In photo: Hole 17 at Buck’s Run. River views are featured on both courses.
MOUNT PLEASANT – Buck’s Run Golf Club and Pohlcat Golf Course give golfers great reasons to head to the center of the lower peninsula, and the two high-end destinations are teaming up to host talented teams of players in the 7th GAM Scramble State Championship Sunday and Monday.
The finalist teams qualified at five regional qualifying scramble events earlier this summer and will play 18 holes on each of the two popular courses to determine the 2018 championship teams in net and gross scoring.
The first round on Sunday is at The Pohlcat designed by Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member and former PGA Tour standout Dan Pohl, and the second round on Monday is just down the road at Buck’s Run, which is an award-winning design by noted Michigan designer Jerry Matthews.
The two courses have hosted various Golf Association of Michigan tournaments in recent years.
Pohlcat is played over and around the scenic 100-foot wide Chippewa River, and Pohl, the designer and a Mount Pleasant native, has returned as part of the ownership group and directs instruction at the course. He built what he describes as a tough, but fair course that opened in 1992. The design combines beautiful Michigan scenery with some links-style looks. Pohl said he built a golf course he would enjoy and find challenging, but that would not overwhelm any golfer.
Learn more about Pohlcat at pohlcat.net.
Buck’s Run offers a premier destination resort golf experience without being at a resort. The Matthews design is carved over 290 acres through wetlands, along the river and is picturesque at seemingly every turn. It is specifically designed with multiple tee locations to welcome golfers of all ability levels and yet challenge even the elite player. The Putting Island, an 18-hole real-grass putting course, is on an island in the middle of the man-made lake and has also won awards as a unique and fun amenity.
Learn more about Buck’s Run at bucksrun.com.
The format for the Scramble finals is a 4-person team “step aside” scramble, which means on each hole members of the team hit a tee shot from their designated tee (four sets of tees). The team then selects one of the tee shots and marks the spot from which to play. The player whose shot is selected WILL NOT play the next shot (step aside). This procedure is repeated until the ball is holed.
Teams are made up of any four GAM members – men, women, senior men, and/or senior women, each with a valid GAM/USGA Handicap Index. A team’s total index must equal 36.0 or higher. Teams cannot have more than two players with a GAM/USGA Handicap Index lower than 10.0 in the last 12 months (year to date).
Last year the defending champions – Jay Phillion of Rochester, his son Scott of South Lyon, Todd Pontillo of Davisburg and John Sniegowski of Cadillac – repeated. They needed a birdie on the first extra hole of a sudden-death playoff, but they took home the gross division title for the second consecutive year.
While the gross division had a repeat team winning, the net division had a new winning team as well as a sudden-death playoff.
The team of Matt Lennox of Holt, Michael Wagner of Rochester, Matt Zatkin of Holt and Eric Zatkin of Brighton won the net division with a birdie on the first extra hole.
-Greg Johnson [email protected]
