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APRIL 2020

Michigan’s Tour Pros:

NAVIGATING GOLF’s PAUSE BUTTON

Pete Dye’s Influence on Michigan Golf

TOM IZZO: A Golf Q&A Kraig Kann: Life After The Golf Channel

Add More Fun to Your Golf Game

Cover: Gull Lake View Resort, Bedford Valley

Michigan Golf Journal Michigan Golf Journal

Biding Our Time

It should be no surprise to readers that this could be the most unusual magazine edition I have put together in the first three years of the Michigan Golf Journal.

activities people in Michigan should be able to participate in during these tested times – it’s played outdoors, in fresh air, without the need to come too close to others.

Typically, much of the magazine content is planned out in advance, with more recent news added in the few remaining days just before deadline. However, during the March lead into April, our global, national and local news was changing on a daily basis due to the COVID-19 situation. So, under the circumstances, please bear with us in realizing that all the information shared in the following pages was as accurate as possible as of March 30, when the creative layout design process was underway.

We also encourage golf lovers to keep planning that summer or fall buddy’s trip to a resort, or invite friends who don’t normally play golf to a putting contest outdoors – or review the other ideas shared on pages 2829 in the story of “Have More Fun in Your Foursome.”

One thing that has become abundantly clear is that the game of golf is one of the few

Tom Lang Publisher/Editor

My best wishes go out to everyone. I hope the game of golf – and all of us – come out stronger on the other side. Regards,

What’s Inside: 04

Links at Hunters Ridge, 25 years

Pete Dye’s Impact on Michigan Golf

Tom Izzo: A Golf Q&A

Have More Fun in your Foursome

Newly Improved Driver and Hybrids

Kraig Kann: from Kazoo TV to The Golf Channel

How Michigan’s Tour Pros are Reacting

Michigan News and Notes

Michigan 25 YearsGolf for Journal Hunters Ridge

Links at Hunters Ridge:

25 Anniversary Year th

By Tom Lang

A slight name change last year was the first sign for golfers that something new was going on at Hunters Ridge, located in the farming region just north of Howell, between Lansing and Detroit. The sprucing up to what was once a U.S. Open qualifying site, Links at Hunters Ridge is led by a group of new owners that are longtime pals and graduates of Michigan State University. “We make up an entire team that will manage it with all sorts of

backgrounds in legal, banking, golf, marketing, hospitality; compared to the prior owners who were literally mom and pop,” said Gary Kendra, a lawyer, golf lover and the quasi-spokesperson of the group, which purchased the property last year from former owners Joe and Janet Miesle. Their son, Mike Miesle, has been the course superintendent since day one, 25 years ago and has stayed onboard. A handful of upgrades were made last year, but

this spring golfers will see major renovations have been made to the log-cabinstyle clubhouse. In the next couple years a few course design changes will also take place. According to Kendra, they were able to secure a liquor license for which the locals said was the first one obtained in that township since Prohibition. Major enhancements in food choices will be offered and a large deck overlooking the 18th green is being upgraded.

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

One new partner, Jenny Simich, will be using her marketing and promotions background to expand offerings at the course, especially hoping to attract more women and youth. “My husband came home one day with what he said was a crazy idea,” Simich said. “And I said ‘What?! We’re not golf coursebuying type of people.’ When we went out to the property to look around (late winter 2019), my first step on the course, I stepped on a golf ball under some snow and as I looked around, it was like, ‘wow, this has some possibilities.’ We got really excited about it, and we thought our ownership structure would be a really nice set of skills, and we could put in some sweat equity.” One thing that stood out to the new collection of co-owners was how helpful the golfing community in Michigan has been at lending advise, support and suggestions to become successful in their new venture. Both Kendra and Simich said they have been very impressed by, and thankful for, the gracious help and ideas coming from other golf course

owners – which is so unlike the cutthroat battles they face in the other industries where they have full-time careers. Jan Brintnall, a Lansing native who is an LPGA Teaching Professional and the instructor for “The Business of Golf” at the Eli Broad College of Business at MSU, will be offering learning opportunities through the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program. Also on tap will be multiple-day clinics for boys and girls and adults, plus MotherChild, Father-Child and Grandparent-Child Golf Days that will provide instruction and team games. “It is so refreshing to work with such enthusiastic and

forward-thinking golf course owners and managers,” Brintnall said. “It’s not easy to balance traditional golf for accomplished players with new and innovative golf experiences for folks interested in a more relaxed recreational round. The more serious players will love the challenging layout while new golfers, younger golfers and women golfers will find The Links at Hunters Ridge both welcoming and supportive.” A June 6 Grand Reopening is planned to officially launch the new clubhouse and tavern renovations, with live music, lessons, food and guest appearances. More information can be found at: www. golfhuntersridge.com MGJ

MichiganTom Golf Izzo Journal Coach On Golf

Tom Izzo Talks Golf With Tom Lang

Editor’s note: this Q&A was completed with MSU Coach Izzo in late 2018, but considering the fact the COVID-19 situation caused complete chaos in the world of sports – as a small solace to what players and fans lost this late winter and early spring, we thought it would be fun to reprint Izzo’s perspective about the game of golf. Enjoy. MSU coach Tom Izzo needs little introduction to sports fans in any arena. Yet, what so few know is that he grew up playing golf with his father in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Admittedly, the high demands of a hugely-successful NCAA coaching career eats into the time available to still play golf, but Izzo remains fond of the sport and shared his thoughts one-on-one with Michigan Golf Journal.

