Allied Golf Associations – Page 2

Register Now for the 2021 Golfweek Super Senior, Legends & Super Legends National Championship

Calling all championship caliber Club, and State Association players age 65 and over to join us July 6-9 at one of Georgia’s best – The Golf Club of Georgia. Its time to tee it up in the 2021 Golfweek US Super Senior, Legends & Super Legends …

Calling all championship caliber Club, and State Association players age 65 and over to join us July 6-9 at one of Georgia’s best – The Golf Club of Georgia. Its time to tee it up in the 2021 Golfweek US Super Senior, Legends & Super Legends National Championship. This is the first national ranking championship exclusively for world class golfers age 65 and over. Sponsored by USA Today Sports, The Golfweek US Super Senior, Legends & Super Legends National Championship is now in its fifth year. The championship fills a void left by the US Golf Association for players 65 and over. After 54 holes of intense competition, only one player in each division will earn the right to hoist the trophy and be called a “National Champion.”

For Bianca Holsey and Mario Migaldi, caddying has made all the difference

Thirty Michigan golf caddies have been awarded the Chick Evans Scholarship, a four-year prestigious housing and tuition college grant.

Bianca Holsey of Detroit, a caddie at Country Club of Detroit, wants to see where studying computer science can take her, and Mario Migaldi of Okemos, a caddie at Country Club of Lansing, plans to be a medical doctor.

They are two of 30 Michigan golf caddies who have been awarded the Chick Evans Scholarship, a four-year prestigious housing and tuition college grant valued at $120,000, to help them reach their long-range goals.

They will attend college in the fall as Evans Scholars, Holsey at Michigan State University and Migaldi at the University of Michigan, and they will live in the Evans Scholarship houses at the universities.

“Being a caddie has allowed me to work hard and get the financial help I need to build a better future and follow my dreams,” said Holsey, a senior at Cass Technical High School. “A lot of people don’t know if they will be able to go to college because they might not have the financial means to make it happen, but because of this scholarship I’m going to get that opportunity. Being a caddie has opened a lot of doors for me.”

Migaldi, a senior at Okemos High School, said he was introduced to work as a caddie and the Evans Scholar program by Owen Brewer, who is currently an Evans Scholar at the University of Michigan.

“I’m so thankful to Owen and the Country Club of Lansing for my first job, one that is paying dividends to my future,” he said. “The University of Michigan has been my dream school for a long time. I want to become a doctor and that’s where I want to be for the next four years.”

Holsey, the daughter of Rosalyn Robinson and Cleveland Hosley, said she had no experience or knowledge of golf when she became a caddie.

“I heard about the opportunity to become a caddie at school and jumped on it,” she said. “I looked at is as a job opportunity that would let me be active and meet new people. I started training at Country Club of Detroit and loved it. I like meeting with people, talking to new people.”

In her first two years as a caddie Holsey performed 190 loops. She doesn’t play the game. She tried it once at a Top Golf facility and found it much harder than it looks. She has offered a few opinions when asked on reading putts, but otherwise she sticks to being a helpful caddie.

“The first year I would ride with Christyanna Griffin – she goes to Cass Tech, too, and is also an Evans Scholar – and we would get to the Country Club at 5 o’clock every morning to get on the list for loops,” she said. “We worked hard for this opportunity. I would have never dreamed golf would help me go to college and live out my dreams, but I’m so thankful it is happening.”

Migaldi, the son of Maria and Dominic Migaldi, said he was introduced by his father to golf at age 10 and he competed on junior golf tours and in several tournaments.

“I was one of the kids in my all-orange apparel like Rickie Fowler and really just loving golf,” he said. “Two years ago Owen pointed me to the program and it has been a perfect job for me. I love interacting with people, being outside in the summer, making money and enjoying it at the same time.”

Being a caddie has introduced him to people who have already made an impact on him and his future.

“I met Dr. Nick Doman and caddied for him multiple times,” he said. “After I had caddied for him for a round or two he asked me if I wanted to shadow him on his job – he’s an orthopedic surgeon. I got to go with him to his office, meet staff, meet patients. It was the coolest experience ever for me and being a caddie is paying dividends. The Evans Scholarship is helping me go after my dream.”

