Above: The clubhouse at Hazeltine National Golf Club bustled during the 1970 U.S. Open. Right: The golfing world was introduced to a young Nancy Lopez (far right) at the 1977 U. S. Women’s Open at Hazeltine National. Hollis Stacy (right) would go on to win the event by two strokes.
first time, with stroke-play rounds also being held at the Chaska Town Course, where Billy Horschel became the first person to shoot 60 in a USGA championship. He followed it with a 78 at Hazeltine National to earn medalist honors, but the week belonged to Richie Ramsay, who captured the title with a match-play victory over John Kelly. Ramsay became the first Scot to win the Amateur in more than a hundred years.
This week, history will once again be made at Hazeltine National during the PGA Championship, and the 2016 Ryder Cup is on the horizon.
The golf sanctuary that Totton Heffelfinger envisioned did not come easily. The dream seemed realized in a rush of early success and then dashed, maybe forever. It was revived through years of sacrifice and hard work by the members of
Hazeltine National. Today they play one of the most challenging courses in the game, across the rolling land that Robert Trent Jones saw in 1959. And for one week every few years, it is transformed into the center of the world of golf.
Let the roars begin. ●
TOP: COURTESY HAZELTINE NATIONAL GOLF CLUB; HOLLIS STACY AND NANCY LOPEZ: LPGA; BOTTOM: HAZELTINE NATIONAL GOLF CLUB
Tom Brakke is a Hazeltine National
Golf Club member and chair of the club’s Heritage Committee.
Warren Rebholz, an original member of Hazeltine National who continues to play the course on a regular basis, is in many ways the embodiment of the spirit and history of the club.
“Rebbie” is a three-time club champion who still splits the fairways with his drives.
His love for the game also led to his work as the executive director of the Minnesota Golf Association, a position he held for 20 years. He was instrumental in making that organization into a leader among the state golf associations in the country.
Rebholz was the face of Minnesota
golf to amateurs and
professionals alike, as well as to
those at the United States Golf
Association and The PGA of
America. He served as a Rules
official at 15 consecutive U.S.
Opens and many other national
and state championships.
Many Hazeltine National
members have learned the finer
points of the Rules from Rebholz
over the years, and his popular “Rules by
Rebbie” writings examined critical Rules
in the context of events at Hazeltine.
Each of the 18 episodes took place on
one of Hazeltine’s holes and featured a
former club champion encountering a
series of events that may or may not have
Spotlight: Warren Rebholz
Warren Rebholz
involved Rules infractions or issues. His light-hearted approach and detailed understanding of the circumstances were symptomatic of his ability to communicate about golf to one and all.
Rebholz was directly involved in many of the changes to the golf course that occurred over the years and says, “I think most every one of them turned out well.” One in particular that did was the 16th hole of today, which Rebholz conceived. His idea of a new par 4 along the lake led to one of the most famous holes in golf.
He has held many positions at the club over the years, including president, and this year Rebholz extends his record of having volunteered for every important championship ever held at Hazeltine.