When did you fall in love with the game of golf?

“I was 10 or 11 years old and my dad took me golfing a few times. Not that we had many courses in the U.P. – and the season seemed like it lasted three months because of the weather. But my dad golfed, and I always enjoyed it and got pretty good at it at a young age. Just had good eye-hand coordination, not anything else. I liked golf. I thought it was a great, great sport.”

Do you still play?

“I don’t play enough. I went from liking golf to loving it, but since I’ve been a head coach I don’t think I average more than 6-to-7 times a year, and that bothers me because I’d love to play more. When I got the job and had kids, that combination is tough for golf. But I had a chance to Continues on page 8 >>

MichiganTom Golf Izzo Journal Coach On Golf

in a pro-am with Tiger Woods, and I played Augusta a couple years ago, so I’ve had the chance to do some cool things with golf. Also played Spyglass. So, all that stuff is really neat. I just don’t get to play enough.”

Describe your Augusta National experience:

“Well I went 50-some years never playing it, to playing it twice within a year. I really enjoyed it. Both times I was able to stay there. Play 18, stay overnight, play 18 again. Behind the scenes is awesome. The course itself; I was amazed at how open it was, but I was also amazed at how tough the greens were. And the third thing that amazed me was how important

the caddies are. I’d see one break and they’d say no, go the other way. They were right, I was wrong. It’s pretty hilly, like a northern Michigan course. But it was an amazing experience. One I will cherish my whole life.”

Do you see similarities between the sports of golf and basketball?

“At least one. If you get in a zone in golf you can really do some things that’s like a shooter in basketball. Confidence plays such a key part. When you see players like Mickelson and Woods even struggle at times, depending if they’re hot or cold, it’s like seeing a great shooter struggle at times. I think the confidence factor is different in football, but golf and basketball have that kind of confidence factor.”

Of all the players that have come through your program today or in the past, which ones seem to have the most passion for the game of golf?

“I’d say Steve Smith, Matt Steigenga, Gregory Kelser. He wasn’t one of my players but he’s with us so much, I consider him. They’re all pretty good golfers. Mike Continues on page 10 >>

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MichiganTom Golf Izzo Journal Coach On Golf

Peplowski is a good golfer, and Dwayne Stevens, former player and my current assistant, he loves the game of golf. Drew Neitzel is another guy that’s a pretty good golfer, and I think he golfs right-handed (shot basketballs left-handed); he’s pretty ambidextrous. I think they are the guys that enjoy golf the most.” (Editor’s note: we believe Izzo would now add guard Jack Hoiberg to the list.)

What coaching tactics or motivation would you try if you could be a Ryder Cup or President’s Cup captain?

“I went to the one Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills. It was impressive. I do like watching the strategy; I don’t understand it all though to be honest with you. But I think the hardest thing about golf is that it’s such a temperamental sport. I’d probably be the worst golf coach in the history of the game.”

When you travel all around the country, what do you hear people say about golf in Michigan?

“I think a lot of people think there’s a lot of great courses in Michigan, and I mean a lot of great courses. I think they love it here. A lot of people talk about our courses.

And now we have the PGA Tour coming to Detroit. Things like that are so good for us. I’m a big advocate of the courses in Michigan, too. I think they are beautiful, they’re pretty. I like courses that are cut out of the woods, even though I struggle with them sometimes.”

Q A

Do you have a golf course bucket list?

“That’s a great question. I’d like to try the one in Oregon, Bandon Dunes. A lot of people tell me about that. And I’d like to play the one out on Long Island, Shinnecock Hills. Those would be my two bucket list courses. And any good U.P. courses I like to play. And I like Arcadia.” MGJ

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Michigan Golf Review Journal Equipment

Improved High Heat Fairway Clubs

“The most significant new technology for amateurs in the past 25 years” By Ed Travis

Knuth Golf started with the simple idea of making high quality golf clubs optimized for amateur players, not professionals – the benchmark often used by other companies for their designs. The first High Heat brand metalwoods and hybrids were well received – yet when the USGA increased the allowable amount of rebound for areas of the face outside the center, founders Dean Knuth and Steve Trattner saw an opportunity. Knuth is the retired USGA Director of Handicapping and inventor of the Course Rating and Slope System while Trattner is a former USGA intellectual property attorney. Knuth invented what is called 3-Trampoline Technology, a construction giving the clubface higher rebound towards the heel and toe than in the center – all

perfectly legal and within the Rules of Golf. These 257+ metalwoods — drivers, fairways and hybrids – are a real help to amateurs, many of whom tend to hit the ball towards the toe or the heel. They get more distance plus better control. High Heat 257+ metalwoods are the only clubs with three rebound zones and Knuth is the only brand that has this capability. Tony Leodora, NBC Sports TV and ESPN Radio called it “the most significant new technology for amateurs in the past 25 years.”

