It is fitting that Glenn Pulice is the 2025 Michigan PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year. His efforts have helped grow the game and business of golf – and better the lives of countless young people – throughout the Great Lakes State.
That impact can be seen on the campus of Ferris State University, where Pulice graduated in 1980 in part of the second class in the school’s PGA Golf Management Program. His time in Big Rapids, Michigan, helped shape his 38-year career as a PGA of America Golf Professional, and he has remained involved to help build the program – which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next month.
“It’s a really neat year for me, winning a big honor like Golf Professional of the Year in my home state while Ferris State’s PGA Golf Management Program celebrates a milestone,” says Pulice, the General Manager at Royal Oak (Michigan) Golf Center. “If it wasn’t for Ferris State, I don’t know what I would be doing.”
Pulice found his way to Ferris State – roughly 200 miles northwest of his native Detroit – after caddying at Plum Hollow Golf Club, site of the 1947 PGA Championship, and playing area municipal courses like Rackham and Evergreen Hills. His internships included a stint at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was able to shag balls for the legendary Ben Hogan.
After graduating in 1985, Pulice went on to positions at Detroit-area clubs like Wabeek and Knollwood before becoming general manager at Royal Oak Golf Center in 2013. The busy range facility was founded in 1950 by PGA of America Professional Don Soper, and is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Under Pulice, the facility has been renovated and expanded from 77 to 102 tees, 45 of which are covered and heated, and customers hit more than 11 million balls and take more than 1,500 private lessons annually. Royal Oak Golf Center is also a hub of youth golf activity, with more than 40 area high school teams – including seven from the city of Detroit – practicing there.
Pulice has also made an immeasurable impact on Detroit’s Midnight Golf program, the non-profit organization founded by Renee Fluker that has helped more than 3,000-plus Detroit students get into post-secondary education programs through golf and mentorship. Pulice started working with the organization, which has recently updated its name to College Career and Beyond, in 2004 and now serves as its PGA of America Director of Golf & Instruction (pictured, below left).
“The program’s goal is to get kids into college, through college and into careers with as little debt as possible, and you can see how it really impacts people and their lives,” explains Pulice, who has endowed a scholarship as part of the program.
“It’s really intense, and it’s been life-changing for me. I love seeing these kids grow and eventually get jobs and give back to the community. It appeals to my love of golf, my love of growing the game and my love of the city of Detroit.”
Pulice and his wife, Carole, live in Detroit, though they also spend plenty of time in Big Rapids. He and 16 fellow Ferris State alums started the school’s PGM Alumni Association at the PGA Show in 1988 to support current students, provide scholarships and operate an annual alumni golf event and reunion. Pulice has played in all 40 of the alumni events.
He was also the alumni representative who helped hire PGA of America Master Professional Matt Pinter to lead the program in the early 1990s after its founder, Dr. Lowell LeClair, retired.
“What I’ve always loved about Glenn is that he’s a very direct person: Ask him a question and you’re going to get an answer, and he’s going to back it up,” says Pinter, who retired from Ferris State in 2011. “From Ferris State to Midnight Golf, he gives of himself freely. He’s a solider who gets to work for what he believes in, and he’s a great role model for students at Ferris State and in the city of Detroit.”
With a large contingent of Ferris State alums – and special guest PGA of America President Don Rea Jr. – headed to Big Rapids for a three-day anniversary celebration next month, Pulice is excited to see the ongoing impact of the school’s PGA Golf Management University Program.
“Ferris State is definitely my happy place,” says Pulice, who will receive the Ferris State PGM Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in October. “To have learned so much there and from being involved over the decades with the program, it led me right into the rest of my career.”
