AUGUSTA, Mich. – Two of Gull Lake View Golf Club and Resort’s courses, the classic Bedford Valley and the new Stoatin Brae, are hosting the 28 th Women’s Atlas Trophy Matches Saturday and Sunday.
The top women golfers in the state representing private golf clubs and public venues make up the two teams and play a Ryder Cup-style competition.
Gull Lake View is one of the largest family owned resorts in the U.S., and the Scott family has impacted golf since 1963 when Darl Scott, an entrepreneur at heart and golf course superintendent by trade, decided to build and open his own public golf course. He and his wife Letha ran the course, and Charlie, one of three sons, next directed the family golf business. Jon Scott, a son of Charlie, now heads the family business with several members involved.
Saturday’s first day of matches are being played at Bedford Valley, a traditional parkland design by William Mitchell that the family purchased in 1988. It is not on the Gull Lake resort campus, but a few miles away in Battle Creek. It cuts naturally through the trees on rolling hills with classic green settings.
Stoatin Brae is the sixth course the resort offers, and it opened in 2016. Sunday’s matches will close out the competition at Stoatin Beae, which means Grand Hill in Scottish Gaelic.
Stoatin Brae and Bedford Valley are the two courses among the six at the resort that were not designed by the talented family with landscape architecture backgrounds. Stoatin Brae is also a dramatic departure from the other five, including Bedford Valley. It is located atop a unique bluff overlooking the Kalamazoo River Valley. It offers views for miles over natural undulations and reestablished prairie grasses, and the wind is seemingly always in play. Brian Schneider, Eric Iverson, Don Placek and Brian Slawnik, senior associates for Renaissance Golf Design of Traverse City, collaborated with the Scott family on Stoatin Brae.
The resort’s lineup of courses currently includes Stoatin Brae, the Gull Lake West course, the East course, Stonehedge South, Stonehedge North and Bedford Valley.
Learn more at gulllakeview.com.
The Women’s Atlas Trophy matches, named for the late Edward Atlas, a noted golf leader in Michigan, were first played in 1989 and have become a competition between women GAM members who are members of a private club, and GAM members who do not belong to a private club. The matches are unique in that teams are made up of golfers of all ages, including seniors and juniors.
Foursomes matches will be played Saturday morning with four-ball matches to follow in the afternoon. Individual matches are played on Sunday. One point is awarded per match with ½ point being given to each team for a halved match. If tied at the end of the competition, the team currently holding the trophy retains it.
The captains of both the “Public” and “Private” teams are selected by the GAM. The captains select 12 team members each, using GAM Honor Roll points and other criteria. The golf and celebration dinner are complimentary for the players with the event designed to honor those chosen for the teams.
The Private team leads the series 14-10 with three ties after the Public Team won 13½ – 10½ last year at Spring Meadows Country Club in Linden.
Representing the Public Team captained by GAM staff member Cynthia Pinkard are Audrey Akins of LaSalle, Susan Campbell of Kalamazoo, Ariel Chang of Macomb, Katie Chipman of Canton, Chelsea Collura of Riverview, Nichole Cox of Empire, sisters Anci and Anika Dy of Traverse City, Jasmine Ly of Windsor, Kerrigan Parks of Flushing, Yurika Tanida of East Lansing and Nicole Watley of Northville.
Representing the Private Team captained by Jean Murray are Joanne Adams of Detroit, Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, Kate Brody of Grand Blanc, Katie Childers of Northville, Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc, Joan Garety of Grand Rapids, sisters Savannah and Veronica Haque of Rochester Hills, Lilia Henkel of Grand Rapids, Kelsey McDougall of Canton, and sisters Karli and Karina VanDuinen of Muskegon.
Learn more about the Atlas Trophy Matches at gam.org.
-Greg Johnson, [email protected]