The Chick Evans Scholarship Program via the Evans Scholars Foundation has been supported since 1930 by the Western Golf Association, which is headquartered in Glenview, Ill. One of golf’s favorite charities, it is the nation’s largest scholarship program for caddies.

Golf Association of Michigan members and clubs help the WGA identify and sponsor worthy candidates and also help interview them for the scholarships which have four selection criteria: a strong caddie record; excellent academics; demonstrated financial need; and outstanding character.

An estimated 300 caddies nationwide are expected to be awarded the scholarships this year. Currently there are 1,045 caddies enrolled at 19 universities across the nation. The program was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr., and 11,320 caddies have graduated from the program since 1930.

Scholarship funds come mostly from contributions by 32,500 golfers across the country, who are members of the Evans Scholars Par Club program. Evans Scholars Alumni donate more than $15 million annually, and all proceeds from the BMW Championship, the third of four PGA TOUR Playoff events in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup competition, are donated to the Evans Scholars Foundation. The Golf Association of Michigan also contributes to the Evans Scholars through the annual online auction for it’s members.

Pandemic postponements lead to virtual golf show replacements

Thousands of Michigan golfers normally march through golf shows this time of year. Instead, those shows are going virtual.

Thousands of Michigan golfers normally march through golf shows this time of year and hundreds renew membership or become members of the Golf Association of Michigan in the process.

The two golf shows – the West Michigan Golf Show and the Michigan Golf Show – where the GAM offers member registration usually with incentives have been postponed this year due to concerns regarding COVID-19.

But online happenings are making it possible for membership renewals or becoming new members in a virtual way.

First, golfers can renew or join the GAM anew at GAM.org by hitting the “membership” tab.

The West Michigan Golf Show, meanwhile, is launching (Feb. 12, one of the originally scheduled show days) what it is calling a Golfers’ Guide online resource with the courses, resort and retail outlets they would have been able to visit at the show (West Michigan Golf Show (showspan.com).

“We have tens of thousands of golfers come to the show and many come with a specific purpose in mind, to talk to other golfers, book a weekend at a favorite resort, find a new place to play, get pricing, those things, so we are trying to fill some of that void online,” said Carolyn Alt, Showspan’s senior show manager for the West Michigan Golf Show, which for several years has been sponsored in part by the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM).

“We have a comprehensive listing with links of all the golf businesses that have been involved with the show in the last two years, and we are hoping that helps continue those relationships with the golfers. And just for fun, we’ve added online lessons and access to some of the people who would normally be on our stage. The idea is to keep the golf conversation going and keep connected. It’s not about us. It’s about them – the golfers and the golf businesses.”

Alt said every effort was made to present the West Michigan Show.

“We did everything we could and in the end it just can’t happen,” she said. “We wanted to be with the golfers and golf fans as well as the golf businesses and organizations in our state but it wasn’t in the cards. We are going to do all we can to stay connected and that’s the big reason for the Golfers’ Guide.

Alt promises that the West Michigan show will come back bigger, stronger and better.

“We have no intention of changing the way we present the show in a normal situation,” she said. “We’re going to have shows where everyone can be together, have a good time, and engage in a sport they love. From our perspective that is irreplaceable.”

The West Michigan Show usually kicks off the “golf show season” in February, and the Michigan Golf Show in Novi wraps things up in March for Michigan golfers. Several golf shows are also presented across the Midwest during the time frame.

The West Michigan Golf Show will return to DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids Feb. 11-13, 2022. The Michigan Golf Show organizers plan the 2022 show for next March 4-6 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

Billed as the largest consumer golf show in the country, the Michigan Golf Show usually features 350 exhibitors including retailers, resorts, travel destinations, Michigan courses and the GAM.

“We have been working on many state-of-the-art and proactive approaches to deal with the COVID-19 virus over the past months, but it has become apparent that we will not be permitted to produce the Michigan Golf Show to a level of attendance and success that we and you expect,” the show organizers said in a recent published statement sent to exhibitors.

“We do not think it would be to our standards of providing you the very best Golf Show of its kind, nor would it provide you the return that you should expect from the expense of doing a show.”

A spokesperson said this week that work has already started on next year’s show.

