I just learned about the passing of Dwayne Netland, a longtime friend and colleague.
Dwayne, a longtime member of the Golf Writers Association of America, worked with me at the Arizona Golf Association, penning stories, as managing editor, for Arizona, The State of Golf. He wrote eloquently on a variety of subjects, including profiles on former PGA of America CEO Joe Black, the Arizona Amateur, Matt Williams of the Arizona Diamondbacks, golf photographer Tony Roberts, Bob Hope, PING founder Karsten Solheim, hockey player and Phoenix Coyote Jeremy Roenick, Jeff Quinney, and Desert Mountain creator Lyle Anderson, among others.
Dwayne Netland
An average, but passionate golfer, he was a longtime member of Desert Highlands in Scottsdale.
As golf writers, former college baseball catchers, and left-handed hackers, we had much in common. He loved life and golf.
Netland was a longtime member at Desert Highlands in Scottsdale. He loved to return to his native Minnesota in the summer with Joanne, his wife of 43 years.
Dwayne’s experience, ideas and editing skills proved invaluable from 1998 to 2003 when we published six issues a year for the AGA.
I distinctly remember a trip we took to Tucson shortly after Arizona Wildcat Ricky Barnes, who just tied for second at the 109th U.S. Open, won the U.S. Amateur Championship. Dwayne, who authored sports books including “The Crosby: Greatest Show in Golf” with Bing Crosby and “Bob Hope’s Confessions of a Hooker” with Bob Hope, interviewed Barnes for a cover story and then we hopped in the car and headed back to Phoenix.
Just as we entered the city an illegal alien, obviously drunk from his recent trip to the casino, sideswiped us, damaging the car. He took off and I chased him down, knowing the illegal most likely didn’t have insurance. Dwayne was seated nervously in the passenger seat, obviously anxious, urging me “to stop chasing the bum….it’s not worth it” or something similar.
I think Dwayne thought we might get shot. We didn’t of course.
After I chased the drunkard down, finding empty beer bottles on the car floor, Dwayne seemed pleased that our lives hadn’t ended right there. In retrospect I should have listened to Dwayne Netland that day. I’ve got countless “Nettie” stories, most related to golf, his travels, and the people he met along the way. He was a mentor and friend, opinionated and a talented scribe.
It’s a sad time for Joanne, his wife of 43 years, and Netland’s family. My thoughts are with them. My memories are many.
Netland was friends with guys like Arnold Palmer, Bob Goldwater, Sr. and Bob Hope.
His obituary: Dwayne Netland of Scottsdale, AZ, an internationally-known golf journalist, passed away at Hospice of the Valley on June 30, 2009, at the age of 77. He was born in Willmar, MN, to Clarence and Ethel Netland. Dwayne graduated from Willmar High School, and the University of Minnesota. His career began as a sports writer for newspapers in Austin, MN, and Madison, WI, before joining the Minneapolis Tribune from 1956 to 1974 where he covered professional football, baseball and hockey and was golf editor. In 1974 he joined Golf Digest magazine in CT, where he became a senior editor and for 23 years covered golf tournaments in Japan, Scotland, England and North America including numerous U.S Open and 18 Masters tournaments. He also authored sports books including “The Crosby: Greatest Show in Golf” with Bing Crosby and “Bob Hope’s Confessions of a Hooker” with Bob Hope, that appeared as a New York Times best seller for 21 weeks. He was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Mavis. He leaves behind his wife, Joanne, to whom he was married 43 years, his son Peter Netland of New Market, MN, his brother Bruce Netland of Duluth, MN, and five nieces and nephews. A memorial service is planned for July 22 at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis at 11:00 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be directed to the charity of your choice or to Journalism School Sports Internship Fund in memory of Dwayne Netland at University of MN Foundation, P.O. Box 70870, C-M-3854, St. Paul, MN 55170-3854.
http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=4037398582666&cid=full
Bill Huffman, longtime Arizona golf writer, on Netty: http://www.azgolf.org/livelearnplay/articleDetails.asp?Category=37&Article=163
Scottsdale Republic: http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/citizen/articles/2009/07/16/20090716sr-nbynetland0717.html
Golf Digest Tribute by Guy Yocum: http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2009/07/golf_dwayne_netland_yocom
One Of A Kind
With the death of former Golf Digest senior editor Dwayne Netland, the game loses a gifted writer and a unique character
In his tenure at Golf Digest that stretched from 1974 to 1997, Dwayne Netland, pictured here with Lee Trevino, profiled many of the greats of the game.