Lots of amateurs, especially higher handicap players, have downswings even with their woods that are too steep, and this vertical angle of attack can cause large divots. Some call this “digging” or hitting it fat, but whatever the word it is a shot destroyer. Knuth knew if he could come up with a design that didn’t “dig”, golfers could do away with fat shots which would be a winner. The solution he came up with is the Turf Glider Sole (TGS) which is now built in to all the High Heat 257+ fairway woods and hybrids

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

and it’s a tremendous confidence booster. Combined with the head’s low center of gravity the ball gets up and out of most any lie including fairway bunkers. We took the High Head 257+ 3-wood ($399) and 3-hybrid ($299) to the range and then the course with interesting results and our comments apply to both unless noted otherwise. Fairway bunkers: tried only the hybrid from the sand. The ball came out with no adjustment to the swing other than using less lower body to guard against slipping Fairway: High and solid with the expected distance Rough: Impressed with how both clubs got the ball out with minimum of twisting the club at impact. Tried the hybrid from 3-inch high Bermuda which here in Florida is usually unplayable. Six swings, each reached the fairway and one measured at more than 180-yards. Fairway divot: Divots on the range were used varying in depth from shallow to almost an inch deep and shots were hit from the center to the rear of the

divot. Both clubs performed extremely well and while the hybrid getting the ball up and away was not surprising the 3-wood did exactly the same. There was a definite feeling of the sole skimming through the depression. The TGS is truly a different configuration with a rounded leading edge of the sole merging to a high rounded center section that tapers sharply to a thin rear edge. Best of all it works and even though my particular swing fault is not “digging,” the results of shots hit from the rough and fairway divots in my evaluation give the High Head 257+ 3-wood and 3-hybrid all the credibility they need. To order and for further details go to HighHeatGolf.com. MGJ

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Michigan Golf Journal COVID-19 Perspective

Golf Hit the Pause Button Yet it’s the perfect outdoor activity that’s safe and socially distant By Tom Lang

It would be foolish to suggest the COVID-19 situation has had little effect on the game of golf – if for no other reason than professional golf Tours have been stopped worldwide through the end of April and into early May dates for all the major Tours worldwide. The Olympic Games including the sport of golf has been postponed, too. The Masters Tournament – well known for not letting anyone dictate what they do – also postponed. That’s when I first knew this would have serious implications for golf. Yet on the bright side, the game of golf can come out of this chaos on the other side a stronger, more vibrant sports opportunity than if none of this ever happened. Golf received as much or more publicity than all other activities during the time Michigan’s governor shut down

virtually all movement in the state. And it’s all been good publicity regarding how golf is healthy, can be easily arranged for social distancing procedures, and gets people outdoors and active in the fresh air. It’s my wish that our great sport will be seen in a positive new light by people who didn’t seriously consider taking up the game before. Golf experts have shared dozens of ways to limit social contact on the course, and some might have long term effects on how the game is played moving forward, after the ‘all clear’ is given, someday – hopefully sooner than later. Some brief ideas: • Don’t grab the flagstick; the rules allow for not removing it anyway. • Pay ahead, use online tee times, to limit human

contact at the clubhouse. • Walk, don’t ride in carts (my favorite). • Courses can also make it easier to call in or text food and beverage orders to be delivered at the turn. On the following pages, we will share the thoughts and comments from 4 Michigan Touring pros on how they are handling the COVID-19 limitations (as of March 30). Like all of us, each one finds themselves in various situations. Stay well everyone – and as soon as you can, go play golf! MGJ

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

LPGA’s Liz Nagel Survived Cancer; She’ll Survive COVID-19 Shutdown as Well By Tom Lang

“My battle during college was very much one day at a time. At least me, right now I’m pretty good with ‘how do I feel today – what am I going to do today?’ And it’s the same with (when I had) cancer; I woke up and asked myself if I feel okay today, can I go practice, do I push it, do I have the energy?’ It becomes one day at a time, one little victory at a time.

On March 20, the LPGA Tour postponed three additional tournaments that had not already been cancelled, making sure that ladies professional golf will not commence again before early May at the soonest. Michigander Liz Nagel of DeWitt, age 28, has been playing this year with a full LPGA Tour Card, and talked with me the same day of the LPGA Tour announcement. In very good spirits, Nagel explained how this shutdown for pro tournaments has similarities to when her golf game was shut down between the fall and springs seasons of her senior year at Michigan State, when she underwent treatment for Thyroid cancer – and made a full recovery. “It’s really a one day at a time thing,” she told me about the current pause in the schedule. “And that really relates more to my cancer recovery than anything.