“For the amount of people we would have been able to let through the show this year it simply wasn’t worth doing – the numbers didn’t work,” she said. “We’ll be back next year though. Our dates are online (michigangolfshow.com) and we are working with exhibitors. We also know that several of our exhibitors are offering their show discounts and things like that through their websites. We would encourage the golf fans to seek those out.”

Michigan handicap director looks back on World Handicap System rollout

Kyle Wolfe, director of handicap, course rating and junior golf, said the GAM is happy with the World Handicap System and how it is working.

Smooth is the word Kyle Wolfe of the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) used in describing the first year of the World Handicap System.

While smooth hardly describes 2020 in many other things, Wolfe, director of handicap, course rating and junior golf, said the GAM is happy with the system and how it is working.

“Golfers have adjusted to some of the new concepts like net double bogey, the daily revisions and they have stayed in line with the rules of handicapping,” he said. “Some of the most positive feedback from golfers and clubs has been with the scores updating daily as opposed to having to wait 15 days in the past.

“I think handicaps are much more reflective of playing ability now. Golfers can’t take advantage of a bad handicap that might be two weeks old.”

The World Handicap System (WHS) brought together six different handicap systems being used around the world a year ago to form one under the USGA and R&A. It enabled golfers of different abilities to play and compete on a fair and equal basis, in any format, on any course, anywhere around the world.

Wolfe said there have been few problems in the first year and the GAM has received fewer complaints regarding the fairness of the handicap system.

“From a staffing perspective it took a bit of work to help clubs make sure things were set-up and accurate, but we had less calls about handicaps not being accurate than in the past. We had to do some things virtually, and we had to work harder to communicate things, but it all worked out.”

Wolfe noticed golfers were willing to adjust to the new system and seemed to embrace the temporary expanded use of the “most likely score” and a temporary measure for modified flagsticks.

“I think golfers saw that is was a modern approach and it was fair,” he said. “Of course with COVID-19 we were not always comparing apples to apples in data, for instance golf in the spring with raised cups, but as we get more time in the system, the USGA can tweak things and react to the data for the best system possible.”

At the USGA, the view of year one is much the same.

Lee Rainwater, assistant director of handicapping education and outreach in New Jersey, said the first year of the World Handicap System was an overwhelming success, with more than 2.6 million golfers maintaining an official Handicap Index in America in 2020, and more than 80 million scores posted.

“Our plan worked and included delivery of detailed educational materials in 2019, training Allied Golf Associations (such as the Golf Association of Michigan) on the new system, and deploying education resources at the club level, to help give everyone in the handicapping ecosystem time to learn and use the new system effectively,” he said.

Rainwater noted that allied associations like the GAM had to cancel in-person WHS seminars because of COVID-19 early in 2020, but he said they did a great job with transitioning to webinars and other online offerings.

“In addition, and this has been well-documented, but the game of golf allows people to distance themselves from one another as well as enjoy health and social benefits,” he said. “The result has been an increase in scores posted and an uptick in online searches and inquiries about the WHS. Interestingly, the pandemic has organically helped with the rollout of the WHS.”

Rainwater, like Wolfe, said feedback from golfers was great as they began to use the new system.

“Golfers appreciate seeing their Handicap Index update the day after they post a score rather than waiting up to two weeks as with the previous USGA Handicap System,” he said. “The automated safeguards designed to protect the integrity of a player’s Handicap Index have also been well-received; specifically, the exceptional score reduction and cap procedures.”

What are the effects of winter weather on a golf course? There’s a sensor for that.

A study of winter weather effects and ice damage on golf courses using sensors is being funded in part by the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation.

A study of winter weather effects and ice damage on golf courses using sensors implanted in greens by Michigan State University’s turfgrass program is being funded in part by the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation.

Kevin Frank, MSU professor and turf extension specialist, said the MTF funded the purchase of six sensors that have been installed at six Michigan courses and are currently collecting data, including soil moisture and temperature at three depths as well as measuring oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. A cell connection updates the data on the greens through the winter.

“We are trouble-shooting now, finding out if they are going to work and a goal of this is hopefully to develop something that could be commercialized where a course could purchase it and install on, say, a problem green to monitor conditions,” Frank said.

