Remembering Mike Steiner: Key figure in Vail Valley golf scene ‘made everybody feel like you were his best friend’

Mike Steiner traveled near and far, and his death in May has rocked his countless friends. And just about everyone who knew him considered Steiner a friend.

Steiner, 62, was the CEO of the Eagle Springs Golf Club in Wolcott. He died May 22 in a boating accident in Northern Wisconsin.

Eagle Springs owner Fred Green said he was at one of his clubs, in England, when news of Steiner’s death crossed the ocean.

“I started receiving messages from members of that club,” Green said, even those who had met or played with Steiner just a time or two. “It’s incredible how well-liked he was.”

Steiner came to the Vail Valley in the mid-1980s to take the assistant pro’s job at the Country Club of the Rockies. He came to Colorado thanks to Tom Apple, who was the head pro at that course.

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“It’s hard to imagine anyone more enjoyable to be around,” Apple said. “He was witty, and very self-deprecating.”

After some time at Country Club of the Rockies, Steiner was later hired as head pro at the Singletree golf club, then took a similar job a the then-new Eagle Springs club.

A lifelong romance

While golf was Steiner’s job, he came to Colorado to be closer to Judy, the love of his life since the two were in high school together. It took some time to get the couple to live in the same place at the same time. When that happened, marriage — one that lasted 35 years — followed soon after.

Judy Steiner said she’s also received countless messages. People Mike had golfed with have been “so kind,” she said.

That’s because Steiner treated everyone with kindness.

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From garbage collectors to CEOs, “he treated everyone the same,” Judy said.

Longtime friend Sue Congalton agreed.

“His people skills were just extraordinary,” Congalton said. “He made everybody feel like you were his best friend … Mike is one of the only people I’ve ever met that no one had a bad word about him.”

Steiner’s job could make that difficult, especially when he had to enforce course rules. But people seemed to accept those rules when Steiner explained them.

While Steiner was the CEO at Eagle Springs, he started as a coach and teacher.

“He was a great coach, and with me, he had to practice a great deal of patience,” Congalton said. “He never, never seemed frustrated — he was always encouraging and helpful.”

Golf was central to Steiner’s working and personal life, but there was much more to his life off the course.

Longtime friend Bob Beedie spent a lot of time with Steiner in northern Wisconsin. The two spent countless hours grouse hunting, fishing and hiking.

“He was probably as experienced an outdoorsman as I knew,” Beedie said, adding that Steiner had grown up in the northern woods.

“We would spend hours and hours together, driving around, looking for places to hunt,” Beedie said. “We talked on all kinds of subjects … and he was the kind of guy you could discuss anything with … it was fun to be around him.”

Beedie said he was hoping to grow old with his friend. Just last fall, they were talking about where they’d go when both had retired.

A quiet home

Judy, of course, was looking forward to more time with her husband.

Home is a lot quieter these days. And the home in Wisconsin will continue to be a special place.

Judy’s mother lives next door to the Steiners’ home there. She and Mike would often talk during Green Bay Packers or University of Wisconsin football games.

Whether in Wisconsin or Edwards, Judy said she finds herself talking frequently to her husband. There are times she thinks he may be somewhere in the house.

A few weeks ago, Judy tuned the TV to a golf tournament, something she rarely does.

She was alone in the Wisconsin house the day earlier in June when news broke that the PGA Tour — golf’s major league organization — was going to merge with the upstart LIV Golf tour.

Steiner had been a PGA member for his adult life, and Judy said to the room — and her late husband — “Mike, can you believe it?”

Beedie frequently became emotional talking about his friend, especially when it came to the risks involved in the outdoor life.

“What we do can be inherently dangerous,” Beedie said. “You’re out in the wild … all kinds of stuff can go wrong.”