(Lake Orion, Mich.) Former Michigan State University golf teammates Arthur Hills and Don Perné were inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame Sunday at Indianwood G & CC along with 85-year-old publinx veteran Jim Briegel and multi-faceted Terry Moore.
Hills said he gave up on the idea of being a professional golfer because Perné was five shots better than he was and he’d have better luck working as a golf course architect. Hills has designed more than 225 courses world-wide and earned acclaim as one of the best in the game.
Hills was especially busy in Michigan where he earned a bachelor’s degree at MSU and a master’s in landscape architecture at the University of Michigan. He designed 23 private, public and resort courses in Michigan and also designed a collection of courses in the Naples, Fla., area and The Landings at Skidaway Island in Georgia. Hills pointed out south Florida and Georgia are much warmer in the winter than his Toledo, OH, base.
Ironically, Hills eventually wound up on the same “team” with Perné who closed his career as a Master PGA Professional at Inverness Club where Hills is a longtime member. Hills twice worked on remodeling projects on the championship course and also designed the short game practice area.
Perné points to the PGA’s Professional Golf Management Program as his chief achievement in golf. More than 1,600 young men and women have gone through the five-year program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., that leads to a business degree and PGA membership. Robert Ewigleben, a high school teammate of Perné’s, was president at Ferris when the program started and Gary Wiren also was instrumental as the PGA’s Director of Education.
Moore has worn many hats since exchanging a position as a public school administrator for his love of golf. He co-founded Michigan Golfer Magazine and started the West Michigan Golf Show in his hometown of Grand Rapids where the mid-winter show annually draws crowds of cabin fever golfers hungry for new equipment, lessons and travel tips.
Moore also coordinated two Michigan Golf Summits, started the All About Golf midwest radio show, worked on a television show featuring Great Lakes courses, is a governor of the Golf Association of Michigan, past board member of the Golf Writers Association of Michigan, has covered 28 Masters tournaments and continues to write for the online Michigan Golfer and TheAPosition.com
Briegel, 85, still is renowned for his long ball and Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Bill Zylstra, one of the top senior amateur golfers in the country, said “Jim’s a horse. He hits it by me and makes me feel bad.”
Retired from the publishing industry, Briegel caddied as a youngster at the University of Michigan Golf Course where he now serves as a ranger. He has a 5.8 USGA handicap and won the Michigan Publinx Seniors Golf Association’s competition to recognize the best player relative to his age over the full season so regularly that they took him out of competition and named the trophy the Briegel Cup. The cup is a trophy Briegel earned for winning the 70-plus division of the British Senior Open Amateur in 1996.
Overseeing the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame is the Michigan Golf Foundation, a non-profit (501(c)(3)) Michigan corporation. All donations to the Michigan Golf Foundation are fully tax deductible. A comprehensive website about the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame may be found at www.michigan-golf-foundation.com
Contact:
Loretta Larkin, Administrative Assistant
llarkin@michigan-golf-foundation.com
248-719-0650
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