Golf Association of Michigan – Syndication Server

GAM executive director Chris Whitten on his tenure and challenges he’s faced through the pandemic

Cedar Rapids native Chris Whitten discusses his time with the GAM and how he and the association have adapted throughout the pandemic.

Three years ago Chris Whitten envisioned taking on the executive director role at the Golf Association of Michigan as a new adventure in leadership, a benefit to his family and an opportunity to have more of an impact in the game of golf.

He joined in 2019 amid the centennial celebration of the association’s service to Michigan golf. But like everyone else, Whitten didn’t see a global pandemic coming, or the golf boom of sorts that followed it.

“All those things happened and they all produced unique challenges, including many I never expected, but they also provided opportunities to learn,” he said. “Even though it’s only been three years I feel like I’ve gained 10 years in experiences because of all I learned in that time. And that’s all a good thing.”

Whitten, 42, is a former University of Notre Dame golfer who became a collegiate golf coach, first as an assistant at Notre Dame, then worked as a golf professional for Miles of Golf in Ann Arbor and the Inverness Club in Toledo before returning to coaching. He had been the head men’s golf coach at the University of Michigan for eight years after a half decade stint as an assistant when he came to the GAM.

He said the challenge of going from leading a team of eight college golfers to leading 70,000 GAM members, staff, volunteers and more appealed to him.

“What it all boiled down to was the opportunity to make an impact at a bigger level, all across the state where I grew up and in [a] game that has been really good to my family all the way back through my parents and my grandparents,” Whitten said.

He is the son of Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Buddy Whitten (and Julie), a long-time PGA professional and former PGA Tour Champions player. Chris was born and raised in the Grand Rapids area where his father worked for Blythefield Country Club. He and his wife Amy have two sons, Graham, 11, and Lucas, 9.

“The move to the GAM made sense for me on a personal level, too,” he said. “It was an opportunity to be more of a presence at home, and to keep our boys involved in golf. I saw a bigger team to be a part of and a team that had a lot of support.”

Whitten said many of the things he envisioned have worked out even better than he expected. He found great support and great passion on his staff and in the large volunteer population at the GAM. He said those things are what helped him handle the unforeseen challenges.

He said his lasting memory of joining amid the centennial year was nervously appearing at a GAM Foundation fundraising gala event that celebrated the centennial but also included Jack Nicklaus and the goodbye to David Graham, who had been the longest-serving GAM executive director for 18 years and who earlier this year was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame for his contributions to Michigan golf.

“I still remember the opportunity to take the microphone at the centennial event and getting to introduce David and providing him the opportunity to stand so he could be recognized for all he had done for the GAM,” he said. “That turned out special. It was nothing planned in my notes. It happened in the moment. And then I had the opportunity to introduce Jack Nicklaus to a room full of golf-loving people. I remember the nerves of just wanting to get it right, and that was also my real introduction to what I call the GAM family, those there who support the association and love the game.”

Year two meant dealing with the pandemic year of 2020. It tested the GAM and its supporters as it did people and organizations globally. Whitten has a vivid memory of a first Zoom meeting with all the tournament volunteers after his staff had planned to move forward with the 2020 golf season.

“We had been out of the office for a long time at that point, but we had continued to do the work and we made the decision to go forward with the tournament program, protocols in place,” he said. “That was a proud moment. We had not run a tournament yet, but the staff was organized, had made decisions and developed a firm plan that we now look back and realize went smoothly. That meeting showed me a lot about the relationships our staff had with the volunteers and how they all worked on the same team to make in happen for our players. I learned tournaments are more than just a fun afternoon for our volunteers, and I learned how much our staff cares about getting it right.”

Tournaments happened the right way in 2020, outside with creative adjustments and protocols, and some of those practices became part of the 2021 tournament season.

“As I look back on what has happened I understand the desire to be outside more, how people took on working remotely and adjusted schedules and knowing that helps the golf boom makes sense,” he said. “We weren’t sure at the time what to expect, but I’m most proud that when the boom happened our team was ready. We had good systems in place. What we were offering our members obviously mattered to them. We did a good job of telling our story and welcoming new people who had not been a part of us and golf before. We met the demand.”

