(From left) In the early days of the Gibraltar High School golf program, the state tournament-qualifying squad included John Lhost, Jason Daubner, Coach John Brann, Jim Schultz, Steve Schaefer and (not pictured) John Stangel. Submitted.
Basketball was Jim Schultz’s number-one sport at Gibraltar High, but he made his lasting impression at his high school and in northeast Wisconsin in golf.
Before his junior year, Schultz, golf buddy Jason Daubner and a few supporters summoned the courage to petition the school board to start a golf team. In Wisconsin, boys’ golf takes place in spring, not fall, like in Illinois. Coach Rod “Chief” Billerbeck and baseball boosters did not want to lose any athletes from the baseball program, and neither did the track coaches, Schultz said.
“The board was going to shoot us down,” Schultz said, adding that he didn’t have an answer when the board asked who would coach them. “There was not a position budgeted for a coach. John Brann heard of our pursuit and stood up and said, ‘I will coach the team. No payment necessary.’” Schultz said Brann “stood up from the back row, kind of like Jimmy Chitwood in the movie Hoosiers.”
The golf team soon formed. Daubner played one more year of baseball, then joined Schultz on the golf team, and the Vikings earned a trip to the state tournament.
Growing up, Schultz and Daubner had worked summers at Bay Ridge Golf Course. The pair enjoyed golfing for free after work, as well as golfing with their fathers, so naturally they started talking about how high schools in the Green Bay area and other cities had golf teams. With so many good golf courses in Door County, a Gibraltar High golf team just made sense.
At Bay Ridge, Schultz and Daubner did maintenance work ranging from raking traps to mowing greens, as well as grounds work and pool maintenance at the Bay Ridge and Highland Greens condos.
While working for the late Peter Trenchard, the Bay Ridge owner and a professional golf rules official, Schultz and Daubner learned how to groom the course for optimum conditions.
“That was our little baby,” Schultz said. “We took a lot of pride, and that was the best-maintained course in the county.”
Jim Schultz, Gibraltar High School graduate and Oneida Golf and Country Club director of golf. Submitted.
Schultz admired Trenchard’s attention to detail when maintaining the course and the surrounding properties. He and Daubner discussed a vision of running a course together.
“We started getting interested in the golf business,” Schultz said.
When Schultz got hurt during his second year playing basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, he and Daubner decided to go to Ferris State University for golf management-related degrees.
Schultz landed internships at University Ridge south of Madison, then Bent Pine in Florida, before taking his first PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association) professional job as third assistant pro at the prestigious Oneida Golf and Country Club in Green Bay in 1996.
While some longtime course managers say they don’t get time to play or have lost some enthusiasm for the game, Schultz has an ongoing passion for golf, and today serves as director of golf at Oneida.
The Suamico resident still plays in some PGA Wisconsin section events, tries to play at least once a week with members, gives lessons, and coaches a PGA Junior League golf team. He also has coached junior high and junior varsity basketball many winters, but still finds time to lead groups from the club on golf vacations. He also builds his family’s vacations around golf.
All four of his sons, ages 13, 14, 18 and 19, enjoy golf, too. He said his oldest son, Colin, a basketball player at UW-Eau Claire, is a talented golfer. His 18-year-old son, who plays golf at Pulaski High, has discussed becoming a teacher so he can work at a course and golf during summers.
Unlike some pros, Schultz doesn’t spend much time working on his game at the range.
“I’ve never been a big practicer,” he said. “When I need to fix something, I’ll go hit balls.”
Schultz values the lessons, life experiences and connections people can gain through golf.
“It’s the game of golf in general,” Schultz said. “You’re on your own, and it’s all peer review. You have to be honest. It teaches you a lot of things about yourself. It’s a lot of highs and lows, just like life is. You just have to look to the next shot.
“You’re going to have your bad shots, you’re going to have your good shots,” he said. “Just stay level and grind away.”
High school golfers in northeast Wisconsin today get some amazing opportunities, Schultz said. His sons have played or are scheduled to play famous courses such as Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run, the Green Bay and Oneida country clubs, Erin Hills and Lac La Belle, a classic, highly-ranked Oconomowoc course that was founded in 1896.
YOUTH GOLF INSTRUCTION
Registration has begun for youth golf lessons and camps at Peninsula State Park Golf Course. To sign up, visit the clubhouse.
The Dr. William and Carolyn Bell Junior Golf School at 3 pm Monday, June 15 and concludes Thursday, June 18.
Another session takes place July 6 through 9 – four days of group sessions for ages 8 to 14. The $50 fee includes instruction plus free golf on the Peninsula Short Course.
The First Tee Junior Golf Program has Wednesday-evening sessions for nine weeks in July and August for ages 8 through 17. Registration opens in early June. For details, call or call 920.854.5791 or visit the clubhouse.
UPCOMING GOLF OUTINGS
Registration opened June 1 for the Door County YMCA Golf by the Bay fundraiser set for Monday, July 27 at Horseshoe Bay Golf Club. To register, call 920.743.4949 or visit doorcountyymca.org.
The Door County Tavern League Golf Outing is set for Monday, June 15 at Idlewild. Find more details at the clubhouse.
The 19th-annual Queen for a Day outing to benefit Door CANcer, Inc. and the David Spude Cancer Center Endowment, set for June 22 at Idlewild, sold out quickly. To inquire about sponsorship opportunities or a waitlist to get in, call 920.333.8050.
Craig Sterrett is a University of Iowa graduate, award-winning reporter and Sister Bay hardware store manager.