Dave Kendall was somehow selfless in a game that at its core requires you to swing the club yourself.
He died earlier this week after a battle with cancer leaving an insurmountable hole in Michigan golf as well as in the hearts ofhis loving family, endless stream of friends, former golf students and an incalculable number of people touched by the kindness he shared each day.
He was 70 and is gone too soon.
Dave is one of the most remarkable people I’ve met in 68 years of life and well over 40 years of telling the stories of golfers, their tournaments, their successes, and failures.
The family plans to have a memorial event of some fashion yet to be determined soon, and he will be celebrated.
Earlier this spring he was presented with the Distinguished Service Award by the Golf Association of Michigan, its highest honor.
He was humbled and his eyes were shining and wet with emotion as he offered a stirring, inspiring acceptance speech.
“I loved playing competitive golf because I thought that if I could learn to do it well, I’d love the competition and maybe I could be more credible as a teacher,” he said in the speech. “But the greatest benefits of learning to play well went far beyond that. I learned that managing my expectations and learning from my mistakes had benefits well beyond golf. There are no undefeated seasons. I learned that improving is also winning. We all make mistakes. Not learning from them is losing.”
Pure Dave. Ask any of his students from The Kendall Academy he founded. He didn’t just break down your swing, offer drills to try or tips and make you a better golfer. With his words, his kindness, and his almost shy sharing of life lessons, he alsomade you a better person by the end of the lesson.
I first met him as a caddie, then met him again as a fellow PGA professional and friend of Lynn Janson, a Grand Rapids professional and dynamic player demanding the attention of the local newspaper and its golf writer.
He was the teacher of Matt Harmon, a gifted young golfer from Grand Rapids who starred at Michigan State University and came oh so close to a PGA Tour dream.
I met him, it seemed, again and again over the years.
“I remember you,” he would say when I offered my name as a reminder.
He never missed a chance to tell me he enjoyed what I wrote about Lynn, or about Matt, or about Randy Erskine or Buddy Whitten or any number of other golfers. In my newspaper world he was a person who passed on praise instead of judgement, genuine thanks instead of criticism.
Finally, one Monday, in a pro-am, we played together in the same group. And here’s the thing, I don’t remember much about the golf and how I played. What I remember is how he helped every member of the group enjoy the game and the day.
Years later when Dave’s fellow Michigan Golf Hall of Famerand friend, Randy Erksine, was playing some on the PGA Tour Champions, I finally found somebody who finished second to Dave as the best pro-am guy ever.
I told Randy. He said that was the only time he liked being second.
Just a few weeks ago, Patrick Wilkes-Krier, who now owns The Kendall Golf Academy, won the Michigan PGA Professional Championship at Walnut Creek Country Club.
He fought his emotions as he talked about his mentor Dave Kendall.
“I think about Dave every day,” he said. “I used a Kendall Academy ball marker, and I put it down with that K up every time. A huge part of me wanted to come out on the right side of this tournament for Dave, give him something to feel good about. He’s been my mentor and my inspiration, and honestly, I’m among many who would say that. So, to come away with a trophy and kind of honor him with it feels really good.”
Earlier this spring at the Michigan PGA Senior Open at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek, Dave, seemingly doing incredibly well in his cancer battle, shot 70, his age, and finished among the top five in the over-65 Super Senior Division.
After he had completed his round and turned in his scorecard, it was Erskine who first approached him, needled him and offered the kind of friendly insults only longtime friends can share.
Dave laughed, and when Randy walked off, Dave teared up. He said it’s nice to be treated like one of the guys, not some guy with cancer.
Dave was as quick to tears as he was to being kind. It was just him.
Matt Harmon, fresh off being a Big Ten Player of the Year, competed in his first PGA Tour event at the Buick Open in 2009. Dave watched him make the 36-hole cut. Standing nearby as Harmon signed some autographs, Dave wiped away tears.
“So happy for Matt,” he said. “He works so hard at the game. He deserves this so much.”
We shared other moments. I chair the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame committee that elected him in 2015. He was truly humbled and embarrassed that everybody made such a fuss. He attended the induction last October, amid his battle with cancer, when I was humbly inducted for getting to tell stories about golfers like Dave.
“You deserve this so much,” he told me.
I wiped tears from my cheeks that day, as we all did this week when we heard the news.
A truly selfless man has departed, but not before he made the world better, one shot, one lesson, one kind word at a time. Rest in peace Dave Kendall. We will remember you.