Welcome to the Michigan Golf Alliance
2023 Legislative Day
Golf on the Capitol Lawn–June 8, 2023
"Michigan Legislators Learn About Golf’s Impact and Concerns"
LANSING – State Rep. John Roth has a grassroots understanding of the golf industry and its impact in Michigan.
“It is very special to me because I worked on golf courses for several years – at Crystal Mountain Resort for a while and then Traverse City Golf and Country Club for 21 years,” said Roth, R-Interlochen, a former grounds spray technician turned legislator. “The golf industry to me is very, very special.”
Roth enjoyed a homecoming of sorts, meeting up with former co-workers and friends from the industry as the state’s allied associations presented the annual Michigan Golf Day at the Capitol event Thursday.
The Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA), the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association (MiGCSA), the Michigan Section PGA, the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation (MGF), the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) and the Greater Michigan Club Management Association, which form the Michigan Golf Alliance, convened with legislators and staff members for lunch on the lawn of the state Capitol, and also visited the offices of each legislator.
For 15 years course owners, operators and superintendents have gathered each spring to voice a cooperative message. To mark the day, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proclaimed that “June is Michigan Golf Month,” via a proclamation delivered and read into record by Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
The executive directors, presidents and members of the allied organizations presented multiple areas of impact to the legislators in tourism, economic impact, employment and the industry’s positive effect on the environment, but also informed them of concerns with developing legislation that would impact the industry and shared their new workforce development initiatives that now include the Michigan Career & Technical Institute and Michigan Rehabilitation Services.
“The Michigan Golf Alliance created this event to facilitate golf industry representatives introducing themselves and informing the legislators and their staff on who we are and what our industry brings to the state, as well as how the work they do impacts our industry,” Jada Paisley, executive director of the MGCA said. “I can't overstate the importance of this day in delivering those messages to our government leaders.”
The message imparted included industry facts like $4.2 billion in annual economic impact in Michigan, over 60,000 people employed by golf courses in the state, $1.4 billion in wages paid and over 150,000 acres of managed green space and wetlands that provide wildlife habitats.
Roth said he is fully aware that the golf industry is mostly small businesses that have a large impact on communities.
Rep. John Roth, right, with a former co-worker Doug Hoeh, the director of recreation at Treetops Resort in Gaylord and the president of the Michigan Golf Course Superintendent’s Association.
“Their businesses are big parts of a lot of communities and they are seasonal, and they never know what the weather is going to do and that can make it a good or bad year,” he said. “I understand that and some of the other legislators know that. A lot of them do play golf. Do they understand the business impact golf makes in communities? I’m not so sure. That makes this day very important. The industry is sharing its message in a very effective way.”
Golf Courses in Michigan
Important Golf Industry Talking Points
Promote, Protect and Preserve the Game and Business of Golf
Workforce Development Initiatives
HB 4035 “Predictive Scheduling” Would HARM $4.2B Michigan Golf Industry
Make Golf Your Career
Midnight Golf Program
USGA Sustainability Study
USGA Green Section Record Research
2023 American Golf Industry Coalition Report
MORE INFORMATION: Contact Jada Paisley of the MGCA at 800-860-8575 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2022 Legislative Day
Golf on the Capitol Lawn - June 7, 2022
Promote, Protect and Preserve the Game and Business of Golf
2022 American Golf Industry Coalition Report
USGA Green Section Record Research
MI Golf Alliance 2021 Promotional Vid from CR Marketing on Vimeo.
LANSING – State Rep. Paulene Wendzel said she had no idea of the impact of the golf industry in Michigan before she started her career in politics.
In fact, she didn’t play the game until it was suggested to her that it was a great way to get to know people in politics.
“Honestly, it’s where you can spend four or five hours with a person and really get to know them, so golf has helped me politically, and I found out I loved it,” Wendzel, R-Watervliet, said. “Then I learned about the Senior PGA (Championship) which we just had in our district at Harbor Shores Golf Club and I found out what just that one tournament alone does for the community.”
Wendzel expanded her golf education Tuesday as the Michigan golf industry presented the Michigan Golf Day at the Capitol event.
The Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA), the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association (MiGCSA), the Michigan Section PGA, the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) and the Greater Michigan Club Management Association, which form the Michigan Golf Alliance, convened with legislators and staff members on the lawn of the state Capitol, and also visited the offices of each legislator.
For almost 15 years course owners, operators and superintendents have gathered each spring to voice a cooperative message. To mark the day, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proclaimed that “June is Michigan Golf Month,” and Wendzel presented the proclamation Tuesday.
“The Senior PGA had great impact,” Wendzel said. “The restaurants when I talked to them last week, sold out of food, the bars were out of alcohol and you couldn’t get a hotel room for miles. Big crowds came and it was great.”
The executive directors, presidents and members of the allied organizations in the Michigan Golf Alliance presented other areas of impact to Wendzel and other legislators including the impact on tourism, employment in the state, and the industry’s positive effect on the environment.
“The Michigan Golf Alliance created this event to facilitate golf industry representatives introducing themselves and informing the legislators and their staff on who we are and what our industry brings to the state,” Jada Paisley, executive director of the MGCA said. “I can't overstate the importance of this day in delivering the message to our government leaders.”
