Training a nationwide network of golf professionals

By the time a New Mexico State University student arrives for an internship at Pebble Beach, Oakmont, Shinnecock Hills or one of dozens of other renowned golf facilities around the world, chances are someone is already expecting them.

Not because of a resume, but because someone from NMSU has probably been there before. That may be the quiet secret behind one of the university's least-known, yet most respected academic programs. Nearly four decades after it was founded, NMSU's PGA Golf Management program has built something that extends well beyond classrooms, internships and business degrees. It has built a reputation that graduates carry with them throughout the golf industry — and one they continue strengthening every time they hire another Aggie.

"It's our graduates," director Josh Salmon said. "They remember how valuable those internships were to them. Then they get into positions where they need interns or employees, and they call us."

It is a cycle that has repeated itself for years, one that Salmon inherited rather than created. When former director Pat Gavin retired in 2025 after leading the program for 32 years, he left behind far more than enrollment numbers and lesson plans. He left a culture built on relationships, one that had turned a niche program tucked inside the College of Business into one of the PGA of America's most respected pipelines for future golf professionals.

"I still get calls," Gavin said with a laugh. "In fact, this morning I had two golf courses around the country call asking about graduates. One I hadn't talked to in 10 years, another maybe seven. But I remembered exactly who they were."

Those conversations are not unusual. The golf industry is remarkably connected, and NM State has spent nearly 40 years quietly weaving itself into that network.

The story actually began before Gavin arrived.

In the mid-1980s, legendary New Mexico golf figures Herb and Guy Wimberley believed the state needed one of the PGA of America's new Golf Management University Programs. Their first stop was the University of New Mexico, where the idea failed to gain traction. So, they drove south to Las Cruces.

The reception at New Mexico State was different. The College of Business embraced the concept, and in 1987 NMSU became just the third university in the country accredited by the PGA of America, joining Ferris State and Mississippi State as one of the program's pioneers.

That decision would shape generations of golf professionals. When Gavin joined the faculty a few years later, enrollment hovered around 40 students. Within a few years it had grown to the PGA's enrollment cap of 300, with another 100 students waiting for an opening. As more universities developed similar programs, enrollment naturally spread across the country, but the reputation New Mexico State had built never did.

"We've worked hard," Gavin said. "People know what they're getting when they hire one of our students."

Those students graduate with marketing degrees while completing the PGA's professional education program, studying everything from financial planning and tournament operations to merchandising, teaching, coaching, customer service and facility management. Along the way they complete 16 months of paid internships, applying those lessons at some of golf's most prestigious clubs and resorts.

But neither Gavin nor Salmon believes the curriculum is what ultimately distinguishes the program. Both return instead to the people. Salmon understands that perspective because he once arrived at NMSU without any intention of joining the program himself.

He grew up in Albuquerque playing basketball, not golf. He didn't pick up the game until he was 17. After enrolling at NM State to study kinesiology, he had spent nearly three years on campus before another student mentioned the PGA Golf Management program.

"I was hooked," Salmon said. "I realized this was exactly what I wanted to do."

He graduated from the program, became an assistant golf professional at Sonoma Ranch Golf Course, then returned to New Mexico State in 2010 after Gavin hired him as assistant director. For the next 15 years they worked side by side.

Listening to the two men now, it is difficult to tell where one philosophy ends and the other begins. Neither talks much about producing elite golfers. Instead, both talk about building people.

"I want them to be successful contributors to society," Salmon said. "I want them to know the difference between right and wrong. I want them to treat people with respect. If they have those life skills, they can go anywhere."

Gavin says that philosophy has always been reflected in the industry's response.

"We never had a student who couldn't find an internship or a permanent job," he said. "We didn't place them. They earned those opportunities. But because of who we are, they'd often have eight to 15 job offers."

Today, the program enrolls about 100 students from around the world. Some arrive hoping to become PGA Tour players before discovering careers in golf extend far beyond competition. Others already know they want to teach, manage facilities, fit clubs, oversee tournaments or someday own businesses of their own.

The faculty's job, Salmon said, is not to decide which path students should take. It is to give them a foundation sturdy enough that they can build whichever career fits them best.

"I don't expect them to leave here as experts," he said. "I expect them to leave with a really solid foundation and be great people. Those are the people everybody wants to hire."

That philosophy may explain why a relatively small program in southern New Mexico has become known throughout an industry that spans the globe.

Every spring another class leaves Las Cruces for golf courses scattered across the country and around the world. Increasingly, they find themselves working alongside Aggies who made the same journey years before, graduates once mentored by Gavin, now sending opportunities back to Salmon and the next generation.

For a program built around the business of golf, that may be its greatest achievement. Its most valuable asset isn't found in a classroom or on a driving range. It's the people who never really leave.