Golf Gurus

Local experts teach golf—and use golf as a teacher.

April 2008 | by Lucy Vilankulu

Dan DeMuth’s clients confront more than just problems with their swings at his studio in Golden Valley.

Photograph by Anthony Brett Schreck

Ause Golf, St. Paul
(ausegolf.com)

The Game: Private and group golf lessons with proven results.

The Pro: Angie Ause is a Ladies Professional Golf Association teaching professional with 12 years of teaching experience. She is an Executive Women’s Golf Association clinic instructor and a youth program instructor for several local organizations.

The Dance Floor: The recently renovated Highland National Golf Course in St. Paul. One of the course’s claims to fame is the Snoopy-shaped bunker at the 15th hole, commemorating the fact that Charles M. Schulz learned to play golf at this course. In winter, Ause relocates to the Goodrich Golf Dome in Maplewood.

Ause stresses the importance of golf in the business world as an informal, fun way to engage with clients and colleagues. More so than the company softball game, the pace of golf, with its long pauses between shots, allows for discussion, negotiation, and brainstorming. “More and more business is being done on the golf course,” Ause says. Her corporate golf schools are geared towards creating beginner confidence and comfort on the course. The experience, she says, helps people discover their own potential as their play gradually reveals their personal learning styles and preferences. “I’m not a one-way-fixes-all kind of teacher,” Ause says. “People are coming to me at all ages with all levels of physical ability.

In addition to creating and conducting customized corporate golf schools, Ause can also come to your meeting or event to give short individual golf lessons to participants, complete with video analysis system, hitting nets, and clubs.

Wendell Pittinger Golf Institute, Oakdale
(wpgolf.com)

The Game: World-class instruction in five convenient locations.

The Pro: Institute director David LaPour has more than 20 years of experience as a golf professional, eight of them as a lead instructor for the Dave Pelz Scoring Game School based out of the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida.

The Dance Floor: WP Golf Institute is based out of Oak Marsh Golf Club in Oakdale, but Wendell Pittinger also owns the Lost Spur Course in Eagan, Mississippi National Golf Links in Red Wing, Willow Creek Golf Course in Rochester, and St. Croix National Golf Club in Somerset, Wisconsin. Instruction is available at all five locations.