Game-changer: After lifetime of helping others, local golf pro needs a gift | Local News

For more than 40 years Devine has dedicated his life to helping others with their golf games. Whether introducing a newcomer to the sport or offering feedback to a veteran player, Devine defines what it means to give back to a sport that keeps on giving.

Now 63, Devine has shared that passion with the Cedar Valley for the past 31 years, first at Sunnyside Country Club and most recently at Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course.

“You don’t know a whole lot of people in your life who have given that much to other people,” says Tom Berg, an avid golfer and executive director of the Waterloo Junior Golf Association. “He’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever known. His heart is always in the right place.”

Devine stepped aside as Irv Warren’s full-time pro earlier this month. It wasn’t because he wanted to retire or because he was forced out.

Devine has diabetic nephropathy, which is basically kidney failure caused by diabetes. He needs a kidney transplant and has been on a waiting list for nearly two years. Since late October, he has been undergoing dialysis treatments three times per week that often leave him too fatigued to do much else on those days.

“I went through November thinking, ‘I’m going to give this a fair shot,’” Devine explains. “I go in (for dialysis) at 6 o’clock in the morning and I’m done by 11, so I was going to be here (at Irv Warren) at noon and see how it would work, but by 2 or 3 o’clock I was done. I was gassed.

“And this was November when we’re not busy. I told my wife, ‘I just can’t do this.’

“This place needs more than a part-time pro, so I made the decision to step down. It was a very, very difficult decision to make.”

Devine’s golf journey began on the south side of Chicago where, as a 10-year-old, he jumped at the chance to serve as a caddie at the private courses not far from his home. Eventually, he grew into other roles at the golf course and developed his own playing career at a time when players like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino were the stars.

That was the short game. The long game was always a job as a golf professional.

“I knew pretty much from my experience caddying what I wanted to do, and I just followed the course,” Devine says softly. “That’s when I think I acquired a real love for the game.

“When you caddied, you were a team. He’d ask you the yardage, you’d suggest a golf club for them to hit, you’d help them read the greens. It was the best job I’ve ever had.”

Devine got his first opportunity as a full-time pro in Ottumwa. That opened a door to teach at winter golf schools in Arizona and Florida, which continued after Devine took a job in Mason City.

“I always wanted to come back to Iowa for the summer,” he relates. “The people in Iowa are so genuine, so real. It’s just a great place to raise a family.”

Devine spent 10 years as the pro at Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo until an opening developed at Irv Warren where he has been a fixture for the last 20-plus years.

To this day, his favorite part of the job is teaching.

“It’s a real passion for me,” he says. “It always has been. If I could find the first 100 people I ever gave a lesson to, I’d give them their money back. I love teaching the masses. It’s fun teaching the really good players, OK, but I love teaching the masses. They’re not looking to go on tour. They’re just looking to hit better golf shots.”

During his 40-plus years in Iowa, Devine has helped thousands of golfers. Many continue to turn to him when their game needs a fix.

“He just loves to teach golf,” says Dennis Boaz, a retired teacher himself who has worked for Devine the last 15 years. “He has people from everywhere come for lessons … Sunnyside, New Hampton, Parkersburg, all the surrounding towns.

“He does a tremendous job with the youth and the clinics he has. He still has people come down from Mason City and from Dubuque. They always say he’s the best.”

Teaching youth golfers is especially important to Devine. He is driven to do everything he can to get kids on the golf course enjoying the game in a day and age of sports specialization when more kids than ever are playing one or two sports year-round.

Golf has something more to offer, Devine reasons. Not many 60-year-olds are still playing football, baseball or soccer, but many are still playing golf into their 70s and 80s.

“I’m pretty sure he likes working with kids best of all,” says the WJGA’s Berg. “He has selflessly helped so many kids get better to the point where they can enjoy the game of golf. It’s impossible to tell you how many children and young people he’s worked with and helped and affected.

“When we talked the last time I saw him, I said, ‘You might be able to get out of your job, but you can’t get out of the WJGA.’ He just smiled and said, ‘I’ll always be a part of that.’”

Devine says dialysis treatments can keep him going indefinitely, but a transplant is his only hope of returning to a somewhat “normal” life. It could be another five years before he reaches the top of the donor list, although someone could come forward before then who meets the extensive criteria and matches Devine’s O-positive blood type. There are also three Kidney Paired Donation programs through University of Iowa hospitals that increase transplant opportunities by accepting kidneys from donors with any blood types and trading them to meet immediate needs.

In the meantime, Devine will spend more time with his grandchildren, continue to give golf lessons and remain involved with the local youth programs he treasures.

“I’ll still be doing some teaching and doing what I can,” says Devine. “Maybe I’ll play a little bit more than I’ve been playing. I’ll always be around a golf course.”