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FARGO — It’s almost as if WDAY-TV operations manager Stacey Anderson was part of a television game show where he won millions of dollars and couldn’t tell anybody until the show aired. In that case, he only has to wait a few more days for his latest project.

The “Hole in One Show with Dave Schultz” will unveil the first of nine episodes at 10:35 p.m. Sunday, a resurrection of a hole-in-one show that former sportscaster Jim Adelson created in the late 1960s.

“The very first episode has a fantastic story line and we’ll leave it at that,” Anderson said. “It’s pretty cool how the show starts and ends.”

Anything cool and sports related on TV is probably welcomed these days. With the COVID-19 pandemic encompassing the country, it’s essentially the only game in town for area sports television that’s not a rerun. The show will be aired statewide on North Dakota ABC stations like WDAY-TV in Fargo for the next nine Sundays.

“With everything going on in the world right now, we’re thrilled to be able to bring some positivity to the airwaves and give them a 30-minute escape every Sunday,” Schultz said. “We’re proud of the product and definitely excited for people to see it.”

Schultz is the brainchild behind the show, which was recorded in one day last fall. The head professional at Maple River Golf Club in Mapleton, N.D., Schultz retrofitted the No. 9 hole at his course to include lights, which will come into play in the final episode.

“If you’re thinking about watching some type of sporting activity, this might be the only draw,” Anderson said. “We think there’s going to be a big audience for a lot of reasons. The golfers in this town, with the weather right now and people like to see green grass and people golfing.”

The show was put together using a trifecta of resources. Schultz is the pro and the host, going on air in honor of his father, former sportscaster Ed Schultz who passed away in 2018. The Forum Communications Company combination of Anderson and his WDAY crew and FCC’s Click Content Studios provided the technical expertise. That includes multiple cameras, scaffolding to get a better camera angle, a drone and TrackMan radar technology that shows the flight of the ball common on PGA Tour telecasts.

Dustin Arnold, the regional representative for TrackMan, was on hand during the entire taping to make sure the system was used properly.

“It was a lot more in-depth and a lot more work than we initially thought,” Schultz said. “It brings another fun element to the show. And it brings the familiarity of watching the shot tracker like people do on the PGA Tour.”

Each golfer got two shots from 150 yards, with each playing for a charity of their choice.

“It means a lot to them,” Schultz said. “Plus, the entertainment value is really high. You have amateur golfers getting two shots on TV, it doesn’t get much more pressure-packed than that.”

The taping of the show last fall began at 6:30 a.m. and went into the night. With each show, Anderson said, the crew got better at operations. Both Anderson and Jim Heilman of Click Content Studios worked with Adelson on his hole-in-one show.

“Jim Adelson left a great blueprint for it and we improved on that concept,” Anderson said.

That made it even more important to Dave Schultz, who said Anderson and Heilman were “like family to me when I was growing up.”

“When we started, you could tell they were engaged and wanted to make it the best it could be,” Schultz said.

This article was published by the InForum

FARGO — A hole-in-one television golf show that was popular on Sunday nights from the 1960s to the late ’80s is about to be resurrected. Lights. Camera. Action. And in this case, the lights literally will come on.

It’s the brainchild of Maple River Golf Club general manager Dave Schultz, who is bringing back a show made popular by former KXJB sportscaster Jim Adelson. Only this time, Schultz wants to take it to another level, including installing lights on the par-3 ninth hole at Maple River.

“It’s something that is going to be a lot of fun for the local golf community and something I think about every day,” Schultz said. “It’s going to be an absolute blast.”

The show will be produced by WDAY-TV. It will be recorded in September and will air beginning next April on Sunday nights after the WDAY 10 p.m. newscast.

The project may turn Maple River’s No. 9 into a showcase hole. A new tee box will be built 150 yards from the green, where golfers on the show will get two cracks at winning an automobile. Plans call for 10 poles with lights to be installed by Aug. 15.

Technically, it will be several steps up from Adelson’s pioneer days of one camera behind the tee box and one behind the green. WDAY operations manager Stacey Anderson said the station plans on using multiple cameras, including drone footage, replays and Trackman technology that will show the flight path of the ball from tee to green.

“It will be the entire gamut,” Anderson said.

Schultz will be the regular host with a variety of guest analysts along the way, including former Moorhead Country Club head pro Larry Murphy, who was Adelson’s sidekick for many years. The format will be simple: Eight golf courses in the Fargo-Moorhead area will hold qualifiers that will send six golfers to each contest.

“Nothing but local flavor,” Anderson said. “These are going to be the best of the best taking cracks at a free car. There’s a lot of drama to that.”

The drama will conclude with the winner in each of the first eight episodes squaring off in a championship bracket format.