Nagel last played the LPGA Tour event in Australia, then went to Florida while temperatures were still frigid in Michigan. She planned to only stay in the south for three weeks – now it might total six or more. On the day we talked, meat and chicken were no where to be found in the Florida grocery store, so she was buying ingredients for fish tacos for her grandmother, and parents who were visiting. “I do think it’s a little bit like my break that I had to take for the cancer recovery,” she added about the unexpected down time that feels most like the break between pro seasons. “Back then I had a date I was looking at to come back yet didn’t know if I’d be able to. That (cancer) part was worrying more about physical health, now it’s almost more about just staying put. “I’m relaxing, reading more than I’d get to do. And I’m with my family which is great because I don’t get to see them that much.” MGJ

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COVID-19 Perspective

Michigan PGA Tour Pro Brian Stuard Brian Stuard is the highest earning PGA Tour player the state of Michigan has ever produced. The Jackson native climbed from Division 3 state champion at tiny Napoleon High School, to Summit (now Horizon) League Player of the Year in 2005 playing college golf at Oakland University. He earned his first PGA Tour Card in 2010 and later won the 2016 Zurich Classic in New Orleans for a Masters invitation in 2017. Stuard was playing No. 7 (his 16th hole) in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship, when pro players started hearing that the event would be closing the gates and would not allow any more fans in the rest of the tournament. That day he finished 2-underpar 70, with 5 birdies on his closing 9 holes. That same night as he tried to sleep, at 9:45

pm he read the text from the PGA Tour saying THE PLAYERS was canceled. All PGA Tour events have since been postponed or canceled with the first possible return being May 21 at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas (where Stuard now lives) – with the Rocket Mortgage Classic next on the list in Detroit, May 28-31, unless the PGA Tour shuts them down. Last year Stuard placed T5 at the Rocket Mortgage with rounds of 66-72-65-68 (17-under) at Detroit Golf Club. When we spoke on March 20, he was not practicing golf as much as he would during an active season and was doing more things around the house that otherwise get neglected, like yard work and spring cleaning. “When you see how this has affected every other

sport, and every other person and every other job, I think it would have been a little selfish for us to keep playing when everybody else is going through all this,” he said about the PGA Tour’s canceled events so far. “I think it made sense and was the right thing to do. (Pro) golf takes a back seat to what everyone else is struggling with; the country’s struggles – and the world. I think to miss a few golf tournaments is not as important as getting everyone safe and healthy.” MGJ

Michigan Golf Journal The Legend Pete Dye

Pete Dye’s Legacy and Impact on Michigan Golf By Tom Lang

The late Pete Dye’s impact on golf course design is well documented worldwide. Dye, who passed away in January at age 94, also impacted golf in Michigan in a handful of ways, but probably not more than his influence on his disciple Chris Lutzke, a graduate of Michigan State University. Lutzke is a rural, smalltown Wisconsin native that first met Dye in the 1980s as a teenager working a bulldozer at Blackwolf Run (host of U.S. Women’s Open, 1998 and 2012) for his family’s landscape construction company. Lutzke never stopped working for Dye, and to this day is finishing a handful of projects Dye started, including adjustments to Whistling Straights for the upcoming Ryder Cup in September (we all hope). Within the first few years, Dye told Lutzke he should

figure out where he was going to college.

because there was a twoyear waiting list.

“Of course, I wanted to go somewhere warm, and I got into Lake City College in Florida,” Lutzke said during a conversation with me in February. “And I told him. And Pete just looked down at the ground and shook his head, and he said, ‘Chris, if you’re going to school for agronomy, you’ve got to go to Michigan State.’”

“But low and behold,” Lutzke said with a chuckle, “my phone rings about two weeks later and it’s Trey Rogers (at MSU) telling me that if I can get there in the next week or so, I could be in his very first class at MSU. So, I went there and found 40,000 students and about 6,000 faculty and I about came out of my shoes, I was so scared to death. But it all worked out.”

Lutzke told Dye he looked at MSU but couldn’t get in

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

Dye’s designs have hosted numerous PGA Tour events – the most notably at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, home of THE PLAYERS Championship. There’s also the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island (1991 Ryder Cup), Whistling Straits, and Harbour Town Links at Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, which has hosted the PGA Tour event the week following The Masters for several decades. Most people don’t realize that Dye’s firstever 18-hole course design is in Michigan – Radrick Farms in Ann Arbor. He also collaborated in the early 2000s with Jack Nicklaus to design Wabeek Country Club in West Bloomfield (Dye and the Golden Bear also paired to create Harbour Town at Sea Pines in Hilton Head, SC) – and Dye helped guide Lutzke on his first solo project – Eagle Eye Golf Club near Lansing. When Lutzke came to MSU he hooked up with local design legend Jerry Matthews – and the pair worked on Hawk Hollow – whose owner soon after asked Lutzke to create Eagle Eye. Both are near Lansing and frequently host major tournaments. Eagle Eye was to host the NCAA Men’s Golf Regional this year before the NCAA canceled all spring sports.

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As a new Lansing area resident, Lutzke got a cell phone with the 517-area code, which he still has today. “It was the only phone number Pete Dye had for me – I was never going to change that number,” Lutzke chuckled. At Eagle Eye, Lutzke said Dye reviewed the routing, and he made Hole 13 a little

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Michigan Golf Journal The Legend Pete Dye

Eagle Eye, No. 13.

longer and made a few other recommendations on routing – as well as granting permission to make the 17th hole an exact replica of the Par 3 island green 17th at TCP Sawgrass. The entire experience truly impacted Lutzke during the work from 2001-03.

field, he’d put his hands on my shoulders and say, ‘Lutzke, you’re building another Eagle Eye green.’