“This is the first year with the sensors. We are kicking the tires and figuring it out. If we have success and collect data this year we can develop a data base at some point and then develop from there a model to assist the superintendents with their winter issues and decisions on what to do.”

Frank said multiple efforts have been made in the study of ice damage and winter kill since the winter of 2014 when an ice layer formed on many courses in northern states causing unprecedented damage across the Midwest.

“It was a huge issue here and elsewhere in 2014 and there are still quite a few courses susceptible to these winter problems each year,” he said. “We hope to get to a point where we can provide real-time data to help superintendents make decisions.”

Carey Mitchelson, executive director of the MTF and the director of operations at College Fields Golf Club in Okemos, said the hope is for the study to help superintendents find ways to produce healthier turf each spring.

“Superintendents work hard on it every year, but a lot of it is guessing and going on what worked or was tried the year before as in tarps on greens, different fertilizers in the fall, clearing snow from greens, those kinds of things,” he said. “What we don’t have is a systematic approach and data to pull from. What we will never be able to do is predict winter weather, but if we can take some of the guesswork out of it with data, it gives superintendents help for what is a serious problem.”

The research is being conducted in conjunction with several other universities. A group at the University of Minnesota developed the sensors that are being used.

Frank said the universities as a group will apply for a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s specialty crop research initiative, which would help expand the program. Currently six courses in Michigan, 10 in Minnesota and one on Norway have sensors accumulating data.

“This is what we do, provide research, and a grant would certainly help,” he said. “The MTF and other groups that provide funds and resources have made what we are doing now possible. We’re going to continue working on this because it’s so important to the golf courses.”

Seasoned player Laura Bavaird leads GAM membership effort

Laura Bavaird, Golf Association of Michigan director of member relations, understands the list of membership benefits from multiple angles.

FARMINGTON HILLS – Laura Bavaird, the Golf Association of Michigan’s director of member relations since April, understands the list of membership benefits from multiple angles.

Over the years she has benefitted from them as a GAM golf member through her family’s golf club (Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club), as an amateur and professional competitor in tournaments, as an employee of a private club in Michigan (TPC Michigan) and currently as an employee of the association.

“You really can’t go wrong by being a GAM member, whether as an individual or through a club, and whether as a tournament player or somebody just out to have fun in the game,” she said in announcing that sign-up and renewal for GAM Membership is open at GAM.org.

“The GAM is here to serve and grow the game, a game that we all love. There are a lot of people who join because they need the handicap service and don’t realize what else they get. The list of benefits is a lot longer than just the necessary GAM/GHIN handicap.”

Bavaird’s background and knowledge in golf is not that of the average person.

She is a former two-time Michigan Women’s Amateur champion (2007, ’08) and played in multiple GAM tournaments as a junior golfer and through her college years. She was a Miss Golf in Michigan as a senior at Grosse Ile High School in 2004, played collegiate golf at Western Michigan University, was a three-time collegiate tournament winner and in 2008 was the Mid-American Conference Sportswoman of the Year.

She turned professional following college and played four years on the Symetra Tour. Her lone professional win was the Canadian PGA Women’s Championship in 2010, and that earned her a slot in her one LPGA tournament in Montreal.

“I gave professional golf four good years, treating it like high school and college, went through the growing pains and learned what it really meant to be a touring professional,” she said. “I’ve always had a passion for business and understanding business and I was able to take my background in golf and shift to the operational side of the game. It was a perfect transformation for me.”

Bavaird started in the assistant golf professional ranks and worked her way up to head golf professional at Lochmere Golf Club in Cary, N.C. As part of a ClubCorp operation, she transferred to TPC Michigan in Dearborn and served as the membership director there until last spring before joining the GAM.

Chris Whitten, executive director of the GAM, calls the 34-year-old Bavaird a homerun-hire for the association and its members.

“Laura is someone I’ve known of for a long time but didn’t have an opportunity to spend time with her until an opening on our team became available,” he said. “As I learned about her background more and more it was clear she was a good fit in every possible way.”

Bavaird is concentrating first on renewals of membership.

“This way there is no disruption to the benefits they receive, and in the spring when they are ready to play again all of their GAM/GHIN handicap index requirements have been taken care of for the year,” she said.

