In 1925, Mr. A.D. Filiatrault owned the land that is now South Hills Golf & Country Club. With the help of his farmhands, Bill Mullen and Elmer Burleton, the three men laid out the course exactly as you see it today. The course first opened for play two years later in 1927.
After 24 years of ownership, Mr. Filitrault decided to sell the 152 acre course in 1951. Local real estate broker Arnold Brenner called Fred Thiel and Nate Manis who owned the Riverdale Golf Course in Sheboygan. Thiel and Manis purchased the course in 1951 for $77,000. That same year Fond du Lac Judge C.F. Van Pelt suggested that Manis and Thiel sell the land back with the hopes of making it a private course.
South Hills Club officially became a Country Club in 1958 with the addition of the swimming pool. Nate Manis then decided it was time to find a legitimate golf pro. Nate’s first call was to none other than George Calderwood – Wisconsin’s PGA President at the time. Calderwood, serving as golf pro at North Hills Club in Menomonee Falls, visited South Hills for the first time and said quite simply – “I’ll take the job”. Thus South Hills had its first PGA Professional.
In 1986, with members paying dues, the question as to who actually owned the club was asked. Attorney Mike Fortune was called in to examine how to make South Hills an equity club. After getting clearance from the Wisconsin Security Division and the SEC, it was decided that each current member was invited to buy one share of South Hills stock for $1,000. On January 1st, 1987 South Hills officially became an equity club and its name was changed to South Hills Golf & Country Club.
South Hills Golf & Country Club, designed over eighty years ago by two farmhands, has stood the test of time as generations of community residents have endorsed, invested in and – most importantly – enjoyed the 152 acres that is South Hills.
