Michigan Golfer, Winter 2011/ 2012

In This Issue V O L U M E

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MICHIGAN GOLFER Publisher/Editor Art McCafferty artmccaf@glsp.com Editor Emeritus Terry Moore

Ron Whitten Janina Parrott Jacobs Herschel Nathanial Bernice Phillips Bill Shelton Brad Shelton Photo/Video Kevin Frisch Dave Richards Carter Sherline Brian Walters

Associate Publisher/Producer Jennie McCafferty Writers Jeff Bairley Susan Bairley L’anse Bannon Mike Beckman Jack Berry Tom Doak Mike Duff Rob Ford Thad Gutowski Kelly Hill Greg Johnson B.R. Koehnemann Vartan Kupelian Tom Lang Chris Lewis Scott Moncrieff Jim Neff Norm Sinclair Michael Patrick Shiels

Director of Accounting Cheryl Clark

Photo courtesy of Arizona Tourism and Travel

http://michigangolfer.com

24 Terry Moore: Slice of Life

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Michigan’s Top 10 Stories of the Year

By Jack Berry

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Jackson’s Dave Hill Never Left Home

By Jack Berry

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Mississippi Golf

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Collegiate Spotlight: Hope College

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Collegiate Spotlight: Lake Superior State University

By Tom Lang

By Chris Lewis

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Slice of Life

By Terry Moore

Cover: Randall Lewis holds the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy after winning the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship, Shadow Hawk Golf Club, September 22, 2011.

Photo © USGA •

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Michigan’s Top 10 Stories of the Year

By Jack Berry

Jack Berry Whether you’re ready for it or not, the calendar says it is December and one constant with December is list time, Top Ten in everything and No. 1 in Michigan Golf is easier than picking the right Christmas tree.

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lma’s Randy Lewis is like the star on top of the tree – shining bright. Lewis is the first Michigander to win a national championship since Greg Reynolds won the United States Senior Amateur in 2002.

Lewis practically was a senior when he won the United States Mid-Amateur Championship in steamy Texas in September. He was 54, one year short of qualifying for the Senior Amateur (he’s looking forward to his next birthday) and 20 years older than the average age of the 30 previous champions.

What’s more, it came 15 years after he reached the 36-hole final and lost. Lewis admitted he was 4

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“That was the wrong thing to think about,” Lewis admitted after winning it all this time. And this time, he will be invited to the Masters.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan

caught up in thinking if he won the match, he would be invited to the Masters Tournament.

Lion Kim, a University of Michigan student, won the 2010 United States Public Links Championship and played in the 2011 Masters but unlike Lewis and Reynolds, he wasn’t a Michigan resident nor had he played in the normal schedule of state tournaments. Lewis is a two-time winner of the Michigan Amateur, threetime winner of the 72-hole Michigan Medal Play, Golf Association of Michigan Player of the Decade (1990s) and was elected to the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.

Following Lewis in the Top Ten:

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Lion Kim

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—100th Michigan Amateur Championship at Boyne Highlands’ Heather course.

The celebration for the state’s oldest championship teed off with a dinner with many past champions in attendance including Glenn Johnson, 5 victories, Pete Green, 4, and Bud Stevens, 3. The trio started the tournament with a first tee ceremony. Green and Stevens hit drives but Johnson, 88, pleaded a sore back. Willie Mack III of Flint prevailed in the tournament defeating two Michigan Wolverines, Matt Thompson in the semifinal and 2010 champion Joey Garber in

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Photo: courtesy of Golf Association of Michigan

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Willie Mack III

—Sadly, deaths of Dave Hill, Tom Chisholm and Ken Janke, all members of the Hall of Fame. Hill was the best Michigander on the PGA Tour, winning 13 times and being on two Ryder Cup teams, then winning six times on the Champions Tour. Hill always was colorful, quotable and a great shotmaker.

Chisholm was president of the Golf Association of Michigan and for six years a member of the United States Golf Association’s Executive Committee where he was a national leader on golf and the environment. Janke was an ardent player from his days as a nine-year-old caddie at Plum Hollow and was the master at organizing one-day charity tournaments starting with the Walter

Hagen tournament at Bay Pointe to benefit the American Cancer Society. Janke’s collection of everything golf – magazines, clubs, balls, pictures, scorecards, and tournament programs was one of the largest individual collections in the country. And it was Janke’s suggestion to Indianwood owner Stan Aldridge that the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame was born in 1981.

