Official Publication of the Golf Association of Michigan
100,000
STRONG
GAM REACHES MEMBER MILESTONE
Dear Fellow GAM Members,
When the Golf Association of Michigan was founded in 1919, it served a small network of clubs and golfers who shared a vision for supporting the game they loved.
Could they have imagined how far that vision would carry us, or what golf in Michigan would look like more than a century later?
This summer, the GAM officially surpassed 100,000 active members for the first time in our history!
That number represents more than just growth. It reflects the strength and diversity of the golf community across Michigan: more juniors, more women, more public golfers, and more people discovering or returning to the game in meaningful ways.
This summer, the GAM officially surpassed 100,000 active members for the first time in our history!
In this digital edition of Michigan Links, we spotlight some of the people and moments behind that growth.
You’ll find championship recaps featuring top amateur competitors across all ages and genders, along with stories that speak to golf’s enduring values of service, leadership, and inclusion.
Betty Woods, a longtime GAM governor and Distinguished Service Award winner, has been a steadfast volunteer for decades and continues to support the association as one of our “honored governors.” Nathan Oake, a Hall of Fame high school golf coach, is now part of a group working to reimagine Dunham Hills Golf Course in Hartland. Their plan to relaunch it as The Proving Ground Golf Club is a bold step toward
community-focused player development.
You’ll also read about Mark Bultema, who has rated more than 900 Michigan courses for the GAM, and see highlights from our Women in Politics clinic at Hawk Hollow. That event brought together female legislators and lobbyists for a day of learning, connection, and confidence-building through golf.
No matter where you play or how long you’ve been involved, your membership is part of what makes this community thrive. On behalf of the entire GAM family, thank you for being part of this journey. I hope you enjoy this issue and feel proud of the shared momentum we’ve built together.
Warm regards,
Chris Whitten Executive Director, Golf Association of Michigan
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MILESTONE REACHED
/ BY GREG JOHNSON
First, Golf Association of Michigan
Executive Director Chris Whitten called the past presidents of the association with the news.
The milestone of 100,000 active golf members in the USGA GHIN Handicap System had been reached for the first time in the 106-year history of the GAM.
“I think we have a unique governance structure where past presidents stay very involved in the organization, and those are the folks who set us up to be able to do this in the first place,” Whitten says. “They were the leaders through all the years of building up strong relationships with clubs, and with members, and through all the events that formed the base for the association to be able to reach all these new members.”
Their reaction: “Basically, let’s have a party,” Whitten says. “They wanted to celebrate.”
Word leaked in April at the GAM’s annual governors’ meeting that 100,000 was close as spring memberships were being counted.
Richard Aginian, who became the new president at that meeting, congratulated the governors, the GAM staff, and members in attendance ahead of time.
“It’s a big number,” he said.
Whitten says he has learned that it was a number GAM leaders had talked about for several years.
“It was usually aspirational as a big goal for down the road and not thinking it would actually happen,” he says. “But sure enough, here we are. Those phone calls were fun to make.”
Whitten was able to share these numbers in those calls:
• The GAM has reached 100,000-plus active memberships, up dramatically from 58,000 just five years ago.
• Public golfer members number 54,465, including 38,390 adults.
• Junior golf membership, mostly because of the dramatic development of Youth on Course, has reached 16,075, an increase of 181% since 2020.
• Active female golf members have reached 19,000, a 46% increase from 2020.
For most of the GAM’s history, membership growth was limited to private member clubs because the GAM was a private club group.
When what became the GAM was originally formed, the country was attempting to heal from World War I while heading full speed toward what history has labeled The Roaring ’20s. A group of 28 men representing 14 Detroit-area golf clubs gathered for an organizational meeting on May 7, 1919, at Detroit Golf Club.
Those gentlemen formed the Detroit District Golf Association, which 42 years later would change its name to the Golf Association of Michigan in recognition of its evergrowing membership reach among private clubs across the Lower Peninsula.
The GAM started building a relationship
The GAM celebrates having 100,000 member golfers
with public golfers through competition in 1938 with the forming of the Atlas Trophy Matches, which continue today. The then Detroit Golf Association (now the GAM) would form a team to play against a team from the Michigan Publinx Golf Association.