“When you put as much contour in the greens like I did at that time, you couldn’t make them 5,000 square feet; they had to be 8,000,” he said about Eagle Eye.

“I made his greens a lot smaller later in his design career, because he didn’t know how else to stop those good players who are hitting the ball so far. I’ll never forget how he’d say it all the time, that I built another Eagle Eye green,” Lutzke said with a laugh. “It was all good stuff; we had a lot of laughs over all the years.”

“Years after I did Eagle Eye, if I was with Pete at any of the courses we were working on, if I ever made a green too big or designed something too big in the

Dye was an accomplished golfer and competed in the U.S. Amateur several times. While in the Army and stationed at nearby Ft. Bragg, Dye would often

make the 30-mile trek to Pinehurst and came to know Donald Ross. “Pete’s relationship with Mr. Ross was one of the things of which he was most proud,” Lutzke said. Plymouth resident Paul Albanese, also a former apprentice of Matthews, teamed up with Lutzke in recent years to form a golf design and construction business that created several award-winning courses and has kept Dye’s latest projects going the past decade or so. “Really, it was the mark for an end of an era, a great era that Pete brought us into,” Albanese said about first hearing of Dye’s death.

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

“Pete was a great influence on my life even though it wasn’t as direct as it was for Chris.” The first official Albanese & Lutzke construction project for Dye was in 2004. The duo did Virginia Tech, the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort, Keswick Club and Purdue University. They have also worked on the courses at Kohler, Wis. on and off as needed – in fact Lutzke is there right now making preparations for the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straights. Albanese noted that Radrick Farms came before Dye traveled to Scotland to observe older designs.

Eagle Eye, No. 17 Island Green.

“Radrick has a much different look than a typical Pete Dye golf course,” Albanese said. “Before the 1980s, Pete’s courses look a lot like Radrick, and it’s a beautiful golf course, but with a much different aesthetic than what people think of as a Dye course.” Designed by Dye in 1962 and opened in ‘65, Radrick Farms will celebrate its 55th anniversary. Five years ago, it was ranked by Golfweek as the 17th best college campus course in the U.S.

Getting the Call:

Lutzke was driving to his home near Whistling

Straights (he also has a home in French Lick, Ind.) when Dye’s son, PD, called with the news of his father’s death. “As much as you think you’re ready for that call, there just weren’t too many people that spent as much time with him as I did the last few years,” Lutzke said. “So, it was just a lot of overwhelming emotions of memories, that really, really touched me.”

Best memories:

Lutzke said that together, “we’d try to make sense of a routing and make some plans from his napkin drawings

Michigan Golf Journal The Legend Pete Dye

Radrick Farms at U-M

so we could go get the (construction) permits. Then what I always called the Pete Dye process would begin.” That process included walking through the woods and mud and open land dragging along an 800-foot rope – the equivalent of 267 yards to measure to most landing areas in the 1980s and 90s. “It seemed like it was always on a Sunday he’d want to meet at the course and come up with new ideas and explain to me what he wanted to do. Those are the best memories ever, the weekends. And he never knew what day it was. He just knew that the sun was

shining, and we should be working.”

A never-ending story:

“It was always fun how we’d be close to finishing

a big job and the owner might ask if we think we’ll be done in a couple months – and Pete would never say that any of his courses were ever done,” Lutzke said. “Even on the Grand Opening, he would say it’s not done. There was always something that we can do to make it better. He was always very honest, and I think that’s why he kept going back to all his courses, to do something more. “And now of course, that’s going to be our job moving forward, to make decisions on his behalf, and continue the legacy.” MGJ

Chris Lutzke

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Michigan Golf More Fun inJournal Your Foursome

Have More Fun in Your Foursome By Tom Lang

use different tees. Maybe hit from the back, then the next hole the middle tees, then the next hole the forward tees. You’ll be surprised by how much fun and challenge there can be of trying lesser-used clubs, all within the same round. PGA of America

Sticking to the rules of golf is certainly fair and the right thing to do – yet knowing the time and place is equally important. That time and place should remain in competitive tournaments or handicapmeasured rounds. Otherwise, people should consider loosening up and have some freaking fun now and then. And if you are one of those people guilty of being overly-competitive, if you do relax, some friends might even invite you to play with them again.

Scramble it up: Whether it’s the entire foursome together, or teamed-up pairs battling it off, play a scramble format in your foursome. It provides the fun of second chances, lower scores, favored lies and so much more. It can also give high handicappers a chance to make approach shots from places they have never hit from before if they are paired with a longer hitter, and vice-versa. Mix up the tees: Another fun option is to

Pick up the pace: Few things take more fun out of golf than slow play. You cannot control the players ahead of you, but each person can take control within your own group. Address slow play right on the first tee by announcing everyone should play ‘ready golf.’ The notion that someone further away must always hit first is a time killer. Lighten your load: One idea shared in Golf Digest magazine is to leave more clubs in your trunk. Throw some fun into the mix by adjusting each players’ score

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

accordingly, such as: play with anywhere from 2-to-5 clubs. If you play with just two clubs, your buddies have to give you 10 strokes; or 7 strokes for three clubs, 4 strokes for four clubs or none if you use all five clubs. The players who tried it reported feeling much more liberated carrying just a few clubs in their hands and a couple golf balls in their pocket. The walk was fun as well as being forced to be more inventive in shot making.

