A Sacred Game

By Brad Emons

Brian Cairns believes the game of golf is sacred and he wouldn’t treat it any other way.

There’s a devoted reverence toward the sport for the 2017 Michigan Golf Hall of Fame inductee, who is not only one of the state’s most accomplished players but also one of its preeminent golf instructors who has spent the past 12 years at the Fox Hills Learning Center in Plymouth.

“I love it,” he said. “I think it’s my job to protect the game and make it better in kind of a way through my students and my kids that are under my tutelage. It’s huge. You can’t screw around with this game. This is how we make it better for the next generation.”

Cairns, now 57, learned the game from his late father William, a certified public accountant, and his grandfather.

The Madison Heights native attended Bishop Foley High School where he was a fourtime letter winner in golf and wrestling, and went on to play NCAA Division II golf at Barry (Fla.) University where he majored in history and religious studies.

As a youth, he cut his teeth as a golfer at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak.

“My dad (William) was born and raised in Scotland,” Cairns said. “He moved over here in the ‘50s, so it’s second nature. I was lucky to be a member of the club. I was lucky to have that growing up. I wasn’t a country club brat. I had strict accountability. My dad was pretty strict, a Roman Catholic, and that’s why I went to Catholic schools and Catholic colleges.”

Throughout the late spring into the fall, Cairns’ schedule is action-packed with tournament play. His impressive resume includes three PGA Championship appearances and five Senior PGAs.

Cairns recently returned from the 41st U.S. Senior Open at the Omaha (Neb.) Country Club where he missed the cut scoring an 80-78-158.

—Brian Cairns

“Much to my dismay -- best part of my game, my putting -- kind of betrayed me,” Cairns said.

Despite the result, Cairns was grateful to earn the opportunity and proud to be a part of the field.

“USGA events are the pinnacle,” he said. “It’s the best, it’s the highest. It’s not a limited field. It’s an open field. Everybody in the world can try to qualify for. It’s not like the PGA Senior, which is kind of a limited field, controlled, world rankings. When you play in the U.S. Senior Open you have the best possible field to play against in the world.”

In 2011, Cairns made it into the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Country Club shooting 85-79-164. He qualified again the following year (2012) for the PGA at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island (S.C). where he shot 75-83-158.

“So many good moments,” Cairns said. “It’s really hard to say. No doubt, when you play in your first major – I was on the 10th tee of the Athletic Club -- the rush and adrenalin is so high, it’s unbelievable.”

During his career, the 5-foot-7, 180-pound Cairns has played in seven PGA Tour events making the cut in one. He also qualified in 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits (Wis.) where he was in a Saturday morning pairing with Australian Matt Jones (who eventually tied for 21st).

“I’d say one of my better moments was the restart at Whistling Straits and I’m playing with the leader of the PGA Matt Jones,” said Cairns, who ended up carding an 83-81-164. “We got back out for the restart and on the third hole of the third green and all the sudden you look around and there’s 15,000 people, and there’s a camera man standing behind you. I’m like dude, ‘You don’t want to stand behind me.’ I think if there’s highlight or a moment, I was just in awe of where I was. It was like, ‘Wow, this is cool.’”

Cairns’ breakthrough victory came in the 1996 Michigan PGA Championship and he followed it up the next year with the Michigan PGA Match Play title. In all, he has captured three Michigan PGA titles, five Match Play titles and several team titles. Five times Cairns was named Player of the Year by the Section.

As a senior he has continued to excel, claiming the 2014 Michigan Senior PGA championship. In 2015, Cairns was the PGA of America’s Senior Player of the Year, the first Michigan player to be so honored. He also achieved conditional status during the late 1990s on the Web.Com Tour and was a member of the Champions Tour in 2014.

“I can’t believe what the PGA has done for my life,” he said. “I’m very appreciative.”

In 2021, Cairns captured a pair of Michigan Section PGA events, the Barton Hills CC Pro-Pro and the Yamaha Golf Cars Pro-Pro. Earlier this month he was coming off a tied for fifth at 2-under 70-72-142 in the PGA Michigan Section Club Car Senior Open at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek.

Among his other scheduled competitive appearances for 2021 include the Tournament of Champions (July 26-28, at Boyne Mountain); the Michigan PGA Professional Championship (Aug. 16-18 at Prestwick Village); and the Michigan Senior PGA (Aug. 2-3 at Point O’Woods).

He is also headed to the Senior PGA Professional National Championship at the Wanamaker and Ryder Courses Oct. 21-24 in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Meanwhile, Cairns has been able to juggle his schedule.

As the owners at Fox Hills in Plymouth, sisters Kathy Aznadorian and Sandy Dul Mily have given Cairns both the leeway and the platform to compete and teach at the same time.

He was named one of the top 20 golf instructors in Michigan by Golf Digest in 2019-20.

“The sisters have obviously promoted golf in a different way,” he said. “Once it was thought they were always about banquets, but last year certainly proved their commitment to golf with easier access for people. I think with the array of instructors we have there, we definitely present that – from four-, five- and six-year-olds all the way up to seniors and beginner groups. And it’s great being part of that.

“I obviously work with the better players, and now that they’ve built this million-and-a-half dollar building with the short game area, I feel kind of lucky to be there and lucky to do what I do,” Cairns continued.

When he’s not at Fox Hills, Cairns resides in Milford and spends his off seasons playing and teaching in Vero Beach, Fla. where his family owns a second home.

“I go to Florida for six months, but they’ve been very, very gracious to me and I’m very appreciative with what they’ve done,” he said of the Fox Hills owners. “They’ve always supported me that way – really good people.”

During his time in Florida, Cairns will play in winter season PGA events and pro-ams. Students will fly down during weekends to keep the golf pro’s schedule booked.

“I try and give my students the competitive edge,” he said. “Weekends or weekend experiences in Florida, one on one. I work with them, which I think are very important for tournament or high-level players to see where they stand -- and this is what we do, this is how we do it, this is our diet, sleep patterns, this is our practice regimen, the gym, this is everything…so I’m very lucky to be able to do that as far as the spectrum of what it takes to improve, which was somebody gave me when I was young with all my mentors.”

Two of Cairns’ elite level students, James Piot of Canton (Detroit Catholic Central/Michigan State) and Grant Haefner of Berkley (Birmingham Brother Rice/Wayne State), both qualified for the upcoming U.S. Amateur.

It becomes a balancing act, but Cairns, like a doctor, is always on call. He will work overtime to coach and practice at the same time if needed.

“It cuts into it, but I kind of concentrate on my better players during that time,” he said. “If they call me at 2 in the morning, I talk to them and do whatever I can to help them. I’ll hit balls at 4 in the morning if I have to help myself, but they’re first priority. Drawing a line is pretty fine in competition, but I treat my students the same way to give them a competitive edge with them and accountability with myself as well as for them.”

Meanwhile, Cairns does get away from the game from time to time. He can be found on the streams fishing by his property at Forest Dunes Golf Club in northern Michigan.

“I’ll build there eventually and spend my summers because the Au Sable (River) is there and the Loop (course) is there,” he said.

Cairns, however, is not planning on retiring just yet. Golf remains in his DNA both as a competitor and teacher. He treats the game with a religioustype sanctity that never fades away.

“There was no bull crap about how you treat the game of golf,” Cairns said of his upbringing. “It was just one notch below God. It was really a golf family in our household. It was very, very sacred. It’s the way I’ve always treated it, and we still do.”