T-K Making Good on Great Expectations
October 17, 2019
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
MIDDLEVILLE – The end of last season gave the Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg girls golf team a pretty good idea of what the future might hold.
The Trojans finished runners-up in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Gold, fourth at their Regional and were returning everyone the following season.
“I think it gave them a taste of like, we can do this,” T-K girls golf coach Bob Kaminski said. “They just had to make some improvements.”
The improvements Kaminski felt were necessary to get over the hump came to fruition, and the team made strides in reaching its goals.
The Trojans won the conference title over perennial powerhouse Grand Rapids South Christian and finished third at last week’s Division 2 Regional to qualify for the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 2005.
The conference crown also was their first in 18 years, when they were part of the O-K Blue.
“Last year we played really well,” Kaminski said. “We finished second in the conference and didn’t manage to get through Regionals, but we returned everybody for this year and we just felt like if they worked hard then we could improve and do good things.”
T-K will compete this weekend at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers East Golf Course with a senior-laden group.
There are eight seniors on the varsity squad, with five among the top six. They’ve played together since middle school.
“We all started in seventh grade, and we all kind of talked about how we were going to be on the golf team together,” senior Anna Kaminski said. “We’ve all been pretty close for years, and so going through the entire high school golf journey together has been awesome. Our bond is pretty strong.”
Other seniors are Clair Jansma, Anna Harmens, Paige Willette and Maddie Shepard. Jansma has been one of the team’s best but did not play in the Regional, making the Trojans’ qualifying for the Finals even more impressive.
Junior Paige VanStee has the team’s lowest scoring average.
“Obviously, this feels great (to make it to the Finals),” Bob Kaminski said. “Four of the girls who played at Regionals are seniors, and they came onto the team three years ago as freshmen and they just worked hard. They’ve played really well this year and have had a really good season.”
A key factor in the Trojans’ success has been their ability to consistently drop scores.
From last year to this one, a steady decline in each girl’s scoring average has paved the way toward a Finals berth.
“We’ve seen a big jump this year,” Bob Kaminski said. “We actually looked at some stats, and a number of them improved three or four shots from what they were last year. It’s a hard-working group, and they’re always trying to get better.”
Kaminski has embraced the opportunity to coach his daughter, Anna.
“That has been a lot of fun,” he said. “It can be stressful at times because the role of a father and coach are sometimes vastly different, but it’s been enjoyable to watch her play and progress and get better.”
Anna Kaminski said the seniors were motivated to make their mark on the program and end the longstanding drought between Finals appearances.
“We came into the season kind of expecting to do pretty well,” she said. “We knew we had a decent team, and we thought if we could do well in the conference then we should make it to state.”
And Jansma said the team was determined to take the necessary steps to heighten expectations.
"We felt very motivated," she said. "We still wanted to have fun. (But) in the back of our minds, I think we were all looking to win it. We pushed ourselves, and we got the job done.
"It felt so satisfying to work as hard as we did and have it finally pay off. For me, I spent quite a large amount of time working on my short game, and I remember spending hours on the driving range. I was itching to get out on the course with all my teammates."
The Trojans won’t be considered among the favorites this weekend, but that won’t stop them from competing hard to earn the best finish possible.
“I’ve been trying to tell them to have fun and enjoy the experience, but they are a very driven group and they want to do as well as they can,” Bob Kaminski said. “Obviously you’re playing with the best teams in the state, so we don’t know how it is all going to end up. But they want to go there and compete and do the best they can."
Added Anna Kaminski: “I’m not trying to put up a certain score or anything, and I just want to go and have fun. There are a lot of good teams out there, but hopefully we’ll do all right and play our best.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Thornapple-Kellogg’s Anna Kaminski watches an approach shot during competition this fall. (Middle) Junior Paige VanStee has been the team’s low scorer. (Photos courtesy of The Sun and News.)
Multi-Sport Career at TC West Helps Gillis Thrive as Pro in Game She Once Left Behind
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
July 9, 2026
When Gaby (Muller) Gillis walked away from golf her sophomore at Traverse City West High School, she had no idea she would sprint back to the sport.
