Donald Perne, longtime PGA Professional at Inverness, dies at 86

 

Donald C. Perne, who was head golf professional as the storied Inverness Club played host to two PGA Championships, died Saturday in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. He was 86.

 

He had cancer, his daughter Lori said.

 

Mr. Perne had been in the golf business more than 40 years when he retired at the end of 1993 after 13 years as head professional at Inverness.

 

"Don Perne was well respected nationally. He was a fine teacher, player, administrator," said David Graf, who followed Mr. Perne as Inverness head professional. "He was very good at not only attracting, but training and retaining quality young men and women, and he had a number of them go on to be head golf professionals."

 

Mr. Perne, an inductee of four golf halls of fame – Northern Ohio, Toledo, Michigan, and Ohio – offered his successor support, not second guesses.

 

"He was a great resource as a young golf professional to call, a great mentor to ask questions," Mr. Graf said.

 

In 1986 and 1993, the PGA Championships were held at Inverness, with Mr. Perne as host professional.

 

"He ran a good pro shop and was a good merchandiser," said Dick Brenner, chairman of the 1986 event.

 

At Inverness, Mr. Perne revamped the caddie program and devoted a section of the pro shop to women members, with female golf assistants to help, his daughter said.

 

"That won over the women members," his daughter said. "He was just proud of the fact that he ran a class business, because being a golf professional is a business, and he garnered the respect and admiration of members."

 

He regarded the business side as key and, in the mid-1970s, helped found a professional golf management program at what is now Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich. It was the first of its kind sanctioned by PGA of America, the school says on its website.

 

He was born March 16, 1929, in Lansing, Mich., to Lucille and Frank Perne. He had a music scholarship to Michigan State University, where he was drum major as he'd been in high school. But he found golf and was captain of the 1951 Michigan State golf team.

 

He became an assistant pro at age 22 at Saginaw Country Club and at 24 was head professional at the country club in St. Clair, Mich. Head professional jobs followed in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he also managed the club, and in Summit, N.J., and Wilmington, Del.

 

Mr. Perne, a longtime resident of the Reynolds Road-Bancroft Street area, lived most recently in the Woodlands independent living facility.

 

His wife, Louise, whom he married April 13, 1952, died July 5, 2003.

 

Surviving are his daughters, Lori and Nancy; son, Dale; brother, Ford; seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

 

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in Epworth United Methodist Church, which he attended. Arrangements are by the Walker Funeral Home.

 

The family suggests tributes to the PGM Program at Ferris State University, Epworth United Methodist, or ProMedica Hospice.

 

This article was written by Mark Zaborney from The Blade and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.