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—Joey Garber of Petoskey, top young player in Michigan who had a successful freshman season at the University of Michigan, transferred to the University of Georgia. Garber said he felt his game would progress faster if he was able to play yearround.

the final. Mack, who played college golf at Bethune-Cookman in Florida, is the first AfricanAmerican to win the Amateur.

He turned pro after the victory.

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—Michigan Golf Hall of Fame welcomed four new members: Jim Briegel veteran publinxer of Ann Arbor, golf course architect Art Hills with undergraduate degree from Michigan State and graduate degree from Michigan, Terry Moore of Grand Rapids, journalist and entrepreneur, founding editor of Michigan Golfer magazine and founder of the West Michigan Golf Show, and Don Perne, teammate of Hill’s at MSU, longtime PGA professional and with Robert Ewigleben, another MSU alumnus, founded the Professional Golf Management program at Ferris State.

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8 Photo courtesy of Michigan Golf Foundation.

—Shanty Creek’s Arnold Palmer-designed Legend celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The Legend came on line when northern Michigan golf began booming with major designs, the Jack Nicklaus Bear at Grand Traverse, and Robert Trent Jones’s Heather at Boyne Highlands and Masterpiece at Treetops.

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—The Weather. After a wet spring (no surprise there) summer and fall were good and rounds picked up. Treetops, with a strong push from its online marketing, had its most rounds ever. Not everyone was happy but with a state that has many courses from the southern border to Lake Superior and with the Pure Michigan campaign still breathing, overall it was a good year.

Ken Janke

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—Marty Jeppesen of Eastern Michigan was named Player of the Year by the Michigan Publinx Golf Association. Jeppesen won the GAM championship and the Horton Smith at Detroit Golf Club. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur and then turned pro to play on minitours and work up to the PGA Tour.

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Pretty good year, I’d say.

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Photo courtesy of Michigan Golf Foundation.

—Michigan State named Spartan alumnus Casey Lubahn as golf coach.

Lubahn was a three-year letterman and captain and then served three years as assistant coach to Mark Hankins as MSU won two Big Ten championships. When Hankins left for Iowa, his home state, Lubahn was appointed head coach at Miami of Ohio. He lifted that program but was happy to return to MSU, a move welcomed by many MSU supporters.

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—And the year closed with the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association presenting its awards: the Bruce Matthews Lifetime Achievement Award to Daryl Kesler who put Mid-Michigan golf on the map with his Hawk Hollow and Eagle Eye courses and large clubhouses at each, plus a new home for the Michigan PGA Section. Carolyn Olson, owner of the popular Elmbrook Golf Course in Traverse City took the Lyle Leek Distinguished Service Award, Scott Lake Country Club in Comstock Park was named Course of the Year and Michigan State’s Turf Team was given an Award of Merit.

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2011 Michigan Golf Hall of Fame Inductees– Left to right standing: Arthur Hills, Jim Briegel, Terry Moore. In front: Don Perné.

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Jackson’s Dave Hill Never Left Home

Photo courtesy of Michigan Golf Foundation.

By Jack Berry

Dave Hill, bottom left, with other notables at the U.S. Open Regional. L-R: Glenn Johnson, Sam Snead, not identified, Walter Burkemo, Bud Stevens, others not identified. L-R Dave Hill, not identified and Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Gene Bone.

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he numbers tell this about Dave Hill: Winner of 13 PGA Tour and six Champions Tour events, three Ryder Cups and unbeaten in three singles matches, runnerup in the 1970 United States Open, tied for third in the 1974 PGA Championship behind winner Lee Trevino and runnerup Jack Nicklaus, tied for fifth with Nicklaus in the 1970 Masters Tournament won by Billy Casper.

You get the idea. Hill, the farm boy from Jackson, played the PGA Tour in a golden era, arguably the strongest

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ever – Nicklaus, Trevino, Casper, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gary Player, every one of them a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

He won four Danny Thomas-St. Jude Memphis Opens and the 1969 Buick Open was one of three titles that year that resulted in the Vardon Trophy for lowest stroke average.

Dave Hill is the best golfer to come from Michigan in the post World War II era, when the Chick Harberts and Walter Burkemos, PGA champions, took safe payday club jobs. Hill turned pro in 1958 after a

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stop at the University of Detroit, won the Michigan Open in 1959 and headed out to the pro tour where your clubs had to insure paydays and the purses were barely into six figures.

The Buick Open purse was $125,000 when Hill won and he collected $25,000.

