During her childhood, Kelly Holland and her family would spend two weeks of their summers at a northern Michigan cottage.
That yearly tradition came to an end when Holland’s mother convinced her father to, instead, get a membership at Grand Ledge Country Club.
The new summer plans helped spark a family passion for golf. And it helped inspire Holland’s journey toward a career that would reach the highest level.
Holland, who went on to star at Waverly High School and Michigan State and eventually play on the LPGA Tour, is part of this year’s class set to be inducted into the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame. Holland and eight other individuals and two teams will be inducted on Aug. 8 with a dinner and ceremony at the Lansing Center.
Holland was a member of three state championship golf teams at Waverly, contributing to the school’s first state crown in 1981 before being part of titles in 1983 and 1984. She also was the medalist at the state finals as a senior before continuing her career at MSU.
Success followed Holland to East Lansing where she was the Spartans’ team MVP and an All-Big Ten performer in 1987-88. Holland then pursued professional golf shortly after taking her final exam at MSU.
“I was able to see part of the country I would have never been able to see,” Holland said of her pro career. “There was a part of me that it was this is what I was going to do. I was pretty determined. I was fortunate with having a friend that was able to give me the finances to go do it. It was exciting. It was scary. There were kind of a lot of things that seemed to be stacked against me that I said it’s not going to stop me.”
One of those obstacles included having the brand new car she had just purchased being stolen while he was staying with her aunt in Florida just prior to her first tournament. Most of her belongings were in the car, including her golf clubs.
Holland’s family shipped some clubs down to Florida and she wound up placing second in that tournament. That was part of three years Holland spent on a mini-tour before she qualified for the LPGA Tour in 1992. She played the mini-tour for another three seasons after not qualifying for the LPGA in 1993 before deciding to move on.
But the appeal of golf that drew her in at a young age remains for Holland these days as the sport remains a big part of her family’s life.
“For me with golf, because you can’t perfect it, it’s always so challenging — that’s really what hooked me,” Holland said. “There’s so many different parts of the game that you need to work on — short game, your irons, your driver, your putter, bunkers. Just the challenge of it was the biggest thing. I was pretty good at it. That helped as well.
“My dad was an amazing teacher. He always kept it pretty simple. He gave me the tools I needed once I was away from home to be able to make some of the corrections on my own.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.
48th Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame
When: Aug. 8; 4:30 — Welcome; 5:30 — Dinner; 6:30 — Induction ceremony
Where: Lansing Center
Tickets: $40 per person, call (517) 484-0677 or email everyb21@gmail.com for information.
2024 inductees: Mike Griffith, Chris Henderson, Fred Heumann, Kelly Holland, Molly Peterman, Tiffanie Shives, Tony Trierweiler, Roge’t Ware, Roger Wing, 1991 East Lansing football, 1978 Laingsburg softball
Sponsors: Dean Transportation, ASAP Printing, Roland Carter Enterprise, Shaheen Chevrolet and Cadillac, The Bleacher Denizen, One North Kitchen & Bar, Applegate Home Comfort, The Accident Fund Group, Edward Jones Investments, Karoub Associates, Dan Henry Distributing, Magic Johnson Enterprises
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Kelly Holland reached big golf dreams to earn hall of fame spot