Whitten said in some ways the three years look anything but routine, but that the nature of golf and its season in Michigan lends a cadence to the work of the association.

“For instance my work right now is concentrated on our governors and the changes in the officer team that will happen in 2022,” he said. “Our foundation was just starting when I arrived and the things people like David Graham and John Schulte (GAM president emeritus) put in place have expanded to where we now have Laura Bavaird taking on a role in leading the foundation when before it was just one of the things I did. Then when the golf season arrives and our tournaments start, I will really enjoy being part of that again, too.”

Mark McAlpine, GAM president emeritus who served in 2020 and was part of the officer team and hiring process for Whitten, said the GAM searched for a leader with communication, organization and management skills.

“We needed someone to keep us on the tracks and grow in the future, and Chris has been everything we hoped he would be for us,” he said. “The Covid year, or two years really, have been a good reflection of that. He worked with the Michigan Golf Alliance to create one golf voice in the state and at the same time developed protocols and strategies for the GAM to operate and even grow. From my standpoint, we are absolutely thrilled with what he has done.”

Competition drives Michigan golfer Jerry Gunthorpe

The extremely competitive Jerry Gunthorpe made golf headlines in Michigan and beyond with a runner-up finish in the U.S. Senior Amateur.

Jerry Gunthorpe, who grabbed the attention of the golf audience in Michigan and across the country with a runner-up finish in the recent U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Country Club of Detroit, describes himself as very competitive.

“I’ve always been that way,” he said.

It was seeking an outlet for his competitiveness that first brought him to golf. When he started the 10th grade at Lansing Everett High School he stood just 5-foot 2-inches tall and was declared anemic by the doctor in his annual physical.

“I could shoot and handle the ball, and I could run, but I wasn’t going to play football or basketball at the Class A high school level at 5-2,” he said. “I had to find something else as a competitive outlet, and golf was that outlet. I wasn’t driven to play golf really. I was driven to be competitive, and golf fit that competitive aspect for a guy who was 5-2 at the time.”

A growth spurt, ironically, happened in the very next year with iron pills prescribed by the doctor.

“I went from 5-2 and 98 pounds at the start of my sophomore year to 6-foot and 98 pounds at the start of my junior year,” he said.

He added some weight and filled out over time, and today Gunthorpe, 58, fit and standing strong at 6-foot, still finds his competitive outlet in golf.

His recent run to the finals in the U.S. Senior Amateur might have been as surprising as a 10-inch growth spurt on the national level, but in Ovid, where he lives, at Owosso Country Club where he plays, in the Lansing area and in Golf Association of Michigan tournaments where he normally competes, it wasn’t as much surprise as it was verification.

“Jerry has a lot of game, and it’s just great he’s making a run,” said Bill Zylstra of Dearborn, who on the day Gunthorpe was competing in the finals at CC of Detroit was at Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs competing in the GAM Mid-Amateur Championship.

Zylstra, who is a former top-ranked national senior player, wasn’t surprised.

“It’s great they are playing it in Detroit,” he said. “It gives more Michigan guys a chance to see what they can do.”

Five Michigan players were in the starting field and three – Gunthorpe, Tom Gieselman and Rick Herpich, making it through stroke play to match play. Gieselman, in fact, reached the quarterfinals along with Gunthorpe.

Gunthorpe didn’t surprise himself reaching the finals. In a move to take his game national he had played in a trio of senior Golfweek tournaments in Florida last winter, had a top-five finish in the very first, and built enough ranking points to be in the top 30 at one point.

He had already met and competed against Gene Elliott of Iowa, who beat him 1-up in the title match of the U.S. Senior Amateur as a lead he held most of the match slipped away with bogeys on the final two holes.

“I don’t want this to come off as arrogance or anything like that because that’s not what this is,” he said, “but I believed I could play with and beat anybody my age. I still have the distance, I have longevity in the game, I’m in good shape at this age and I wouldn’t say I felt like I belonged there. It was more I never felt like I didn’t belong. It wasn’t a Genie in a bottle, a lucky swipe. You have to have a certain amount of luck to get that far in any tournament. That’s a function of the game, especially in match play, but as we went through the week I was trying to win it and thought I could.”

He almost did win it, and he said the most remarkable thing he will remember is the reaction of others to his accomplishment.

