GAM

GOLF ASSOCIATION OF MICHIGAN

GAM’s Hunter Koch Enjoys Golf Course Rating With Dedicated Volunteers

  SPRUCE – A hunter was on the golf course, but not the usual kind found in the woods of Northeast Michigan.

  It was Hunter Koch, the GAM’s new course rating and member services coordinator,  working with a group of volunteer course raters recently to give White Pine National Golf Club an updated rating.

  “I love being out here,” he said. “Beyond the actual process of doing it, I like that it is objective and very math based. There’s so much data, 100 years of data that the USGA is putting into making the system the way they have. So it’s very objective in that way, but also you get to be in a beautiful place like this and enjoy the camaraderie of being with the raters. It’s an outstanding group of volunteers and we have a good time and work hard while we are out here.”

 The GAM and its group of volunteer raters work on 50-70 courses each year as an official arm of the United States Golf Association. An official Course Rating allows golfers interested in maintaining a Handicap Index as part of the World Handicap System (WHS) the ability to post scores for rounds played at the facility.

  A course rating keeps a course in compliance with the Rules of Handicapping for 10 years. The GAM raters gather raw data to verify yardage measurements for each tee, determine Course Rating and Slope Rating for each tee and other specifics that go with the formula for the WHS.

  What it all means is that any visitor to White Pine National can turn his or her score in via WHS and have an up-to-date index for events, tournaments and more anywhere else they play golf.  In addition White Pine national can host tournaments and events using a golfer’s Handicap Index and the many groups who come to play can adjust their handicaps to the course for events and simple fun, fair competitions.

  Part of Hunter’s work is helping train the volunteer raters in the process. This is his first career landing spot out of Saginaw Valley State University. A 26-year-old Saginaw native who grew up in St. Charles, he first started playing golf at age 2. His family had a golf practice area in the backyard, and Hunter would design routings for playing various games and hitting shots.

  “We would have little mini-tournaments out there,” he said. “I played in high school and I have also been an assistant coach at St. Charles High, so I’ve been around formal golf in some aspect my whole life. At Saginaw Valley for six years I was president of the club team.”

  Hunter has two degrees from SVSU, a bachelor’s degree in geography and political science and a Master of Public Administration specializing in higher education administration.

“[Technical] Geography is used so much out here doing this, it’s crazy, but you can bring a lot of practical application into doing this,” he said.

  Hunter was a volunteer course rater for two years before joining the GAM team.

  “I had the practical experience out in the field of learning, so it was a pretty quick learning curve in that regard,” he said. “As a volunteer you only see a segment of the process, but there’s a lot of other things on the other side of it with the work our captains do and what we do in the office to input the data so we can get the ratings back to the courses. I’m learning the best processes to make it all as efficient as possible for our member courses.”

  Hunter especially liked working the White Pine National rate in the scenic woods of Northeast Michigan. The course was designed by Bruce and Clem Wolfram. Bruce is the superintendent at White Pine National, his brother Clem worked as the superintendent at Detroit Golf Club for 51 years and their father, Clarence Wolfram Sr., is a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame due to his landmark work as a superintendent at Maple Lane Golf Club in Sterling Heights. Tyler Wolfram, the son of Bruce and Donna, is the director of golf and manager.

   Hunter has always had a keen interest in golf course architecture and he notice the quality of the White Pine National design.

  “I remember when I was little I would draw golf courses,” he said. “I look at the design obviously when I rate a course. This is a very nice golf course, well-designed. I like seeing the different designs, different courses and then doing the rating process. It’s different courses all the time, different challenges for ratings and I really enjoy that part of it.”

-Greg Johnson, [email protected]

IN THE PHOTO: Left to right, Hunter Koch, GAM Course Rating Coordinator, Erik Thorp, North Region Captain, Carmany Thorp, North Region Captain, Mark Bultema, Martin Score, Ben Stanley, Matt Witzke and Dan Adamini.

 

 

 

 

 

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