The GAM’s archives don’t reveal evidence of a celebration when it turned 50 in 1969, though it was no longer known as the Detroit District Golf Association. At the 1961 annual meeting of delegates, the board of governors approved the name change to describe the membership more accurately. At the time, 66 private clubs were part of the GAM, with 41 of those located in what was considered the Detroit area and 25 in other communities across the state.
e ha e a n e e nan e t t e he e a t e ent ta e n l e n the an at n an th e a e the lk h et t e a le t th n the t la e
—Chris Whitten, GAM executive director
organization of private golf clubs only.
“We feel we are now truly identified with all golfers in our state,” then GAM president Jere B. Gillette of Orchard Lake Country Club said at the annual meeting.
Rivard said the GAM’s membership numbers didn’t change dramatically, because public golf facilities didn’t bring in large groups of new individual members but instead made GAM membership available to their customers and leagues.
“It was the most significant change in terms of being the right thing to do,” he said. “Adding public facilities didn’t have a big effect on the bottom line at first, but it did affect the culture.”
“I spoke to a lot of people trying to understand what the different perspectives were on what we should be doing and what we should aspire to do,” he says. “They all said we have to grow. I mean, every person who has been involved in the organization said we need to try to grow.”
Whitten points to outside factors that helped what became his mission.
The GAM has reached 100,000-plus active memberships, up dramatically from 58,000 just five years ago.
Jeff Rivard, a Michigan native, came to the GAM as its third executive director in 1984, following James D. Standish III and Bud Erickson, and he served through 1992. He was on the scene for the most meaningful change in the association’s history. In 1985, the GAM changed its bylaws to include public golf facilities in the GAM family and services. Previously, and for 66 years, it had been an
It wasn’t always clear sailing for the GAM. The association suffered when the golf industry and the economy suffered, and in 1999, a crisis emerged. The GAM had unsuccessfully pursued a plan to build Golf House Michigan and adopt a new golf handicap computation platform. Several clubs and courses reacted by dropping from the membership rolls, and the association was on the brink of bankruptcy. The answer was to hire a numbers guy, David Graham, who had never worked in golf but had a history that included turning businesses around. Graham changed the financial structure of the GAM, created more member benefits, added sponsorships to develop alternative revenue streams, and concentrated on providing members with more value.
When Whitten was hired by the GAM in 2019 to replace Graham, whose contributions over his 18 years as executive director landed him in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, the message Whitten received was clear.
“[That participation] in golf increased during and after the pandemic is a big factor, and then you have the incredible support of the USGA in rolling out new programs for the Allied Golf Associations to get people involved in golf,” he says. “I feel like we had a little bit of momentum, and then with the other factors, we were able to step on the gas at the right time to further that momentum.
“The GAM has wanted to grow for a long time, and it was just the circumstances and the hard work of volunteers, governors, past presidents and staff, new people getting involved in the game — and that allowed it to come together and finally allow a significant increase. I think we owe a big thank-you to our member clubs, the private and the public. They saw it happening, and they were aggressive in adding new members.”
Whitten isn’t ready to add a new aspirational number for membership.
“Let’s get through the season, and then we’ll maybe circle another number,” he says with a laugh. “I do think the fact junior golfers are coming to the game in such large numbers now gives us some kind of quiet confidence for the future. We’ve got to work on the junior members becoming lifelong members when they turn 18 and go off to college. We need to keep them in the fold and keep them as part of our story. If we can do that, and we keep recruiting new generations of golfers, the sky is the limit because Michigan is such a great golf state.”
47th Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship
Alena Li of Okemos goes back-to-back
Alena Li of Okemos became just the second golfer to win backto-back Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Championships, and she had to beat a younger challenger from her hometown to do it.
Li, 17 and headed to the University of Michigan in the fall for academics rather than golf, turned back 14-year-old Saisha Patil, 4 and 2, in the championship match Sunday in the 47th edition of the state championship presented by Imperial Headwear at Ferris State’s Katke Golf Course.
