Mark Barstad
Mark
Barstad
was born on March 19th, 1962 in Eau
Claire WI.
He grew up on the west side and attended
Memorial High School. Mark
or “Barney”,
first started playing golf on the front lawn of
Randall Elementary School. He,
along with childhood friend Bob Tietz,
would make holes around oak trees, etc to create
a golf course.
Soon after that, Mark’s step Dad, John
Mills,
would play in a dance band on 
Friday nights at
Hillcrest Country Club in
Altoona and receive a family golf
membership as payment. Bob
Tietz had already joined as a junior
member and would play and mentor Mark as he
began to play real golf at
Hillcrest.
It was at Hillcrest that Mark
was introduced to what the CVGA was, as they
hosted one of four, 2 day major
tournaments.
He was a fore caddy
on hole number 7 at the Hillcrest Open in 1974.
Players Joe Springer, Rick Norman, Greg
Dick, Steve Jensen, Mark Sippel,
club pro Paul Lehman and others captured his
attention.
Legendary city athlete Diz Kronenberg
agreed
to have Mark caddie for him, as his love for the
game of golf grew. It
was also an incredible time
for Memorial High School golf as the Old Abes
won the State Championship in
1974 and 1977.
Looking up to players
like Greg Dick, Jeff Michealson, Tom Kristo, Ed
Severson, and Dave Marquardt
only fueled his enthusiasm for the game of golf.
Mark’s
dream was to one day qualify to play in
the CVGA Tournament of Champions.
Mark
lettered
in football and golf in high school. The
Old Abes golf team won the Big Rivers
Conference Championship 1978; team
members were Dave Marquardt, Craig Murphy,
Dieter Murphy, Steve Kristo, and
Mark. After
high school Mark put his
golf interests on hold and chased his dream of
playing college football. He
attended UWEC and was a 4-year starter as
a defensive back for the Blugolds
playing for legendary coach Link
Walker. The
’81 and ’83 Blugolds were
WSUC Conference Champions. The
’84
Blugolds compiled a 31-10 record, the best 4
year won/loss record in the
university’s 100 plus year history.
Players Jess Cole, Lee Weigel, Ken
Heffel, Jeff Wilson, Mike Molnar,
Bart Mattson, and many others were
contributors to the Blugold football campaign
from 1981-84. Mark’s
12 career interceptions
(3 in one game) are tied for 8th
all-time.
After
football,
Mark started playing CVGA tournaments with
limited success.
He played for 25 years and only got as
close
as a 5th place finish (Ojibwa) in any
tournament.
For many years, Mark played with Mark
Sippel,
Steve Jensen, and Steve Alf. In
2008, at
the age of 46, Mark captured the Osseo Open
Championship to win his first CVGA
tournament.
He then won the next two CVGA
Tournaments (Cadott, Lake Wissota) to win 3 in a
row. In
2012, Mark won the CVGA Tournament of
Champions chipping in on the 36th
hole to edge out Julian Ramirez
and Joel B. Johnson by one stroke. In
2016, he won his second Tournament of Champions
edging out 1999 T of C Winner George
Smith, Minnesota Gopher Thomas Campbell, and
Kyle Scanlon by one shot. Also, in
2016, he was CVGA Amateur of the
Year. That
year he also won the CVGA
Senior Tournament of Champions at Cadott,
sharing that title with Mark Sippel
and Jim Green. Mark
became the second
player to win both Tournament of Champions
and the Senior Championship (Bob Yule,
Jr. was the other), and the only person to win
both in the same year. Mark has
been the CVGA Open Division Chairman
since 2013, and is also the CVGA Treasurer.
He was the Assistant Golf Coach for the
ECM Old Abes from 2013-2019. In
the 6 years as assistant coach, he was fortunate
to watch the Old Abes make 5
trips to the state tournament. Mark
is a
Territory Manager for Certainteed Corp. He has 3
children (Jenay, Kaylin, and Carter)
and 5 grandchildren. He
resides in Eau
Claire, WI and still enjoys playing competitive
golf.