Especially since her walk quickly turned to a stumble thanks to a torn ACL suffered during basketball practice a few months after giving up the fairway.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” said Gillis, a three-sport star at West and now the first female head golf pro at the John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla. “It’s a silver lining — it’s what got me back into golf. A few months after my surgery, all I could do was chip and put. I had to try to do something.”
When Gillis was a freshman in high school, girls golf was a spring sport, girls volleyball was a winter sport and girls basketball was a fall sport. Girls golf and volleyball became fall sports her sophomore year. After consultation with her coaches and her parents, Gillis chose volleyball, then her favorite sport, over golf.
Gillis did play golf and volleyball in the same season her junior and senior years, balancing academics and competing in two sports simultaneously. She practiced golf mostly on her own, following volleyball team practices.
“I wouldn't change anything,” Gillis said. “School was important to me as well, but I was very lucky with the opportunities that I had. Those fall seasons, junior and senior year were pretty hectic. I had a lot of support from the coaches and my teammates.”
After leaving West, Gillis went on to play golf for Michigan State University and become a golf pro. Before her ACL injury, she was seriously entertaining thoughts of playing volleyball at the next level.
“A lot of the elite athletes were playing club throughout high school, and I just couldn't do that because I was playing my other sports,” Gillis recalled. “So could that have affected maybe my volleyball career? I don't know if volleyball would have taken me to where I am now.”
Gillis, who credits much of her success to her parents encouraging her to play multiple sports, points to high school athletics as key to functioning as a golf pro today and managing two golf courses and a staff of 30. She is one of two head golf pros at John’s Island. The other is her husband, Tim Gillis.
“High school sports taught me a ton,” Gillis acknowledged. “High school sports teaches kids discipline, time management and how to work with others. When you're on a team and also for individual sports, you learn how to handle things and experience the highs and lows and trying to figure something out on your own.”
She recommends today’s student-athlete avoid focusing on just one sport.
“I do a lot of recruiting and hiring in my job now,” she added. “I ask them about their golf experience but I also ask if they grew up playing any other sports. I think high school sports can teach someone so much. A lot of the people that I hire have played high school sports.”
Gillis graduated from West in 2010. She was an all-state golfer for the Titans and selected to the all-Big North Conference first teams in basketball, volleyball and golf. During her junior year, she eagled two holes during the same round.
She went on to play for Big Ten championship teams at MSU. Her younger brother, Gage, joined her at Michigan State and played for the Spartans, too.
“I grew up a very passionate Michigan State fan and had the opportunity to play golf there,” Gillis said. “Even though golf is an individual sport, it still had that team aspect at the college level and I'm still extremely close with some of my teammates. Golf added the family aspect, which I think is so important.”
Gillis has been around golf much of her life. Her father, Fred Muller, was the head golf professional at Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort for 42 years. He died a little over a year ago. Gillis recalls vividly playing at Crystal Down as young as 5 years of age,
Gillis pointed out she couldn’t imagine doing any other kind of work today.
“Growing up, I watched my dad work at the golf course, caddying, working in the bathroom and the golf shop,” Gillis said. “I played at a high level in high school and college, but I didn't really know that's what I wanted to do after graduating college.”
Gillis is ready to start her own family any day now. She and her husband are preparing to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary in September, and they’re expecting the birth of their first child by the end of this month.
So golfing once again has been halted.
“We're expecting a little boy, which we're very excited about,” Gillis said. I hung up my clubs up a couple weeks ago, but I actually played really well in my last round.”
She was under par going into the 18th hole and three-putted to finish even.
“But I gave all those men a run for their money,” she noted. “My body is not quite moving how I would like it, so I hung them up on a high note.”
The soon-to-be-new parents are planning to raise their son in sports similar to Gaby’s experiences at West and MSU.
“I feel like that was important that our parents didn't limit us to just one sport,” Gillis said. “When you're on a team learning how to work with people, you're working with people to try to be as successful as possible and win. And with individual sports, you're trying to find success as well. It translates to the real world.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Gaby (Muller) Gillis poses for a photo with her Traverse City West coach Cathy Coon during her senior season in 2009. At right, Gillis now serves as a golf pro at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla. (2) Gillis stands for a photo with her husband Tim, who also serves as a pro at John’s Island. (3) Gillis, right, blocks a kill attempt for West’s volleyball team. (4) Gillis posts scores during an event. (Photos provided by Gaby Gillis.)