Virginia Golfer September / October 2015 | Page 18

“All my fondest
memories include
the people
and staff I’ve
worked with,
and for, over
these years.”

Above: Ryder and
the late Sam Snead
developed a special
friendship on and off
the course. Right:
Before moving to
the golf dept.,
Ryder served the
Omni Homestead
as a doorman.

painters, snowmaking, and in the ski rental
department…pretty much every job outside.
You name it, I did it. I guess the only thing
I never really did was work the front desk at
the hotel. Even when I was a doorman, I was
outside all the time.

VG: How big of a role has the Omni

Homestead played in your life?
DR: The Homestead has been just so good to
me through the years. In 1978, when I was
working as a doorman, Tom Lennon (who
was president at the time) told me he wanted
to make me the head golf professional. He
knew I was interested in getting in on that
side of things, and told me he’d send me
to PGA school and pay all my expenses if I
wanted the job. How do you say no to that?
Then, a couple of decades later, I won
the 1997 Middle-Atlantic Senior Sectional
Championship, and they gave me the
opportunity to take a year’s leave of absence
to play on the Senior Tour and do the
Monday qualifiers, knowing that I could
always come back if it didn’t work out. There

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just aren’t too many places that would do
that for you.
Overall, I think a lot of people don’t
realize what The Homestead means to Bath
County. This county means everything to
me, so the survival of the Homestead is also
the survival of Bath County. So, how hard
you work isn’t just for the Homestead, it’s
also for the success of Bath County, too.
They’re really almost one in the same.
My mom and dad and grandparents
grew up in Bath County, and, in fact, my
two grandfathers worked as carpenters
building the tower on the hotel here. My
wife’s grandfather worked for the hotel
for 65 years, and her mother was a maid at
the hotel, too. There’s just so much of our
family’s history here.
VG: Tell us more about your family.
DR: Well, I’ve been very, very blessed. I’ve

been married to my wife, Joyce, for 48 years.
We graduated high school here in 1967 and
married three weeks later. Together, we have
two daughters and a son. Katie works at
Bath County High School and Kathy works

V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER/O CTOBER 2015

in the associate services office at the hotel.
Then, our son, Cam, is a Level II shooting
instructor at the gun club that’s located
at the hotel. All of my grandchildren and
great grandchildren live right here in Bath
County—and we’re here to stay.
VG: As a past winner of the MAPGA Senior

Championship, the MAPGA Southern
Chapter Senior Championship, and the
MAPGA Senior-Junior Championship, what
would you say the best part of your game is?
DR: Through the years, it’s always been
my short irons and putting. Those have
definitely been the strongest points of my
game. I’ve always driven the ball well, but
my short game has always been really strong.
In my opinion, that means so much in the
game of golf. You just don’t hit every green
in regulation, so a strong short game can
surely make up for some mistakes.
VG: Do you use those strengths as a teaching

professional?

DR: 100-yards-in is so important to the game

of golf, but, for a lot of people, it’s all about

vsga.org

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE OMNI HOMESTEAD AND THE RYDER FAMILY

DR: Well, I worked with the carpenters,