Cedar Crest Reopens to Inspire Through Golf

After spending the normally busy summer season closed, a Dallas golf course will reopen this weekend.

Cedar Crest Golf Course will hold a ceremonial ribbon cutting Friday morning and reopen to the public on Saturday.

The public course shut down in May as the city of Dallas began a nearly $1 million renovation on the course to fix up the greens, restore the bunkers, and spruce up practice areas.

This was the second time in the past 11 years that Cedar Crest has been upgraded, but at 97 years-old leaders say the work was desperately needed to keep the place alive.

The renovations have been a labor of love for course pro Ira McGraw Jr.

As he fought to get the work done, McGraw ended up personally sacrificing money and time to keep Cedar Crest functioning despite the poor conditions, but his dedication is understandable given his history there.

McGraw said he always wanted to be a golfer growing up and going through college. After school he took the big leap to take on any jobs he could at local courses and just keep working to get better. Eventually, he ended up becoming a PGA member, and when the opportunity came up to become the pro at Cedar Crest he jumped on it and got the chance to finally make a career out of golf.

Those familiar with McGraw’s story know though, that it only begins there.

While working at Cedar Crest he met a young teen named Lester Bell who had snuck onto the course. Bell had his troubles in life, but McGraw took him under his wing to help him learn and grow through golf.

Eventually, the pro and his wife took the leap to become Bell’s legal guardians.

“It was the right thing to do,” said McGraw. "I really had no idea what kind of person I could be and what kind of man I could be, and being able to make the sacrifices that we needed to make in order to help him be whole."

They did.

Bell went on to golf in college and today is in Colorado for basic training to enter the Air Force.

The duo’s Cedar Crest story was even recently featured in the PGA’s Thank a Pro campaign.

Now McGraw hopes to keep passing that love of golf along at the course that he hopes will have a new lease on life.

"I'm doing something I love to do, and if you get to affect somebody's life while you're doing it, I think that's very, very cool,” said McGraw.