“It was really cool that two people from Okemos were able to play in the final,” Li said. “It’s just amazing that we’re both from the same place and now I’m getting to know her a little bit more.”
Li, last year’s Golf Association of Michigan Girls’ Player of the Year, played steadily across the front nine and built a 3-up lead by taking advantage of Patil miscues. She went 4-up on last year’s GAM 15-and-under Girls’ Player of the Year on the par-3 13th with a birdie and eventually put the match away on 16.
She matched the feat of Kerrigan Parks of Flushing, who was the first to win consecutive Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateurs, in 2016 and ’17.
Alena Li of Okemos holds the trophy after winning her second straight Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship with a 4 and 2 victory in the final at Katke Golf Course.
“It is such an honor to win this championship two times in a row,” Li said. “It’s one that I have played in for a lot of years, and it’s always cool to come and play with all of these great players from Michigan.”
In the 15-and-under division, Cameron Baker of Novi demonstrated she is one of Michigan’s top junior golfers.
The 15-year-old Northville High School student turned back 12-year-old Hannah Kim of Troy, 1-up, in that division title match.
Li earned her spot in the championship match with a 2 and 1 win over Olivia Griswold of Portage, while Patil bested Grace Slocum of Traverse City 2 and 1 in the other morning semifinal.
Baker made her way to the 15-and-under title match with a 4 and 3 win over Anika Srivastava of Okemos in the semifinals, and Kim had to go 19 holes to turn away Sixtine Charnelet of Bloomfield Hills.
Li said she felt her game progressed through the week.
“It is such an honor to win this championship two times in a row. It’s one that I have played in for a lot of years, and it’s always cool to come and play with all of these great players from Michigan.”
—Alena Li, winner of the 47th Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship
“As the week went on, I felt more comfortable and more confident with my shots,” she said. “The key was just staying patient, staying confident, and just playing my game. I made a lot of pars. The course was tough, so I just tried to minimize risks and stayed with my strategy.”
Patil, who just last year won the 15-andunder Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur title, said she was proud of herself for having reached the championship match against Li.
“There are so many great players, and getting to play Alena was a big accomplishment for me,” she said. “My performance up until the [final match] was good, but my game was just not there during the finals. I made mistakes and she made pars.”
“I’m really happy I was able to come out here and actually accomplish what I was trying to do for a while. It’s my biggest win by far. Last year put it in my mind that it was possible, … and I was just trying to take in one match at a time.”
—Macie Elzinga, winner of the 109th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship
With the win, she earned an exemption from the USGA into the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship later this summer at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
“I’ve been to one [U.S. Girls’ Championship] but never the Women’s Championship, so I’m really excited for it,” she said.
109th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship
Macie Elzinga of Byron Center wins at Eagle Eye
Byron Center’s Macie Elzinga had the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship on her mind.
“It stung a lot last year, coming up short, and I was thinking about it all year long,” she said.
The sting is gone, and she can think about winning it now for years to come, as her name will go on the historic Patti Shook Boice Trophy as the champion of the 109th edition of the state championship presented by Carl’s Golfland at Eagle Eye Golf & Banquet Center.
The 19-year-old Bowling Green State golfer outlasted 2019 champion Elayna Bowser of Dearborn 2 and 1 in the championship match July 11, a year removed from losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Shannon Kennedy of Beverly Hills and Michigan State.
“I’m really happy I was able to come out here and actually accomplish what I was trying to do for a while,” Elzinga said. “It’s my biggest win by far. Last year put it in my mind that it was possible, … and I was just trying to take in one match at a time.”
In the championship match, Elzinga and Bowser traded pars and 1-up leads in a tense battle. Things changed at No. 13, a long par 4 bordered by water on the right side.
Bowser, 1-up at the time, hit an approach shot well short of the green and made bogey, and with a par off a 210-yard 4-hybrid shot to the middle of the green, Elzinga tied the match.
At the par-5 No. 14, Bowser hit a drive wide right into a deep grass bunker and played to another bogey while Elzinga made a sand-save par from the bunker in front of the green to go 1-up. Bowser missed the green from the rough at the par-4 No.15 hole, which resulted in another bogey. They both parred No. 16, and Elzinga took the 2-up lead to the island green par-3 No. 17 hole.
