Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2009 - 18

(MGAprofi le)
Local Golf Guru
Longtime Staples golf coach
Glen Hasselberg recalls
top moments on the course.
By Jon Roe | Photos by Paul Middlestaedt
S
o many good things have happened to Glen Hasselberg
through golf he can't narrow his choices down
to what ranks as the best. Up near the top? " The opportunity
to coach all the kids we've had on the golf teams over
the years and especially to have had the chance to coach all my
daughters when they played high school golf, " Hasselberg says.
" Not many people get a chance to do something like that. "
Because he has done so much, it seems as if Hasselberg, 60,
has been a part of golf in northern Minnesota forever. He has
been a player of respectable talent for more than 40 years and
has coached the Staples girls high school golf team since its
inception in 1975. He was involved, along with others, in the
original structuring and development of the Minnesota Girls
State High School Golf Tournament, and 11 years ago, he began
coaching the Staples boys team, too.
Hasselberg also was athletic director at Staples for 18 years,
as well as a basketball and football referee. He served on the
Minnesota course ratings team for a national golf magazine and
currently is vice president of the Minnesota Golf Association's
Northwest region.
Thanks to stacks of notebooks he has maintained over the
years, Hasselberg has instant access to his many golf teams'
accomplishments. For instance, his girls teams have played in 10
state tournaments, winning the state title twice and fi nishing as
runners-up or in third place two times each. He has sent 49 girls
golfers to state championships and two have won state titles,
including his daughter Mary in 2001. He also has had two boys
teams qualify for the state tournament and eight boys golfers
compete in just over a decade as Staples' boys coach.
The pride of a father and coach can be heard in Hasselberg's
voice as he describes the accomplishments of his own kids:
The Glen Hasselberg File
Home Course: The Vintage at Staples
Handicap: 6.4- " There was a time when it was around scratch, " he says.
Holes-in-One: 10- " The fi rst was in 1975 on the 287-yard 10th hole at Bemidji
Country Club, actually a par 4, and you couldn't see the hole from the tee. The last
was in March of 2008 at Angel Park in Las Vegas with our daughter Dana. "
Lowest Scoring Round: " About seven or eight years ago, I played in a Seniors event
at Mille Lacs Golf Club and shot like a 66, as I remember. "
16
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2009
www.mngolf.org
Glen Hasselberg
Derek, now 34, was a golfer and graduate at St. Cloud State;
Heather, 33, was a scholarship golfer and graduate at Purdue;
Dana, 27, did the same, starting at Bradley and fi nishing at Bemidji
State; Mary had a golf scholarship and graduated from
Montana after her state prep title; and Cydney, 18, will attend
North Dakota State in the fall on a golf scholarship.
Hasselberg says he began to appreciate golf in eighth grade
when a classmate's father took him to the course. " What I liked
about golf right away was there was nobody else dropping the
pass or making the error, " he says. " It was you and the course.
That's all. And once I got a little better as a player, I really enjoyed
just being a part of the game. I think I'm as competitive
as anybody, and I'm going to try as hard as I can, but I just liked
being there and being involved. "
Hasselberg's competitive streak
doubtless helped him win the 1975
Birchmont, plus three MGA Net
Team titles as part of a foursome
from Staples. He retired as a teacher
and athletic director three years ago
but says he hopes to coach as long as
possible. " I still enjoy being around
the kids, " he says. " It's really something
special for me when they
get that twinkle in their eye
after they do something
that takes their game
to the next level. "
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2009

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