For over four decades at the Pinecrest Golf Course, Tim Reinke has led and encouraged generations of golf enthusiasts. As a longtime golf pro, Tim had become the face of Idaho Falls golf for his passion for the sport and, more importantly, his dedication to others.
“My dad always told me, ‘Make sure you take your eyes off of yourself and put them among others,’” Tim said.
After 46 years, he’s retiring from the golf course, but his passion for golf goes all the way back to when he was a kid. Tim was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and when he was nine, his family moved to Billings, Montana. There his father joined the Laurel Golf Club and took up golfing.
“When my dad started playing golf, I thought it was kind of crazy,” he said. “I thought, ‘When are we going to play golf?’”
Little did little Tim know that a decade down the road, golf would be his biggest passion.
He began golfing with his dad, and by the second time on the course, he was drawn to it. “The first time I didn’t know what to do, but by the second time I thought, ‘This is fun,’” he said. “And it was fun being with my dad and my mom, who played as well.” As he continued to practice and get better, he spent more and more time playing.
Tim was a natural, but he put in countless hours to gain the skills he has today. He took golfing lessons, went to the course every day, and practiced at home every day after school. “We lived out in the country, so I made a fake putting green. I mowed down some grass, and I had about 100 yards that I could hit a ball into,” he said. “I probably hit one thousand balls every day. I just did it for fun, but I loved it.”
Until Tim was 17, he worked at the Laurel Golf Club for Mike Taylor, picking up range balls on the driving range, and when he turned 18, his mom encouraged him to get a summer job. Mike at the time had moved to Idaho Falls to work at the Pinecrest Golf Course, and for the next five summers, Tim traveled to work for him there. “The second summer that I came out, we were so busy, and Mike told me, ‘Tim, you gotta learn how to teach,’ and so I learned how to teach.”
Tim went on to attend the three business schools of the PGA of America, and in 1983, he officially became a PGA professional. That following winter, Mike took a job elsewhere, which resulted in Tim being promoted to head golf pro at Pinecrest when he was 24 years old.
Since moving to Idaho Falls and becoming a golf pro, he’s made many accomplishments during his golfing career. He was named golf professional of the year by the PGA Rocky Mountain Section on three occasions, labeled best golf instructor by Idaho’s Golf Digest twice, and in 2021, was inducted into the PGA Rocky Mountain Section Hall of Fame.
And although Tim views his contributions to the golf community as successful, he says he never did it for that reason alone. “People always say, ‘You were a good leader, and we learned a lot from it,’” he said. “I didn’t do it for that reason, but I'm glad that maybe because I did a really good job of it, it transcends and people see that, and it makes everybody else want to step it up.”
For 46 years, Tim has made thousands of friends and left a lasting impact on the golf community. “The most rewarding part is making sure when people come out here, they enjoy their day,” he said. “My job was just to make sure people had a good time, and I enjoyed that.”
As he steps into retirement, he doesn’t plan to stray too far away from the course. He plans to still teach and volunteer here and there at the course. “It’s been fun, and I’ve loved it,” he said. “It’ll take a little time to get used to not doing anything.”