Green Games: Only if your group remains well ahead of the group behind you, maybe pause to play a couple putting games on the green. For example, on greens with lots of undulation or are rimmed by heavily sloped chipping areas, make a game out of each person putting off the green at some point where it will funnel back toward the hole. This forces you to think more imaginatively about various ways to get to the cup.

I was in a group that tried it and a partner holed a 90-foot putt that first went off the green, caught the slope and came back and dropped into the hole. He was thrilled and said it felt as much fun as acing a holein-one. In light of the COVID-19 fear and recovery, maybe the 2020 golf season is the perfect time to try some new ways to celebrate the fact us golf lovers have such a fun and healthy activity in our lives. MGJ

MichiganGolf Golf Journal Junior

GAM: Making Junior Golf More Accessible By Greg Johnson

Just over four years ago Kyle Wolfe, the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) staff member who directs junior golf tournaments, noticed a young golfer at a tournament scoreboard attempting to figure out just where she stood against the other golfers in her age group. “She looked lost and I said to myself ‘what are we doing?’ We had all the scores grouped together instead of by age group, and it was clearly a nightmare to try and figure it out,”

Wolfe said. “It wasn’t really meeting the needs of this junior golfer, or the others for that matter.” Fast forward: Wolfe now makes sure age groups are clearly defined on GAM scoreboards and has urged changes that involve more age-group definition and competition. In 2020 the GAM plans to present and administer six junior championships, including special age group play, and hopefully conduct three United States Golf Association

qualifiers for national junior championships. “Junior golf is important to me, but also to the game and the GAM,” Wolfe said, adding that noticing that young golfer at the scoreboard fed into a significant part of the GAM’s mission with young golfers. “One of the main things we have done in the last four years is really try to listen to our customers, the golfers and their parents,” he said. “Much of what we have done and changed comes

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

from listening to what people are saying. We speak with the players, the parents, the golf instructors and the high school and college golf coaches and try to give the players a pathway to develop.” Wolfe said the passion of GAM volunteers and rules officials has been the driving force of the work with junior golfers. He said the volunteers understand the future of the game is with the juniors and he cited the special passion of Tom “Bulldog” Bollinger of Linden and Mick Kildea of Lansing, two longtime GAM volunteers: “They have been the two most important people as part of this process to make GAM junior golf better,” Wolfe said. “They drive the bus and move it forward. They take the time to teach the golfers about the game, the etiquette, the rules and character during our tournaments.” Families first venturing into GAM competition can struggle with selecting appropriate tournaments for their junior golfers. Help is available at kwolfe@gam.org or 248-978-9132, or under the JUNIORS pull down at gam.org. MGJ

2020 GAM Championships • GAM Junior Kickoff - April 25-26 at Washtenaw GC • Michigan Girls’ State Junior Amateur July 7-10 at Forest Akers East • Michigan Boys State Junior Amateur July 27-30 at TPC Michigan • GAM 14 & Under Match Play Championship - July 13-14 at Woodside GC • GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship - August 6-7 at Forest Akers East • GAM Junior Invitational - September 12-13 at Forest Akers West 2020 USGA Qualifiers • U.S. Girls’ Junior Qualifier - June 15 (Selfridge ANGB) • U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier - June 16 (Eagle Crest GC at EMU) • U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier - July 9 (The Meadows at GVSU) Other Recommended Junior Tournaments • Michigan Junior PGA Championship (June 18-19) • American Junior Golf Association (AJGA)

Michigan Golf Journal Life After Golf Channel

Former Golf Channel Commentator Kraig Kann

From West Michigan TV sports to the national stage By Tom Lang

In the media business it’s pretty rare for a small market TV sports anchor to leapfrog the big city markets and go directly to a cable TV behemoth like The Golf Channel, but golf enthusiast Kraig Kann got a bit of a break and took full advantage of the ride. Kann is a Chicago native that spent 4 years at WKZO-TV Chan. 3 in Kalamazoo before 16 years at The Golf Channel as an anchor and storyteller of some of the biggest events and players in the game. After The Golf Channel, he led the communications team for the LPGA Tour for six more years before launching his own

motivational and branding company in late 2016 – Kann Advisory Group. “I’ll never forget they flew me down to Florida firstclass, then flew me back coach; and I remember sitting on that plane thinking that didn’t go very well,” Kann said with a laugh about the first TGC job interview. “But they offered me the job and I was blown away by the opportunity. I did think it had the potential to become something big because Arnold Palmer’s name was attached to it.” Speed of Play: Kann believes that the PGA Tour is in the

driver’s seat to make a difference with pace of play issues that have plagued the game the past several years. He said, however, that course set ups are a speedof-play factor that players cannot control. “I think there is no organization that can better make a statement about pace of play – positive or negative – than the PGA Tour, because that’s what people pay the most attention to,” Kann said. “As the game evolves and they try to adapt golf courses to be able to keep up with the athlete today, they’ve got to make green speeds faster, and do certain things with the set up (like height of rough, width of fairways) that forces guys to take more time. That’s the issue. The PGA Tour is definitely the barometer and definitely the place that you would

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turn to say, ‘okay, are we making a difference that is meaningful when it comes to pace of play?’

