Louis Willie, the first black to join...

Louis Willie, the first black to join Shoal Creek Country Club, site of this week’s PGA Championship, was relaxed during his initial visit as a member, his wife said.

“He loved it,” Yvonne Willie said of her husband’s visit to Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala. It wasn’t Willie’s first trip to the club, though. He was a spectator at the 1984 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek.

Willie, 66, an insurance executive, took a few strokes on the putting green Friday, three days after he received an honorary membership as part of an agreement that led civil rights groups to call off plans for picketing the previously all-white club during the PGA.

It has been 25 years since he played golf. He wasn’t able to get in a round because the course is closed as it gets some final touches in advance of Monday’s opening practice round.