Bavaird was elated to see that despite the pandemic challenges, golf rounds played increased around the country and GAM member clubs have reported a great summer for play and the welcoming of new golfers to public and private facilities.

“We want to make sure any new golfers or people who came back to golf can add even more to their experience by being a GAM member,” she said.

Bavaird looks forward to meeting the people at member clubs and finding ways to build GAM membership in a post-pandemic golf world.

“Getting face-to-face with people at a golf course, I’m really looking forward to that,” she said. “It’s a much better way to share the message of golf in our great state and how a GAM membership ties into that.”

Learn more about GAM membership via the pulldown at GAM.org.

James Piot, Anna Kramer Head List of GAM Players of the Year

The GAM Players of the Year, headed by James Piot and Anna Kramer, were made based on Player of the Year points kept for the GAM Honor Roll.

The Golf Association of Michigan annually selects Players of the Year in age and gender categories and Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the GAM, considers the 2020 award winners similar in several ways.

“They are all models of consistency and you never see any of them way down a leaderboard in their tournaments,” he said. “They all have a great work ethic in common, and they don’t take the game for granted. It’s a very strong group, all very deserving of the award. Let’s put it this way, nobody snuck into this group. They worked hard, played hard and earned it.”

The 2020 selections, headed by James Piot and Anna Kramer as the top male and female golfers, were made based on Player of the Year points kept for the GAM Honor Roll and compiled from GAM tournaments as well as other significant USGA or state accomplishments. Player of the Year point totals can be found here.

This year’s nine winners include: Piot of Canton as Men’s Player of the Year, Kramer of Spring Lake as Women’s Player of the Year, Steve Maddalena of Jackson as Senior Men’s Player of the Year, Julie Massa of Holt as Senior Women’s Player of the Year, Rick Herpich of Orchard Lake as Super Senior Player of the Year, PJ Maybank of Cheboygan as Junior Boy’s Player of the Year, Ariel Chang of Macomb Township as Junior Girl’s Player of the Year, Will Preston of Ada as 15-and-under Junior Boy’s Player of the Year and Lauren Timpf of Macomb as 15-and-under Junior Girl’s Player of the Year.

Here’s a closer look at the group:

Piot is a Michigan State golfer whose season was highlighted by being the runner-up in the Michigan Amateur Championship and earning the No. 2 seed at the U.S. Amateur Championship.

“I had a stretch (during the Michigan Amateur) where I was 11 under in 21 or 22 holes over two matches,” he said. “That’s when I realized I can get my game to another level, that I’m capable of doing what I want to do with golf.”

Kramer is a University of Indianapolis golfer whose season was highlighted by winning the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship. She was stroke-play medalist and only one of her matches went to the 18th hole.

“I focused on trying to have fun and not be so uptight if I hit a bad shot or had a bad hole,” she said of her summer golf. “I really tried to enjoy that I was getting to play, that I could have fun out there. I found when I stay positive it is a lot easier to play well.”

Maddalena is one of the country’s top-ranked senior players. His season was highlighted by winning the Michigan Senior Open in a sudden-death playoff with fellow Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member and professional Jeff Roth of Boyne Golf Academy.

“It was one of my goals this year – to try and repeat as Senior Player of the Year – and I was fortunate to do that,” he said. “The competition is great and it doesn’t get easier. Every year a new group of guys turn 55 and make it even more competitive.”

Massa was named the Senior Women’s Player of the Year for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year. She built her point total with wins in the GAM Senior Women’s Championship and the GAM Senior Tournament of Champions.

“I feel so honored to be Player of the Year in a year where we were also so happy just to be able to play,” she said. “I think (winning Player of the Year) happens because I just enjoy the game and the competition. I enjoy trying to make myself better, learn more each year and in the end just have fun at it.”

Herpich won three GAM titles over the summer taking the GAM Super Senior Championship (age 65-plus), topping the Super Senior Division of the GAM Senior Championship and posting a win in the GAM Senior Tournament of Champions.

“I had an awesome year,” he said. “Having this kind of year is what I’ve worked for since I retired. I love competing and I love playing and it is an awesome feeling right now.”

Maybank, 15 and a sophomore who attends school online, won all three GAM junior tournaments he entered – the Michigan Junior State Amateur Champion, the GAM Junior Kickoff Championship and the GAM Junior Invitational.

