“What you have here is an absolute treasure,” Lance Callahan told Hayward Golf Course members at their recent 100-year anniversary dinner.
Callahan, who grew up across from today’s 12th hole tee, has played golf on the course since he was nine years old in 1946.
“A man who lived down the street, Grandpa Hamblin, taught a bunch of us kids how to play golf,” Callahan said. “We had only four-five clubs.
“By the time I was 14. there was a Hayward High School golf team. We won two Heart of the North Conference championships in four years and hosted the sectional tournament. We advanced to the state tournament, where we placed second,” he said.
“When I started playing the course, it was rather rough. The greens were rather bumpy,” Callahan added.
“My mentors at Hayward Golf Club included Joe and John Kuta and Scott Miller,” he added.
David Blake, former long-time PGA pro at the Club, told the 100-year celebration gathering that “This course has had a tremendous amount of stability, thanks to the longevity of the employees and board of directors.
“August 1924 was our birth date,” Blake said. “We opened with nine holes (now the back nine) and sand greens. We installed grass greens in 1927.”
According to a course history, “By 1924, Hayward had made the transition from a rip-roaring lumber town to a reasonably sedate community, with a group of local businessmen and resort-goers deciding that Hayward’s vacation area needed a golf course.”
“From 1924-42, we were run by a group of dedicated employees. The course closed from 1943-45 for World War Two,” Blake mentioned.
In 1951, a lease was granted to the Junior Chamber of Commerce to operate the club. In 1964 the Hayward Golf Club Corporation was dissolved. The course is now owned by the Hayward Civic Club (formerly the Junior Chamber of Commerce).
“Starting in 1946, John Kuta headed the maintenance department for 30 years; James Moore became the first superintendent from 1976-84. His assistant, Rich Heitman, worked as superintendent for the next 11 years until 1995, followed by Greg Dobbs from1996-2019. Dobbs had gained experience working at Black Wolf Run in Kohler and Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax. He was followed by Jeff Streeter and then Bennett Orton, the current superintendent.
Golf pros over the years have been George Tosh, 1925-28; Bill Marquardt, 1929-43; Joe Kuta, 1946-1975; Damon Glocklee out of Minnesota, 1976-79; Dave Blake, 1980-2015; Ben Kanters, 2015-22; and Mitch Byrd, 2022-present. Emilee McCusker is the current assistant pro.
“The 1980s and ‘90s saw tremendous growth in our facility here,” Blake said. “Local banker Ed Simons was frequently the club president during that time.”
In 1969-71, the board secured a loan to buy 80 acres across Radio Hill Road—which became the new front nine holes plus a driving range—and to construct a new clubhouse. The full 18-hole course debuted in 1971.
The original pro shop was moved from the 11th hole to its present location and the new multi-level clubhouse and Caddy Shak restaurant and bar were attached to that in 1979.
In 1976, the original nine became the back nine holes. In 1980 the club hired its first tennis pro and started its junior golf program. In 1984 the club reformatted the junior program to a teaching area.
In 1982, Bill Johnson Sr. and Russ Haling started the men’s golf club. In 1982, Sue Toftness and Mary Ann White headed the women’s golf club—which first formed in the 1950s.
Jim Pejka Sr. shot a men’s course-record 61 (11 under par) on June 27 1991.
Amy Schintz shot a women’s course record 68 on Sept. 17, 2005.
Brody Moreland shot a course record 63 on the redesigned 18 holes on Aug. 2, 2022.
In 1984 the club hired a teaching pro, Dwayne Clodfelter from South Dakota. He was followed by Dave Blake, Tom Puls and Ken Ellsworth.
During their time here, Clodfelter and Blake received the annual award from the National Golf Foundation as the nation’s top teacher and/or clinician.
In 1987, Hayward Golf Club had 545 members; in 1999, that figure grew to 698 (some of them were tennis members also). Rich Elliker and Jane Smith were tennis teachers.
In 1990 the InterClub tournament series started for men and women.
In recent decades, other golf courses opened in the area, including Big Fish Golf Course and Lakewoods Forest Ridges.
Seeing the growing popularity of golf and competition taking place with other courses, Hayward Golf Club’s board moved forward with major renovations to both the golf course and clubhouse, Blake said.
With Rick Sundberg as president, the board hired Ken Killian, a nationally-known golf architect out of Illinois, to upgrade the existing 18 holes.
With Jerry Polich and Jack White as key people, the old multi-level clubhouse was razed.
In 2003, Hayward Golf and Tennis club opened a new 6,000-square-foot clubhouse “to rave reviews.” In 2009 the tennis course were removed and the facility was renamed Hayward Golf Club.
On July 14, 2010, “a day that will live in infamy,” a severe thunderstorm with tornado-force straight line winds hit the front nine holes and blew down more than 400 trees, Blake said. “The course didn’t look the same and would never play the same. The board needed to hire an architectural firm to deal with that.”
With an outpouring of support from the community to assist in the clean-up and a redesign plan, holes five and eight were redesigned.
In 2020, a state-of-the-art double-row irrigation system was installed on the course, and a new water feature was added on the 13th hole.
In 2021-23, Quentin Johnson and grounds screw director Dick Kuchler worked closely with the contractor to renovate bunkers and tee boxes, Blake added.
Blake also cited three women who have been club members at for 50 years and have won multiple women’s club championships, who recently received life-time memberships: Mary Jo Link, Shirley Redmond and Marlene Tremblay.
“Clubs are only as good as their memberships, and we’ve been blessed with them,” Blake said.
Hayward Golf Courses Board of Directors President Quentin Johnson cited the Hayward Golf Course mission statement: “To serve the Hayward Lakes region, offering an excellent and welcoming experience for golfers at all levels and the community at large.”
Johnson added that the course’s vision is that “Hayward Golf Course will be the premier destination for golf in northern Wisconsin, providing high quality professionally managed golf and a welcoming social environment that complements the rich recreational and natural resources of the Hayward Lakes region.”
Johnson added that over the past two years, the course established itself as a 501C3 tax-exempt corporation, Hayward Civic Corporation Ind. which allows the course to give tax deductions to people who make donations.
In November 2023, the facility completed installation of off-season golf simulators in the restaurant dining room.
The board has identified $500,000 to $1 million in further desired course improvements, including installing higher nets to surround the driving range, better cart path drainage and expansion of the putting green, Johnson added.
Another need is to have an architect review the course’s master plan, he said.
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