Orange City's pro is 'old pro' at Masters

By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer

Mike Fiddelke shows part of his collection of Masters Tournament passes at the Orange City, Iowa, course recently. Fiddelke has worked the Masters at Augusta National in Georgia since the 1970s.

Mike Fiddelke's starting salary wasn't much. Five-hundred bucks a month to work as an assistant golf professional.

The benefits? That's a different story.

Twenty-five years ago this spring, Fiddelke played 18 holes of golf with the greatest golfer of all-time -- Jack Nicklaus.

They played together on what might be considered the greatest golf course off all-time -- Augusta National in Augusta, Ga.

Benefit package? As CBS golf broadcaster Vern Lundquist would say, "Yesssssir!"

The benefits continue this week as, Fiddelke, a PGA professional and the golf pro/manager at Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City, Iowa, works at his 26th Masters golf tournament. The assignment isn't as glorious at it may seem. Fiddelke doesn't see much of the tournament. Rather, he's helping move customers in and out of the greatest sports merchandise venue going -- the on-site golf shop at Augusta National. It's a two-story building featuring 50 cash registers and thousands of items of merchandise.

"Anything you can put a Masters logo on, they'll sell," said Fiddelke. "The prices are reasonable, the quality is excellent. It's come a long way since I started here. Twenty-six years ago, we had three cash registers in a Quonset hut. It's all changed."

And Fiddelke has been along for the ride.

Iowa boy heads to Augusta

Northwest Iowans might remember Mike Fiddelke for his prowess on the basketball court. The former cager helped direct Paullina High School to state titles in 1968 and 1969. During his senior year, the Panthers lost to Boyden-Hull in a substate contest at Municipal Auditorium in Sioux City.

Fiddelke caught the attention of recruiters from Kansas University in Lawrence, Kan. He signed a basketball scholarship and headed to Lawrence, where he shot hoops and played golf for the Jayhawks. He majored in psychology and religion, a double-major that can attract looks of surprise, if not laughter, from people in the athletic community.

"You cannot imagine how it (his collegiate course of study) helps in golf," Fiddelke said, laughing.

Bill Rose coached the Drake Bulldogs golf team, a frequent opponent of the Jayhawks during Fiddelke's days. Rose got to know Fiddelke during some meets and eventually introduced the Paullina native to Dave Spencer, a Perry, Iowa, native who worked as co-head professional at Augusta National in Augusta.

"I got ready to graduate in 1975 and Rose asked me about my business plans," Fiddelke recalled. "He told me that Spencer might need help at a course at East Hampton, Long Island in New York. Spencer was just looking for a hard working Iowa boy to help him out."

Fiddelke fit the bill. He finished school early in the spring of 1975 and drove to the Maidstone Club, a posh 27-hole spread adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. While Spencer finished the spring season at Augusta, Fiddelke ran the Maidstone.

"I was 22 years old and running a course for the bluest of the blue bloods," said Fiddelke, adding that most of Maidstone's members came from the Wall Street business environment.

"Dave had sent his wife, Barbara, up to open the club May 1," he remembered. "She stayed there that night and left the next day at noon. I was there for a month before Dave got there."

He did well. Or well enough.

Fiddelke worked with Spencer that summer in New York. When the Maidstone closed, they headed for Augusta to begin work for the 1976 Masters. Fiddelke ended up working as an assistant pro at Augusta National for a portion of five years. When Maidstone opened each year, Spencer sent him back to New York to run that operation.

Fiddelke remembers his first visit to Augusta. It was like getting called to the Major Leagues.

"In November of 1975 I played a couple of tournaments in Florida, but I stopped at Augusta on my way there," he said. "It was incredible. Augusta National sits just off Washington Road, which is probably the most franchised and busiest road in America. But when you turn off it onto Magnolia Lane it's like you're in another world."

Fiddelke arrived that November day at noon. He had lunch and one hour later was standing on the first tee of an American classic, the course that Bobby Jones built. "My feet didn't hit the ground the first five holes," Fiddelke said.

Television doesn't do the course justice, he added. TV cannot capture the undulating contours of the greens, nor can it adequately present the hills that comprise most fairways.

"It's the hilliest course I have ever played," he said. "The pine trees are absolutely enormous. And there is so much green, you can't imagine. I never knew there were that many different hues of green."

Then there's the Green Jacket, the prize for the victor of The Masters, one of four major titles on the PGA Tour.

Fiddelke was asked to help in the outdoor pro shop at The Masters in 1976. He counted change and sold things like sweaters and caps, manning one of three cash registers during tournament week. In 1978, Fiddelke's crew stopped using pennies. It was too time-consuming to count them. Years later, they stopped using nickels and dimes. Then quarters. And now, all merchandise sold is rounded up or down to the nearest whole dollar.

Eighty-percent of the transactions are done via credit card these days.

"To watch this thing evolve is absolutely amazing. It's the greatest retail merchandising event ever," he said. "For the past six years we've been in a permanent building that has 8,000 square feet on two levels. And probably 75 percent of the people who attend The Masters walk right by it."

Fiddelke's main objective is to keep the flow of walkers moving in and out of the store.

He doesn't see much of the tournament. "We'll lock the doors to the store 20 minutes after the course opens, because the store is full already," he said. "I'm on a radio all week with MasterCard and American Express, in case there are problems with credit cards. We've got 16 check-out lines with three cash registers at each. It's set up similar to a grocery store.

"It's the hardest week of work for me all year long," he added.

And he wouldn't trade it for anything. The Masters, after all, is likely THE toughest ticket to get in American sports. Tourney officials closed the waiting list to get on the ticket list -- the WAITING list -- in 1971. It has not opened since.

"People ask me every day for tickets," he said, laughing. "Tournament tickets are just nonexistent."

When he's on break, Fiddelke can witness action on parts of four holes. And he sees a little of Sunday's action on a TV set in a store room. He also gets to hear the roars like those that followed Nicklaus in 1986 when he won the tourney at the age of 46. Fiddelke has also rubbed elbows with greats like Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros and many, many others.

And he's played Augusta National countless times, once shooting even par 72. Few people in the world can make such a claim.

"Playing with Nicklaus is a great memory," Fiddelke said a few days before departing this year. "He was extremely nice. It was like holding the paint for Michelangelo.

"I'm just very fortunate to be able to be there. I've had a great relationship with Dave Spencer for a long time. And he's given me this great experience at Augusta. It's been a dream come true."

The Masters runs Thursday through Sunday. Televised coverage begins Thursday at 3 p.m. on the USA Network. For more tournament information, see the Journal's Sports section.