Hill played when players shaped shots and nothing pleased him more than a well-struck long iron. Hill and Canadian George Knudson were alike – 1-iron slim and attached to the practice range.

But most sports fans didn’t know

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Many players didn’t like it but kept quiet. Not Hill. Asked his opinion, he asked where the golf course was, that Jones had ruined a good cornfield.

And if you don’t like the answer, don’t ask the question.

He was fined, of course, but he still managed to finish second to Tony Jacklin, his highest finish in the national championship. That was the Dave Hill most people knew. But not the folks in Jackson, especially Al Glick, who with his brother, Robert, started a little company called Alro Steel. If you ever saw Hill play, you saw ALRO STEEL on his cap.

Glick frequently could be seen following Hill on the Tour and said he could write a book about Dave and his experiences and his fines.

“One time Dave was fined $500 and he wrote a check for $1,000 and handed it to the commissioner. The commissioner handed it back and said he’d been fine $500. Dave said he told him to keep it because he was going to continue voicing his opinion.

“Dave was a great, great person,” Glick said after Hill, 74, died last week of emphysema. “I could talk forever about him. The last few years were bad for him. He was struggling with his health. He couldn’t play but he’d show up (for customer golf events).”

Glick said he knew Dave, and his 20 months younger brother Mike,

when they were kids living on the family farm that was adjacent to the Country Club of Jackson.

“They’d come over and shag balls when Dave was 8 or 9. Then they caddied. Dave didn’t have a club. He twisted some kind of tubing to hit the ball with. Then he got a couple of old clubs. One of my best friends dated Dave’s older sister.

“When Dave and Mike played on the high school team they beat everyone in the state. Then when Dave turned pro nine of us (Country Club of Jackson members) put up the money for him to play the Tour,” Glick said.

Success didn’t come easy and Glick said that in 1965 Hill “was about ready to give up the Tour because he wasn’t making enough money to make a living for his family.

He came to me and my brother and another businessman and we had a contract.

“At the time sponsors would get 100% of whatever the player won. I told Dave we didn’t want any of his money but we would like him to take two-three weeks in the summer and play with our customers. Our company was small and just getting started.

He was almost like a salesman for us.

“Dave was great. He said it was up to him to make sure his amateur partners had fun. He did everything he could to make sure they had a good time. He always said he had a good time playing in pro-ams.”

That isn’t true of a number of Tour players who play only because they’re required to do it.

Glick said the third person of the partnership dropped out and it was him and his brother and mainly handshake contracts for 35-40 years.

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Photo courtesy of Michigan Golf Foundation.

of Dave Hill for his ball-striking or his tournament triumphs. They knew him for saying his mind and that wasn’t popular with golf’s hierarchy and he frequently was fined. His most famous brush was during the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine Country Club, outside Minneapolis. It was a new course designed by Robert Trent Jones on a farm field.

Dave Hill hits some practice shots for the gallery.

“After he won the Vardon Trophy he had a lot of offers from people to make a lot more money but he was loyal to us. When he went to the Senior Tour we sat down with Dave and said this is what we’d like to do, with a money figure. Dave said ‘That’s too much.’ The lawyer said he’d never seen anything like it. That was Dave.”

“When you see ‘loyalty’ in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Dave. It’s hard to beat the relationship we had. He never let us down. He was just a great person,” Glick said. “It’s unbelieveable the number of e-mails and telephone calls I’ve had from people who played with Dave. I’m just going to miss him so much.”

Dave Hill went out on the big tour, the show. But he never left Jackson.

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Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

Mississippi Golf

By Tom Lang

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ichigan and Mississippi may seem worlds apart in many facets such as culture and industry, but both states have several similarities – including the game of golf and accompanying amenities.

praised the Pure Michigan tourism campaign, said: “Golfers can experience very diverse product here, with not just great golf but gaming and the top-name entertainment coming in. It’s also great for cultural and heritage travelers.”

One big difference? – a much longer golf season – which can be enjoyed year round.

Not only does Mississippi share those same traits with the Great Lakes State, but few may realize the geographic terrain has many commonalities – tree-lined areas along the Gulf of Mexico like our own giant freshwater shorelines,

Mary Beth Wilkerson, Director of Tourism, Mississippi Development Authority, who

and the middle-eastern part of the Magnolia state has rolling hills that are a slightly smaller version of our great Up North.