“The amount of congratulations has been amazing and humbling, and the amount that came from people I never even thought paid attention to me or golf was amazing,” he said. “So many people have told me they were riveted to the on-line scoring from the middle of the week to the end, and that others were, too. All over the country somebody that knew somebody who knew me, was pulling for me. I was so much in my own thing, competing, and to find out so many people cared about it, that is almost overwhelming. I never knew I could be the focus like that for so many people.”

Gunthorpe’s biggest takeaway from the experience, the thing he thinks he will remember most is having his son Nate caddie for him.

“He worked so hard and made it easy for me to play consistently well and not get caught up in whatever outside influences were going on. His demeanor, the interaction we had and my ability to hit quality golf shots came together. He was such a positive influence, helping me through warm-ups, being prepared to play and he was there to navigate whatever outside influences that were going on. I don’t think I will ever forget that experience.”

Golf is the competitive outlet for much of the family, and it is very competitive. Nate played collegiate golf at Michigan State University, and his son Nick played at Grand Valley State University and both are competitive amateur players at the state and national level. Gunthorpe figures the family battles with his boys and other top players at Owosso Country Club prepared him well for the championship run.

“Having your kids play golf has been a huge benefit,” he said. “They kept me in the game, kept me on the competitive side. I coached them in high school for seven years when they didn’t have a coach for the program. It was really about 15 years there where I was with them and golf was part of it.”

Gunthorpe and his wife Joani also have a daughter, Casey, who was a standout in competitive cheer in high school and also a cheerleader at Michigan State. He referred to her as the best athlete in the family.

“I met Joani back when I was in my second year of college (Lansing Community College) and I knew I wanted to get married and have her be a part of my life,” he said. “We had kids young because we wanted to have kids and saw no reason not to have them while we were young. The family was my focus. Yes, I still played golf, but the family and work were priorities for us.”

Gunthorpe is the president and owner of Gunthorpe Plumbing & Heating Inc., which is headquartered in Bath near East Lansing. His grandfather was a mechanical contractor. His father chose that path, too, and started Gunthorpe Plumbing & Heating in 1980. Gunthorpe and his late brother took it over. Nick and Nate now work in the business, too.

“Like with any family business you work 24 hours a day at it,” he said. “It’s doing really well, and I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s competitive in the business world like anything else, and that fits me and the family.”

Gunthorpe, who also likes to bow hunt and fish when he can find the time, said only so much time was carved out for golf over the years. He is going to take advantage of the exemption perks in the U.S. Mid-Amateur this fall and the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur next summer, but he isn’t planning dramatic changes in his life because of his run at CC of Detroit.

“I’m looking forward to the competition, that’s really it,” he said.

For talented senior Julie Massa, golf has been the family game for life

Julie Massa of Holt, Michigan, returned recently from her sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, which was played in Point Clear, Alabama.

Julie Massa of Holt, Michigan, returned recently from her sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, which was played in Point Clear, Alabama.

She made match play and was disappointed with a first-round loss, but she plans to keep working on her game and return next year.

“I practice with the USGA tournaments in mind,” she said. “They are special for me.”

The USGA national tournament challenge clearly appeals to her as evidenced by her 21 USGA tournament appearances dating back to two U.S. Girls’ Junior tournaments and including two U.S. Women’s Amateurs and nine U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur appearances.

“The courses are always challenging, there’s always a great field, it tests your game completely and I like that,” she said. “And like when I went to Alabama and played Bermuda grass greens, I like playing different conditions in different parts of the country. It’s the challenge of it I think.”

There was something different with this trip, too. Her husband Daryl, who retired last year, was able to go along and serve as caddie.

“That was really special,” she said. “I would hire him again if he wants to do it. I told him no firing and no quitting. It was fun to have him be a part of it.”

Golf is the Massa family game and mom is the star. She’s been the GAM Senior Women’s Player of the Year the last six years and was named the GAM Women’s Senior Player of the Decade in 2020. In early October she will be inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame.

She learned the game from her father Al Cross, a PGA golf professional who turned 90 in July and still plays nine-hole rounds of golf a couple of times each week.