“It was a great summer,” he said. “It showed me my hard work was paying off and just to do that in the state of Michigan with all the good players feels like a great accomplishment.”

Chang, 17 and a senior at Utica Eisenhower High School, shot a record-setting 9-under 62 in winning the Michigan Junior Girls’ State Amateur Championship and also won the GAM Junior Kickoff Championship.

“I know that I worked really hard, but honestly, being Player of the Year is a shock to me,” said Chang who will play collegiate golf at the University of Detroit Mercy. “There are so many players in the state who have accomplished so many things, and it is so hard to win.”

Preston, 14, a freshman at Grand Rapids Catholic Central, won his first GAM title in the spring at the GAM 14-and-under Match Play Championship and closed out the year by topping the 15-and-under division in the GAM Junior Invitational.

The humble Preston thanked his competitors after winning the Match Play title.

“They all pushed me to play my best,” he said. “They are all good guys and they played hard. I really had to focus.”

Timpf, 13 and a Macomb Lutheran North student, had perhaps the most remarkable summer of any GAM golfer. She won four consecutive GAM age-group tournaments, finished second in another and was the only golfer to push Kramer to the 18th hole of a match in the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship.

“It was a great summer and it showed me my hard work is paying off,” she said. “It made me want to keep working to see what else I can accomplish.”

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‘How are we going to pull this off?’ Missouri Golf Association succeeds in playing through COVID

The Missouri Golf Association, like all state associations, faced challenges in 2020, but still got the majority of its events played.

When Missouri Golf Association Executive Director Scott Hovis looked to the first tee at tournaments this year, a different scene greeted him than he’s grown accustomed to over 15 years in his position.

His staff and interns wore masks and gloves and socially distanced six feet from each other. Golfers did the same, and learned to use the USGA Tournament Management app to keep their score instead of doing so on paper. The app made it easier for family members and friends to follow along with tournaments without actually being there in person.

“For us [the pandemic] was good and bad,” Hovis said. “It was good that we learned that we can run a golf tournament a different way. It was bad at first because we didn’t know some of the ways we could do it, but we learned really quick. I’ve given a lot of credit to the staff here. The interns that we have have adjusted on the fly. The volunteers, the rules officials that work our events and seeing, ‘Hey, there’s some great ways that we can utilize running golf tournaments now that we didn’t use before.’”

In reflecting on when the pandemic first hit in mid-March, Hovis said things were “up and down.” As major sports leagues and college tournaments were shutting down, questions arose in Hovis’ mind.

“At that time you were in the moment,” he said. “You did not know what the summer was gonna look like. When all this hit mid-March, and then really fully exploded in April, your first intuition is what’s worst. Right or wrong, your first intuition is like, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’”

The MGA did manage to pull things off though, losing just four of its 50 tournaments in 2020: two one-day events because of rain and two one-day events because of COVID-19. In fact, Hovis said golf courses thrived.

Missouri was ahead of some of its neighbors in getting back into the swing of things, starting their regular summer tournament schedule on June 1, ahead of neighboring Kansas and Illinois. Besides tournaments, country clubs and courses all over the state saw a 20-40 percent increase in rounds played. That growth made up for a decline in food and beverage sales inside clubs where people couldn’t gather.

“People wanted to get outside,” Hovis said. “Golf’s a sport you can do socially distanced. It was exercise. It was something people could do every day.”

Response from country club-goers and tournament participants about the changes MGA made to ensure COVID safety was “110 percent positive,” Hovis said. The chance to return to some sense of normalcy — in this case, four-to-five hours on a golf course — was greatly appreciated.

The part of Hovis’ job that changed the most was the week-to-week flow of organizing tournaments, which moved from county to county, each with their own COVID-19 guidelines. Missouri Governor Mike Parson never issued state-wide mandates, leaving local governments to set regulations for their own cities and counties. This meant that the MGA had to adjust with each tournament it held in a new location.

“That was the hardest part of the summer,” Hovis said. “Do we have to have masks on? Do we have to check temperatures? Can we have spectators? Can we take the flags out; can we have the rakes out? Each week it was different.”