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hose rolling hills are best experienced in Philadelphia, MS, where Dancing Rabbit is seen in the media as the home course to PGA pro John Daly. Its two 18-hole courses – the Oaks and the Azaleas – frequently earn high national reviews, especially for being one of a handful of casino properties (Pearl River Resort) anywhere with two championship courses onsite.

Michigan golfers would appreciate Dancing Rabbit’s rolling terrain and sharp elevation changes, plus the Azaleas course is the only one in Mississippi with bent grass greens.

The Oaks course has no two holes designed alike with excellent risk/reward par 5s scattered throughout. Several rock formations are also exposed around the course for an Up North look and feel.

Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

The hotel accommodations make Dancing Rabbit stand out as well. The second floor of the clubhouse has 8 hotel-style rooms, all off a great room at the stairway landing where groups using the facility can gather – that is if they are not enjoying the southern plantation-style wrap around porch.

Each second-floor room also has a walk out door to the same huge porch. Skip the casino hotel in this instance for the must-try unique hospitality experience.

Old Waverly Back Nine 12

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bout one hour away in West Point is Old Waverly, a wonderful place for golf buddies, families or corporate

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Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

Fallen Oak Sand Dunes groups to stay and play – and using the lodging is the only way nonmembers can access the club.

Villas are designed with a livingroom connecting 4 separate bedrooms/baths. The clubhouse, less than 25 years old, was constructed to look like a century-old southern mansion. Old Waverly hosted the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open, won by Julie Inkster, and is close to the college-town amenities of Mississippi State (MSU).

Old Waverly has a wonderful menu in the clubhouse as well, including great steak and seafood choices – but the local-brand ham is a hit as well. Several holes on the course wrap around a 40-acre lake and the property makes good use of small brooks, bridges and waterfalls for aesthetic effect.

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trio of sister courses for any wish list are Fallen Oak, The Preserve and Grand Bear. All are near the coastal entertainment epicenter of Gulfport/Biloxi.

Fallen Oak is best known as “the experience.” The course only hosts about 40 players each day on 14

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average because only guests of the casino resort Beau Rivage are allowed to play – and because it costs $200.

It truly is an experience.

A limousine ride from the casino to the golf course 20 miles away is required, and part of the package. Upon arrival at the gated property, golfers are greeted by staff who take and clean their golf shoes, then it’s off to the tasteful clubhouse for a good meal or signature Bloody Mary – or both.

After a quick history lesson by the staff about the property and description of the sub-air system built under the greens (like Augusta National), golfers head out with their forecaddie on a course that feels like it’s just theirs for the day.

Soon they’ll find that designer Tom Fazio picked one of the better parcels of land for the area with good elevation changes and slopping, but he left lots of room off the tee for the recreational golfer to enjoy, rather than loath, the round.

It’s a tough track no doubt, but fair to golfers keeping the ball in play.

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Most bunkers emulate the twists of the fallen oak tree and look more like pieces of artwork than they do hazards, but are brutal to escape.

The most traffic the highlyranked course ever gets in is the month of March, when Fallen Oak hosts a PGA Champions Tour event.

“It’s over the top for resort golf, but not in your face,” said Fallen Oak General Manager David Stinson. “You look back and maybe think, ‘I didn’t really expect that experience, but maybe I really did since it’s Fallen Oak.’ ” The Preserve is a Jerry Pate design in which no two holes are alike, making for a nice day of varied strategies and challenging golf.

The front nine is tighter than the back, creating a good variety of course management choices.

Several risk-reward opportunities will challenge the better players but generous landing areas are available for those less experienced. The Preserve is one of the best courses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast due to a good mix of bunkers, plus water and marsh areas to please the eye and add

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challenge to the round.

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or Gulf Coast nightlife there are three casinos to choose from in the vicinity, includ-

Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

Landing areas and green complexes push up against some hazards to make the course tough for wayward shots but not to the point the course is too hard, as there is a good balance of more wide open holes. Nicklaus’ slopping of the land enhances the challenges of approaching and holding many greens, yet once aboard the putting surface the greens are not too undulating for the average golfer to navigate.

Grand Bear Golf Course ing the Hard Rock (which was originally scheduled to open the exact day Hurricane Katrina hit) next door to Beau Rivage. Across the street from both gambling joints is local historic landmark and restaurant/bar called Mary Mahoney’s. Urban legend claims that Elvis Presley’s ghost still traverses the stairway up and down from the second floor.

Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

Photo: by Art McCafferty

Grand Bear’s name gives an easy hint to its designer, the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. As high quality as Fallen Oak and The Preserve are, most of the locals said Grand Bear was their favorite place to play.

