'I get enjoyment seeing people hit the ball like they can'
DEERWOOD -- Dawn Iverson has mowed fairways, scheduled tee times and done almost everything involved with the golf business.
Now she's moving up as the assistant manager at Cuyuna Country Club.
Iverson is working under manager Dale Lundgren, but Iverson, who's passed her players ability test and is preparing to begin her work toward becoming a PGA professional, believes she's found the right position.
Along with being in charge of employees and running tournaments, she will also be giving lessons.
"I've worked a number of different jobs over my small career and it just came to me one day that I'm tired of doing all these odd jobs," Iverson said. "This is what I truly want to be doing."
Iverson, originally from Lancaster in the northwestern tip of Minnesota, has had a storied career in golf. After high school, she attended Northland Community College in Thief River Falls where she won the state championship.
She transferred to St. Cloud State where she advanced to the Division II national tournament.
After college, she broke into the golf business, working at Cuyuna Country Club from 1994-96 in the course maintenance department.
After her first working stint at Cuyuna, she went back to school for golf course management at Anoka-Hennepin Community College.
Her goal is to become a PGA Professional as well as a LPGA Professional.
"I've made that first step just to know this is what I want to do," Iverson said. "I passed my playing test the first time around and I was pretty happy with that.
"The reason why I'm in this business is I get enjoyment seeing people hit the ball like they can."
Iverson was offered a job at Baker National Golf Course in Medina, working for Lisa Masters, one of the top female professionals in Minnesota, but she turned it down.
"I'm getting a lot more experience with the managerial side of it here," said Iverson. "If I would have worked at Baker, it would probably have been just working in the pro shop and taking green fees because there are eight other people who are apprenticing there.
"This is more of what I wanted to do."
Golf professionals at Cuyuna Country Club haven't had a long tenure. Three years ago, George Shortridge was the professional for less than a year. Two years ago, Kathy Hughes was the professional before she went into business for herself. Last year, there wasn't a professional or someone preparing to be a professional.
Add to that the fact there are only two other female golf professionals in the Brainerd lakes area and things may look scary for a young female getting into the golf business. But Iverson isn't deterred.
"Golf is a man's world," she said. "But there's a lot of opportunities for women who want to teach, but they just don't see it. If you're going to be teaching or focusing your efforts toward teaching, which I would like to get into more and more, the majority of people taking lessons are women and children. They're the ones that want to be taught by a female.
"I know what the past is here at Cuyuna, but I don't know what the potential is. I haven't been here long enough, but this is such a growing sport.
"We just have to keep the game growing, get people out here playing golf and then keep them here. My main push is to get younger kids out here."