His star pupil, which also happened to be his daughter, won the 1983 Oregon Women’s Amateur and played for the Arizona State University golf team for four years and turned professional briefly before getting her amateur standing reinstated.

Massa met her husband along the way, brought her golf game to Michigan and they raised three daughters who play golf, too.

In Michigan her game has blossomed, first in mid-amateur tournaments and later in senior competitions. She said the most satisfying national event was teaming up with her daughter Mariah and qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.

Golf has been a central activity throughout her life.

“Just growing up playing golf I liked to play well,” she said. “When I was a teenager I played with my brother and his friends, with other girls and guys, and we would have matches. It makes it fun when you play well and others around you play well. That’s where I learned to like competition.”

Massa is humble and deflects praise even as she continues to be the top senior female golfer in Michigan. She considers golf a privilege.

“Dad taught us to play, but he also taught us golf is a game,” he said. “I feel lucky to get to play this game, fortunate to be able to go places and play. I get disappointed, and it feels great to win, but I really enjoy just getting to play.”

She recovered quickly from her recent first-round match loss and said she learned from it.

“I’m always learning,” she said. “I played well in Alabama, hit a lot of good shots but I also learned more about some of the things I didn’t do well.”

Her frequent national tournament appearances have also helped her cultivate a group of national friends. She noted she grew up playing in Oregon with the family of three-time winner and this year’s champion Lara (Mack) Tennett, and former champion Terry Frohnmayer is a former student of her father.

“Terry was working with dad when she won in 2011,” she said. “I played two practice rounds with her this year. It’s great to see the people I’ve competed with over the years, just like when I play in Michigan. You compete, but you become friends, too.”

Practice makes perfect for GAM women’s champion Mikaela Schulz

Mikaela Schulz of West Bloomfield, Michigan, used to think she was a pretty good golfer, but she wanted more and practiced, and then practiced some more still searching.

Then college golf at the University of Michigan came along.

“College golf has helped me mature in my golf game,” said the winner of the recent GAM Women’s Championship at Klinger Lake Country Club in Sturgis.

“I’ve identified how to practice, really redefined my practice and that helped me improve a lot this last year. I worked on what I needed to work on. Growing up, I put in the hours, but I didn’t necessarily work on what I needed to work on. I practiced what I wanted to practice.”

Schulz said she approached the GAM Women’s Championship in a completely different way than her usual approach to competitions, even the Michigan Women’s Amateur where she was runner-up to Kimberly Dinh of Midland earlier in the summer.

“It was interesting, I didn’t get as much thrill from winning as I usually do and that was because of my mindset that week I think,” she said. “I decided not to play anyone else, but to play myself and just play the best I can. I didn’t want to feel like I had to go out and beat someone or the other golfers in the field. I just played.”

She held on for a wire-to-wire win shooting a final-round 74 to go with a first-round 69 for a winning total of 1-under 143, just one shot ahead of Northern Illinois University golfer Jasmine Ly of Madison Heights, who rallied with a 70.

“I didn’t feel as excited as usual, but there was more satisfaction,” Schulz said. “I knew I played the best golf I could in the tournament and it was good enough. It was cool and winning a super special GAM event is good momentum going into my college season. It was a good end to the summer.”

Jan Dowling, the golf coach at Michigan, said she is always thrilled for her players who find success in the summer.

“There’s a point of pride, but mostly I’m just really happy for them,” she said. “I’m especially happy for Mikaela because earlier this summer she came so close in the (Michigan Women’s Amateur). I think this could be a breakthrough win for her. She is such a committed young woman and it was great to see her win. It was awesome.”

Dowling said Schulz continues to improve her game, and that it is a testament to hard work and dedication.

“She was really a huge contributor this spring,” she said. “Her record this spring showed a lot of even par rounds in the final rounds. She tended to get off with slow starts and then finish with a bang. She was often in our fifth spot so to get an even-par round in the final rounds of tournaments really helped.”

Dowling expects her to continue to improve and perhaps finish her college golf career with a bang, too.

“She loves the game so much and her work effort never falters,” she said. “She’s also really inquisitive, a smart person. You follow her around for a day and you will see someone who is very dedicated. She takes a holistic approach. She loves to improve, reads a lot and works on her mental game.”