Situated in lower-lying flat geography, Nicklaus did very well to incorporate what limited elevation changes were available.

But good golf in Mississippi is no legend – it’s for real.

- MG Beau Rivage

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MICHIGAN GOLFER MAGAZINE

Collegiate Spotlight

Hope College Flying Dutchmen Capture 2011 MIAA Championship

Photo courtesy of Hope College

By Chris Lewis

Hope College Men’s Golf Team

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ince joining the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 1934, the Hope College Flying Dutchmen have become one of the association’s most consistent members and regular champions.

With 16 MIAA championship titles, including ten throughout the last thirteen years, Hope College’s men’s golf team, which is based in Holland, roughly half an hour from Grand Rapids, tends to feature experienced lineups, mostly comprised of juniors and seniors.

However, during this past fall, the team’s roster was a bit unusual.

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Featuring six freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, and two seniors, the 2011-2012 Flying Dutchmen lineup may have been quite different from former teams, as one of the youngest squads in the college’s history, but the team’s final results were anything but uncommon.

With a 19-stroke victory over runner-up Trine University, located in Angola, Ind., Hope captured the 2011 MIAA Championship – the tenth of Coach Bob Ebels’ prestigious, 21-year-long career at Hope.

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Youth. Talent. Success!

While competing against a variety of liberal arts colleges at courses throughout the Midwest, including its home course, Wuskowhan Players Club, a 7,000-yard-long layout designed by Rick Smith and located in West Olive, Hope enjoyed quite a memorable fall season.

In addition to winning the MIAA championship, Hope won the third MIAA jamboree of the season, hosted by Olivet College, by four strokes over Adrian College. Less than a month later, Hope won an MIAA jamboree that

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was hosted by Calvin College – its main rival in the association. Hope and Calvin’s rivalry, especially in basketball, has become wellknown throughout the country and around the world. The rivalry has even been featured by sports networks like ESPN in the past, a further sign of its significance within the MIAA, as well as the NCAA. As a result, this victory was certainly one of the highlights of the season, right after the 2011 MIAA championship.

But how did such a young team enjoy so much success and create a vast array of memories that will be enjoyed by Coach Ebels and all team members for years to come?

For Ebels, this question can be answered with only one word – talent.

“Although Hope currently has a young team, each member displayed so much talent throughout the fall,” Ebels said. “The team also has a very strong freshman class – perhaps one of the most talented freshman classes in the history of the golf program.”

Additionally, two individual players enjoyed considerable success during the fall season. Co-captains Nick Campbell (’12) and Andy Thompson (’12) received All-MIAA honors for their stroke averages and consistently high levels of play.

“Nick was a first-team honoree for a third consecutive season as he finished with a 76.1 stroke average,” Ebels said. “Andy also received recognition, as a secondteam honoree, for his 77.4 average.

He was also awarded the coaches’ sportsmanship award.”

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jamborees and the MIAA championship, as well as individual firstand-second-team honors for Campbell and Thompson, the Hope College Flying Dutchmen secured yet another unforgettable season this past fall, much like they have throughout the last 77 years.

A History of Champions – Individually and Collectively Since 1934, Hope College has had its fair share of successful individual golfers. But none have stood out from the rest of the crowd quite like Eric Wohlfield.

A native of Brighton and a 2001 Hope graduate, Wohlfield was the national Division III freshman of the year back in 1998, as well as the MIAA’s conference medalist during his freshman year.

Amazingly, Wohlfield’s golfing career only continued to improve throughout the last three seasons in which he was a member of the Flying Dutchmen.

During his junior and senior years, he was named a conference medalist again as he ultimately finished his career with a MIAA career record – in 30 conference tournaments from 1998 to 2001, he averaged only 74.4 strokes per round.

MIAA tournaments – a 67. He currently shares this record with Ryan Shedd (’05).

Of interest, 13 team members have conference medalist honors since Coach Ebels was hired back in 1991. Since then, Hope has competed as a team during the 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 NCAA Division III championships.

Developing Future Leaders Since its establishment in 1866, Hope College has been focused on offering its students a distinct, liberal arts education within an enriching environment in which students can share their beliefs with one another, expand their educational interests, develop novel research initiatives, and build a foundation for their future careers and lives.

Since his hiring in 1991, Coach Ebels has been focused on offering his team members much of the same, as academics, sportsmanship, and character building have always meant more to him than any victory or MIAA championship title ever could.