Many of the arrangements with local governments were cut and dry, but some required a bit of negotiation, Hovis said. Sometimes government officials didn’t realize that the MGA’s amateur tournaments weren’t like the Masters or other PGA Tour events they watch on television. Hovis would have to explain that there are hardly ever spectators even in a normal year, let alone the thousands of fans that show up to professional events.

“It was just educating them on what was going on,” he said. “It’s no disrespect to them. They had so much going on, they just, you know, they see on TV. I don’t think sometimes people understand what amateur golf really is when it comes to that standpoint from the big picture on it.”

While 2020 will have an effect on much of the rest of life as Americans know it for the forseeable future, Hovis said not much will have changed about the MGA and what has changed is for the betterment of the association.

“It has been a trying and tough year, but I think at the end of the day we’re going to take a lot of those negatives that came from this pandemic and things [that] are going on, and we’re going to flip them into positives to help us be more efficient as we go forward”

Missouri names its top golfers for 2020, including nationally renowned Skip Berkmeyer and Ellen Port

The Missouri Golf Association recognized its top performers of the 2020 season.

After an impressive 2020 season, the Missouri Golf Association named Skip Berkmeyer its Town & Country MGA Player of the Year. This is his sixth year winning the award.

Berkmeyer took home the gold in two competitions this year, the first being the Jefferson City CC Four Ball in May with his partner, Hunter Parrish. The second was the MGA Stroke Play Championship in July, marking his third time winning the event. A field of 156 amateurs competed in a 72-hole stroke-play event at Norwood Hills CC in St. Louis. Berkmeyer won by four shots, posting rounds of 68-71-69-63 for a total of 271.

A three-time winner of both the Missouri Amateur Championship and Mid-Amateur Championship, Berkmeyer placed in both in 2020. He made it to the semifinals in the amateur and tied for fourth in the mid-amateur.

The MGA also named six other players of the year in individual categories.

Wayne Fredrick, 58, is the Springfield MGA Senior Player of the Year. Fredrick and his partner, Brian Haskell, won the Men’s Senior Four-Ball Championship at Bogey Hills CC in St. Charles.

In the Missouri Amateur Championship, Fredrick shot 73-75 on a 36-hole course, qualifying him for the round of 64 before he was eliminated. Fredrick was just shy of winning the Senior Amateur Championship in September, tying for second after hitting 70 and 73.

The St. Louis MGA Senior Player of the Year is Ellen Port, who finished tied for ninth in the Women’s Amateur Championship with a three-round total of 216. Port’s finish earned her third place in the Mid-Amateur (25+) Championship division.

The 59-year-old’s strongest finish was a 7-under total at the MGA Senior Amateur in Sedalia, Missouri. It was Port’s first time competing in the event, as she would usually compete in the USGA Women’s Senior Amateur. That event was canceled due to health concerns with COVID-19.

Port has been inducted in both the MGA Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Hall of Fame.

Jessie Meek, who played collegiately for the University of Missouri, is the 2020 Columbia MGA Player of the Year. She won her second MGA major title at the 2020 Mid-Amateur Championship in Camdenton. Meek shot 4-under par to beat the 2019 champion, Michelle Butler.

Meek finished third in the amateur division.

Two junior players were also honored by the MGA. Taryn Overstreet, who attends Drury University as a member of its golf team, was named Jackson MGA Junior Player of the Year. Overstreet started a strong competition year with a win at the Junior Match Play Championship, beating her younger sister, Ella, in the final round of play. She went on to win all four of her matches at the 52nd Annual Junior Four State Team Championship.

Overstreet closed her year at the MGA Junior Amateur Championship in Warrensburg, Missouri. She won after posting 72-74 for a total of 146.

Dawson Meek is the Ozark MGA Junior Player of the Year after competing in his final junior matches this year. He joined the University of Missouri golf team this fall.

Dawson Meek won the MGA Junior Match Play in Warrensburg after having qualified for the 113th MGA Amateur Championship. He finished his season tied for 15th at the men’s stroke-play event at Norwood Hills CC.

GAM president Mark McAlpine navigated Michigan golf season through a pandemic, which proved to be a tall order

The 2020 GAM season was unlike any other, thanks to a pandemic. President Mark McAlpine got the association through.

