The Hillsdale College men's golf program is pleased to welcome four new members who will join the program for the 2015-16 campaign.
Donning the blue and white on the greens next year will be (pictured clockwise from top left) Peter Beneteau (Odessa, Ontario/Emestown), Joel Pietila (Rockford, Michigan/Rockford), Andy Grayson (Medina, Ohio/Highland) and Henry Hitt (Jackson, Michigan/Lumen Christi).
Beneteau has a unique style with his golf swing. He's right-handed, but places his left hand on top of the club, as a left-hander would normally do. This unusual grip hasn't stopped him from ripping up courses in both his native Canada and here in the United States. He holds the single-round course record of 63 on his home course, a score he's hit on two occasions. He's played in Canadian Professional Golf Association events, the first coming when he was 16 years old. He won two junior GAO qualifiers, the Spring Classic and Ontario Junior Championship. He is the youngest-ever champion of the Camden Braes Golf Club and most recently, finished eighth at the AJGA/CJGA junior championships.
In high school, he was team MVP in all five grades, 9-13, and he took first place in the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Association Tournament. He graduated with honors and completed the High performance Athletics Program at QECVI Secondary School.
Pietila has a career low round of 66 and has a handicap of 1.5. As a junior he had an 18-hole average score of 73.9 and tied for first at the MHSAA state championship event in 2014. He was named First-Team All-Conference twice, All-Area twice and was named to the All-State Super Team. A team captain for the Rams in 2013, he was also the runner-up at the Coca Cola Classic at Boyne Highlands and is ranked 253rd by the AJGA.
He was also an All-Conference player for Rockford's boys soccer team and was that team's captain. He carries a 4.205 overall grade point average and has earned Academic All-State recognition in golf.
Away from the course, Pietila is the leader of a junior high youth group at Blythefield Hills Baptist Church and was named Citizen of the Month as an eighth grader at Rockford Middle School.
Grayson has a low round score of 69 in his career, and took third place at the Toledo Junior Shootout. He's earned medalist honors several times and was named All-Conference, All-District and to the First-Team All-Suburban League.
He is a winner of the AP Scholar Award, a four-time fall season scholar-athlete, and a three-time spring scholar athlete. He has a 4.2 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. He also volunteers at the Akron Food Bank.
Hitt comes from nearby Jackson Lumen Christi High School and sports a 4-handicap with a low round of 70. He was the second-place finisher at the 2014 MHSAA Division 3 golf state tournament and took second in the regional tournament. He also notched second-place finishes at the conference and district tournaments last year. He tied the school record for the lowest nine-hole match score at 32, which was 5-under par.
He also lettered in tennis for the Titans and helped his team to a regional championship in 2013. He was also part of Lumen Christi's regional championship bowling team in 2013.