Golf Instruction with Dennis Tiziani–Cherokee Country Club, Madison WI

Steve Stricker has always been one of my favorite golfers. After he won his first professional golf tournament in 1996 at The Kemper Open, I followed his career until he hit a slump and lost his tour card in 2004.

Over the last several years, Stricker came storming back on the scene and won PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and a current ranking of #3 in the world. In 2008, Golf Digest wrote a couple articles featuring Steve Stricker and Dennis Tiziani, his father-in-law and longtime golf coach. Steve’s swing faults sounded similar to my own—other than the fact that he is a professional and I’m a 8-handicap.

With my daughter attending University of Wisonsin, and both Steve and Dennis living in Madison year round—I lobbed a cold call into Dennis so see if he would consider helping with my golf game when I’m visiting my daughter in college. His comment back was that if I have a passion to improve my game, he would be willing to help.

Having just spent the last several days in Madison, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my lifetime. First of all, Steve Stricker was taking the week off following the Masters. Within ten minutes of arriving at Cherokee Country Club, I bumped into Steve outside the pro shop. I would see him several more times throughout the weekend, including at dinner Friday night when he and his family were dining at the table next to us. What a class act—friendly, humble, and always calling me by my first name when we bumped into each other. “Hey Dan, what’s up buddy”?

As for Dennis Tiziani, I’m not sure I’ve met a more remarkable human being. Dennis moved to Madison in 1972 with $64 in his pocket. Over the years, he coached the men’s and women’s golf teams at University of Wisconsin for 27 years, became one of the largest distributors of golf carts, and eventually bought Cherokee Country Club—the home golf course for Steve Stricker. His values of spirituality, education, family, golf, and helping others really resonate with me. I’m still in awe at the fact he was willing to give up three days of his time to be with a complete stranger like me. What a warm and genuine guy is Dennis Tiziani. After three short days, Dennis feels like family and we gave each other a big bear hug at the end of our visit.

While a tremendous amount of practice and hard work lies ahead, the instruction Dennis provided left me encouraged and looking forward to executing his recommendations on the golf course.

As always, it was also great to spend time with Lydia and the weather was beautiful in Madison this weekend. We enjoyed our visit together and watching the Badgers’ Spring football game at Camp Randall Stadium.