MOUNT PLEASANT – The Pohlcat Championship Golf Course and Mt. Pleasant Country Club, two significant contributors to Central Michigan area golf along the Chippewa River, are teaming up to host teams of golfers in the 9th GAM Scramble State Championship Sunday and Monday.
In response to circumstances created by the Coronavirus pandemic, the format for the 2020 GAM Scramble Championship was altered. Regional Qualifiers were canceled and all eligible teams were allowed to sign up to play in the GAM Scramble Championship.
The 26 teams playing this weekend will compete in a special scramble format over two days with 18-hole rounds at each host course. Championship teams will be determined in gross and net scoring.
Half of the teams will play their first round Sunday on The Pohlcat, which was designed by Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member and former PGA Tour standout Dan Pohl, and the other half will play storied and historic Mt. Pleasant Country Club. The groups will then switch for final round play Monday.
The Pohlcat is played over and around the scenic 100-foot wide Chippewa River, and Pohl, the designer and area 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.
Mount Pleasant Country Club, remodeled in 1981 by Jerry Matthews & Associates, dates to 1921 as a golf club and in 1922 a site was developed along the Chippewa River and opened in May of that year. The private club was played by golf legend Walter Hagen in a 1938 exhibition. He shot what was then a 2-over 70 and helped promote the club as a first-class venue according to the club’s history. The club is also the home course of former PGA Tour player Doug Labelle II.
Learn more about Mount Pleasant Country Club at mtpleasantcc.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 at Tullymore Golf Resort in Canadian Lakes, Team Henderson – Mike Henderson of Bloomfield Hills, Cameron Nelson of Birmingham, John Stencel of Bloomfield Hills and Robert Diedrich of Bloomfield Hills – shot a gross 13-under 59 at Tullymore Golf Resort and finished with a two-day total of 25-under 119 to win the 8th GAM Scramble State Championship.
In the net competition, Team Lipski shot a 43 net to go with a 54 net in the first round at St. Ives Golf Club for a 47-under par 97. Team members included Adam Lipski of Harrison Township, Joshua Quick of Macomb, Michael Trosen of White Lake and Paul Miller of Clinton Township.