She needed just a par to tie and secured that with a shot to the middle of the green and a lag putt that settled close to the hole.
“I think the shot I hit into 13 was the best shot of the day,” she said. “To get a win on a long hole like that, especially because I’m a shorter hitter, gave me momentum, and I was able to win the next two holes in a row.”
Bowser, 28 and a real estate agent, called it bad timing.
“I played my worst round of the week in the worst round to do that,” she said. “I just couldn’t get a birdie putt to go, and it was just pars out there until I made mistakes, and she took advantage like you have to and got the lead. I got to the finals again, and I lost to a good player. I feel good about that.”
Macie Elzinga of Byron Center holds the Patti Shook Boice Trophy after winning the 109th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship with a 2 and 1 victory at Eagle Eye.
Amateur Recaps
114th Michigan Amateur Championship
Michigan State golfer Caleb Bond of Williamston wins at Belvedere
Astunning 60-foot birdie putt on No. 16 tied the match, and a two-putt par from 20 feet wrapped it up on No. 18.
Caleb Bond, a Michigan State golfer from Williamston, beat PJ Maybank, a University of Oklahoma golfer from Cheboygan, 1-up on June 21 in a tense and birdie-filled championship match at the 114th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland at the 100-year-old Belvedere Golf Club.
“To win an event like this, especially with match play, takes a lot of luck and a lot of help,” said Bond, who with the victory
will have his name inscribed on the historic Staghorn Trophy and earn a USGA exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship later this summer. “That’s always the goal, and having to give that speech with the trophy is something you play through your head ever since you were a kid.”
Bond went 1-up on the first hole with a birdie, and Maybank tied it on the second with a birdie. Bond had the biggest lead in the match at 2-up, but Maybank holed a 30-foot flop shot from heavy rough for a birdie at No. 7 and then won No. 9 with a par to tie the match through nine holes. Maybank made a birdie on No. 10 to take
his first lead, but Bond tied it at No. 12 with a birdie. Maybank made a birdie on 15 to lead again, and then Bond dropped the dramatic putt at 16.
“I made a little bit of a mistake in my driving in the rough there, especially with that pin [hole location off the front right edge],” he said. “I hit a decent wedge, but it had to be 60 feet. PJ missing the green there gave me a little bit of an opportunity. I didn’t expect to make it. I just focused on the speed and finding a good line. That was pretty fortunate and just a good putt that went in the hole.”
Maybank said Bond played great in the final.
“I didn’t hit a very good iron shot [on 18] and had about a 50-footer downhill and uphill and back downhill again, and I left it 10 feet short and missed that, unfortunately,” Maybank said. “All he had to do was get his par. But he played awesome. He deserves it. I thought I had him when I was 2-up, but then he made that freaky 60-footer on 16. I guess that’s golf. You lose a lot more than you win, that’s for sure.”
Bond said beating Maybank, a two-time Michigan Junior State Amateur champion and top-level recruit out of high school, was a full-circle moment.
“I know how good PJ is, and it was great to see him come back to the Michigan Am this year,” he said. “I played PJ in the semifinals of the Michigan Junior [State Amateur] and lost on 18. It was my turn to win on 18 this time, and that was pretty awesome.”
“To win an event like this, especially with match play, takes a lot of luck and a lot of help. That’s always the goal, and having to give that speech with the trophy is something you play through your head ever since you were a kid.”
—Caleb
Bond, winner of the 114th Michigan Amateur Championship
Caleb Bond of Williamston holds the historic Staghorn Trophy after winning the 114th Michigan Amateur 1 up over PJ Maybank.
“It was a tough path, but I feel pretty good that I accomplished what I did. I mean, this is easily the biggest win I’ve had. It definitely means a lot to beat a lot of good players.”
—JP Levan, winner of the 47th Michigan Junior Amateur Championship
JP Levan of Grand Rapids holds the trophy after winning the 47th Michigan Junior Amateur Championship with a 1-up victory at Forest Akers West.
