Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2019 - 34

Coaches Association
Names Hall of Fame
TODD PETTERSON
On April 29 the Minnesota
High School Golf Coaches
Association named its 2019
Hall of Fame class, including:
former Elk River boys'
golf coach,
the late Guy
CALI HARRIER
Varty, of Elk River; former
Red Wing boys' golf coach,
Todd Petterson; and former
Detroit Lakes girls' golf coach,
Cali Harrier, of Detroit Lakes.
All three were inducted during
the high school tournaments in June.
Pulido Named Women's
Golf Manager
Tone Pulido,
23, of
Stillwater, Minn., was
named MGA women's
golf manager May 6.
He will be
responsible
for the administration
of MGA
women's championships,
USGA women's
qualifiers, and events
and special programs.
He will
also
act as staff liaison with the MGA Women's
Committee, working closely with club
representatives to promote participation
among female golfers.
" I'm thrilled with this new career
opportunity with the MGA, " says Pulido,
adding, " I look forward to working closely
with the women's committee and our club
liaisons to promote participation in MGA
programs and help grow women's golf. "
Pulido graduated from Stillwater
High School and attended New Mexico
State University,
where he graduated
with a marketing degree and PGA Golf
Management certification (he is a Class A
member of the PGA of America). His previous
golf experience includes internships
with the Minnesota Section PGA and the
MGA, and he most recently served as the
MGA Senior Tour manager.
Learning Links
at the Chaska
Par 30
A golf nonprofit is partnering
with the City of Chaska to
renovate
the city's nine-hole
short course, the Chaska Par 30,
and make it the new home to
the Learning Links of Chaska,
a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to
grow golf participation in environmentally
and economically
sustainable ways.
" The Chaska Par 30 has served
the community well, but the
course is 50 years old and in need
of serious capital investment, "
says Tim Andersen, founder and
BENJAMIN WARREN
chair of Learning Links.
" Our organization saw this as an opportunity to update the course's design so
that it's attractive to the broadest segment of golfers, sustainable and positioned for
another successful 50 years. "
Learning Links recently obtained the services of Benjamin Warren, a golf course
architect with Artisan Golf Design.
" In my hometown of North Berwick, Scotland, we don't have a city park-we
have a city golf course, and it's the gathering place for the whole community, from
kids to seniors. That's the same vision we have for the Chaska Par 30, " says Warren.
The city is expected to approve final plans for the renovation in late June, with
ground breaking in 2020. In the meantime, Andersen and the Learning Links of
Chaska are tasked with raising $2.6 million of the $3.1 million required for the
project. To learn more, visit learninglinksmn.org.
Acey-Deucy
To win a 49-number lottery, the odds are one in 14
million. But those are good odds compared to what
Mendakota Country Club member Paul Edsten beat on
May 5: making two holes in one in the same round at 67
million to one.
Edsten, from Eagan, is a 6.2 handicapper who had played golf his whole life without
an ace. But that drought ended on the second hole at Mendakota, where he hit
his 9-iron 140 yards into the cup.
" It was a crazy celebration; I saw it go in clearly, " says Edsten, who was playing
with two friends. " For a long time I have been telling the story about how I have not
had a hole in one. Over 50 years of golfing and this is the first one. "
Clearly he was overdue, because the celebration wasn't over. Edsten was still smiling
on the tee of the 192-yard 14th hole, which he used a 4 hybrid to reach.
" It was a good shot, but I didn't know if it was enough to get to the hole, " Edsten
says. " The pin was on the back tier of the green. We saw the ball roll toward the hole
and disappear. Two of us thought it rolled off the back. The third thought it went in
and was laughing the whole way walking to the green. I checked the hole and yelled
out 'this is crazy!' The ball was in the hole. "
34
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2019
mngolf.org
PHOTO BY PAUL MARKERT
http://www.learninglinksmn.org http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2019

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