McLendon Photography

“With all the volunteers and marshals on the course, they usually don’t waste too much time looking for golf balls, but they’ll (extend) the time golfers will stand over a shot they have to hit out of the rough to green speeds of 13, 14 each week. That is a very big challenge.” Power of the LPGA Tour: I asked Kann what he felt the LPGA Tour offers golf fans that the PGA tour might not. “In one word I would say ‘connection.’ I believe that the LPGA players are the best ambassadors for their sport in all of professional sports,” Kann answered. “The only problem they’ve had over the years is they don’t have a big enough stage or high enough

mountain from which to shout their message, so it’s an awareness issue, and it’s certainly not from a lack of dedication amongst the players or the organization. “The players will not only raise their hand and say ‘yes’ to helping when asked, they will raise their hand (in advance) and say, ‘how can I’ or ‘when can I help you?’ That’s the major difference I saw with the LPGA Tour compared to other sports organizations I have worked with.”

Elevation: Kann has quietly become one of the industry’s most influential corporate coaches and prolific public speakers. He is parlaying his onair experiences from Golf Channel and his years in sports communications into an everexpanding career as a sought-after speaker, expert communications and media consultant and renowned leadership workshop facilitator. He believes it’s not a coincidence that the game of golf often puts people in a place to succeed more often than other sports. “I think the game of golf provides, at its greatest value, an opportunity to connect with people,” he said. “Through my career at the Golf Channel and the LPGA, I had the opportunity to have conversations with some pretty influential people. I’m completely blessed to have flown in an airplane with Arnold

Life After Golf Channel Palmer, to interview five presidents of the United States, go to the White House twice, interview CEOs of corporations that sponsor the PGA and LPGA Tour events, and travel the world. “I hope that my talks and presentations will help others elevate; to elevate people to become better. I try to elevate their brands to become bigger and elevate events to become grander. And I think those goals should be for all people…it’s about spending the time to help take people to another level and help them get to where they maybe didn’t think they could get, or were told they couldn’t get, and help create ideas to get them there anyway.” Michigan will always be home: “I was always appreciative of the time I spent in Michigan,” said the Orlando, Fla. resident. “When I left, never did I think, ‘wow, I escaped local news.’ I cherished it,

and I still have connections and relationships to this day… I miss it. With high school sports you really become part of a community… I loved covering Western Michigan sports. “When I eventually landed in Michigan, I was kind of blown away by the number of really good golf courses.

And as I tell everyone yet today, the honest truth is my four years in Michigan were probably the most formative years of my career. I learned more, I met more people, and I was always impressed by the way people treated everyone. I bought my first house there and I would have loved to have raised a family in Michigan.” MGJ

To book Kraig Kann for a workshop, seminar, webinar or speaking engagement, companies may call 407-902-4542 or e-mail info@kannadvisory.com. Visit www.kannadvisory.com for more information.

Publinx Senior Golf

Publinx Senior Golf, For Men 50 and Above If you ask the leaders at the Michigan Publinx Seniors Golf Association, they’ll tell you they are the place for you if you are a serious golfer, age 50 and above who is looking for “No Mulligans, No Gimmies, No Bull.”

A slate of 14 single-day tournaments across SE Michigan are set to begin on May 12 (depending on Virus restrictions) at Pheasant Run in Canton, with other stops like Golden Fox in Plymouth, Links at Gateway near Metro Airport, Stoney Creek MetroPark in Rochester, Fieldstone in Auburn Hills, Dunham Hills in Hartland, and others, before the season ending event at Greystone in Washington Twsp. on August 18. During the season, a Match Play Tournament is planned for PohlCat in Mt. Pleasant July 27-29 and the wrapup State Open Amateur will be held at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort, August 25-27. “I really think most players enter our tournaments for the exact same reason players enter GAM or USGA events,” said organization president Tom Ahern. “It’s definitely the competition coupled with the event timing, the venues, and often the

camaraderie. We do our best to follow all GAM/USGA practices and principles but have also expanded our gross competition to include older age groupings beyond what the GAM/ USGA currently offer. “We offer optional course lengths which can be appealing to some of our more senior members who don’t hit it quite as far as they used to and prefer to play more age appropriate distances.” More information can be found via email: mpsgagolf@aol.com, or by website: www.MPSGA.org. MGJ

Michigan Golf Journal Michigan News and Notes

Free Golf Weekend at Gaylord Golf Mecca The folks in Gaylord want to lure golfers north with its popular ‘free golf weekend’ offer, April 24-26. (COVID-19 statusdependent) Sign up with any Gaylord Golf Mecca lodging host and the hotel/lodging member will arrange your tee time for 18 holes of free golf, per day, at one of the

areas’ participating member courses – such as Treetops Masterpiece, Black Lake, Gaylord Golf Club and more. Go to: www.gaylordgolfmecca.com, then chose “online offers” and scroll down to “free golf weekend” to find the participating members – then sign up for great golf at no cost. MGJ