47th Michigan Junior Amateur Championship
JP Levan of Grand Rapids holds on for the win
JP Levan of Grand Rapids held off past champion Max VanderMolen of Richland 1-up to win the 47th Michigan Junior Amateur Championship at Michigan State’s Forest Akers West Golf Course on June 25.
The 16-year-old East Grand Rapids High School golfer led most of the day before VanderMolen tied the match at hole No. 14. Levan responded by winning 15, however, and held on.
“It was a tough path, but I feel pretty good that I accomplished what I did,” Levan said.
“I mean, this is easily the biggest win I’ve had. It definitely means a lot to beat a lot of good players.”
With the victory, Levan earned a USGA exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship later this summer.
“I’m very excited to play there,” he said. “It’s the biggest tournament in junior golf, so obviously it means a lot to me.”
Levan, who was 2-up through three holes and 2-up through nine, got a good read off a putt by VanderMolen on No. 15 that helped him take the final 1-up lead.
“I saw Max’s putt, and it broke a little more than I thought,” he said. “So, I just played it a little outside of the hole on the left and made a good stroke and knocked it in.”
VanderMolen, the 2022 champion at a record-setting age 14, said he didn’t have his best golf all week but was proud that he was able to grind all the way to the finals.
“JP played great today, and he’s a great player, so I couldn’t be happier for him,” he said. “I was super excited to get back to the finals, but I just couldn’t get it done. I’ll be excited to be back next year, and hopefully I’ll win it.”
Levan reached the final match with a 5 and 4 morning semifinal win over William Pennanen of Oxford, and VanderMolen made his way to the finals by besting Nicklaus Smith of Rochester 4 and 3.
A 15-and-under champion was also determined on June 25.
Blake Springstead of Kewadin, a 15-yearold Elk Rapids High School golfer, outlasted Rodrigo Dugarte of Troy in 20 holes to win the title.
Springstead reached the finals with a 2 and 1 semifinal win over Wyatt Reid of South Lyon. Dugarte reached the final match with a win over Timothy Wagemann of Haslett in 21 holes.
Springstead led for most of the championship match, but Rodrigo tied the match with a birdie at No. 18 to force extra holes.
The playoff was conducted on holes 1 and 17, and it was on 17 where Springstead made a bogey 4 while Rodrigo carded a 6.
“It means a lot,” Springstead said. “I haven’t played that great in a lot of tournaments, but I got it done this week.”
He said he would celebrate some by visiting with the other young players who play and practice at A-Ga-Ming Resort in Kewadin.
“This is a big win for me,” he said.
Stifel
Upon
Michigan Region
Faces of the GAM
IOn the Go
Golf coach Nathan Oake has a lot on his plate working with junior golfers and helping with the redevelopment of Dunham Hills
/ BY TERRY MOORE
n Southeast Michigan, junior and prep golfers are well aware of Nathan Oake. For 20 years, he has led the highly successful Kensington Junior Tour, which annually attracts over 300 junior golfers to its weekly tournaments. A PGA member for 26 years, Oake says working with juniors is his “favorite thing to do in the entire world.” Remembering his junior golf days, Oake recalls his first set of clubs and “learning how to play the game and then learning how to compete.”
He’s also a popular high school teacher and longtime golf coach at Hartland High School. His teams continue to be regular contenders for regional and state tournaments, and he has coached several All-State players. In 2023, the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association honored Oake and inducted him into its prestigious Coaches Hall of Fame.
Course in Hartland, Oake knows his summers will be even busier. A longtime Golf Association of Michigan member course, Dunham Hills was purchased last December to be rebranded into a premium semiprivate course, similar to Charlevoix’s Belvedere Golf Club and clubs overseas. “I was excited about the vision and plans for the course,” Oake says, “so I became involved.”
Oake reports that the course currently is undergoing thinning and modernization while some unnecessary growth is being reduced to make the course more playable. However, the more significant news is that acclaimed Michigan architect Mike DeVries, known for his iconic designs of the Kingsley Club and Greywalls, among others, has been retained to transform the scenic and rolling property into a destination for metro Detroit.
