Player Bio: Joe Thiel - University of Washington Official Athletic Site
April 18, 2013 | Women's Golf
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Joe Thiel begins his third year on the Husky staff this season, having spent 38 years helping others learn and enjoy the game of golf.
In his first season on Montlake, Washington notched a third-place team finish at the NCAA West Regional on its way to matching a school-record NCAA Championship finish by placing sixth. The same campaign saw Husky All-American Paige Mackenzie finish her illustrious career winning Pac-10 and West Regional individual titles, and placing eighth at the NCAA Championships.
Thiel is one of only 207 golf professionals in the U.S. who have earned the prestigious PGA Master Professional designation. Thiel has earned the PGA Teacher of the Year award three times--in 1993, 1995, and again in 1997. He has also been honored as one of the Top 100 Teachers in America by Golf Magazine, and named to Golf Range Magazine's list of the Top 50 golf instructors in America.
Perhaps some of Thiel's greatest successes in teaching are visible on the other side of the Pacific. While teaching in Japan and Korea, Thiel shaped the careers of some of Asia's finest golfers. Many of Thiel's students are internationally known professionals, enjoying successes on tours in Korea, Japan and in the United States. US Open Champion Se Ri Pak, US Amateur Champion and 19-time Tour winner Michiko Hattori, and 38-time professional winner and 6-time JLPGA leading money winner Yuri Fudoh are among the more than 30 LPGA players he has tutored.
More than 200 tour players, high-ranking national and state amateurs, and university varsity players have benefited from Thiel's teaching, including former Husky All-American Brock Mackenzie and former Pepperdine All-American Michael Putnam.One banner year--1996--included 34 first place wins from his students, including major state championships. He was inducted into the Mercer County Hall of Fame in 1999.
