Country Club golf legend dies at age 94.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Wendell E. Wood, head golf pro at the Eugene Country Club for 40 years, died Thursday, March 8, at age 94.

The cause of death was not immediately available. Funeral arrangements are pending at Poole-Larsen Funeral Home in Eugene.

In "Breaking 100," a book documenting the country club's first century, Wood was called "the soul of the club."

"He was a wonderful human being," friend Bruce Chase said. "He was totally dedicated to his community and, of course, to the country club."

Wood, who held his position at the club from 1936 to 1976, helped caddy the first golf game at the site in 1925 - although the grass was so long, everyone lost their balls and were unable to finish the course, superintendent Chris Gaughan said.

Wood started as an assistant golf pro in 1933 while his wife, Agnes, ran the club's pro shop. Soon, however, he had his hand in nearly every activity at the club, Gaughan said.

In addition to giving lessons, he helped manage operations, cooked and did course maintenance.

"He's truly a legend at the ECC," club President Mitch Hammerstad said. "He had the highest respect."

Like nearly everyone who took a lesson with Wood, friend Bob Loomis remembers him for his patience.

"He was the most patient teacher I ever had," said Loomis, who met Wood when he joined the club in 1966. "It didn't matter if you had a high handicap or a low handicap, he still wanted to work with you."

After he retired, the club gave him a lifetime membership, but Wood still gave free lessons, Loomis said. His passion for golf remained, even after his hands began to give him trouble, preventing him from playing more than nine holes, Loomis said.

Nearly every morning, Wood went to the club and worked on its landscaping for about four hours, an activity he continued until the week before he died, Gaughan said.

After he finished, he would join friends and his brother, John, 97, for bridge.

"They played for big bucks," Gaughan said, laughing. "You'd asked how much they'd won and they'd say `20 cents!' "

Gaughan described Wood as a man of class and character. "I never heard a negative thing said about the guy, and he never said anything negative about anybody else," he said.