The Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) has been celebrating its Centennial Anniversary all this year after being founded in metro Detroit in 1919. These short pieces are just a glimpse of the later years, from 1990 through today.
Content provided by Greg Johnson
1990-1999: In Michigan’s Golf History, Jeanne Myers Rules
Jeanne Myers was 32, a housewife and mother of three children when she found golf. 
Myers, who celebrated her 80th birthday in April, hit a lot of golf balls while the kids were in school, then took lessons and by 1980 was an avid golfer playing four days each week.
“Between 1980 and ’84 I played a lot,” she said. “And then I won the club championship (at Oakland Hills) in 1984. I had become a pretty good player, but I had also become interested in the rules. I got a bad ruling in a tournament one time, and I went home and read the rule book instead of just getting mad.”
She joined the Women’s District Golf Association (also 100 years old this year) and eventually became its president – and in 2005 became the first female president of GAM too. Along the way Myers learned course rating and became a prolific rules official for GAM, the USGA and the Michigan PGA; including service as chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee in 2003 and 2004.
Over the years she became a local legend at junior, high school and women’s rules clinics.
Myers officiated over 70 USGA championships and authored the Equitable Stroke Control procedure for the USGA.
2000-2009: Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll; Champion of GAM, MSU and Women’s Golf
In 100 years of Golf Association of Michigan tournament history no player has won more championships than Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll.
Wins are a familiar pairing with the Grand Rapids native and Haslett resident who when she isn’t playing in tournaments is MSU’s all-time winningest women’s golf coach.
“I play and coach because I love it, love the game, love to compete, to represent our state and Michigan State,” she said. “If you are going to play, you play to win. That’s all part of it. I play that way. I coach that way. My job is also my passion.”
Her game and passion have played a significant role in her winning 19 GAM titles, including 10 GAM Mid-Amateur Championships since 2005. She’s won the Michigan Women’s Amateur twice (1996, 1998, plus reaching runner up this summer) and a GAM Women’s Championship (1998). She was named the GAM Player of the Decade (2010) and has been Player of the Year four times.
Slobodnik-Stoll has guided the Spartans to seven Big Ten Conference Championships and 20 appearances in the NCAA Regionals. She has also been named Big Ten Coach of the Year five times, and in 2017 was inducted into the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame.
2010-2019: Executive Director David Graham Rescues, Guides GAM in Serving More Clubs and Golfers
Admittedly, the Golf Association of Michigan was in crisis in 1999.
The GAM had unsuccessfully pursued a plan to build Golf House Michigan and adopt a new golf handicap computation platform. Several clubs and courses reacted by dropping from the membership rolls and the association was on the brink of bankruptcy.
The GAM Board hired David Graham, despite him never having worked in the golf industry before. First, he tackled the bankruptcy situation with a loan from the USGA, a bank line of credit and more timely dues payments from member courses.
In an effort to run GAM more like a business and treat members more like customers with value-added services, Graham tackled many opportunities for the recreational golfer to compete and try new opportunities. GAM Golf Days were adopted where any GAM member can enter a GAM Golf Day and play several of the state’s many elite courses, including notable private clubs, for as little as $60.
Graham also started the GAM Scramble (often played by higher handicappers) which includes several events around the state leading to a championship event late in the summer – and more recently he helped establish the GAM Foundation, to raise funding for Youth on Course.
The popular “Swing and Save” program was one of the first additions under Graham, as well as partnering with Sullivan Golf Travel to offer overseas golf travel. Graham retired this year after 18 years of service and now consults with Sullivan.
#GAM History – Did you know?
Meg Mallon in 1980 was 17, a junior at Farmington Hills Mercy High School and asked teacher Vicky Kowalski to help start a women’s golf program (which Kowalski is still coaching today). With Mallon leading the way that first Mercy team won a regional championship and finished third in the state championships. Mallon later won the 1983 Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship and soon embarked on a professional career that included four major championship wins, including two U.S. Open titles, 18 LPGA wins and eight Solheim Cup teams. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
In 2011, Willie Mack III of Grand Blanc won the historic 100th Michigan Amateur Championship, played on The Heather at Boyne Highlands. He beat Joey Garber of Petoskey 4 and 3 in the final, becoming the first African-American to win the storied championship (and was featured in Sports Illustrated). Mack and Garber have gone on to professional golf tour careers, with Garber reaching the PGA Tour in 2018-19.
