From top: Johnny Revolta
learned golf as a youth in
Wisconsin before winning the
1935 PGA Championship.
Manuel de la Torre was the first
PGA Teacher of the Year in
1986. J.P. Hayes and Mark
Wilson proudly represent the
Badger State on the PGA Tour.
short season is really great. The golfer in
Wisconsin will go out and play in some
weather that maybe you won’t play in other
parts of the country. That’s part of playing
golf in the Midwest.
“The conditions of the golf courses in
Wisconsin are probably as good or better
than any place in the country. And I’m not
talking about high-end places. You go to a
public course and the conditions will be
better than
50 percent of the most
expensive country clubs in other parts of
the country. And people just take that for
granted.
“The cost for golf in Wisconsin is very,
very reasonable. You can play great golf all
over the state for
50 bucks. You can’t say
that in a lot of places. We are spoiled in
Wisconsin with the quality of the courses
we play.”
The quality aspect is particularly true
with Kohler’s four courses. There’s also a
new course, Erin Hills in Erin, Wis., that
will host the 2017 U.S. Open.
“Andy got the state on the map as far as
golf goes, but so did Herb Kohler,” says
Stricker. “He put up a lot of money and a
lot of his time and took chances. Nobody
knows when they build a course how it’s
going to be perceived or liked or disliked or
whatever. He put his neck on the line, too.”
So now Wisconsin boasts as many
quality courses as its quality players. That
includes Madison’s Sherri Steinhauer, who
has victories in two majors – the 1992 du
Maurier Classic and the 2006 Women’s
British Open – as well as six others on the
92 THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE 2010 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
LPGA Tour.
Appleton’s J.P. Hayes and Menomonee
Falls’ Mark Wilson each won twice on the
PGA Tour. Fox Point’s Skip Kendall hasn’t
won but has been a successful, longtime
veteran on the Tour. Other state players
who have played on the PGA Tour include
Don Iverson, Bobby Brue and Tommy
Veech.
Prior to North’s arrival, however, the
biggest name from the state was Johnny
Revolta (see story on previous page), who
spent part of his boyhood in Oshkosh.
Nicknamed “the Iron Master” because of
his great short game, Revolta won
18 PGA
Tour events as well as the 1935 PGA
Championship, when he defeated Tommy
Armour,
5 and
4 in the title match at Twin
Hills Country Club in Oklahoma City.
One of the state’s greatest amateurs was
Racine native Wilford Werhle. “He was
considered by Bobby Jones as the best
amateur player in America back in the mid-
1930s,” says Gene Haas, the retired
executive director of the Wisconsin State
Golf Association.
More recently, South Milwaukee’s
Archie Dadian has won more than
100
tournaments. He was named the United
States Golf Association’s public links player
of the decade in the 1970s, according to
Haas.
Finally, PGA Professional Manuel de la
Torre made his mark in the state as a golfer
and teacher. He moved to Milwaukee in
1950 and took a job at Milwaukee Country
Club. He won the State Open five times
and the State PGA Championship four
times. But he was just as respected as a
teacher – named the inaugural PGA
Teacher of the Year in 1986.
LPGA golfers from the state, including
Steinhauer and Fond du Lac’s Martha
Nause, were among de la Torre’s students,
as well as the famed Carol Mann. Tommy
Aaron also was a student of de la Torre’s
when he won the Masters in 1973,
according to Haas.
“Jim Flick once told me that the best
teacher in America was Manuel de la Torre,”
Haas claims. “They all respect his method
of teaching and ability to communicate
with students.” ●
Rob Schultz in a sports writer for
the Capital Times in Madison, Wis.,
whose stories also appear in the
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