Former Colfax resident closes Whitetail Golf Course for the season with “last putt”

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  Closing Whitetail Golf Course with the third annual ceremonial “last putt” November 1 was extra-special for former Colfax resident David Haugle.

Haugle has golfed at Whitetail for 40 years.

“I watched Bobbie Jo grow up,” he said.

Whitetail is now owned and operated by Bobbie Jo and Scot Miller.

Eddie Ristow served as the flag bearer for Haugle.

Ristow and Haugle have played golf together for 20 years.

Whitetail, an 18-hole golf course, opened in 1969 and was designed by Lyle Pelke of Colfax.

Haugle started golfing at Whitetail at the invitation of one of the golf course’s original members, Sam Linberg.

Linberg watched Haugle and a friend play pool one day, wondered if they were looking for a new challenge, and then asked if they would like to go golfing at Whitetail.

Haugle, who was 20 years old at the time, said he went golfing and “got the bug.”

It wasn’t until several years later, however, that he really got bit by the bug.

Haugle was managing Skelgas in Colfax then, and one morning, one of his customers, Dave Henderson, asked if Skelgas would sponsor a golf league team.

Haugle replied, “Yes — but I’d like to golf too.”

This was in the spring of the year, and Henderson said if Haugle wanted to golf while at the same time sponsoring a team, Haugle could be a substitute on Henderson’s league.

Well. Anyone who knows farmers knows that in the spring of the year, farmers are very busy. Exceptionally busy. Crazy busy.

Dave Henderson was a farmer.

Henderson “called at noon that day and said the league was at 5, and I should be out there,” Haugle recalled.

At the time, Haugle had no golfing equipment — no gloves, no clubs of his own — so he made a quick trip to Eau Claire.

At 5 p.m., he was at Whitetail Golf Course “with a set of new, cheap golf clubs that still had the plastic on them when I got here,” Haugle said.

On the very first shot that day, “I whiffed. I took a mighty swing — and I missed the ball,” he said.

Out of all the great shots Haugle has taken at Whitetail over the last 40 years, the memory of the first swing while playing on a league when he missed has stayed completely clear in his mind.

Whitetail “is a big part of my life. It’s the guys, not the game,” Haugle said.

“I was extremely honored and extremely surprised when they asked me to do this (ceremonial last putt),” he said.

Whitetail Golf Course has been lovingly and carefully tended to over the years, Haugle said.

“We have a wonderful facility here. I am truly blessed,” he said.

Home course 

Whitetail Golf Course is Haugle’s “home course.”

He and his wife, Jean, moved to Chippewa Falls five years ago, and Jean said she supposed that since they were living in Chippewa Falls, Haugle would golf in Chippewa Falls, too.

“I said, why? Why would I do that when my home course is here? It’s not the game. It’s the camaraderie. It’s the people. There are two that I’ve golfed with for 36 years,” he said.

Nowadays, Haugle’s wife makes references to Haugle going to “play with the boys.”

Haugle laughed ruefully.

“None of us are boys anymore,” he said.

When Haugle and his wife were ready to move to Chippewa Falls, they called Bobbie Jo and Scot to say they should come and dig up flowers from around the Haugles’ home to plant at Whitetail.

The flowers are now planted at various places around the golf course.

“(Jean) has a really green thumb. And it’s wonderful to come out here and be able to visit my flowers,” Haugle said.

Changes

Over the years, Haugle says he has witnessed a very big change in the golf course.

The change is not so much in the way of physical changes in the facility, but in the numbers of people who play at Whitetail.

Forty years ago, golf was not as popular with as broad a swath of society and tended to attract people who were in more professional lines of work.

Today, the game has really broadened its appeal with the general public, Haugle said.

Broadening the appeal to the general public is a positive development because it means golf will continue to thrive — and Whitetail will continue to thrive, he said.

Scot and Bobbie Jo also have worked hard to promote the game among the younger generation, he said, adding that the Millers have made great employment opportunities available to high school and college students as well.

Players come from Eau Claire, Chippewa and Menomonie to golf at Whitetail, Haugle noted.

“The leagues are fun, and the food is good,” he said.

“When I started out, I was one of the ‘kids’ and now I have progressed to people calling me ‘Mr. Haugle,’” he said.

“I have had many blessings out here and many great memories,” Haugle said.

“Supposed to”

When Haugle’s son, Brandon, was just a little tyke, “we spent a lot of time putting in the yard, chipping and practicing. I told him when he could chip consistently around the yard, I would take him to the golf course,” he said.

Brandon’s very first time at Whitetail was on a Sunday.

“When we got to the second hole, I hit a hole-in-one. For anyone who doesn’t play golf, they need to know that a hole-in-one is very difficult to do,” Haugle said.

But there it was — Haugle had hit a hole-in-one, and his son Brandon was there to see it.

“It was wonderful to have my son there, to have Brandon witness it. But do you know what he said? He said, ‘Ain’t that what it’s supposed to do?’” Haugle recalled with a laugh.

Yes, indeed, that’s what the golf ball is supposed to do is go in the hole.

But even when the golf shot is not a hole-in-one  — golfing at Whitetail will always be at the top of David Haugle’s list.

The day of Haugle’s ceremonial last putt, November 1, was a gorgeous day that started out sunny with a temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit, which eventually climbed into the 60s.

A perfect day for a game of golf — which is exactly where Haugle was headed when he had finished talking with the Colfax Messenger.