Like many observers, Oake is amazed at the quality of play by both junior and high school golfers. “I’ve seen kids that are just flat-out athletes come into the game, realize that they love it, and they just pound it out there. And my goodness, the scores keep getting lower.”
Oake says he and his spouse, Chasta, and their two young sons, Aidan and Colton, are a “family devoted to golf.”
“We enjoy it thoroughly, and it pretty much rules our calendar each summer,” he says.
As part of the new investor group and a member of the board of directors for Dunham Hills Golf
“Mike is a visionary when it comes to architecture, the use of land, and its natural form,” Oake says. “An artist who loves the game, Mike knows how to design and build holes that are fun to play.” When asked if there were other architects considered, Oak quickly replies: “It was Mike and only Mike.”
If all goes as planned, the new layout, to be called The Proving Ground Golf Club in homage to the auto industry, complete with a racing car logo, will open in 2027.
Until then, Oake will remain ever on the go, working with aspiring golfers and advancing the game.
Nathan Oake
Nathan Oake (left) and his spouse, Chasta, and kids, Aidan and Colton, love golf.
GAM volunteer
Betty Woods (right) poses with Judy Lazzaro, former GAM president.
No Place Like Home
World traveler and tireless
GAM volunteer Betty Woods always finds her way back to a Michigan golf course
/ BY GREG JOHNSON
Betty Woods has traveled the world, but to those in the Golf Association of Michigan family, she’s the ultimate volunteer who can usually be found at Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club, involved and making things happen.
Earlier this spring, she became a GAM Honored Governor, which is just the latest accolade she has earned. In 2019, the 100th anniversary year of the GAM, she received the Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest honor.
“Betty is tireless,” said Sara Wold, former GAM president, when presenting that award. “Whatever needs to be done, she will do it.”
Over the last three decades, Woods has volunteered in course rating, served as a club representative, and served as a governor and rules official.
Along the way, she served on the executive committee of the former Women’s Michigan Golf Association, which administered the Michigan Women’s Amateur before the GAM took the reins at the WMGA’s request. She also did national golf volunteer work as a longtime member of the United States Golf Association’s Senior Women’s Committee.
She doesn’t play the game any longer, and she sticks close to home with her GAM involvement, mostly working tournaments and qualifiers at Grosse Ile or nearby West Shore CC.
Back in the day, however — and she doesn’t want her age reported — she
“Betty is tireless. Whatever needs to be done, she will do it.”
—Sara Wold, former GAM president
competed in GAM tournaments. She has won eight Grosse Ile G&CC club championships and several invitationals, too.
She goes to bed early and gets up around 4:30 a.m., still taking on the task of keeping the flower displays that decorate Grosse Ile G&CC looking sharp and serving on committees like the Handicap Committee, the Men’s Invitational Committee, and more.
“If somebody gives me the responsibility to do something, I follow through and complete it,” she says.
Woods started playing golf around 1971, when her late husband, Ronald,
urged her to take up the game.
“I kind of got addicted to it, and then because he was very involved with the [Western Golf Association’s] Evans Scholars program, I got involved, and it was something we did together for a long time,” she says. “After he passed away in 1996, I stayed involved. For several years, I helped with the Evans Scholars, and I’m still on a bunch of the committees at the club. I like to stay active. I love golf. I like to help at the club.”
For a few years, she was part of the Nomads Travel Club.
“I’ve been around the world a couple of times,” she says. “I worked in accounting for 12 years in what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers, where my husband worked. I’ve done some other things besides golf, but it’s mostly golf and the club now. It keeps me going. I enjoy helping. I don’t do it for accolades or anything like that.”
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900 and Counting
Former GAM president Mark Bultema hits course-rating record
/ BY TERRY MOORE
Mark Bultema, a past president of the Golf Association of Michigan, reached a notable milestone in May: He rated his 900th course, The Lynx GC in Otsego, for the GAM.
As established by the USGA, course rating is the process that assesses the effective length of a golf course and the obstacles and challenges that players face in their respective landing zones around the course. The result is an expected score for a scratch player for a good round. It also sets the standard for a player’s Handicap Index for that course, informing players of their allotted “stroke holes” for that course. Hence, it’s a crucial element of the game and how it’s played.
