Mary Jane Hiestand

A lifelong amateur, Mary Jane Hiestand has been involved with the FSGA for more than 20 years, but has been a mainstay in the amateur golf scene for more than 30 years. She has captured nine FSGA championships and has been named a FSGA Player of the Year eight times on her way to this honor.

“It is obviously quite an honor, there are so many great players in this state that easily deserve Hall of Fame nominations. I am just honored to be one of the three this year to get that nod,” Hiestand said.

Growing up in a small town in Michigan, Hiestand first picked up golf at eight years old, when she was introduced to the game by her dad and older brother. Her love for the game grew with close family friends who were learning the game at the same time. The kids would go to a lighted par-3 course nearby and play all night, while their parents were hanging out together inside.

“I just have fun and really fond golf memories from that time, and I still keep in touch with some of the kids to this day,” Hiestand said.

When it came time for college, Hiestand headed to the University of Michigan and played on the women’s golf team for a season, before transferring to the University of Florida and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising in 1982.

After graduating from college, Hiestand made her way back to Michigan and took a step back from golf as she began her professional career as a real estate appraiser. She still played the game, but didn’t get back into the competitive golf space until her late twenties. This was when she won her first Michigan Women's Amateur Championship in 1990.

She would go on to add two more Michigan Women’s Amateur titles in 1995 and 2000, along with a Michigan Public Links title in 1999. The Naples resident was voted the Michigan Women Player of the Decade in 2000 and was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.

“Getting to the highest point in Michigan and then moving down here getting to the highest point in another state, is overwhelming to me. I just feel like I am a regular Joe and I am, but it is overwhelming to me that I am in two golf hall of fames,” Hiestand said.

Hiestand moved down to the Sunshine State in 2003. She and her family had been coming to Naples for holidays and spent time in Florida during the summers. When she reconnected with her now husband, Jeff, he was living in Florida. The two got married in 2002 and she made her way to Florida the following year.

Since moving to Florida, Hiestand has put together a stellar resume. She has been named the FSGA Women’s Senior Player of the Year seven times, the FSGA Women’s Player of the Year once and is a nine-time FSGA champion, including the Women’s Amateur Championship in 2007.

“I have met so many great friends and have had a wonderful 20 years with the FSGA. I did not really expect a Hall of Fame nod in 20 years. I am humbled and honored that you chose me,” Hiestand said.

In addition to her accomplishments at the state level, Hiestand has also had great success at the national level. She captured the Women’s Southern Mid-Amateur title in 2017 and has competed in 51 USGA championships. In 2017 at age 58, she played in her 43rd USGA championship and finished as the runner-up to Kelsey Chugg in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in Houston.

It was Betty Richart, a longtime member of the USGA Women’s Committee, that introduced Hiestand to the USGA when she was 27 years old, the first year that the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship was held. Richart was a mentor to Hiestand and supported and helped her in so many ways. Hiestand just wants to return the favor to the younger generation.

Hiestand is close and mentor’s players in Naples along with having spent time as a golf coach at the high school and college level. While in Michigan, she was the assistant coach at Oakland University and after moving to Florida was the girls’ golf coach at St. John Neumann Catholic High School. She also spent a few seasons at Florida Gulf Coast University, as the men’s golf assistant coach.

“I just want to be able to be that person,” Hiestand said. “I just want to help out the younger generation in any way that I can. I want to be involved with them in any little way I can.”