Business View Magazine - July 2023

132 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 7 “The GAM serves the golfer in so many ways the general golfer doesn’t realize, like helping fund turfgrass research by the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation and our Youth on Course program through the GAM Foundation,” says Jay Hults, a longtime volunteer from Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield and a GAM officer who is the president for the association in 2023. “We have great volunteers, a dedicated staff that works so many hours, and I feel we make a great impact.” The GAM Foundation was established in 2015 to introduce more people to golf and help grow the game. Among its efforts to reach those goals the GAM invested $175,000 in programs to grow golf in the past fiscal year. That includes subsidized rounds and practice for 7,000 Youth on Course members at participating golf courses and practice centers, and joint efforts with Michigan Section PGA professionals in player development and covering costs of golf equipment for in-school training of youth golfers. The GAM is also active with the Michigan Golf Alliance, which includes the Michigan Golf Course Association, the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association, the Michigan Section PGA and the Michigan Club Management Association. Chief among the Alliance activities is connecting with state legislators to support an industry that measures a $4.2 billion annual economic impact in the state. Growth of the game remains a priority of the GAM and Whitten points out that despite overall rounds in the United States decreasing from 2021 and flattening out in 2022 according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), Michigan was one of five states that reported an increase in rounds played. “Michigan was up seven percent last year,” he says. “I think there are a lot of things that contribute. We are a popular summer golf destination, and I’m convinced that the people who live in Michigan are outdoors people. When the snow is on the ground, they’re ready to ski or they’re ready to snowmobile, and when it’s golf season, they’re more than ready to play golf.”