Craig Daily Press

Photo by Drew Turner

Jim Shepherd stands with a vintage wooden golf club in the basement of his Craig home. Shepherd has been golfing since the early 50s and helped raise funds for Yampa Valley Golf Course.

Craig — The name Jim Shepherd goes hand in hand with golf in the Yampa Valley.

The 1941 Craig High School graduate was elected the first board president of the Yampa Valley Golf Association in 1961, and played a key part in the July 7, 1968, opening of the Yampa Valley Golf Course.

“From 1961 to ’64 we used a teaspoon and a butcher knife,” Shepherd said. “In 1965, construction began with the assistance of a number of civic organizations in the city. We raised nearly $45,000 and the land and water funds matched that amount for about $90,000.”

Chuck Cobb, a Craig native and head golf professional at YVGC since 1979, has known Shepherd for as long as he can remember.

“Jim was no doubt the one individual that got the golf course started in Craig,” Cobb said. “Bar none, he was instrumental in making YVGC a reality. He was certainly the one that was the ramrod between everything.”

Shepherd is an 84-year-old retired plumber who was second in line behind his father, Mark L. Shepherd, at Shepherd & Sons Heating and air-conditioning in Craig.

The “snowbird” spends nine months of the year in Arizona, where he is a starter and ranger at Tonto Verde Golf Course near Phoenix.

In Craig until early next week, Shepherd is preparing for the 40th anniversary of the Cottonwood Classic at YVGC.

The 17- or 18-handicap player has competed in all but two of the first 39 tournaments.

“This is the time of year the cottonwood trees drop their seeds, and sometimes it is more white than the snow,” he said of the tournament’s namesake.

A fan of the sport since the early 1950s, Shepherd has carded three holes in one — ironically, all on hole No. 7 at YVGC. The No. 7 hole formerly was No. 3 in the course’s infancy.

June 26, 1984, Sept. 1, 1992, and July 11, 2001, are the three lucky days for the veteran golfer.

“He is a remarkable player,” Cobb said of Shepherd. “Anyone that is at his age right now and can play the way he does is great. He has never been a really low handicap, but has always been really steady. Last Tuesday, he shot an 88 —four strokes away from shooting his age, which is pretty remarkable.”

Asked what keeps him coming back to courses all over the nation, Shepherd gets a large smile on this face.

“You are your own referee,” he said. “I love the rules and regulations of golf. If you cheat, you are only cheating yourself.”

Drew Turner can be reached at 824-7031, ext 211, or aturner@craigdailypress.com