New Golf Guy Tees Off

Doug Acton is a man with a plan and a head of steam.

The veteran golf instructor just took the helm of the Mill Valley Golf Course as the new facility manager and head pro, and he plans to overhaul the club to modernize it, expand its reach and reconnect it with the community.

"This used to be a really active place and it isn't any longer," said Acton, who replaced Steve Yuhas, who recently retired after serving 26 years at the course. "My goal is to rebuild the community here and make it a place where families come and hang out. You've got generations of families who come play golf here and we want to reconnect with them and keep them coming back."

But while Acton has big plans to revamp the facilities, he'll have to do so without much help from the city. In adopting its 2010-2011 annual budget in June, the city trimmed its total operating expenses by 1.6 percent, including the elimination of the $12,000 annual subsidy of the golf concessionaire. While the city still funds the maintenance and operation of the golf course, concessionaire income now comes from golf pro shop sales only, and any additional expenses will come out of Acton's pocket.

"This is my dime, as I see fit," he said.

Mill Valley Golf Course opened for play in 1919 as a private club, and was hit hard by the Depression in the 1930s. With a rapidly declining membership, the course was sold to the city for $25,000 in 1939.

Acton, 55, said the course itself is a jewel. Born in Santa Venetia in San Rafael, he learned to play golf on the Mill Valley course when he was 15. He won the club championship and in 1978, he won the Marin Tournament of Champions event, representing Mill Valley. A PGA Class A member, Acton was ranked in the top five in the Northern California Golf Association's amateur circuit for three years and even went to PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Known as Doug Talley back then – he changed his last name back to Acton in 2000 to honor his deceased father – Acton said he was first drawn to the Mill Valley course because "it was inexpensive and they were fairly welcoming. And that is what I'm trying to accomplish here."

Acton is reworking the footprint of the golf shop, moving the check-in counter to make room for a larger golf shop in the middle. He's also renovating the upstairs of the shop to make room for a long bar along the window surrounded by some tables and chairs and some flat-panel televisions.

"That area really has such a tremendous view but the windows were always covered with junk," he said. "I want to make it a place people can come before and after their round. And if it's raining, maybe it's a place to come and watch football games."

After 20 years of working at private country clubs, Acton has spent the past 16 years as a private golf instructor. He plans to build a teaching area down below the golf shop.

In addition to physical renovations and a renewed emphasis on teaching, Acton wants to focus on crafting fun events to draw people to the course, like "Calcutta"-style tournaments where players bid on the players they think will win the tournament.

Acton said despite the fact that it is only a nine-hole course, he sees a tremendous opportunity for Mill Valley Golf Course to eat into the market of local private golf clubs, particularly in a tough economy.

"The number of players at private clubs are dropping off," said Acton, who lives in Corte Madera. "And nine holes is a smaller investment of time in our busy world, especially for things like company events. And this place isn't a pitch and putt course – it's a real golf course."

The bottom line, Acton said, is that Mill Valley Golf Course has a great reputation in Marin, and needs to do more to keep it.

"I've been in the golf business my whole life, and people who have been playing here forever refer to it as the Temple – it's a spectacular piece of property," he said. "But there hasn't been a great amount of energy here lately. The more fun you have out here, the more time you spend out here. I bring the fun quotient."