A variety of other golfers have achieved numerous types of records as well, including Matt Lapham (’07), who holds Hope’s all-time best seasonal scoring average – 71.8.

“It’s definitely nice and, of course, fun to ‘win,’ but it is more important for me to know that the Hope golf experience has shaped young men to become future leaders,” Ebels said. “I want to be assured that our members are prepared to make a difference when they step out into the world after graduation. Hope College is a place where that is happening.”

Tommy Yamaoka (’08), who acquired the college’s second-best seasonal scoring average, with a 72.3, also has a share of the record for the best 18-hole round in

For more information about Hope College, as well as its wide selection of athletic programs, please visit http://www.hope.edu.

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MICHIGAN GOLFER MAGAZINE

Collegiate Spotlight

Lake Superior State University Lakers Prepare for Upcoming Spring 2012 Season

By Chris Lewis

First, the Upper Peninsula arguably has some of the most pristine lakes and forests in the United States, including Lake Superior and Hiawatha National Forest, as millions of people visit the area annually to witness Mother Nature in its finest form.

In addition, Mackinac Island is beloved around the world for its entertainment options, horse-drawn carriages, upscale Grand Hotel, and mouthwatering, homemade fudge.

Finally, Sault Ste. Marie, one of the nation’s oldest cities, has garnered public attention as the home of the Soo Locks, a set of locks that allow ships to travel from Lake Superior to each of the other four Great Lakes. Sault Ste. Marie is also well-known for its fishing, boating, and lodging opportunities, attracting thousands of individuals each year, who visit the city to relax and leave the typical stresses of their everyday working lives behind.

Of course, as one of the most northern and coldest cities in Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie is not usually considered a prime location for golf. However, surprisingly, with

golf program off and on for six decades, providing young men with opportunities to participate in local, state, and regional golf tournaments hosted at some of the finest courses in the Midwest.

Photo courtesy of Lake Superior State University

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hroughout the country, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is renowned for a variety of reasons.

LSSU’s Doug Piesko courses such as Tanglewood Marsh and Sault Ste. Marie Country Club, the area offers golfers some of the state’s most affordable, challenging, and gorgeous courses.

Additionally, every year, highly talented and successful high school golfers from the Midwest, as well as Ontario, are recruited to participate in Lake Superior State University’s men’s golf program, which has been competing against various Midwestern colleges and universities since 1951.

Reflections: The Lakers Maintained Consistency Throughout the Fall Season

Located in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, near the waterways of the Soo Locks, Lake Superior State University has maintained its men’s

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After a four year period, from 2005 to 2009, in which the university’s golf program did not compete collegiately, the university’s men’s golf team was reinstated during the fall of 2009, following the hiring of head coach Jamie Davison. During the last two years, Davison’s utmost goal as head coach has been simple – to help the team compete against a host of other Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) squads on a consistent basis.

“To have an opportunity to lead the university’s golf program has been very enjoyable,” Davison said.

“I love working with all of the team’s members to help them become more competitive so they will ultimately not only have top-ten and top-five finishes, but team victories as well.”

With this goal in mind, the Lakers’ 2011-2012 season began with the Al Watrous Memorial Invite, which was hosted by Saginaw State University from September 10-11. The tournament, which honors the memory of former PGA TOUR and Ryder Cup member

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Al Watrous, was contested at Bay City Country Club, a par-72, 6,880yard-long layout.

The Lakers, led by freshman Doug Piesko (’15), who shot 72 and 74, finished the tournament in ninth place, with scores of 294 and 304.

The team followed this top-ten finish with an eleventh-place showing at the Northwood University Invitational, which was hosted at Midland’s Currie Municipal Golf Course. Led once again by Piesko, who secured first and second round scores of 79 and 75, as well as Sean Stubbs (’13), who also shot 79 and 75, the team acquired its second consecutive top-15 finish of the season.

Just one week later, the team competed on the road again. However, this time the squad participated in the NCAA’s Regional 1 tournament, which occurred at HawksHead Golf Course. HawksHead, located in South Haven, is well-respected within the golf industry as an Arthur Hills design.

With its deep bunkers, fescue, and woodlands, the course has even been ranked by Golf Digest in the past; the magazine has rated it “4 ½ stars” on its list of “Places to Play.”

Although the team was unable to record a third straight top-15 finish, the Lakers were again led by Piesko, whose tie-33rd showing included rounds of 78 and 74.

