Received award in 2006

Jimmy Thompson, one of the illustrious members of the UGA Gold Club, mentored many of today's top golf professionals and treated several of them as if they were his own sons. Jimmy passed away earlier this year, but his legacy is living on in the lives of those he influenced.

He would be proud that another one of his 'adopted' sons, Doug Vilven, has been selected to enter the UGA Gold Club in the very year of his passing.

Doug's introduction to the game was as a caddie at the Salt Lake Country Club at the age of 13 shortly after his family moved to Utah. He attended Highland High School and was medalist at the Utah State High School Championship. He played collegiately at Utah State and graduated in 1971.

Doug began his professional golf career as the assistant to Jimmy Thompson at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park, California in 1971. He moved with his mentor and helped him open the Tri City Golf Course in 1973.

He watched, learned, and emulated the friendly traits and hard working habits of his mentor and then ventured on his own to an assistant position at the Salt Lake Country Club under Tee Branca. In the winters he was the assistant at the Tamarisk Country Club in Palm Springs.

His first head professional position was at the Plum Tree National Golf Course in Illinois where he worked for three years. He yearned to return to Utah and in 1979 took the head position at Oquirrh Hills in Tooele.

He moved to Park City in 1982 where he had wonderful success as the head professional and general manager at Park City Golf Course, a position he held for ten years. He was a big advocate of men's and women's clubs and saw total rounds increase by more than 80%.

In 1992, with the help of some key investors, he opened his own Golf in the Round facility in Salt Lake City. Opening the driving range and golf course was a dream come true, but it brought with it many challenges. Through innovation, hard work, and much personal sacrifice the facility has become very successful and now has the largest range volume of any facility in Utah. Golf in the Round has provided teaching opportunities for some of the state's best teachers, and was where his old mentor Jimmy Thompson found happiness in his later years.

During his entire professional career he has been actively supportive of the various PGA organizations.

He was President of the Rocky Mountain Section of the PGA from 1984 to 1986 and was elected to the national Board of Directors of the PGA of America where he served from 2002 to 2005.

He was named Utah Section Professional of the Year twice, in 1986 and 2000, and won the Utah Section Horton Smith Award seven times for his exceptional service in educating other professionals.

On a national level he was an original faculty member of the national training program for golf professionals and administered seminars at more than 50 sites throughout the country. He has also taught seminars on public golf operations and management, and numerous business operations seminars throughout the country.

He has become an expert rules official and gives willingly of his time and expertise in that capacity and has been a teacher at national seminars. He was a member of the national PGA Rules Committee from 1992 through 2002.

For 11 years he was the television color commentator for the PGA Senior Tour event at Jeremy Ranch.

He and his wife Denise have two children, DeDe and Michael. Denise has played an active role in the success of Golf in the Round and is a well known and popular golfer.