Clarksville, TN – On a day that would have been perfect for the game that he loved, longtime outstanding golfer and advocate of junior golf in the Clarksville area, the late Dr. Keith Peterson was honored with a statue at Swan Lake Golf Course October 21st.
In a ceremony near the putting green, and preceded by a short address from Clarksville mayor Kim McMillan to a gathering of around 75 friends and family, a bronze statue of a young golfer was unveiled to honor Dr. Peterson, who passed away in May.
“It totally blows my mind and it would his too,” said Peterson’s wife of over 43 years Sally. “He fell in love with this statue when he saw it years ago and he always wanted to get one. So just the statue itself would have been amazing, but to have it near the putting green is perfect because it was his heaven and just a perfect place for him.”
“Mary Fisher doing this has outdone herself and I would have never expected something like this and he wouldn’t have either,” Sally Peterson said. “I thought they may put a picture up, but this beautiful statue … it’s a tribute unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.
“I know he would think he didn’t deserved it, but he would love the fact that it is there and by the putting green. I’m at a loss for words.”
The fact that the statue is of a young golfer is very symbolic, with Peterson spearheading the beginning of the Clarksville Junior Golf Tour (CJGT) back in June of 1997, which has led to local area kids being introduced to the game and for more than a few a chance to earn a college scholarship.
He (Dr. Peterson) was such a special person and we just wanted to do something different,” said Mary Fisher, who has also been a longtime CJGT supporter. “So when he died in May, and was always know as being one of the best putters in Clarksville, I started looking around and that is what I came up with.
“I asked some other folks what they thought and they said go for it and we wanted it here at Swan Lake because that is where a bulk of our junior golf is.”
“Seventeen or eighteen years ago he co-founded the CJGT and that was one of the greatest things in this city for junior golf,” he said. “The junior golf in Clarksville was always good, but with the CJGT there were as many as 280 kids playing golf and I think this ceremony today was very well deserved for as much as he did for junior golf.”
“He dedicated his time to junior golf and promoting junior golf by getting kids exposed to the game and getting kids playing the game and not having to travel so much and have tournaments here in the city and that led to a lot of kids going on the play college golf.”
Photo Gallery
