Morrison continues to impact Muny, area golf

STATESMAN.COM

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Lloyd Morrison is a lucky guy.

Imagine how much fun it would have been to grow up in Austin in the 1950s and 1960s. Better yet, to have spent most of your youth at Lions Municipal Golf Course. And it must have been fun to win the 1965 Austin Men's Championship just after graduating from Austin High School.

Then take it a step further. Imagine that you would go on to make golf your profession, spending the majority of your professional life as head pro at the course that defined your childhood and teenage years.

But that's the story for Morrison, who began his career at Muny as a part-time assistant in 1967 and who succeed George Hannon as head pro in 1975.

"Needless to say, I've been very fortunate. I guess I have been in the right place at the right time," Morrison said. "It was a wonderful experience to hang out here at Muny as a kid, and then it's been a tremendous pleasure to work here for so long."

Morrison has never forgotten what it meant to be a kid learning how to play golf at Muny. His commitment to junior golf led him to join with Hannon and the late Joe Balander to establish the city's annual Summer Golf Academy, which is still going strong.

Morrison also had kids in mind when he put together the Lloyd Morrison Invitational, which will be held Friday at Muny. It's an 18-hole scramble format for golfers 18 and younger. And Morrison is giving a free pass on greens fees, range balls, carts, food and drinks.

"We have had a lot of events in the last year or so in the Save Muny effort," Morrison said, referring to Muny's tenuous situation while University of Texas regents ponder what to do with the property the university owns.

"Muny has always been a great place for kids. We still get lots of adults come in here and talk about how they learned golf playing here and what great memories they have. So it seemed like the thing to do for this generation of kids."

Morrison's gesture has not gone unnoticed by many who have known him for years.

"What a wonderful thing to do, and I'm not surprised that Lloyd would do something like that," said Ben Crenshaw, who is a few years younger than Morrison but was part of the infamous Muny Gang with Morrison, Billy Clagett, Cary Petri, Joe Hornaday, Dan Simpson and many others in the 1960s.

Kevin Gomillion is director of golf and tennis for the City of Austin and former pro at the Clay/Kizer complex. He has a unique connection with Morrison because his father-in-law was the late Balander who founded the city's junior academy with Morrison and Hannon.

"Lloyd has done a lot for the city, and it's amazing to think how many lives have been touched because of the academy," Gomillion said.

"Those guys — Lloyd, Joe and Coach Hannon — really got it. They understood how to introduce kids to golf and not make it a grueling activity. They knew how to teach the game while always making it fun."

More rounds of golf are played at Muny than any course in the area.

"None of us knows what's going to happen with the course," Morrison said. "But so many people began golf as kids here and have kept playing. This tournament just seems like a way to acknowledge