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Jesse Haddock has died

1975 WF Golf Team is still considered the GOAT in college golf. WF won the 2nd of back to back ACC and NCAA titles that year, winning the NCAA tourney by a record 33 strokes. Jay Haas was the NCAA individual champ; that team had 4 future PGA players: Haas, Curtis Strange, Bob Byman and David Thore. During that time WF won 10 consecutive ACC golf titles. Crazy.
 
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Jesse was a gentleman and a really nice guy. I had several interactions with him and each led to a smile.

RIP Coach
 
Pilchard said:
1975 WF Golf Team is still considered the GOAT in college golf. WF won the 2nd of back to back ACC and NCAA titles that year, winning the NCAA tourney by a record 33 strokes. Jay Haas the NCAA individual champ; that team had 4 future PGA players: Haas, Curtis Strange, Bob Byman and David Thore. During that time WF won 10 consecutive ACC golf titles. Crazy.
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I don’t remember how much he played, but future PGA tour player freshman Scott Hoch was on the ‘75 team as well.
 
Pilchard said:
1975 WF Golf Team is still considered the GOAT in college golf. WF won the 2nd of back to back ACC and NCAA titles that year, winning the NCAA tourney by a record 33 strokes. Jay Haas was the NCAA individual champ; that team had 4 future PGA players: Haas, Curtis Strange, Bob Byman and David Thore. During that time WF won 10 consecutive ACC golf titles. Crazy.
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Wasn't Gary Hallberg on one of those teams as well?
 
The 70/71 team had Lanny, Jim Simons, Eddie Pearce and a couple of other stars I can't remember.

71 was the year Simons led the US Open as an amateur deep into the fourth round at Merion.
 
Another great coach run off from WFU. All Jessie could do was recruit and coach great golf teams.
RIP coach
 
It was a ridiculous run of success. As much as we promote it, it's actually a little understated.

We either had the team finish in the top 10 nationally, won the ACC, or had an individual finish in the top 10 nationally (or a combination of the 3) from 1949-1997, with only a few years without 1 of those 3.

National prominence for Wake Forest. Best golf program in the nation.

When a high school kid says "I love golf" we should be the first school on the list (similar to New Jersey U. in basketball).

Last, it is hysterical that Haddock just played coy with the number of scholarships he gave out, like well, we gave out a few extra...maybe...lmao.
 
BudatWake said:
Another great coach run off from WFU. All Jessie could do was recruit and coach great golf teams.
RIP coach
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I don't get the "run off" here. Jesse was old enough to draw social security before he retired from coaching.
 
We always affectionately called him "Fish" but never to his face. Last year, Coach Haas got upset and claimed I was being disrespectful by calling him "Fish" in Haas' presence. That said, Coach was an extremely kind and decent man who was a great representative of Wake Forest. I knew he appreciated my efforts on the University's behalf even if he didn't always agree with my opinions and methods. His easy going southern manner made him a delight to be around. RIP Coach.
 
Complacent Deac said:
When a high school kid says "I love golf" we should be the first school on the list (similar to New Jersey U. in basketball).
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Save for the fact that none of them were even alive during that run up until the late 90's
 
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Unfortunately the Wake run of dominance in golf is history, like the UCLA run in basketball. Happened before anybody thinking about college was born.There are only a few Wake guys currently on the PGA tour.
 
Surprised that the article mentions Darren Clarke as being among Haddock’s star players. I know he was briefly enrolled at Wake. Did he ever actually play? I seem to recall reading that he and Haddock had a falling out.
 
Country Deac said:
From an article in Golf Digest:


"Curtis is great fun — he gets our sense of humor. I have a little in common with him, in that we both went to Wake Forest. For a bit, anyway. I was redshirted the first semester, and that was fine. After the summer break I came back and played well enough to make the team. Yet the coach chose not to pick me. That happened two weeks in row. So we had a heated debate, and I left the next day.

Any regrets?

None."

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/huggan_clarke0403#ixzz1SSqxm9TR
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Nice find! Didn't realize Clarkey was there for more than a semester...thought he was dismissed at the end of the first for perhaps not applying himself. This makes a bit more sense.

RIP Coach! That was one helluva dynasty for a while. For a good stretch (late 80's till '94 when Arnie played his final Open), it seemed like there were about 8 or 9 former Wake players on the PGA Tour.
 
Went to his camp at WFU two years in a row... a long time ago! What a nice guy, and treated all of us snotty campers very well!
 
Deaconblue said:
I don't get the "run off" here. Jesse was old enough to draw social security before he retired from coaching.
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Seems like I recall Haddock and Gene Hooks had a falling out and Haddock quit. We brought in the golf coach from Oral Roberts, and the culture fit with the players and golf alumni was a Matt Doherty-esque disaster. Wasn't long before Oral Roberts guy was out and Jesse was back in; not even sure if Oral guy made it to the start of a golf season.
Or maybe I've dreamed the whole thing up, but that's what I vaguely recall.
 
DownEastDeac said:
Seems like I recall Haddock and Gene Hooks had a falling out and Haddock quit. We brought in the golf coach from Oral Roberts, and the culture fit with the players and golf alumni was a Matt Doherty-esque disaster. Wasn't long before Oral Roberts guy was out and Jesse was back in; not even sure if Oral guy made it to the start of a golf season.
Or maybe I've dreamed the whole thing up, but that's what I vaguely recall.
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Oh well, I at least got the Roberts part "right"

https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/bitstream/handle/10339/58596/MS615_Roberts_Ron_access.pdf
 
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