Schulz has worked with two golf teachers on her game – Martin Hall in Florida, and Michigan Golf Hall of Fame teacher Dave Kendall of Ypsilanti.

“With Martin I send him videos and we work more on swing fixes,” she said. “I work on similar things with Dave, but with him I also work on the whys — why do my shots shape this way or that and just what that means.”

She also works with lifetime fitness and yoga coaches Alex Schimmel and Alex Sheth.

“That has been impactful on my life,” she said, “and my golf, too. I feel like I’ve developed and see things coming together. My mind has shifted a bit. It’s been really cool and now I feel everything happens at the right time, nothing too late or too early.”

Clearly a thinker, she is a standout student and recently declared her major – bio psychology cognition and neuroscience. She said one of the reasons she picked Michigan was for the education the school promised.

“It’s a great school and a degree from there means a lot,” she said. “I will have career options with this direction.”

Of course, golf will not end with the college career for the two-time GAM Junior Girls’ Player of the Year. She has the dream of being an LPGA player like her cousin Morgan Pressel.

“With Morgan I’ve been around it and she is inspirational to me,” Schulz said. “It is my dream to travel the world and play professional golf like her. I will most likely try it and see how it goes.”

James Piot makes Michigan golf history with U.S. Amateur win

Piot is the fourth GAM member golfer to win a USGA national championship in the last 20 years.

Michigan natives have won major championships in golf, played on Ryder Cup Teams and competed on the grand stages of golf like St. Andrews, Augusta National and Pebble Beach.

Until James Piot of Canton, a Michigan State golfer, rallied from a 3-down deficit on the last nine holes to win the 121st U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakmont Country Club there had never been a Michigan native bring home the Havemeyer Trophy.

Nick Carlson, a University of Michigan golfer from Hamilton, made an especially exciting run to the semifinals in the 2016 U.S. Amateur, which was played in Michigan, at our grand stage of golf, Oakland Hills Country Club.

And back in 1956 Michigan golf legend Chuck Kocsis reached the final match of the U.S. Amateur before falling to Harvie Ward. Only Kocsis really wasn’t a Michigan native. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and the family that included 14 children moved to Redford shortly after he was born, victims of the historic Johnstown Flood.

Piot, when he rolled in that 20-footer on the 35th hole to save par and close out his 2 and 1 win over Austin Greaser of Vandalia, Ohio, made Michigan golf history with a few exclamation points!

The week before he has won the GAM Championship for the second time, this time at Franklin Hills Country Club. He said then it would be good momentum going into the U.S. Amateur and that he was excited to see what he could do at Oakmont.

“You dream of it, but you don’t really think it’s going to happen,” Piot said. “But you know, I had some momentum rolling when I won the GAM Championship, and it was like, you know I’m playing well right now. I told myself to stay in the moment, take one shot at time and keep it rolling.”

He rolled, and Michigan’s golf community rolled with him.

Fellow Spartans, teammates and coaches he has had at every level, friends, opponents and just happy golf fans from Michigan made their way to Oakmont if they could or stay glued to a television to cheer him on.

The reactions were filled with joy and respect for his accomplishment.

From Dan Ellis, the MSU associate head golf coach who served as his caddie for the week: “It is special and you know James Piot is a big deal now. On the board inside they show who has won championships at Oakmont. Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, so it’s kind of cool James will have his name up there now.”

From his head coach at MSU, Casey Lubahn: “The only limits are the ones we put on ourselves, but when you work as hard as he does, and push up that sand hill, you can get to the top. That’s James. He was calm, he was confident and this is what happens.”

From his long-time teacher at Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center, Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Brian Cairns: “The prize at the end for him is the PGA Tour. Sorry, I’m emotional. I still can’t believe he just won. It’s a stepping stone on the journey to where he wants to be, but what a huge stone. There is just something different about that kid. I’ve been saying that for a long time.”

From his high school coach at Detroit Catholic Central, an accomplished player himself, Mike Anderson: “I’ve been fortunate to have several good players at Catholic Central but James’ work ethic is second-to-none. I always thought he would make it on tour. This though, the opportunities it affords him are incredible. The very best players in the world have won this event. I’m so happy for him, so proud for him and his family. He deserves it. He works and works and works.”