The Golf Association of Michigan’s president for 2020, Mark McAlpine of Highland, Michigan, said for many years the hustle and bustle of a short Michigan golf season has always reminded him of the rolling boulder scene from the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

“The season starts, the boulder comes rolling down the chute and you better keep moving so you don’t get crushed,” he said. “I used to use that analogy when I was with Club Car. Then this summer happened, and I really was afraid we might get crushed.”

Instead, McAlpine points out, the GAM’s staff and volunteers pulled off a heroic Indiana Jones effort, a Michigan Jones effort if you will.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the staff and volunteers for what they were able to accomplish,” he said. “All of us were staring at a complete unknown. At one point we didn’t know whether there would be an open golf season, if we would have tournaments, if we could do course ratings.”

In the early months of his presidency McAlpine said there were sometimes multiple daily phone calls, especially during March, April and May as the coronavirus pandemic caused pandemonium.

“It was stressful as executive orders went through and we would have to try and seek clarification for our members courses and clubs,” he said. “We had to understand it, then analyze and make changes. Chris Whitten (GAM Executive Director) did the heavy lifting, the heavy worrying and working tirelessly with the other golf organizations in the state. I tried to serve as normal of a role as possible as president and advise. I found out Chris and his staff had their act together.”

Whitten, in his first year as the Executive Director, said McAlpine was an active leader in the process.

“I think the main thing is that Mark wanted to be informed so that he was in the best position to support what we were doing and offer suggestions along the way,” he said. “It felt like we were all on the same team moving forward.”

Three times the GAM budget faced revision as the year turned to May and June.

“Financially the executive committee prepared the GAM for a tough financial year, we took some hits like not doing the USGA qualifiers we do each year, but in the end that big financial loss did not happen,” McAlpine said. “By next April we should be able to finish our (fiscal) year in a positive position.”

The president noted the golf industry was rescued by the game itself in a way.

“The season turned out for the entire industry a lot better than anybody imagined,” he said. “The number of players returning to the game was surprising. Our tournament players came back, and some tournaments increased in numbers. Our GAM Foundation goals with Youth on Course were met and exceeded. Families played golf. People took lessons. Everybody felt like it was the perfect outdoor activity with social distancing built in. The equipment makers were tapped out of supplies. By September there was a very positive story for the golf industry, the course owners, the private clubs, everybody.”

McAlpine, one of the original members at Prestwick Village Golf Club in Highland, said he was pleased with progress being made despite the pandemic in almost all phases of the GAM’s operation, including Youth on Course, course rating and tournaments while Michigan golfers were also kept safe.

“Our tournament staff came up with very detailed safety protocol and more importantly kept executing that protocol,” he said. “I volunteered one of the days of double matches at the Michigan Amateur at Boyne Highlands, our first tournament with a huge field, and I was so impressed with how we handled things with electronic scoring, with making people feel safe and we had a few days of bad weather, too. That’s when I knew we would be alright, that at least we would have a tournament season in that form.”

The president’s biggest concern as the season marched through July, August and September was that the staff was working long hours.

“We had packed so many of our services and tournaments into a smaller time frame that we had tournament staff and volunteers like our rules officials working several days in a row to make it happen,” he said. “That’s when the boulder image from the movie really hit me. The GAM worked so hard and ran away from it. Our tournament staff was amazing.”

McAlpine is not sure what impact the 2020 season amid a pandemic will have in the future.

“I don’t know how much we will be able to build off of it because it has been such a unique year, but we should feel good about the accomplishments,” he said. “We will analyze and there were good things I’m sure we can translate into better practices for any year. Maybe we can build off it for the future. I know the GAM will try.”

Whitten said McAlpine’s background with Club Car and as a member golfer, GAM governor and volunteer proved beneficial.

“Being on the equipment side he had built-in relationships at member facilities, and he could also look at us from the member facility point of view,” Whitten said. “As a golfer at a member facility, he also had that point of view.

“There was so much uncertainty at the start. Nobody had been through a pandemic in our lifetime. There was no blueprint. With Mark’s guidance we stayed conservative, not knowing what the season might bring. We’re happy golf ended up being one of the industries that could welcome people back safely. The GAM is in a strong position going forward to keep promoting the game for everybody.”