USGA Research Grants for MSU Michigan State University received $16,600 in two grants from the USGA as part of the national golf organization’s $1.9 million in golf course sustainability research. The USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program (TERP), which is one of several continuous efforts led by the Green Section aimed at enhancing golf course sustainability, develops

and supports research that produces a healthier environment and improved playing conditions. USGA research has contributed to the reduction of an estimated 86,000 tons of annual fertilizer use on golf courses since 2007 and has defined application strategies that limit the transport of nutrients to surface water and groundwater. MGJ

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

Carl F. Rose: 1928-2020 Carl F. Rose, who took a small driving range in Pontiac, Michigan and built it into one of the largest and most successful golf retail companies in America, Carl’s Golfland, died in early March. He was 91. Carl’s Golfland is currently celebrating its 62-year anniversary and its place as one of the most successful golf retail and range operations in the country. Carl learned the game looping bags at Pontiac Country Club for some great local amateurs and

using caddie privileges to play the course on Monday mornings, sometimes running between shots to fit in 54 holes. After owning a food market, and after a short stint at the first driving range location in Pontiac, Carl moved his new golf business down Telegraph Rd. to its current location in Bloomfield Hills. It’s gone through various renovations and iterations, that once included a small golf course that was lit at night, and other family attractions. Carl

added a second location in Plymouth, MI in 2000 and launched a successful online business that year as well. The retailer has won several top 100 golf retail operations in the country, year after year. A PGA Life member, who was very active in his church and community, Carl found ways for golf to make people’s lives better. A program of great pride – “First club for kids” – provides children with their first golf club for free. Carl F. Rose is survived by 3 of his 4 children and their families. MGJ

2019-20 Big Ten Women’s Golfers of the Week Sept. 18: Yurika Tanida, Jr., MSU Sept. 25: Paz Marfa Sans, Sr., MSU Oct. 2: Mikaela Schulz, Fr. MICH

Oct. 16: Valery Plata, So., MSU March 4: Ashley Kim, MICH

Michigan Golf Journal Michigan News and Notes

Boyne Announces Prospect Memberships

Opportunity includes privileges at all 10 BOYNE Golf courses in Northern Michigan BOYNE Golf is now offering an exclusive Prospect Membership opportunity that will allow privileges at its acclaimed trio of resort destinations and its 10 golf courses, which all sit within a convenient 18-mile radius. The one-season memberships provide an open opportunity to expose potential full members to great golf at a wide variety of courses, recreational amenities and diverse social experiences at Bay Harbor Golf Club and Country Club of Boyne. At the end of the 2020 season, Prospect Members will have the choice to join as Full Members at either Bay Harbor Golf Club or the Country Club of Boyne. Members’ golf benefits include no greens fees and unlimited play on all 13 BOYNE Golf Courses, a complimentary GEARS fitting or golf lesson, access to exclusive Member-Only tournaments, weekly play day’s and social events, private, Members-Only course rotations, unlimited use of driving range, complimentary USGA Handicap services and golf club storage. For more information about Prospect Membership Opportunities at either Bay

Harbor Golf Club or the Country Club of Boyne, contact Keriann Lonnee at klonnee@ boyne.com or (844) 573-6355. MGJ

April 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com

Symetra Tour Celebrates 40th Anniversary in 2020 Throughout the 2020 season, once it resumes, the Symetra Tour will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Michigan has hosted seven different Symetra tournaments since the first in 1984, the one-time Candlestone Classic outside Grand Rapids. From 1997-200, three metro Detroit courses hosted a tournament – Cattails Golf Club in South Lyon, Washtenaw CC in Ypsilanti and Mystic Creek GC in Milford. For parts of 2000-to-2005, both Grand Rapids and

Ann Arbor hosted again. The Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass in the U.P. began in 2011 and still runs today, as does the FireKeepers Casino tournament in Battle Creek, since 2014. Tullymore also hosted for three years (2015-17). In 2019 the Symetra Tour eclipsed the $4 million threshold in total prize money for the first time in Tour history. An average purse size of $180,000 this season is the highest mark in the 40-year history of the Tour, up from $121,000 in 2015. MGJ

High School Coach Mike Garvey Honored Lawton’s Michael Garvey has given nearly 40 years of service to teaching, coaching and administration in educational athletics, and was named the 2020 recipient of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Charles E. Forsythe Award.

Garvey, who grew up mostly in Detroit, began his educational career in 1980 teaching at Marian Central Catholic in Woodstock, Ill., before returning to Michigan in 1985 to teach at Lawton High School. While at

Lawton, he helped the Blue Devils’ wrestling program as an assistant coach, then head coach, for five Class D state championships, in the 80’s and 1990. He also served as athletic director at four schools over his career – at Lawton, Delton Kellogg, Otsego and Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, until 2018.

In retirement he has also rejoined the coaching ranks, taking over as head coach of Vicksburg High School’s girls and boys golf teams this school year. MGJ

MICHIGAN GOLF JOURNAL

Course Photo:

STOATIN BRAE at Gull Lake View Resort