Houghton’s Marino Pisani (center) poses at the Houghton Gym Friday with his father, Dale, his mother, Jennifer, and his coach Corey Markham (second from right) after signing his letter of intent to play golf at Lake Superior State University in the fall of 2024. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Growing up in the Copper Country, Marino Pisani has had a whole collection of former Houghton Gremlins move on to college before him. He wasn’t always a top player in the U.P. in golf, but he has been known for his work ethic, which has helped him earn the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jiseung Choi, Gunner Stein, Wyatt Liston, and Ben Strong by taking his talents to the GLIAC, joining the Lake Superior State Lakers men’s golf team in the fall of 2024.

“I’ve followed guys like Jiseung, Gunner and Wyatt,” Pisani said. “I watched them growing up on the course, and just be able to follow, not necessarily at the same school at Saginaw (Valley State), but in the same conference. (To) be able to chase the same dreams they did, it’s really big for me.”

Pisani admits that having such strong role models made it clear to him that he would have to work as hard as they did to get his game where he wanted it.

“You see those guys and you’re like, ‘That’s great,’ and you want to succeed like they do,” Pisani said, “but, at the same time, it almost puts like a shadow over yourself, because you have all these guys in front of you. ‘I have to try and top it somehow,’ especially when Coach Markham had them all. Then, you’re trying to stand out just as a freshman, trying to make that starting lineup.

“Now, to be here and say, ‘I’m going to play college golf,’ is just nice.”

For Gremlins golf coach Corey Markham, to see another of his players take the next step in their career while getting to play the game they love is a great feeling for both the player and the coach.

“So proud of them,” Markham said of the tradition of players moving on to college. “You get a tradition going here. We have a great tradition of kids coming along and just excelling in golf. We’re going back to Gunner Stein, Wyatt Liston, Ben Strong and then Jiseung Choi.

“These are guys all gone on to have great success in golf, and (have been) college golfers. Now Marino is just the next guy in line.”

Markham was quick to point out how hard Pisani has worked to get to this point.

“He’s put in the amount of work they all put in,” Markham said. “He’s worked on his game so much and is just an avid golfer. He’s there (at the course) many hours every day, working on his game to get better. He’s earned every bit of what he’s getting.”

His coach also admits that he felt, when Pisani was a freshman, that it would take a lot of work for him to reach anywhere near what his idols had already achieved in their young careers.

“When Marino was young, I was at the golf course and thinking, ‘Boy, he’s got a long way to go,’ really, to be honest,” said Markham. “He has improved so much. The biggest improvement of any golfer I’ve seen from a young age to where he is now.

“It’s all because he loves the game so much, and he puts in so much work. I’m just super proud of him, and so happy that he’s able to golf in college.”

Working hard came easy, even when success did not, to Pisani, but he has not reached all of his goals yet.

“It was a tough transition, especially when I was young,” he said. “I wasn’t a great golfer when I was younger. I have guys I’m currently on the team with. They would beat me consistently. (For) nine holes, I was shooting like a 51, 52.

“Then just, it started to click. After all that time, I think it started to pay off…It’s a cool feeling from where I came from to now. I think, at some points, I wish I’d done a better job, like at U.P.s. I want to individually win a U.P. championship this last year, but I think I’ve done an all right job.”

Pisani admits that, even though he worked as hard as he could, moving up the lineup at Houghton from his freshman year to his junior year was as scary as it was fun.

“Freshman year, I came in at the five,” he said. “I bounced out of the lineup for a second, actually, but went back in. My sophomore year, I came back and that was kind of when Brady Schmerier, who kind of was like the team leader at the time, was now gone. It was me and Ryan Vlahos. We kind of led the team, and that was the first year we won our first U.P. Championship as a team. Then, my junior year was kind of like, ‘OK, now you’re all alone up there. You have to step it up.’

“I think it was a little, not scary, but you just don’t really know how to do it, especially on a golf team, when it’s so individualized. But, you do what you can.”

Pisani has had to learn how to be a leader with the Gremlins as he has matured, and he has enjoyed the role, while also remembering to continue to have success on the course.

“You help guys whenever they feel like it,” he said. “You help make jokes, the guys to try and get team chemistry up. This year, I’m just looking forward to having fun, hopefully having the same success as the last two years.”

While the Lakers’ golf team is not as well known across the state as the one at Saginaw Valley State, Pisani felt that it was the right fit for him.

“It just made the most sense personally, because distance from home, playing time,” he said. “They’re a smaller team. They generally take all of their guys with them to every meet. So, no matter if I’m in that starting lineup or not, I’ll still be able to play.

“I honestly think their program is on the rise. They have never been like a top dog in the GLIAC, but I think with the guys they have coming in, and the guys currently on the team, that they could compete in the future.”

Having grown up in Houghton, Pisani has been to many Michigan Tech sporting events over the years, so going to Lake Superior State is also exciting for him because they are in the same conferences.

“(It’s) nice, just because I know you grow up watching the athletes in the GLIAC, or like even the CCHA watching hockey, and you’re like, ‘I’m competing against these same schools,'” he said. “It’s just a really cool feeling, especially when you watch those teams, and you’re 8, 9, 10 years old. Now to say you’re part of that history is just a really cool feeling.”