The 56th annual Big Event was hosted on October 6th at Lakelands G&C.C. by Golf Course Superintendent Alex Lincoln along with MiGCSA Members Austin Clenney, Autumn Beyer & Chris Kroswek. Also thank you to our Michigan Section PGA Host Eric Martin, Head Golf Professional & General Manager Joanne Disner for their excellent hospitality. The warm fall weather held out just long enough for this event to have summer like temperatures at the end of a long season.
This event is the last of the three fundraisers the MiGCSA has every year. The proceeds from these events help fund scholarships, donations, and philanthropic turf related interests like the Wee One Foundation, Turf Research and the MSU Turf Club.
Thank you to our 2025 Industry Partners and the hole sponsors: AcuSpray, AgriWater, BASF, ENVU, EZGO, GAM, Golf Cars Plus, Harrell's, Helena, Heritage, Ladd's, Matt LaFontaine Automotive, Porous Pave, Revels, Rhino Seed, SiteOne, Spartan Distributors, Standard Golf, SynaTek, Syngenta, Target Specialty, Trimax/Timber Wolf and our Beverage sponsor: David Herman & Associates.
After golf MiGCSA Board Member and Auction Committee Chairman Ian Daniels, CGCS encouraged members to register and bid in the Industry Partner Online Auction before it closes on October 17th. Kevin Gawronski from the Michigan Golf Course Association spoke about the grant money available for the Registered Apprentice Program and some of the success stories from around the industry promoting and training from within. Shane Conroy, our GCSAA Field Staff Representative, spoke about the GCSAA Conference in Orlando and the Centennial Celebration. Brian Powell the Customer Success Agronomist from the USGA Green Section spoke about the initiatives and collaboration with the GCSAA and the new technology for data tracking they are continuing to work on and update. Finally, Dr. Kevin Frank gave everyone an update on the MSU Turf Program which is again reporting healthy numbers and introduced Dr. Ruying (Wrennie) Wang as the new Joe Vargas Chair in Turfgrass Pathology at Michigan State University.
Here are the results:
Closest to the pins were won by Adam Powers, Nathan Ruffing, Bridget Brown-McKone & John Hurley. The longest drive winners were Brett Roberts & Adam Powers. The longest putt was made by Andrew Czajka.
Winning Scramble Teams:
1st place – Jim Omietanski, Alex Wise, Keith Peterson & Thomas Jones (55)
2nd place – Al Perkins, Adam Powers, Matt MacDonald & Nathan Ruffing (57)
3rd place – Douglas Rusiecki, Jared Barley, Greg Hodges & Jamie Wilson (58)
All Event Photos Here