Creek Country Club in Oklahoma City soon after graduation. Vossler and Joe Walser were putting together the plans along with developer Jerry Barton and architect Pete Dye for the stunning new Oak Tree Golf Club, which opened in 1976 and served as the impetus for the rise of Landmark, which went on to build or purchase spectacular golf properties in California, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and elsewhere and make the Oak Tree logo ubiquitous until being derailed by the Resolution Trust Corporation in the early 1990s.

Cole was just 25 and friend and former OSU teammate Steve Braley 23 when they were named as head professional and first assistant at Oak Tree, proving just how skilled both Vossler and Walser were as judges of talent. Both young men went on to succeed wildly at Oak Tree and then across the country as Landmark spread its wings west and east.

Funeral services for Cole will be at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Helens Catholic Church, 507 E. Highway Ave., in Frederick. A rosary will be held Jan 2 at the Jackson Funeral Home Chapel, 921 W. Gladstone Ave., in Frederick.

“Chris was the best,” Braley said. “He never met a stranger. His people skills were unmatched. He did an amazing job for Oak Tree and for Landmark everywhere he went.”

After helping build Oak Tree Golf Club (and in Braley’s case nearby Oak Tree Country Club into rousing successes, the two were asked by Walser in 1986 to help run Palm Beach Polo & Country Club in Palm Beach, Fla., a huge winter playground for the ultra-rich of the northeast and for royalty from overseas. Cole then moved to Kiawah Island Resort in 1987, another Landmark property where the 1991 Ryder Cup was slated and Dye’s Ocean Course was to be the site, even though its construction had been delayed considerably by Hurricane Hugo and it wasn’t fully ready until days before the competition. The U.S. won the infamous War By The Shore when Bernhard Langer’s bogey putt missed on the 18^th hole, the Ryder Cup burst into a new pantheon of Cole.

It was the day after the Ryder Cup that the RTC began its case against Landmark which would result in forcing the company to sell all of its properties in Edmond, Palm Springs and elsewhere. Cole stayed at Kiawah Island until 1996, when he joined Barton in a new smaller Landmark venture while Vossler and Walser tried to revive the company out west. Cole went on to help design and manage many courses, including South Padre Island Golf Club, where another former Oak Tree compadre Bent Goodger was long the head professional. With Jerry Potts he worked on The Oaks Golf Club in Pass Christian, Miss., and Après Hill Golf Club in Barbados among others. He and wife Kay retired and moved back to Frederick in 2011.

Hugh Edgmon, who took over management of both Oak Tree properties and the real estate division as well through most of the 1980s and guided Oak Tree Golf Club through the 1988 PGA Championship, said Cole was “the brother I never had. He was the best golf professional I’ve ever known. He had the charisma, the intelligence, the chemistry. We were all better because of Chris.”

All of those contacted by Golf Oklahoma including former Oak Tree Country Club head professional Stan Ball, Joe Walser’s son Steve Walser and long-time Oak Tree Gang professional Dr. Gil Morgan remember the heady days, family atmosphere, excitement and fun of being involved with Landmark and its rapid expansion and said Cole played a huge role in its success.

Edgmon remembered once traveling with Cole to The Masters as the guests of Charlie Coe, the fantastic amateur out of Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club.

“Chris was an absolute stud and that’s what Joe and Ernie recognized right away. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Braley remembered attending a golf camp with Cole as assistant instructors where Jim Flick and Harvey Penick were the lead instructors. Cole bashed about 40 drives with the two legends watching at the end of camp one day and all were long with a slight draw. He then asked Penick for any advice.

“Son, you might just line up a few yards to the right,” Penick said.