Career
Before professional baseball, he attended the University of Oklahoma (1941–1942) and served in the United States. Army Air Corps during World World War II (1943–1945). After his baseball career Kretlow owned an Oklahoma oil company and became a golf pro at Meadowlake Golf Course in Enid, Oklahoma. In 1961, Lou set a world record when he scored a hole-in-one on a 427-yard par 4 at Lake Hefner Golf Club in Oklahoma City.
This shot on a straight-away hole with an actual wooden wood and old style ball prompted Duffy Martin, the developer of Guthrie"s Cedar Valley Golf Club, to say "If Lou had the kind of equipment they are using now, Tiger Woods couldn’t carry Lou"s jock strap,".
Lou Kretlow died in Enid, Oklahoma, of natural causes at the age of 86.