Information on Traverse City, Michigan and the surrounding Northwest Michigan area

05/06/2007

From caddies to pros

Harbor Springs High School grads enjoy careers in golf profession

BY DENNIS CHASE
dchase@record-eagle.com

HARBOR SPRINGS — Golf has always been an integral part of Ed Kelbel's life.

He started working at Harbor Pointe Golf Course when he was seven.

Today, 40 years later, he's still involved in the game. In fact, it's his livelihood.

Kelbel is assistant director of the Professional Golf Management Program at the University of Colorado.

Kelbel's story is not unique in this resort town. Several Harbor Springs High School graduates, many of whom started as caddies at a young age, are enjoying careers in the golf profession.

"When we were younger you could get jobs at area golf courses,” said Kelbel, a 1977 Harbor Springs graduate. "In our small community, we had Wequetonsing, Harbor Pointe, Birchwood Farms, not to mention the Boyne courses. You generally started as a caddy, then worked your way up.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't even know what other type of work was available in those days. We just gravitated toward the golf course. For a bunch of small town kids, golf really opened the doors for many of us.”

Kelbel was at the forefront, along with classmates Steve White and Bob Wilson.

A state high school champion, Kelbel earned a golf scholarship to Michigan State. He became a head golf professional at 23 and later director of golf and part-owner of a public facility near St. Johns.

White went into the turf grass management program at Michigan State. After graduation, he worked at the Traverse City Golf and Country Club for 10 years — nine as superintendent — before venturing into golf course construction. Today he owns Bay Meadows.

Wilson, like Kelbel, went the teaching route. He was a longtime head pro at Harbor Pointe and more recently a golf professional at Birchwood Farms.

"We all grew up on the golf course,” White said. "Of course, Ed's dad and Bob's dad were golf pros. That's where it all started.”

It did not end with the three classmates. They were followed by a succession of others. The list includes:

• Brian Sanderson, the golf professional at the Petoskey-Bay View Country Club.

• Rick Bayliss, the general manager and chief operating officer at Oakland Hills Country Club, host of the 2004 Ryder Cup and site of next summer's PGA Championship.

• Terry Ernst, the golf professional at Verona Hills, a private club in Bad Axe.

• Rob Fuhrman, the golf professional at Bay Harbor.

• John Wilson, the golf professional at Wequetonsing

• Mark Kelbel, the golf professional at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs

• Pete Kelbel, the golf professional at the Walloon Lake Country Club.

• Dave Renker, who went into golf course development.

• Chris Mathews, former golf professional at Chestnut Valley who's now at Quail Ridge in Florida.

• Brian O'Neill, a teaching professional at Boyne Highlands.

• Paul Friedrich, who is involved in the manufacturing of wedges.

In their early days, the Harbor Springs graduates helped provide a labor force for some of the finest and oldest traditional courses in the state.

"Living in a resort area, there were opportunities for young people to work at nice facilities,” Sanderson said. "That was appealing. A lot of us gravitated to it and for whatever reason never left.”

Kelbel said it was a match made in heaven.

"You would hang out at the course all day (working), then you would play at night when your work was done,” Kelbel said. "For lack of a better description, we were golf course rats. We literally played until dark. It got in our system.

"Most of us didn't think about going home. When work was done, you would grab something quick to eat, then go out and play. We would play until dark. There were times on the 18th green, when to settle bets, we would have to turn the lights on in the parking lot.”

Kelbel, White and Wilson helped launch the Harbor Springs High School golf program. To no surprise, the Rams were pretty good.

"We won the regional our very first year and finished second in the state (in 1977),” Kelbel said. "The rest is history.”

After school, they all went their separate ways.

White eventually landed in Traverse City, and after 10 years at the country club, went into golf course construction.

He worked with Gary Pulsipher to complete Matheson Greens and to build the back nine at The Crown and at Cedar Hills. He was also involved with the original course at Manistee National.

He worked on other area courses as well.

"I did a lot of shaping and green and tee construction for other architects,” he said.

Twelve years ago, he opened Bay Meadows, starting with a range and three par-three holes. He added on from there.

"It got to the point where I was spending too much time away from my family,” he said. "We had looked at what we thought the future of golf was going to be. This was about the time Tiger (Woods) was coming on. Affordable golf and family golf, that was the premise behind Bay Meadows. We wanted to have something that would be easy for families, seniors, juniors, ladies to play. That was the business plan.”

Kelbel, meanwhile, spent more than 20 years as a golf pro in Michigan — the last 13 at the Emerald — before accepting his present job in Colorado last September. His duties include teaching classes in professional golf management (PGM) and coordinating the school's internship program.

"I hired many PGM students over the years and now I'm assigning my students to professionals all over the country,” he said. "This spring we'll have students going all over the United States — from Hawaii to Maine, from the state of Washington to Florida. I'm very impressed with this program and how qualified these students will be when they graduate.”

Students will serve three internships while in school.

Kelbel, who now lives about 10 minutes from his younger brother Mark, said he enjoyed his time as a golf professional, but said the change has been refreshing.

"It's fun,” he said. "I like the college environment.”

His brother, Mark, has been at Broadmoor six years.

"He was at the Jewel on Mackinac Island,” Ed Kelbel said. "That's how they caught wind of him.”

Sanderson is in his second year at Petoskey-Bay View Country Club after spending 24 years at Boyne.

He started as a caddie at Wequetonsing.

"It was a half-mile from my house,” he said.

He eventually worked on the grounds crew and then in the golf shop.

After graduating, he moved to south Florida — with Ernst — to pursue a career in golf. He worked at Inverary Golf Club and roomed with — who else? — Ed Kelbel.

"He worked at Inverary, too,” Sanderson said.

Sanderson eventually moved back to the Harbor Springs area and became a golf pro with Boyne. To this day, he remains in close touch with others from his school, including Bayliss, who was his next door neighbor.

"He went a different avenue,” Sanderson said. "He started at Birchwood working for the general manager. It's impressive what he's done.”