Even Michigan State’s famous basketball coach, Tom Izzo, and its most famous basketball player and athlete ever, Magic Johnson, got in on the celebration.

Izzo texted to Lubahn: “It’s a golf school now.”

Johnson went on Twitter and congratulated him with a “Go Green, Go White” message.

Piot, himself, used Twitter to offer a thank you: “Still can’t believe this is real, thank you so much to everyone who has reached out and all those who have been there to support me from the start. Couldn’t have done it without y’all.”

He added a heart emoji and the hashtag “#GoGreen.”

After the trophy ceremony he was moved that so many people had ventured to Oakmont, a little less than a five-hour drive from metro Detroit.

“Aside from golf, it lets me know I’m blessed to have people that support me in my life. It just means everything to have that. All my close friends and family out here makes it so much better and I’m so happy they were here.”

Piot is the fourth GAM member golfer to win a USGA national championship in the last 20 years. Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc won the 2002 U.S. Senior Amateur, Randy Lewis of Alma won the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur and Tom Werkmeister of Hudsonville was medalist as Team Michigan won the USGA State Team Championship in 2016.

They made some history and Piot historically topped them all. He will be exempt into the U.S. Open, the British Open and probably invited to the Masters Tournament, and he will forever be the first from Michigan to win the U.S. Amateur.

Kimberly Dinh finds perspective, great golf after studies

Kimberly Dinh balances work and golf these days with a little bit of practice on the right things after work and sometimes on weekends, too.

Kimberly Dinh returned to competitive golf with a different perspective.

“I don’t live and die with every shot like in college,” said the recent 28-year-old Michigan Women’s Amateur Champion.

“I take the bad shots as they come and don’t let them bother me as much as they did before. It’s perspective. Golf is not the end of the world now. I try and take it all in and then trust my game, trust that I can score without putting too much pressure on myself.”

Dinh played college golf at the University of Wisconsin, made a few runs in the Women’s Amateur in the summers during school, set a course record (62 on Mountain Ridge course) in the 2014 Michigan Women’s Open at Crystal Mountain, and then went off to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for five years of graduate work and zero competitive golf.

She came home in 2020 with the promise of her current job, as a Senior Research Specialist for Dow Chemical in her hometown of Midland.

“I came home last year and I wasn’t starting the job until August, so I had some time to play golf,” she said. “I found you can come back to competitive golf. I started working with a swing coach recommended by a friend and I won the (GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur). I enjoyed competing again and winning was fun and I had the new perspective.”

After winning the recent Women’s Amateur played at Saginaw Country Club, Dinh admitted the tournament had always been on her bucket list.

“This was always one of my goals and I never quite got it done when I was in high school and college and playing all the time,” she said. “I didn’t think I would play in it after that just because of everything else, but here I am and it’s amazing.”

Dinh worked here way through two rounds of stroke play, then five matches including the final, a tense 1-up win over 19-year-old University of Michigan golfer Mikaela Schulz of West Bloomfield.

Dinh made a six-foot birdie putt on the par 4 No. 16 hole off a 54-degree wedge shot to tie the match for the final time and then won on No. 18 with a pressure-packed par.

“The match could have gone either way,” Dinh said. “We were pretty much trading shot for shot and ultimately it was going to come down to who was going to make the shot at the right moment.”

Schulz said Dinh hit the critical shots down the stretch, especially the approach at 16.

“She couldn’t have hit it much better,” she said. “It was a tough, tough match. She just doesn’t make mistakes.”

Dinh has been working with Kyle Martin, the head golf professional at The Fortress in Frankenmuth, and he caddied for her in the title match taking over for her father.

“His teaching style and my playing style connected and it has been great,” she said. “In college my strength was my short game and putting. Ball-striking has always been the weakest part of my game, but I’m getting better at hitting more consistent shots. I’m a better wedge player now that when I graduated from Wisconsin.”

Dinh said she balances work and golf these days with a little bit of practice on the right things after work, and sometimes on weekends, too.

“I have some experience with this method because when I played college golf I was always working internships full-time in the summer and still trying to compete in tournaments. I found a way to keep my game sharp, so what I do now is not new to me. It’s just been a while since I had to do it.”

