From Potatoes to the PGA
By Gary D'Amato, Wisconsin Golf
10/27/2021
It was an Antigo packaging company that wrapped Whistling Straits in red for the Ryder Cup
Golf fans who attended the 43rd Ryder Cup or watched it on TV last month couldn’t help but notice that the predominant color was red.
Red grandstands. Red television towers. Red bridges.
Red is the color identified with the U.S. Ryder Cup team – Europe’s color is blue – and so the PGA of America and the Kohler Co. made sure that Whistling Straits was awash in a sea of red. Given that the Americans, captained by Madison’s Steve Stricker, crushed the Europeans, 19-11, perhaps the hue should be referred to as blood red.
It’s a little-known fact that all of the knitted, high-density Polyethylene mesh used to cover the grandstands, TV towers, bridges and just about every other temporary structure at the Straits was manufactured in Antigo.
In fact, Volm Companies also supplies the green Polyethylene mesh used in abundance at the Masters Tournament, and the mesh used at “about 90 percent to 95 percent of PGA (Tour) events throughout the U.S.,” according to company COO Michael Hunter.
“It’s been a phenomenal part of our business,” Hunter said. “A little old third-generation family business does the mesh for the PGA (Tour). It is a cool story and I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of marketing that. I tell people that a lot, and they’re shocked.
“Even local people – we’ve been here since 1954 – are surprised when we tell them that. They say, ‘I watched the Ryder Cup. You guys did all that?’
” Yes, 38 miles’ worth, to be exact. That’s how much mesh it took to cover the structures at the Straits.
Volm Companies’ main business is fresh produce packaging. Its customers include Dole, Green Giant and Sunkist. If you’ve bought a sack of potatoes, oranges or onions, it’s highly likely that the mesh packaging was made by Volm. The company has 530 employees in North America and 270 at its Antigo plant.
Volm also manufactures knitted mesh fabric used for shade, wind and privacy screening.
“We started in northern Wisconsin with fresh potatoes,” Hunter said. “Now we’re in fresh potatoes, onions, citrus. We do produce packaging and packaging equipment. If you walk into a potato shed, an onion shed or a citrus shed anywhere in the U.S., you’re likely to see some of our equipment. We also do a lot of other types of packaging for grass seed, frozen food and mulch.”
Hunter, whose cousin, Daniel Mueller, is Volm’s president and CEO, said the company started manufacturing Polyethylene mesh for PGA Tour events about 20 years ago.
“We make specific sizes and widths,” he said. “We do all the printing here, too. We have a digital printer. We print all of the logos. So, if you look at the FedEx Cup, the Travelers, the AT&T, the BMW – we do all of those colors and all of the printing.
“If you noticed at the Ryder Cup, the bleachers behind No. 1 on the bottom was all wrapped in mesh. It gives a good visual background for the players. They had a nice overpass, an arch you walked through at the Ryder Cup, and all that mesh that was covering the arch was ours, as well.”
Hunter said he doesn’t know what happens to the mesh once the tournaments are over and the structures are taken down.
“No clue,” he said. “It’s pretty much solid high-density Polyethylene, so it’s very recyclable. I think they probably send it to a recycler.”
He said free tickets to PGA Tour events was not part of the deal.
“I wish I did get tickets,” he said. “I tell people that’s the one thing I don’t get. One time, I got to go to a practice round to the women’s LPGA because we had some quality issues. They gave me an all-access pass so I could go around and document a bunch of quality issues, but that’s not the kind (of ticket) I would like. But, no, I’ve never gotten anything, unfortunately."
Maybe one of these days, he’ll work up the nerve to ask for a Masters badge.
“I should,” he said with a laugh.