During the following week’s tournament, the GLIAC Men’s Golf Championship, the Lakers earned their first top-ten finish since the very first week of the season. With scores of 77, 80, and 77, Justin Helmholdt (’14), and Piesko, who shot 75, 79, and 78, led the team as individual scorers.

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Contested at Eagle Eye Golf Club, which has previously been rated as the 27th best public course in the nation by GolfWorld, the three-round-long tournament featured various Michigan-based colleges and universities, including Grand Valley State University and Wayne State University.

Lastly, during the final tournament of the season, the Findlay Invitational, hosted by Findlay Country Club, the Lakers finished with a tenth place showing for its third top-ten finish of the fall. Yet again, Piesko led the Lakers with a 77 and a 79 while finishing tie-42nd as an individual. The team’s tenthplace finish was certainly respectable, considering the daunting 7,155 yard-long course that each team member encountered.

In addition to obtaining another top-ten finish, the team was also excited to have an opportunity to play one of Ohio’s oldest and most popular courses, where some of golf’s leading legends previously competed. Located about 50 miles south of Toledo, Findlay Country Club has welcomed golfers like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in the past while hosting various professional and amateur events, including the Ohio Open, the Ohio Amateur, and a U.S. Open qualifier.

With top-twenty finishes in all five tournaments of the Fall 2011 schedule, the Lakers relished one of the most consistent seasons in the history of Lake Superior State University golf.

As a result, Coach Davison is certainly excited about his team’s future, especially as the squad continues to prepare for its Spring 2012 season, which is scheduled to begin during the last week of March.

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The Lakers Continue to Develop Mental Toughness While Preparing for the Future

To prepare for a successful spring campaign, Coach Davison is mainly focused on helping each one of his team members further improve their mental toughness – one of the team’s most noticeable character traits, especially when considering the squad’s strong finishes last fall.

“Of course, golf is a mental game as much, if not more, as it is a physical game. Mental toughness on the course separates the men from the boys, so to speak,” Davison said. “I really think the team has begun to make some great strides towards becoming mentally tougher, not only during practice rounds, but during GLIAC and NCAA tournaments as well.”

As Davison prepares his team for a challenging spring schedule, which will include tournaments in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, he is looking forward to helping some of his team’s youngest leaders, such as Piesko, Brandon Vizina (’14), and Andrew McKenney (’14), cultivate their talents and realize their full golfing potentials.

“I am expecting the future of the team to be very positive,” Davison said. “The team is young and is improving each week. I can’t wait to see each team member work towards one common goal – maintaining consistency so that the Spring 2012 season will be the university’s most successful one yet.”

For more information about Lake Superior State University, as well as its wide selection of athletic programs, please visit http://www.lssu.edu/. - MG -

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Slice of Life

By Terry Moore

I

Photo courtesy of Arizona Tourism and Travel

t was nearly twenty years ago when I last visited Scottsdale, Arizona, as part of a winter golf getaway. At that time and coming off the stress of the West Michigan Golf Show, I needed some R & R at a warm and sunny locale with plenty of fine golf courses. Scottsdale filled the bill to the tee, so to speak. But it was a short visit, only a long weekend, and our foursome (my wife and I and another couple) just played two or three courses and we stayed at a modest hotel with limited amenities.

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Besides a few birdies, the highlight of the trip was seeing actor Gene Hackman and his wife having dinner near our table at The Boulders, the sensational resort where we played earlier that day.

To his credit, Hackman respected our privacy and didn’t bother us for an autograph. The lowlight was me backing into a cactus, drawing some blood and guffaws at the same time. And on another day, I incurred a case of sun sickness or dehydration (again, all my own doing) which knocked me down for our final evening’s dinner. But other than those miscues, it was a memorable trip which served up a bracing tonic to face the remaining weeks of Michigan’s winter.

Well, the week after Thanksgiving, I was invited back to Scottsdale as Michigan’s Golf Road Warrior (GRW) representative. GRW is an offshoot of TheAPosition.com website where in addition to Michigan Golfer, I post some of my scribblings and observations of the game. Anyway, as a GRW I was asked to endure the rigors of staying at several five-star resorts, playing some world-class courses, and dining at several fine restaurants. Performing such duties without complaint, a medal was later pinned on my uniform. So in the interest of a transparent and complete investigation into my actions on the ground, let me share a few bullet points (no pun intended) of my

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all-too-short week in Scottsdale: The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North is a AAA Five Diamond property that justly wears its lofty crown. The setting of the resort, with views of Pinnacle Peak and amid the desert, is breathtaking. Few if any amenity is overlooked and customer service is an art form. The concierge, with less than an hour’s notice, found me a replacement for my missing MacBook power cables, allowing me to go about my business and sleep well again. And the golfer’s massage prior to our tee-time one morning was a revelation. It delivered the best and most relaxing pre-shot routine imaginable. Funny thing, twenty years ago I stayed at the equivalent of a two seasons resort; suffice to say I prefer all Four Seasons.