Dinh is the daughter of Paul and Mai Dinh and has two siblings. She said she isn’t all work and golf. She is family oriented, likes to cook, especially baking bread, and she has taken to playing Ultimate Frisbee, too.

“I like to be active,” she said.

She also thinks she is helping prove you can return to golf.

“I know a lot of women golfers leave the game after college, but you can come back,” she said. “Stacy (Slobodnik-Stoll, the Michigan State University women’s golf coach and the state’s winningest amateur) always inspired me. She’s a great example of balancing all the other things she does with still being a good player.”

The recent Michigan Amateur win proved Dinh is still a good player.

“In reflection, I was a solid college player, but just solid,” she said. “I had never won a (Golf Association of Michigan) tournament until last year. Winning the Amateur is really nice validation that I’m one of the best players in the state.”

Volunteer coach bringing back golf in Detroit’s public schools

Martin Siml has for three years been building a grassroots high school golf program at a school that had not fielded a team for years.

DETROIT – Martin Siml loves golf and he wants the kids of Detroit to love it too.

“I want them to learn how to play, how to love it and bring to them a lifetime sport, a passion they can enjoy for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Siml, a 50-year-old Southfield resident who grew up in Taylor, has for three years been building a grassroots high school golf program largely with players who had never played the game before at a school that had not fielded a team for several years.

He has developed a team of girls over three years and a team of boys the last two years at Renaissance High School, one of Detroit’s public schools where high school golf teams have disappeared in recent decades because of funding shortages.

His efforts have not been limited to Renaissance students. He has golfers from Cass Tech, Cody and Henry Ford involved, too, and the Michigan High School Athletic Association has allowed those golfers from other schools to compete in the state tournament structure as individuals.

The Renaissance girls’ team even hosted an MHSAA regional golf tournament last fall at historic Rackham Golf Course, which the school believes might have been a first for a Detroit public school.

“It’s building slowly,” Siml says. “COVID has killed me with recruiting players and raising funds this year, but we have teams and we’re trying to make progress.”

Siml, who also coaches tennis at Renaissance, doesn’t draw a salary. Funds are not available for golf or tennis coaches. He is the very definition of a volunteer coach when he isn’t working the midnight shift at his real job as a surgery technician at Henry Ford Hospital.

He coached baseball and then soccer first, games of choice in his youth. He didn’t play high school golf, opting for baseball instead. The game, however, was slowly introduced to him by his grandmother who he would visit each summer, and who belonged to the fabled Chicago Golf Club.

“I want to give these kids a special experience in golf like I’ve had,” he says. “I want them to experience a great course like Rackham with Donald Ross history, I want them to experience the nature, the birds, the sunshine while playing golf along the river at Rouge Park, and I want them to one day be able to experience the humbling effect on your game at a place like Arcadia Bluffs. I want to make the love of the game a possibility.”

Siml, 50 and a father of four with his wife Tanisha, said sports impacted his youth, and he was drawn into coaching baseball for his oldest son Nicholas. At the urging of friends he was soon coaching a middle school soccer team at Mumford and ended up starting tennis and golf programs at Renaissance. He continues to coach the tennis team, too.

His golf teams practice at Rouge Park Golf Course mainly because of geography, and on weekends they hit Royal Oak Golf Center where Glenn Pulice allows high school teams great access to the practice center. He is always recruiting and fundraising, sometimes visiting schools at lunch time to talk with kids about giving golf a try.

“I tell them give it two weeks and see if you like it,” he said. “It’s not for everybody.”

Some stay and play.

“It has been easier with the girls to be honest,” he said. “The boys want that instant gratification you can get in basketball, football and baseball where you hit a shot or hit a pitch, make a play, but golf starts with having to develop a swing and its hard.”

Nia Heaston of Detroit, a senior at Renaissance, is one of those who gave it two weeks and has stuck it out. She suffered a knee injury her freshman year and was unable to play basketball, and Siml first got her involved in the tennis team and then the golf program.

“Golf is really a great pastime and I feel like it is always there when I need it,” she said. “It’s affordable with the programs I’m in and I like the fact it is outdoors. I love being outside, and as this spring it is one of the first things I will end up doing outside.”

Heaston, who is also involved in basketball and tennis in school and boxing and taekwondo out of school, said golf will be a lifetime sport for her. She is happy Siml talked her into trying it.

