By James Kelly, Head Golf Professional
Rain Rain, Go Away
Once again, 2025 continues to surprise us with the weather. During the hot and humid summer, the Steam Shovel Invitational—our premier golfing event—took place. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us. In the final portion of the event, heavy rain arrived, and when we say heavy rain, we mean heavy.
Over nine inches of rain came in a 24-hour period, and a significant amount of damage was caused to the course itself. We had to close the course down for five days. Our incredible superintendent Brian Bonlender and his determined crew worked tirelessly to get the course back into tip-top shape. After a week of hard work from our crew (and pumping 12 million gallons of water), our members were able to return to the course to play—and most couldn’t tell anything was out of place.
Thank you to Brian and his hardworking crew, we don’t know what we would do without them.
Club Championship Winners
In addition to the Steam Shovel Invitational in August, we also completed the Club Championship as well. As always, it was a fantastic tournament that brought our members together in an exciting bout of competition. In the end, Joey Darrow was the Men’s Club Champion and Maureen Herrmann was the Women’s Club Champion. Congratulations to both!
Staff Highlights Around the Club
Putting in a whole lot of hours to make sure members receive exceptional service at the pro shop, Ben Bast and Kaylee Zingsheim have been instrumental to our operations this year. We’re excited to see how their contributions the rest of this year will transform the experience at the store.
In the bag room, we also have a lot of college employees leaving us as they return to campus to continue their studies. Now, you’ll see Rowan Bonlender, Jillian Breuer, Cate Stram, Zach Fechter, and Kailyn Kelly. Taking time out of their busy schedules to round out our staff, these industrious high school students are ready to help and make sure every West Bend Country Club member gets a top-notch experience.
A Career First
When a member sinks a hole-in-one, it’s time to celebrate. Kevin Bryant made his first career hole in one this summer on the 17th hole. He had been near a scratch handicap for quite some time and was wondering if he would ever be fortunate enough to have one. Congratulations Kevin, and hopefully you’ll get the chance to experience it again!
Reminder: Golf Shop Credit Expiration
While we do not have any big sales coming up at the pro shop, we wanted to remind all our members that if you have any pro shop credit, you must use it by November 1, 2025. After that date, the credit will expire and cannot be used.
