Hope College reigned as the very first Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association
champion, winning the 1934 title. The Flying Dutchmen were champions again
in 1947, but it took nearly 40 years before Hope would be atop the MIAA again
winning the championship four consecutive years (1986-1989)
Men's golf has been good to Hope in the new millennium. The Flying Dutchmen
have won the MIAA championship seven of the first eight years, including
the fall of 2007.
Matt Lapham and Tommy Yamaoka achieved All-MIAA honors four consecutive years (2004-07). They led
the Flying Dutchmen to the MIAA championship each of their years. Amazingly, they finished their MIAA
career with the identical tournament stroke average of 73.3.
Eric Wohlfeld '02 ranks as the top alltime golfer in MIAA history. A three-time
conference medalist, Wohlfield averaged 74.4 strokes per 18-hole
round over his entire collegiate career. In 1999 he was voted the Division
III national
freshman player of the year.
For the second time in five years, a Hope golfer, Tommy Yamaoka, was
named to the 2004 Division III all-freshman national team.
Hope men's golf put together an amazing streak, winning
MIAA medalist honors seven consecutive years from 1998 thru 2004. The
string was broken in 2005, but restarted in 2006 by Matt Lapham.
An Amazing String of Success
MIAA Medalists - 7 Straight Years
1998 - Eric Wohlfield
1999 - Eric Wohlfield
2000 - Aaron Vandenberg
2001 - Eric Wohlfield
2002 - Justin Spyker
2003 - Ryan Shedd
2004 - Tommy Yamaoka
Hope's first MIAA medalist was Howard Jalving '50 who won the conference
tournament in both 1947 and 1949.
The best 18-hole round by a Hope player in an MIAA tournament is 67 strokes by Ryan Shedd in 2003.
The 1986 MIAA champion Flying Dutchmen won every league tournament, a one-time
fete for America's oldest collegiate conference. Hope's 2004 championship
was gained by a margin of only two strokes over eight tournaments,
the closest finish in MIAA history.
Coach Milton "Bud" Hinga had the distinction of coaching three
MIAA championship teams in three different sports during the same calendar
year
(1934). It began in men's basketball, was followed by men's golf
in the spring, and ended the following fall in football. Hinga joined the
Hope
faculty in
1931 and addition to coaching, served as Director of Athletics and
Dean of Students. He died May 31, 1960.
If Hope College men's golf coach Bob Ebels played the lottery you can be
sure one of the numbers he would pick is seventeen. It has proved to be
tried and true for the Flying Dutchmen who finished 17th four consecutive
times -- 1987, 1988, 2000 and 2006. The 2007 team broke the string by finishing
18th.
As a junior, Tommy Yamaoka achieved NCAA All-America distinction by placing 15th in the 185-player field. His average of 76.5 strokes per-hole was the best-ever by a Hope golfer at nationals. Yamaoka, who was the national freshman of the
year in 2005, was voted to this year's Ping All-America second team. He had tournament rounds of 77-75-78-76.
Senior captain Nate Golomb led every golfer in the 2007 NCAA tournament in Par 3 efficiency. He averaged 3.06 strokes on the courses' eight par three holes. He finished 43rd in the final standings with rounds of 77-79-80-78.
The 2006-07 Flying Dutchmen carried a 3.566 (on a 4.0 scale) grade point average, highest among all men's sports teams in the Michigan
Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).
The Flying Dutchmen traveled to Scotland in the summer of 2007 for their first international experience.