“A big show under the lights,” Schultz said.

Schultz is resigning his position as general manager at Maple River to give pro golf another shot, but will stay on as the head professional. The fact he’s the energy behind the hole-in-one show carries a lineage of sorts in sports broadcasting.

His father, Ed Schultz, got into the business under the guidance of Adelson.

Ed Schultz passed away a year ago. Adelson died in 2016 at the age of 91. Two golfers won a car, the prize for a hole-in-one, during the time Adelson hosted the show.

“It was a dumb show, but everyone watched it,” Adelson said in a 2014 Forum story. “People loved to see themselves on TV. It was a joy for me to host. We did a survey one time and found about half the viewing audience watched it on a weekly basis. That’s crazy.”

The popularity reached such a crazy pinnacle that Murphy — when he was refereeing high school hockey — would hear from players about it on the ice.

“I was dropping the puck and one of the players said, ‘My grandma watches you on that hole-in-one show and she wouldn’t miss it for the world,'” Murphy said Wednesday. “That told me right there that the viewing audience was huge.”

Murphy said the crew would tape all of the shows over the course of two days. He said Adelson’s personality made time fly by fast.

“First of all, there is nothing comparable than working with Jim Adelson,” Murphy said. “It was fun, it was unpredictable, it was just a great time with Jim because he was passionate about that show. That was his baby.”

Dave Schultz’s baby will have a benevolent element to it with the leading point getter after the two tee shots getting a bonus putt on the green to raise money for the charity of the golfer’s choice.

“The community is getting something out of this,” Anderson said. “David put a lot of thought into how this can affect the community and how it can help the community. That’s pretty forward thinking for somebody that is starting their own golf show.”

This article was published by the InForum.

Dave Schultz lines up his putt during the 2011 Bobcat North Dakota Open golf tournament at the Fargo Country Club. Schultz is looking at making a comeback in tour golf. Forum file photo

FARGO — There are a lot of things going on in the golf life of Maple River head professional Dave Schultz, including trying to recreate a popular hole-in-one television show from long ago. He’s also going to give prime time golf another shot.

The 36-year-old Schultz said Tuesday, July 16, he’s ready to make a comeback at pro golf starting this fall with two tournaments and qualifying school on the Korn Ferry Tour, which formerly was the Web.com. It’s next-in-line to the PGA Tour.

It’s all about having no regrets in the name of Schultz and his wife, Kelsey, losing their fathers in the last year.

“We’ve both been re-wired and perspective is a powerful thing,” Dave said. “We decided we get one trip here, do what you love and make it work. Do what you love and go after it.”

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Ed Schultz passed away unexpectedly just over a year ago at age 64. Dan Pergande, Kelsey’s father, died last January at 61.

Dave Schultz will resign as the general manager at Maple River, but will stay on as the head professional. He will continue to provide golf lessons, golf camps, will work with marketing and promotions and offer Trackman golf technology during events.

The latter, a device that measures the details of the swing, is what got Schultz thinking he can still play the game at a high level.

“It’s been an eye opener,” Dave said. “Age is a number but speed is speed. I still have my speed and I probably won’t say that 10 to 15 years from now. Time is unrelenting but right now I have the speed and I don’t want any regrets. I don’t want to look back when we were young, even though we think we’re getting old quick. I still have my speed so let’s tee it up and let’s go.”

Schultz plans on playing the Waterloo Open this weekend in Waterloo, Iowa, and the Bobcat North Dakota Open Aug. 23-25 at the Fargo Country Club. The Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament is in December.

“I’ve had a lot of supporters and people will say it’s so great you’re going to keep chasing that dream,” Dave said. “My response to that is I’m actually living it now. It’s not results based, I don’t have to get on the PGA Tour, but more about just having the opportunity to do what I love is a dream in itself. If we can fund ourselves which we can do, then we can give it a shot.”

Schultz has seen the PGA Tour, finishing in a tie for 69th in the 2011 Puerto Rico Open. He missed the cut in the 2009 Byron Nelson Open, but did shoot a 5-under-par 67 in the second round.

His best year on the Korn Ferry Tour was 2009 when he finished 34th on the money list and for a time was in the top 25, which if he would have stayed there would have gotten him a PGA Tour card.

He’s in his fourth year at Maple River, a job he took with three goals in mind: Leave it better than he found it, have a positive influence on golfers and grow junior golf and set the next general manager up for success.

“We have record membership and the public knows about us now,” he said. “Everybody is replaceable and I know the next person will do a better job.”

Jim Johnson, the president of Maple River Golf Club, said in a letter to members that Schultz has led the club to three straight years of at least $1 million in revenue.

“It’s been great to see the club grow,” Schultz said.

This article was plublished by the InForum.