By Guy Yocom
Some people in golf are remembered primarily for their body of work (Ben Hogan), others for their persona (Moe Norman). Dwayne Netland, the former Golf Digest senior editor who passed away peacefully on June 30 at age 77, is distinctive on both counts. “Netty” authored scores of memorable feature stories for Golf Digest from 1974 to 1997 and also wrote or co-wrote several popular books. His best-selling Confessions of a Hooker, a collaboration with Bob Hope, is one of the classic golf books of all time. He was a prolific writer and skilled interviewer with a knack for tackling difficult, controversial topics, including the infamous episode in which LPGA Tour star Jane Blalock was accused of cheating (a charge for which she was exonerated), and the thorny but compelling story of LPGA Tour players expressing jealousy of Nancy Lopez. Netty wrote engaging pieces on Tom Weiskopf and Greg Norman, and was adept at profiling clubs such as Oakland Hills.
But it was Netland’s way of going that made him a widely known and recognizable fixture in golf. With his plaid sport coats, clip-on sunglasses and omnipresent pipe a frontispiece for his ingratiating personality, Netty was unmistakable as he strode across practice ranges and hotel lobbies. Visually he prompted curiosity and drew people to him, and once they spoke with him, Netty had a friend and source forever. He had hundreds of friends on the three major tours, and was well known even in unexpected quadrants. Peter Andrews, one of Netland’s Golf Digest contemporaries, once drew an assignment to rural England. Checking into a small and obscure inn, the woman at the front desk said, “I see you’re with Golf Digest. Do you know Dwayne Netland?”
Netland was rife with eccentricities, some more endearing than others. At dinner he was a terror to the wait staffs, habitually sending the servers back for additional napkins until a stack of them sat next to his plate. He used only one. He was a famously cheap tipper who once left nothing for the exhausted server when the meal was done. When his guest cited the apparent error, Netty claimed he had overtipped the night before — at a different restaurant. On the golf course Netty was a charming but maddening playing companion, sometimes walking off the course with several holes left to play, leaving his fellows in the lurch. His explanation: His beloved pug, Andy, was expecting dinner, and he just couldn’t be late feeding him. Netty was demanding in a nice sort of way, once calling home just before a morning tee time to tell his lovely wife, Joanne, that he’d forgotten to bring along his tuna sandwich and would she mind driving it out to the course? Joanne knew that the path of least resistance was to deliver the sandwich, and at the turn there she was, brown bag in hand. How these traits could become terms of endearment is a mystery, but endearing they were.
On the truly virtuous side, Netland was an excellent golf and traveling companion who knew of every good deal and shortcut. He could get anything he wanted from an airline ticket agent or hotel concierge with a magical word or two, and he glided through all of society’s roadblocks with an officious nod and wave. At the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where the nearest media parking lot was a mile from the course, he sat in the passenger seat while steering this writer (who was driving the rental car) past one security checkpoint after another. We wound up 50 feet from the front door of the clubhouse. He was good to younger colleagues and liked nothing better than inviting groups of them up to his room, where he told gossipy tales over a bottle of scotch while a rerun of his favorite film, “Drums Along the Mohawk” blared on the TV in the background.
But if Netland was known as an eccentric character, he will be remembered foremost as a gifted writer. He deftly handled the travel sections of Golf Digest for years, and his major championship preview sections are magazine set pieces. His stories on Payne Stewart and Lee Trevino ought to be reprinted, for Netty had a way of writing in which his work, though timely, also stood up when re-read years later. Golf Digest periodically releases a “best of” book with signature pieces, and Netty’s stories invariably are at the center of every one.
After Netty retired from Golf Digest in 1997, he moved to Arizona, where as a lark he contributed to publications put out by the Arizona State Golf Association. He enjoyed the craft he was good at almost to the end. It’s sad that Netty’s gone, and the golf community rues his passing.
