Written By: Greg Johnson
Registration for the 3rd and final portion of the 2024 Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) Tournaments and GAM Golf Days scheduled opened today, Wednesday, April 10.
Highlights for the season include:
- The Junior golf schedule has additions with GAM Championship tournaments being formed for boys and girls, and a new 12-and-under age division tournament being added to the schedule.
- Two new sites have been added to the popular GAM Golf Days schedule, including a Northern Michigan option at Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire and The Cardinal, the new course at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth.
- As announced last month the United States Golf Association (USGA) has made some changes in its presentation of amateur championships, including exemptions for state champions.
- All registration for GAM Tournaments and GAM Golf Days is done through the GAM Golf Genius Portal.
The GAM Junior Kickoff, a season-starting junior tournament in April has been split into the GAM Junior Girls’ Championship, which will be played April 20-21 at Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti, and the GAM Junior Boys’ Championship, which will be played Aug. 20-21, also at Washtenaw.
Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services, said the competitions committee wanted to offer a tournament for the boys and girls on dates opposite their high school seasons.
“That allows them a playing opportunity when they are less likely to have conflicts and makes room for a larger field as junior golf continues to grow,” he said.
Also, the 12-and-under players will have a championship separate from the other junior tournaments that offer only age group divisions. The inaugural GAM 12 & Under Championship will be played with nine-hole rounds on Aug. 12-13 at Twin Beach Country Club in West Bloomfield.
“The 12-and-under kids were kind of put at the end of things with tee times late in the day in the GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship, so we are taking that age division out of the Stroke Play and offering those golfers a championship of their own,” Hartmann said. “It will make it better for everybody, including our volunteer rules officials who work a lot of long days.”
Shanty Creek Resort, home to five golf courses, will host a new Golf Day on the Cedar River course designed by Tom Weiskopf. The Golf Day Championship tournament is being hosted by The Cardinal at St. Johns, a heralded new Raymond Hearn design. It is scheduled for Oct. 14 to close out the season.
Ted Newton, director of tournament administration, said more Golf Day opportunities may yet be added to the schedule, which currently shows 18.
Starting this year the winners of four Michigan amateur golf championships conducted by the (GAM) will receive more than trophies, honor and their name etched in the state’s golf history.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) has changed its championship qualifying process, including exemptions for state champions, which means the winners of the Michigan Amateur Championship and Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship will earn exemptions into the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur, respectively, and the winners of the Michigan Girls’ Junior State Amateur Championship and Michigan Junior State Amateur Championship will earn exemptions for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur.
Previously, the champions of the four Michigan tournaments had to compete in qualifiers with other qualified golfers to earn starting spots in the four USGA national championships.
The 113th Michigan Amateur Championship is returning to the Heather course at The Highlands at Harbor Springs. It is slated for June 17-21. The Heather, one of 10 Boyne Golf courses in Michigan, will be hosting the men’s state championship for the fifth time. The award-winning Robert Trent Jones design last hosted in 2020.
The 108th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship is being played June 10-14 at Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield. The club will be hosting the state championship for women for a sixth time, though for the first time since 1970. It hosted what was then known as the Women’s Michigan Golf Association Championship in 1937, ‘42, ’48, ‘58 and ‘70. The championship has been under the direction of the GAM since 2005.
The GAM Championship sites and dates for men and women have also been established. The 103rd GAM Championship will be played Aug. 5-6 at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, while the 33rd GAM Women’s Championship will be contested July 29-30 at Saginaw Country Club.
State championships for senior men and women and junior boys and girls, including net and popular GAM Golf Days for all members are in the works, and most have been determined.
Click HERE to see the current 2024 golf competitions schedule, and click HERE to see the current Golf Days schedule.
This is the second consecutive year that all registration for GAM Tournaments and Golf Days will be conducted through Golf Genius. To enter golfers must have a Golf Genius profile. If you need to create one click HERE.
Learn more about all aspects of the GAM at GAM.org, including playing, volunteering, course rating, programs like Youth on Course and the GAM Foundation.
