New Mexico golf pros take on new course in New York City Marathon

For Henry Stetina and Nick Knee, two Sun Country Professional Golf Association of America members in New Mexico, Sunday will not be about the links. It will be about running.

Yeah, not so much of that on the course, but Knee, who is the Sandia Golf Club general manager and director of golf, and Stetina, who is the New Mexico State University assistant director of the Professional Golf Management Program, will be challenging the New York City Marathon.

Seems like an odd thing for a couple of golf pros to be doing but it is part of the PGA of America REACH Foundation designed to create opportunities for youth, military veterans, and underrepresented communities through the sport.

“I grew up playing golf and I was the only kid in me elementary and middle school who played golf,” Stetina said of his upbringing in Santa Fe. “For me, this is a way of giving back.”

Stetina helped start what has become a thriving youth program that REACH supports through scholarships.

Golf is seen as a country club sport, so trying to make it more accessible to more younger players is a worthy goal, said Knee, who also helps coach golf and football at La Cueva.

“We trying to break down doors so kids can play golf,” he said. “The PGA REACH Foundation helps pay for league fees and equipment. Golf is a frustrating sport, but there a lot of morals built into the game. As golf professionals, we make an impact far more than the holes that they play. This is more to do with what they do with their lives.”

So running the marathon that winds its way through five boroughs of New York City is a way to raise awareness about the REACH Foundation.

Interestingly, neither Stetina nor Knee were big runners before taking up the challenge of preparing for a marathon.

For Stetina, it actually stems from his low point in life when he found himself in the hospital with alcohol-abuse-related pancreatic and liver diseases.

“I needed to do something differently and I started on a 30-day rehab program and got on a recovery journey,” he said. “I started getting into fitness after having to walk the hallways with my IV cart just to get strong enough to be discharged from the hospital. I told myself I’d never let myself get that weak again.”

Several years later as he was progressing though recovery, he was encouraged to take on the marathon as a way to support the foundation.

“I wasn’t a runner, despite, growing up in Santa Fe, I hated it,” Stetina said. “I gave up other sports because of running. You’d never catch me running. I wasn’t into fitness until I got sober. But I saw this as a good way to give back to the PGA REACH, which provided all those scholarships, a good way to give back and pay off a debt I felt I had.”

Knee said this will be his last marathon, but he looks back on his effort with satisfaction.

“I set out to raise $5,000 and I’ve had wonderful support from my fellow professionals, friends, family and co-workers,” he said. “We’re nearing $7,000 and that’s even before the race weekend.”

As for why the New York City Marathon, Knee said that was simple.

“It’s the world’s greatest marathon,” he said. “It’s one of the most-renowned marathons in the world. The city, the setting, just everything that goes into it. For us to have the opportunity as golf professionals to represent our section on a national scale is something and it shows that we might be a small section, New Mexico, but we can make an incredible impact in people’s lives.”