Put another way, course rating is “golf common sense applied statistically,” Bultema says. And he’s been doing it since 1998, when he heard about it from a recently retired neighbor. “One might say course rating was a perfect fit for my experience and mindset as a job cost estimator and sales representative,” he says. “Course rating involves collecting and analyzing data to determine an outcome.
“Course rating involves collecting and analyzing data to determine an outcome. That’s right up my alley.”
—Mark Bultema, GAM course rater and former president
That’s right up my alley.”
When he started with the GAM, there were 25–30 raters in the entire state. “Before the internet and emails, communication was slower and more cumbersome,” says Bultema, a resident of Grand Rapids. “Today, there are more than 110 raters fully engaged in covering Michigan, including four in the Upper Peninsula. And they’re all volunteers.”
The added numbers mean courses are now rated in a timelier fashion. Michigan was the first state to have raters work on the front
Bultema
is a past GAM president who recently rated his 900th golf course — a milestone achieved after more than 25 years of service to the game.
and the second nine simultaneously, thereby speeding up the process. “With a typical day starting at 8 a.m., we now can finish up the process by lunchtime and then allow raters to play the course, which is strongly encouraged by the USGA to strengthen the evaluation process,” Bultema says.
During his long tenure, he says, the process for course rating has remained essentially unchanged, with some adjustments made because of improvements in agronomy and course maintenance. “When I started, the average Stimp reading or green speed was probably 7.5 to 8.5 feet on public courses, whereas private courses were averaging 8.5 to 9.5 feet,” Bultema says. “Today, Stimp readings at most public and private courses are now at least one foot more. So that has to be taken into consideration.”
Although widely acknowledged within the GAM as responsible for significantly increasing the ranks of the rating teams, Bultema is quick to point out others who have paved the way for Michigan’s national standing in course rating. “People like Joe Luycck, Bill Lindout, Jeanne Myers, Wayne Beehler, Bob Conklin, Doug Hendershot, among others, were all instrumental and made important contributions,” he says.
However, only Bultema has rated a record 900 courses … and counting.
Mark
(left and above, fourth from left)
Women in Politics Held at Hawk Hollow GC
/ BY SARAH TURNER
State legislators and lobbyists traveled from the Michigan Capitol to nearby Hawk Hollow Golf Course to participate in the annual Women in Politics event this past May.
The Golf Association of Michigan hosted a clinic to equip women at the Capitol with valuable knowledge about golf, on-course skills, and community on course. The Michigan Women’s Golf Caucus co-chairs, Sen. Sylvia Santana, Sen. Michele Hoitenga, Rep. Kristian Grant, and Rep. Sarah Lightner, spearheaded the event, inviting all female legislators and staff within the State Capitol to attend.
Teaching professionals guided attendees through putting, chipping, and full-swing skills to assist beginner golfers and help more-experienced players fine-tune their abilities. Legislators and lobbyists had the opportunity to learn from female LPGA and PGA professionals on the range and green at Hawk Hollow.
In previous years, the GAM worked with legislators to host this event. For the inaugural event, former GAM president Sara Wold teamed up with the GAM and women in the Michigan Legislature to host a twohour rotating seminar at Michigan State that focused on putting, chipping, and long-range shots. Subsequent years saw roadblocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the event from taking place. This year marks the revitalization of the partnership with the Michigan Women’s Golf Caucus and the GAM through this clinic. “We’ve always felt that at the GAM, we should be offering this [event] as a part of growing the game,” says GAM Gov. Francine Pegues. Pegues, who contributed heavily to the success of the event, says it “exceeded” the GAM ’s expectations. Over 100 women from the State Capitol were in attendance,
Members of the Women in Politics Committee gathered with more than 100 state legislators and lobbyists at Hawk Hollow for the event held in May.
“One of the reasons the GAM wanted to be involved is we serve amateur golf in the state of Michigan, but we’re also a big member of the Golf Alliance and want to get our story across that golf is very important to the Michigan economy.”