The message from the Michigan Golf Alliance includes industry facts like $4.2 billion in annual economic impact in Michigan, over 60,000 people employed by golf courses in the state. $1.4 billion in wages paid and over 150,000 acres of managed green space and wetlands that provide wildlife habitats.
Wendzel said she has involved her family members in playing the game, too.
“My brothers-in-law, my dad, we are getting the whole family playing the game,” she said. “It’s great and it does some great things for the community, too. Whenever I tell people in Lansing where I’m from (southwest Michigan) they’re like, ‘oh, you’re the area with all the good golf courses,’ and I say I definitely am.”
MORE INFORMATION: Contact Jada Paisley of the MGCA at 800-860-8575 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2021 Legislative Day
Golf Day at the Capitol
"Legislators Learn Golf’s Community Impact"
LANSING – Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist came out to the large tent on the front lawn of the Capitol to proclaim June is Michigan Golf Month, and Rep. Stephanie Young, D-Detroit, came because the state legislators were all invited to Michigan Golf Day at the Capitol Thursday.
Members of the Michigan Golf Alliance, a cooperative body of five state golf associations, shared its message of economic, environmental and human impact of the game with face-to-face talks over lunch and a program that included presentations by Renee Fluker, the founder and president of the Midnight Golf Program in Detroit, Gilda Johnson, the owner of Lake Forest Golf Club and the Michigan Golf Course Association president, and a video featuring Dr. Brian Horgan of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.
Gilchrist and Young learned more about golf’s impact with the over 200 legislators and staffers who attended, and both sought out their friend Fluker, who has demonstrated to them in a very personal way that golf impacts communities.
Gilchrist’s mother has been a long-time friend of Fluker, and Young’s son, Darius, is a former Midnight Golf participant. Midnight Golf’s mission remains equipping determined young adults through life skills training, proactive coaching, long-term mentoring, and the discipline of golf so they can succeed in college, in their careers and beyond. It was founded in 2001 by Fluker, a social worker and single mother. Over 3,200 students have been directly helped, including college scholarships, in the last 19 years.
“Renee is proof of golf’s diversity but also of what happens when you believe in young people,” Young said. “Midnight Golf takes young people who have never held a golf club and never thought there was a way for them to learn this type of sport and then exposes them to it.”
Young called Fluker a trailblazer and said Midnight Golf impacted her son in multiple ways beyond playing golf.
“I believe Midnight Golf was one of the reasons Darius was able to go to college, finish in four years and now is working in his field – animation,” she said. “The program teaches those kids how to manage their time when they get to college, how to manage their money while they are in college and how to find a job after college.”
Gilchrist called Midnight Golf a generational uplifting program for the Detroit region.
“It is a manifestation of what she and her team have poured into the young people in the region and it has produced healthier, better connected, more productive and more successful people – and they learned how to play a bit of golf, too,” he said. “Miss Renee is I think the best of what we want people to be when they contribute to the success of our communities.”
The Michigan Golf Alliance is made up of the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA), the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association (MiGCSA), the Michigan Section PGA, the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) and the Greater Michigan Club Management Association and for several years the leaders of those groups have gathered to voice a cooperative message.
In 2020 the day was cancelled due to pandemic concerns, but Thursday the golf leaders tried to engage legislators on a personal level as small business owners, as well as pass on the industry facts like $4.2 billion in annual economic impact, over 60,000 people employed by golf courses in the state. $1.4 billion in wages paid and over 150,000 acres of managed green space and wetlands that provide wildlife habitats.
Brian Calley, former Lt. Gov. and now president of the Small Business Association of Michigan, called the event a chance to engage with legislators and debunk the myth that golf is just a rich man’s sport.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “Tell your small business stories, talk about your civic engagement and don’t be shy about the type of things you do to help make your communities stronger.”
Michigan Golf Day at the Capitol
"Allied Golf Associations Join Forces to Bring Message to Legislators"
“Let’s do lunch at the turn Michigan Legislators!” The Michigan golf industry will share its message with each state legislator by presenting the popular Michigan Golf Day at the Capital event. As a member of any allied golf association, you are invited and encouraged to attend.
The Michigan Golf Course Association, the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association, the Michigan Section PGA, the Golf Association of Michigan, the Greater Michigan Club Managers Associations and the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation, which form the Michigan Golf Alliance, will convene on the lawn of the state Capitol and visit with each legislator.
For over a decade golf course owners, operators and superintendents have gathered each spring to voice a cooperative message. This year the leaders of Michigan golf have created a dynamic day of activity to promote the game and the golf business.
The Michigan Golf Alliance has put together a great program to facilitate golf industry representatives in introducing themselves and informing the Legislators and their staff on who we are and what our industry brings to the State of Michigan. We can't overstate the importance of this day in delivering the message to our government leaders.
The schedule will include Senate and House office visits and “lunch on the turn” provided for all participants. Legislators will be invited to lunch with their constituents.
Participation is free and we hope you will consider coming to help carry the golf message to the legislature. Please use the registration link below, mail in the printable pdf or call our office to register or with any questions 800-860-8575.
Jada Paisley
Executive Director, MGCA