Haddock Golf Center Virtual Tour

The Jesse I. Haddock Golf Center, dedicated on the Wake Forest campus in October of 1988, faces a 325-yard driving range, five target greens and a putting green with practice bunkers. The Haddock Center itself, which serves as the headquarters for the Deacon men’s golf program, features three enclosed hitting bays for play in inclement weather, the Lanny Wadkins Players’ Lounge and a video studio as well as offices for the Wake Forest golf staff.

For the coach who built the Wake Forest program from scratch to one of the finest in America, having the center named after him was a once-in-a-lifetime honor.

"The center is very meaningful to me," says Haddock, who has eleven former players on the PGA Tour. "I am very proud of our complex because it symbolizes what we have accomplished in collegiate golf, and it represents the fine young men who have played at Wake Forest.

"I think this complex also gives a message that Wake Forest University will always continue to strive for excellence in its athletic program, and in collegiate golf. Our program, its past and its future, rests with our alumni, who continually sell our program to the golf world every day. I hope they take as much pride in this facility as I do, because they are responsible for its development."

Those golf alumni, who annually show their loyalty to the program through the Wake Forest Pro-Am, the Golf Endowment Fund and other ventures, added significantly to the fund-raising drive that made this facility possible. The three hitting bays are named for three alumni who spearheaded that fund-raising effort – Jim Simons, Jay Haas and Curtis Strange. As noted above, the players’ lounge is named in honor of Lanny Wadkins.

"The first call I got on my new phone after moving to the Center was from Curtis," Haddock recalls. "He was playing in Europe and couldn’t be here for the dedication, but he told me that I’d be receiving an envelope soon that I’d really like. No other program in the country in any sport can claim the loyalty from the alumni that we are blessed with at Wake Forest.

"We know that Wake Forest University sells itself in recruiting," says the Golf Coach Emeritus. "We also have a tradition in golf at Wake Forest that is so well-known. Future players will continue to benefit from our complex. These young men will be able to use the luxuries that our hard-working alumni have so generously made possible."