Stacy Dennis has been involved in every level of the game, from serving as a cart attendant at her home club in College Station, Texas, to being an elite amateur with two state titles. She’s also been a golf course operator, board member and organizational director, leading to what she calls her dream job.
Dennis is now in her fifth year as executive director of the Texas Golf Association, one of the few female executive directors in the nation at one of the largest golf associations in the country.
“We are all very proud of Stacy and the Texas Golf Association for what they have accomplished for golf,” said Dallas resident Fred Perpall, the newly elected president of the United States Golf Association, who has known Dennis for years.
Dennis said utilizing her varied background has been a huge help in leading amateur golf in a state as big and successful as Texas.
“I couldn’t imagine a better job, for me, at all,” Dennis said. “I started with golf (as a junior) and never stopped. I was a golf operator and a volunteer and a player with a golf team. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day.”
After growing up playing junior golf in College Station, she had a chance to play for her hometown university, Texas A&M, where she lettered four years for the Aggies, all while playing on her childhood courses. But Dennis quickly decided playing golf for a living was not for her.
“Are you kidding? I would have starved to death for sure,” she joked.
“There is not a right way to be a golfer. You can be a new golfer or play for fun and you still find yourself as much a golfer as anyone. It’s participation and activity which drives the game.” – Stacy Dennis
She started working in local club management while still playing and practicing the game on a regular basis. Her career changed when she won the 2004 Texas Women’s Amateur Championship in what she called one of her first post-college highlights.
“I was just thrilled and amazed when I won that. I couldn’t imagine anything like that was possible,” Dennis said.
She also has a renewed sense of gratitude for all amateur golf has given her and how she can give back.
“When we were signing our scorecards in the tent, there was a lady there asking for volunteers for the Women’s Texas Golf Association,” Dennis said. “I thought it would just be wrong if I didn’t help out with the group that had meant so much to me. I just thought it would be the most ungrateful thing to say ‘no’ when they were asking for help.”
So Dennis said yes and found herself on the WTGA board for several years, getting to know then-TGA Executive Director Rob Addington and some of the board members, who explained the functions of the TGA and how she could help Lone Star State golf in general.
The WTGA and TGA eventually merged, and after six years of managing the Elkins Lake Golf Association near Houston, Dennis joined the TGA staff in 2015 as the managing director for Membership Programs and the TGA Foundation. When Addington left for a golf management firm in 2018, Dennis was chosen for the executive director position following a nationwide search.
“I’ve worked across the counter meeting customers, I’ve worked with superintendents, worked at clubs and played at other players’ clubs,” Dennis said. “I do think I bring a player’s perspective — and I think that’s important — but I also bring an operator’s perspective, which is also important.”
The other important perspective Dennis brings is that of someone who has transitioned in her own golf game and what it means to be a golfer in Texas — or just about anywhere.
“At one time in my career, I would work and practice and play all the time, then I had less time for practice and would still try to play,” Dennis said. “Now, most of my golf is fun or casual with friends. But in my mind that doesn’t make me any less of a golfer.
“You can enjoy the game and participate in a lot of ways and that’s good for golf. My own experience is that it’s fun to get better while playing the game, but that’s not what motivates everybody.
“There is not a right way to be a golfer. You can be a new golfer or play for fun and you still find yourself as much a golfer as anyone. It’s participation and activity which drives the game.”
While Dennis oversees a championship committee that stages dozens of statewide and local tournaments — including the Texas Women’s Amateur, which she won again in 2009 along with state four-ball victories in 2009 and 2015 — she is a big proponent of many fun golf events around the state where scores may or may not be kept, and getting the ball airborne or finding the beverage cart could be the most important thing.
“I am proud of TGA and its history of sustained success, and I’m proud of the events we conduct and lead with our partners. We do our best to make the game more accessible,” Dennis said. “We have a great responsibility but also resources to make it happen. It’s a responsibility we take seriously. We are here to make golf more successful.”
But Dennis said that takes on a lot of different forms. It’s a wide spectrum from Texas women who have dominated the game — like Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Kelli Kuehne and Stacy Lewis — to amateurs who just show up to play at a women’s golf day at their club, or volunteer to help at the TGA or other golf organizations.
“The history of Texas golf builds on itself,” Dennis said. “Every decade, every year, you have a group or an individual to look to and serve as a role model. There has been somebody or something that motivates you. You are always building on something.”
As for who motivated her, Dennis said both male and female members from the TGA and WTGA supported her journey in golf, and always encouraged her to be better as a player and a golf leader.
“I think my position helps mirror the game, and the opportunity to work hard and succeed in the game,” she said. “I think the game supports women in leadership opportunities, and I’m thankful for my many mentors and supporters who helped me when I was coming up in my career.”
But that doesn’t mean Dennis doesn’t still have a player’s mentality when thinking about her past amateur performances, including a semifinal loss in the 2012 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.
“It went 20 holes and I still should have won that match,” Dennis said. “But that’s golf. That’s what keeps us going.”
From whatever angle you find yourself playing.