Steve Friedlander, PGA

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SGS Lead Instructor/ Teaching Professional

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As a PGA Member and Golf Professional since 1975, Steve Friedlander is driven each day to pursue perfection! This is the lesson Steve had drilled into him each day by his parents while growing up in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. They continually prompted their son to be the best he could be, at whatever he was doing… everyday! 

For the 1971 Cretin High School grad, success came early on the baseball diamond, he earned a scholarship to be a pitcher on the University of St. Thomas baseball team. Before his career aspirations turned to golf, Steve played baseball with St. Paul immortals, Dave and Steve Winfield, Jack Morris and Paul Molitor, who remain his friends today.

Steve says, “When I was a kid we all played golf… whenever we had nothing else to do. When we played, we played at Como, Highland and Phalen. I think it cost about 50 cents a round. During those summers when I caddied at Town and Country, we were allowed to play on Mondays at that beautiful old course.” He had never considered a career in golf until he taught golf as a PE class while earning his masters at Arizona State, where he also served as an assistant coach on the university’s baseball team.

After graduation, Steve returned to Minnesota and took a job as a teaching pro at Mendakota Country Club. From there he moved to Minnesota Valley, Forest Hills and finally took the head pro job at Lost Spur. “From the time I was recruited away from Minnesota to become the Director of Golf at Ventana Canyon in Tucson until today, I have had the privilege of working with some of the finest owners and the world’s best golf properties.”

Steve’s resume includes eight years at Ventana Canyon, three years managing the five courses at Doral (including the famed Blue Monster), as well as Doral’s three sister courses at Grand Traverse Resort in Michigan. Next Herb Kohler, owner of the Kohler Company and several golf courses in the town named after his family, recruited Steve to become general manager of Whistling Straits, and Blackwolf Run as The Straits prepared for the 2004 PGA Championship.  

“During the preparation for the Championship, I was with designer Pete Dye every hour he was on the golf course,” Steve states with pride. “I wanted to learn everything I could from one of the best.” In additional to his duties as manager of the Kohler, WI courses, Steve managed, from across the Atlantic Ocean, The Duke’s Golf Course as part of The Old Course Hotel and (Kohler owned properties) in St Andrews, Scotland.

Next, The Irvine Company came calling and convinced Steve to move to Newport Beach, California to manage Pelican Hill Golf Club at the Resort at Pelican Hill. Friedlander worked closely with course designer, Tom Fazio, to “re-perfect” the 36 holes overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Pelican Hill. 

He left Pelican Hill after 10 years and worked for Johnny Morris at Big Cedar Lodge managing 5 golf courses for a couple years before he retired to become a Golf Consultant and Teaching Professional when he moved back home to the Twin Cities. 

When asked how Friedlander has achieved such success he answers with the message taught by his parents in St. Paul years ago. “Make it better everyday! I worked closely with the owner of each property. I wanted to understand exactly what their vision is for each property. Then, I communicated that vision to each staff member, top to bottom. Each new day we, as a staff, made every effort to improve on the previous day’s perfection.”

Steve has a proven philosophy to successfully help golfers pursue perfection, which he says is a journey that never ends. He believes that any golfer can achieve their own defined success with proper fundamentals and the belief that golf is not a hard game unless you’re trying to be a professional.

Steve believes that there is a swing that works for every golfer and the job of a teacher is to find the best parts of those swings and help them get better. Steve stated, “Golfers want to come to a golf course and have fun. I feel that my job is to provide every golfer with some thoughts that will let them go have fun!”