The Most Avid Golfer in Nebraska
There are a lot of numbers that might sum up the life of Dave Auwerda.
189 miles - the distance he drives on a typical day of golf.
3 hours - the amount of time he spends in his Ford Maverick.
6.43 miles (11,309 yards) - the total distance of the two golf courses he plays on an almost daily basis, from his set of tees.
106,000 miles - the amount of miles he's put on his truck in two-and-a-half years.
1 - life-saving hobby.
But it really all boils down to one number - 349.
That's the number of rounds Auwerda has posted to GHIN in 2025. Yes, just this calendar year.
The 69-year-old is one of just two golfers in the state to post more than 300 rounds during the year, and has the most by nearly 50 rounds.
Dave Auwerda is the most avid golfer in Nebraska.
That's not telling the whole story though, as he's also an avid golfer in Arizona, where he winters in Lake Havasu. Broken down, Auwerda posted 244 rounds played within the state of Nebraska in 2025. That means another 100+ during his time in Arizona.
When you consider that Auwerda played in nearly 50 scrambles and other events that were not postable rounds, he's well over one round per day for the year. All but two of those are 18-hole scores as well.
"It's a good life, if a guy doesn't have to work for a living," says Auwerda.
Is anyone committed to anything as much as Auwerda is to golf?
"I think about golf a lot," says Auwerda. "I start suffering withdrawal after about three (days). Except if I'm out of town, I don't go one day without a club in my hand."
The longest break he takes from golf, other than sleeping, is the hour-plus drive from golf course to golf course. In fact, the only thing that kept him away from the game longer than a day or two was an international trip.
"I think this spring I went 15 days, but that's because my wife made me go to South Africa on a vacation," says Auwerda.
On his typical golf day, Auwerda will drive from his home in Mountain Time to Gothenburg, to play Wild Horse Golf Club around 7 a.m. Central Time. He's usually wrapped up and on the road by 11 a.m. CT or so, on his way to Ogallala. He'll arrive before 12 p.m. MT at Crandall Creek Golf Club, and get back on the links for as much golf as he can handle.
Auwerda finished the year with a 16.7 Handicap Index, averaging a shade under 86 strokes per round. His low round was a 74 at Wild Horse in September.
Five times in 2025, he posted 54 holes in one day. Two of those days were back-to-back, as he played 108 holes over September 26 and 27. Auwerda posted at least 36 holes in a day an incredible 89 times.
Auwerda recalled one year, about a decade or so ago, where he played 72+ holes on Thanksgiving. That's a difficult feat, considering the time of year and amount of daylight.
Some might think an even more difficult feat, is justifying that amount of golf with your significant other. That doesn't seem to be a problem at the Auwerda household.
"I have the greatest wife in the world," says Auwerda. "She's happy to stay at home and take care of grandkids and she's happy to let me go golf. She knows where I'm at, and she knows I don't drink or gamble, so she knows I'm not going to get into any serious trouble, so it works out really good for us."
It probably helps that Auwerda won her a car with one of his 29,946 strokes this year. That's almost the exact amount he won towards the new car. He was playing in the Vince's Corner Golf Tournament (one of the many scrambles he played) at Four Winds Golf Course in Kimball. His tee shot on the 172-yard par-3 third hole landed on the green and disappeared.
No one could tell if it went in, so they went up to the green and sure enough, Auwerda had accomplished one of golf's most cherished feats, a hole-in-one. The ace just happened to be on the hole where Panhandle Auto Group was sponsoring a giveaway, one that dates back more than a decade and had never been cashed in. Auwerda had himself $30,000 towards a new car.
"My wife had just blown the engine in her car, so she got a new car, a Chevy Trax," says Auwerda. "I think that was $28,980, so I left like a thousand dollars on the table, but I'm too cheap to kick in more."
Maybe the most amazing part of Auwerda's story, is that he did not start playing golf until he was 52-years-old.
"I just made fun of people who golfed my whole life, I couldn't believe it," says Auwerda.
When he moved to Nebraska from Fort Collins, Colorado, Auwerda made Keystone his home. A small unincorporated town to the east of Lake McConaughy, Keystone has a population of 73, according to the 2020 Census.
"One of the guys I met was at church, and if his son-in-law was there, they would just race out of church to go golfing," says Auwerda.
Eventually, they invited Auwerda to join them. He was skeptical, but had nothing to do, so he went along.
"(The son-in-law) said, 'you know, you're going to hit this ball one time, and you'll get hooked,' and that's exactly what happened, I was like 'oh, this is nice,'" says Auwerda.
Not only was it a 'nice' game, but it might have saved his life. Auwerda has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and is on oxygen. He was put on a flight-for-life to Kearney when he had COVID-19.
"That was kind of scary, but I lost 70 pounds after that, and I found out, boy I can breathe a lot better," says Auwerda. "I'm afraid that if I go inside, I'll sit in front of the TV and eat and gain weight, and I won't be able to breathe anymore. I like breathing better than anything else, so just keep swinging the golf club and stay away from food."
Auwerda isn't the only golf nut in the state. In total, 332 golfers posted more than 100 rounds in 2025, with just 12 posting more than 200. Two were members of the 300 Club, with Eagle's Doug Tegler joining Auwerda.
Tegler's commute is a little shorter. He drives about 20 minutes to Ashland Golf Club, where he logged 279 of his 301 rounds in 2025. His 301 rounds included 268 that were 18 holes. Less than 10 of his rounds were played outside of the state though, so he holds the title of most rounds posted in Nebraska.
The 63-year-old retiree plays every morning that Ashland Golf Club is open, and even some when it is not. Now that AGC closes during the offseason, Tegler will venture to nearby public courses outside of the active posting season and play golf pretty much anytime it is 40 degrees or above.
"My old rule is 38 and clear or 42 and wet," says Tegler. "I remember times we were rushing to get done, because we knew it was going to snow."
He was able to get in 15 rounds before March 15, and 23 after November 15 this year, bringing his total rounds played to around 339. What makes it more impressive is that Tegler usually walks his rounds.
“Buddies with carts will drag me to my drive every once in a while," says Tegler.
Tegler grew up in Hastings and started playing when he was about 13, joining his older brother and a friend at Southern Hills Golf Course, which was only nine holes at the time.
After playing tennis at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Tegler went to work in the pharmaceutical industry. Before he retired, he started playing frequently after work, and 36-54 holes a day on the weekends.
“Some people ask me ‘don’t you get bored?’," says Tegler. "No, it’s different every day, every shot is different, conditions change, you get to play with different people. I enjoy the camaraderie and the running jokes with our group."
Tegler, who carries a Handicap Index of 8.1, shot a couple of 69s this year, but his ultimate goals are to shoot his age, and to play 300 18-hole rounds in a year. Another fun stat he keeps track of is eagles at Ashland Golf Club. He has eagled all but five of the holes there, with aces on two of the five par-3s, and eagles yet to come on Nos. 14 and 18.
He too, has support at home.
"My wife would ask my boys, 'where’s your dad? *looks outside* oh, he’s probably golfing,'” says Tegler.
About NebGolf
The Nebraska Golf Association (NebGolf), founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by NebGolf. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
