June is Golf Month in Michigan

There has been a flurry of activity for your Association in early June. Starting with the 2014 Northern Fundraiser at Arcadia Bluffs, the largest, by far, fundraiser the MiGCSA has ever had. With 190 on Monday and 80 on Sunday night we were able to raise more than $20,000. This is the first of our three fundraisers every year with the next on September 9th at Battle Creek Country Club and the final at Tam O Shanter on October 6th. 100% of the proceeds from these events is distributed every year to fund student and member dependent Heritage Scholarships, donations, and philanthropic interests like the Wee One Foundation, EIFG and the MSU Turf Club. But the vast majority will go directly to funding turf research at Michigan State University in donations to the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation.

Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley addresses the attendees at
Legislative Golf Day

The second big event in June was Legislative Golf Day on June 5th. My day started at 7:15 am on the Michigan Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels along with my counterpart from the PGA Kevin Helm. We spoke about the economic impact golf has on Michigan and that June was proclaimed Golf Month in Michigan by Governor Rick Snyder. To hear the entire interview you can CLICK HERE. After the interview we were treated to our first speaker of the day in Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley. He spoke about the comeback of the Michigan economy and the impact of the wildly successful Pure Michigan campaign, now the most successful tourism campaign of all time! Lunch on the turn hosted a record number of legislators and their staff members after the visits to their offices in the morning. After lunch the heads of the Michigan Golf Alliance met with representatives from Pure Michigan to discuss more interaction on both sides to help utilize the campaign to grow the game of golf in Michigan. This is a great event, I highly recommend you try to attend at least once, it is a great way to promote and preserve the game in Michigan which is very important to all of our members.