NORMAN WESTFALL
Des Moines | Inducted 2014 | Category: Superintendent/ Turf Industry
Mr. Westfall began his career in 1932 at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. His first Superintendent position started at Crestmoor Golf Course in 1938. Norm was Superintendent at Wakonda Club from 1953 to 1967.
Westfall was an innovator in turfgrass irrigation technique and disease management, as well as a patient teacher and personnel manager. During his tenure, the Wakonda Club Turfgrass Management department became known as “Westfall University.” Mr. Westfall trained and mentored many future Golf Course Superintendents including Bob Burns, Dick Wynn, Gerald Hall and the legendary ‘fast greens guy,’ Wendell Boken, who had a long & distinguished career at Atlantic Golf and Country Club.
Westfall hosted a number of championships at Wakonda, including the 1955 Trans Mississippi Amateur, the 1956 U.S. Women’s Western Open and the 1963 U.S. Amateur. Norm was cited by the USGA for the outstanding work he did preparing Wakonda Club for the 1963 U.S. Amateur.
He was President of the Iowa Golf Course Superintendents Association in 1955. (Iowa GCSA, formerly Iowa Greenkeeper Association) Mr. Westfall was awarded the first ever Iowa Golf Course Superintendent of the Year Award in 1961 and the Iowa GCSA Distinguished Service Award in 1963.