Top-ranked Troon North GC with its pair of courses is adjacent to the Four Seasons and delivers a terrific one-two punch of excellent golf and accommodations. Ferris State University grad and former Michigander Mike Friend played with our group, proficiently by the way, and serves as Troon Golf’s Director of Golf Events. Oh yes, I had a natural one-putt eagle on the driveable par-four 15th hole but it was topped only minutes later by another natural eagle (and with a stroke on the hole!) via an 85 yard wedge hole-out by the Four Photo opposite page: Boulders Resort, South Course

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Seasons’ Dave Akin who must hail from Heartbreaker, Mich.

Photo courtesy of Arizona Tourism and Travel

McDowell Mountain Ranch GC is newly re-opened after a $1.2 million revamp as an affordable daily fee layout that’s co-owned, along with other government entities, by Phil Mickelson and Steve Loy, his former coach at Arizona State. The renovation included reversing the nines and adding more player-friendly features to the design. I like this no-fuss, straightforward course and how it readily welcomes walkers and cart-pullers.

However, I did hit the wrong ball twice here due to terminal carelessness.

The Boulders Resort still resides at the top of its game delivering great golf—thanks to designer Jay Morrish and 12-millionyear-old rock formations—and elegant rooms in a serene setting. I had a ‘Charles Dickens’ experience here, however. In the best of times, I shot a three-over par 75 on the delightful North Course. In the worst of times the next day on the South Course, I pulled a rib cage muscle on my follow-through placing me on the golf DL the rest of the trip. Thanks to the kindness (or pity) of Tom McCahan, the affable Director of Golf Operations, I did receive a helpful therapeutic massage at The Boulders’ award-win-

ning Golden Door Spa. Offering an offbeat but fun nongolf excursion is the Desert Wolf Tours in nearby New River, AZ. A trio of Golf Road Warriors were treated to a morning desert selfdrive in a Tomcar, a specially designed off-road vehicle used by the Israeli Defense Forces. It was a bumpy, jarring and lively way to experience the stark beauty of the Sonoran Desert and it generated much bantering and laughter. The highlight of the tour was a stop at an abandoned turquoise mine, which due to a soft rainfall, allowed the stones to be more easily seen and pocketed.

Photo courtesy of Arizona Tourism and Travel

largest I’ve ever encountered. Not surprisingly, it’s rated among the top 10 spas by Conde Nast Traveler and me. Here’s a tip: try the waterfall therapy.

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess TPC of Scottsdale-Stadium Course, a PGA Tour venue, just tortured me. And not because it was too tough. It’s eminently fair with generous fairways and plenty of bailout spaces. No, it tortured me because I couldn’t play it due to my muscle pull. Instead, I took a few putts and chips and picked the brain of our caddie, Justin, who was knowledgeable, efficient, and full of good stories. It killed me especially not to tee it up at the famed par-three 16th, one of most raucous and party-loving holes in golf. Wearing my GRW Purple Heart with honor, I did some credible acting, posing as a lonely fan in the stands already being erected around this hole.

ego, I visited the Willow Stream Spa. (Hey, give me a break, I was injured. Honest.) This is an amazing spa and with three levels spread over 44,000-square-feet it’s one of the

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is located next to the TPC of Scottsdale. It’s a huge yet attentive property with 650 rooms, several fine restaurants including the ethereal Bourbon Steak, and six bars and lounges. Nursing my wounded golf 26

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As a reward for your patience in reading this self-indulgent but utterly candid travel diary of my Golf Road Warrior experience in Scottsdale, let me encourage you to enter a contest associated with this trip. Offering much better odds than any Super Bowl or U.S. Open drawing, there’s a $6000-value sweepstakes that will be awarded to one lucky entrant, offering golf and rooms, golf equipment and other great prizes. Enter at www.golfroadwarriors.com/sweepstakes/ And don’t worry, I’m ineligible to enter. I pulled a muscle.

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