“I will definitely always have a set of clubs, and probably a membership somewhere to play golf, you know a league or club,” she said. “I tell my friends to give it a try. Like in basketball, you miss all the shots you don’t take. If you don’t try golf, you are going to miss out.”

The daughter of Joseph and Nancy Heaston said students in Detroit need coaches like Siml who encourage attempting something they never thought they could do.

“Golf is hard and you won’t be good at it right away, but I gave it a chance and it is probably one of my favorite sports to do now,” she said. “Coach Martin is great. He really cares about you and your future, not just about golf. I think because he has a mixed-race family he also knows golf is not a sport a lot of minorities ever get the chance to play.”

Glenn Pulice, a PGA professional and general manager of the Royal Oak Golf Center, is a member of the GAM’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and works with the popular Midnight Golf Program in Detroit as well. He calls Siml and his efforts above and beyond the norm.

“We have probably 25 teams, including junior varsity and varsity teams, that practice at our facility, and there are a lot of great coaches who do great things and then there are those like Martin who look even further down the road and have a vision,” he said. “We’ve talked about what he is doing and his next step is to get the kids in the middle schools going with the game. When they get to high school they will be in a better position to compete and enjoy the game.”

Pulice believes in Siml’s efforts to the point he has donated thousands of golf balls to the cause, as well as several golf clubs, bags, and shoes to some beginning players.

“When I started here nine years ago our demographics were very tight and we needed to get more kids, women, family and diversity in our customers,” Pulice said. “It’s working and with it we meet coaches like Martin and Renee Fluker of Midnight Golf who just don’t give up on kids. They stick with kids and believe in them. When Martin added players from Cody and Cass last year, I thought that was just spectacular. He is impacting communities by helping kids.”

Funding is the primary reason golf and tennis teams have fallen by the wayside in the Detroit public schools over the years according to Josh Lopez, the athletic director at Renaissance. He said Coach Martin, as most including Lopez refer to him, doesn’t let the hurdles that stop others stop him.

“I feel lucky to have him here,” Lopez said. “I wish I had 10 Coach Martins in my school. He is a great guy, he is dedicated, and it’s phenomenal to see how he gets any and all kids involved – black, white, Asian, Hispanic – he does anything he can to get golf clubs in their hands, get them involved in raising funds and get them involved.

“Just yesterday we had a kid say he wanted to start golf, but he didn’t have golf clubs, golf balls, shoes, nothing. Coach Martin said all you have to do is come out and practice and play. And I know Coach Martin will find him clubs, whatever it takes, to get him out there.”

Lopez said Martin networks though the community and seeks donations of equipment and even places to practice and play.

“He is the face of golf and tennis at our school and he amazes me how much he is there on a volunteer basis and how dedicated he is to our schools and community,” he said. “He is so passionate about it, too. I wish all coaches had that passion. He has done something we hoped would happen but didn’t think would happen. When we hosted the golf regional last year at Rackham it was so awesome to be out there and see our kids out there playing, competing with other schools.”

Lopez wonders, too, when Martin finds time to sleep.

“He is at the hospital all night and then he is at our school trying to get kids involved at lunch and then with the team, just amazing,” he said.

Martin said he finds time to sleep but is also dedicated to coaching and seeking ways to make golf happen in Detroit schools. He works with First Tee and the Police Athletic League, and he has his kids enroll in Youth on Course through the GAM Foundation where they can play rounds of golf for $5 for less at participating golf courses. At Cody recently he was told he can develop an indoor training center in two currently empty rooms, and he plans to make it happen.

“My goal is to double the number of schools or players involved in golf every year, and that’s not easy when you lose players to graduation,” he said. “We have four schools involved now, instead of one. I should have 30 players on our teams by fall, depending on COVID.”

He has some help from other volunteer coaches, including a former player in the program. He also said Nick Macy, the manager at Rouge Park, and Pulice have been a great help in multiple ways.

“The kids will play, they just need to be asked, and people will help if you ask them, too,” he said. “I just try to make that happen. I’m really just a humble guy who wants to give kids a game they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.”

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.

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.”

[lawrence-related id=778053351,778060886,778060881]