—Judy Lazzaro, former GAM president
and over 50 of them received lessons from professionals. “I heard from all the women who took a lesson, ‘Thank you for the lessons, and thank you for encouraging me to
take the lesson,’” Pegues says. “The organizers who we worked with also thanked us and said it was terrific.”
“One of the reasons the GAM wanted to be involved is we serve amateur golf in the state of Michigan, but we’re also a big member of the Golf Alliance and want to get our story across that golf is very important to the Michigan economy,” says Judy Lazzaro, a former GAM president.
“It was important to work with Sen. Santana to offer women legislators, their staff, women lobbyists the fundamentals of a golf scramble, a golf outing, and the fundamentals of putting and chipping,” Pegues says.
Santana says that “building those relationships and being able to have spaces where women can show up and network and build relationships with other women is really crucial to our success.” Likewise, Lightner says it was “a great event to network, get to know more people, and expand your horizons.”
World Handicap System® Quiz
A. 750 yards.
B. 1,000 yards.
C. 1,500 yards.
D. 3,000 yards.
The minimum length for a nine-hole golf course to receive a Course Rating™ and Slope Rating™ is:
players. Since Cindy is playing from tees with a Course Rating that is 2.0 strokes
Scott and Cindy are playing a match from different tees, but par is 72 for both players. Since Cindy is playing from tees with a Course Rating that is 2.0 strokes higher than the tees Scott is playing from, Cindy must add 2 strokes to her Playing Handicap for the match.
A. True.
On the par-5 16th hole, during a fourball stroke play competition, Nancy’s partner holes out for a 4 to birdie the hole. Nancy, who is lying 4, picks up her ball 10 feet from the hole since she can’t better her partner’s score. What score should Nancy record for handicap purposes?
Scores made in which of the following formats of play are acceptable and must be posted for handicap purposes?
A. Foursomes (alternate shot) match play.
B. Three-player scramble.
C. Four-ball match play.
D. All of the above.
A. Post the score, if discoverable.
A player failed to post an acceptable score and does not have a justified reason. What options are available to the Handicap Committee?
B. False.
6. At New Jersey National Golf Club, the
A. She does not have an acceptable score since the hole was not completed.
B. Net par. 10.
2024, but indicated that the round was ment will still be applied when Lenny’s Score Differential is calculated.
At New Jersey National Golf Club, the playing conditions calculation (PCC) on May 1, 2024, produced an adjustment of +2.0. Lenny posted a score on May 5, 2024, but indicated that the round was played on May 1. The +2.0 PCC adjustment will still be applied when Lenny’s Score Differential is calculated.
C. Most likely score.
D. Par + 5 strokes.
A. True.
B. False.
7. On April 20, 2024, Todd played seven
The Course Handicap adjusted for any handicap allowances or Terms of the Competition is known as a ___________. This value represents the actual number of strokes the player gives or receives in a competition.
A. Handicap Index.
B. Playing Handicap.
B. Post a penalty score, if the actual score is not discoverable.
C. Do not post the score.
D. Both A and B.
4. For a golfer with an established Handicap Index, which of the following statements are true regarding rounds of 10 to 17 holes played?
A. The score is unacceptable for handicap purposes.
B. Hole-by-hole score posting is required.
C. Net double bogey is the score recorded for the remaining hole(s).
D. Both B and C.
7. On April 20, 2024, Todd played seven holes on the front nine before stopping play because of severe weather. He played enough holes to have an acceptable score for handicap purposes.
A. True.
B. False.
8. Lee has a Course Handicap of 12. On a par-4 hole with a stroke index of 6, his net double bogey maximum score for handicap purposes is:
A. 6.
B. 7.
C. 8.
D. 9.
C. Golf Handicap.
D. Competition Handicap.
Answers
A. 750 yards.
C. Four-ball match play.
D. Both A and B.
B. Hole-by-hole score posting is required.
B. False.
A. True.
B. False.
B. 7.
C. Most likely score.
B. Playing Handicap.
GAM crews clear the fairways following storms during the 2025 Michigan Amateur at Belvedere Golf Club.