SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN (AZ) — Mina Harigae was married last Saturday, five days before the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship.
At the Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club where the first full-field LPGA event was held, she did it.
Dana Fall (nee Finkelstein), tied the knot at Superstition Mountain on February 25, 2023. Technically, the ceremony took place on Superstition Mountain. Henry, her new husband, and Belle Fall, his younger sister, made a predawn hike and took amazing photos at Lone Tree in Weaver’s Needle.
Fall stated that there was a single tree that falls under which they were married and that the couple had hiked it before. “It was cool and we were going to go to courthouse, but we decided to do something special, something that we can always remember.”
But who gets credit for inventing it?
Fall said that Henry had the idea. He attended Corona del Sol High School near Tempe, Arizona before playing college golf at UNLV. “I wanted to do something small and simple. Hiking is something I enjoy. It was great fun. We decided to start in the dark so we could be there at sunrise. I had never done a night hike.”
This meant that headlamps were required. Golf clubs.
Henry and Dana Fall on the top of Superstition Mountain to celebrate their wedding on February 25, 2023. (Photo: Belle Fall)
“We brought some golf clubs with us to take photos with and also to use as weapons. She smiled and said, “You never know.” “And then, at the bottom of it, our parents were present. We re-did it down there for them because they wanted to be involved.
Belle, an ordained minister and photographer, captured the 90-minute hike on February 25, 2023. Three years after their first meeting, the wedding took place.
The golf clubs were a focal point for hikers returning down the mountain.
She laughed and said, “People were questioning us like, ‘Why are you having golf clubs?'”
Harigae’s wedding took place on Saturday, March 18, 2023. It was a little more recent but still memorable.
Harigae, a Monterey Peninsula native, moved to Arizona 14 years ago. Harigae stated that the 2021 U.S. Solheim Cup member and the 2022 U.S. Open runner-up, Harigae, moved to Arizona 14 years ago.
Mina Harigae and her husband Travis Kreiter at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona, where they were married on March 18, 2023. (Photo: Mina Harigae)
The two ex-college golfers were able to get along quickly – Kreiter played at Bradley, Harigae at Duke and then went pro.
She said that he had taken $20 off her when he played nine holes the first time they played. “That was the day I had to leave for seven weeks, but we spoke every day.”
Kreiter was her caddie when she finished second solo at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, Southern Pines, North Carolina.
On their wedding day, the sneakerheads wore matching red Air Jordans. They are not recommended for hiking.
She jokingly said, “I don’t like hiking.” “Travis is not a hiker, so that’s their [Dana and Henry’s] thing. This is not our thing.”
Harigae, Fall and the LPGA will be competing for their first wins this week. Superstition Mountain is the perfect backdrop.
