Enumclaw’s Joe Mihelich has been elected to membership in the Half Century Club of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, joining an elite group of members who have served the PGA for 50 years.

Mihelich’s name is synonymous with golf in the Enumclaw area, as he boasts a career as a player, instructor, course manager and developer.

He first learned the game as a youngster, playing the original Enumclaw course developed by a local family near the base of Mount Peak. By the mid-1950s, when he was working in the accounting office at Weyerhaeuser, the opportunity arose to take over management of the newer, county-owned course.

“Nobody wanted it,” Mihelich recalls, but friends convinced him to take the job. “I was the only one around town who knew anything about golf,” he said.

Leaving the security of the lumber company, Mihelich took over the course when golfers could play nine holes for $1, tour the course twice for $1.50 or play all day for $2. He began the task of improving the course, eventually overseeing the expansion to 18 holes, handling many of the chores himself. Mihelich recalls how he would mow the fairways, quickly change clothes to give a private lesson, then jump back on the mower. It was something of a family affair, as his wife took care of things in the pro shop and their two boys provided labor.

His reach extended beyond Enumclaw for a time, as Mihelich and a partner bought the Riverside course in Chehalis in 1967, upgraded the course and expanded it to 18 holes before selling it in 1981.

Among Mihelich’s highlights as a player are 14 consecutive city championships, participating in the National Public Links tournament and winning a handful of regional tourneys. The biggest event of his career came in 1964, when he qualified for the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, staged at California’s famed Pebble Beach course.

“It was an honor to go down there and play,” he said.

With his recent recognition by the PGA, Mihelich will be acknowledged in an upcoming issue of PGA Magazine.