GameAbove: Lifting Golf to Greater Heights at EMU
By Tom Lang
There’s quite the buzz surrounding the game of golf in Ypsilanti.
Not only is the Eagle Crest Golf Course ranked 9th in the country for college courses by NBC’s GolfPass – and in 2022 was ranked the No. 5 best public course in metro Detroit by the Detroit Free Press – the men’s and women’s college teams who call Eagle Crest home have a huge new support system that most have probably not seen before.
This home is fortified at the GameAbove Golf Performance Center.
The newfound fervor is thanks to massive financial support of the privately-held investment entity called GameAbove, over the past few years. Focused on elevating sports, entertainment and giving back to communities and student groups, GameAbove is Eastern Michigan University’s biggest donor.
GameAbove:
built the new GameAbove Golf Performance Center at Eagle Crest Golf Course, arguably one of the best indoor college facilities in the north (and is open to the public to rent for events)
is supporting the new coaching staff at EMU
has provided funding to open opportunities for the men’s and women’s golf teams to compete in tournaments with deeper fields hosted by Power 4 programs, including places like Chambers Bay or Calusa Pines Golf Club in Naples, FL.
is also supporting golf alumni as they pursue pro golf careers
is funding the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) budget for the school, which has brought in some top young talent both nationally and internationally who likely would not have considered the EMU program for their collegiate golf career
On the latter point, in just its second season under coach Josh Brewer, the women’s program has launched to a ranking of No. 29 in the country as of Oct. 22. The same poll has Michigan at 45 and MSU at No. 52.
Long Beach State transfer Janae Leovao earned Mid-American Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week in early September, when she won back-to-back tournaments – the Leadership & Golf Invitational at Chambers Bay, and The Southern in Statesboro, Ga. – coincidentally near Brewer’s most recent coaching location at the University of Georgia. At Chambers Bay, she shot 7-under par 209 (72-68-69) to post the second-lowest 54-hole score in Eagle’s program history.
Leovao and three teammates finished among the top 10 at The Southern to take the team crown, its first in the last three years. In the fall season ending tournament in Hawaii, the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, Jasmine Leovao earned an individual runner up and the team placed 4th overall with the help of a school-record 280 score in round three.
This fall, three Eagles earned MAC Golfer of the Week – Janae Leovao, sister Jasmine Leovao, and their teammate Baiyok Sukterm.
On the men’s side, Charlie Box, a junior from Leicester, England, has also earned two MAC Golfer of the Week titles. One came after he tied a program record round of 63 before he sank a 20-foot birdie putt to win a playoff to earn medalist honors at the West Bay Collegiate Invitational, in Florida in early October. Box became the first individual winner for EMU since Beau Breault captured the Dayton Flyer Invitational in 2017. At the West Bay, Box carded the second-best 54-hole score in EMU history by recording rounds of 71-63-67-201 for 15-under par.
GameAbove Golf Performance Center:
“When we bring the recruits into town they really feel at home when they come here. And they see themselves here for the next four years. Just like the first thing I asked when coming here is, ‘what do we do when it gets cold and snowy?’” said second year men’s coach Andy Walker, who came from Virginia Commonwealth University. Walker has four NCAA titles at various division levels on his resume, and played golf professionally for 11 years after helping Pepperdine win the 1997 national championship.
“The answer is we have this facility here, and we can get out of here as well when we need to and get down to Florida or Arizona or California and practice when it gets cold. But more than anything, we … can get a little more technical indoors in the bays; we can get a little more technical inside with the SAM Putting Lab. We can do some work on our clubs in the club repair center. It gets all the things necessary ready for the men and women to go out into competition.”
“GameAbove is committed to giving the students all that we can to get the best experience while they are here, but all the support post-college is something nobody else does,” Walker added. “GameAbove continues giving and so it’s really a big family. We celebrate the successes of the players that came before us that are GameAbove ambassadors, and at the same time they surround our team with a lot of love and support as well.”
When it comes to EMU graduates, look no further than Brett White from Grand Rapids, who in his 9th year as a pro just recently finished 5th in the season-long PGA Tour Americas points race (Fortinet Cup) to earn a full-time card to the Korn Ferry Tour for 2026 – as well as exemption into the final stage of upcoming PGA Tour Q School in December. He is one of eight pro golfers that GameAbove supports, six of whom are EMU graduates.
In total since 2023, White has also Monday qualified into four PGA Tour events, including the Rocket Classic back in June, where he made his second cut. White also shot a 59 this year in the final round of the Americas’ Commissionaires Ottawa Open, to then win it in a playoff.
“The founder loves golf, he loves Eastern Michigan, and with the NIL (programs) coming into college sports, I think he really saw an opportunity to boost Eastern Michigan up,” White told me about GameAbove founder Keith J. Stone, an EMU grad who grew up in Flint. “He built the gorgeous indoor (golf) facility and has also been sponsoring me for the last few years, which has been a huge blessing for my career, my family, and we’ve only seen my game improve since our partnership was created. It’s been great for Eastern Michigan and been great for me.
“They help with my travel expenses, and they allow me to invest some of my on-courses earnings back into myself,” White added. “I’m able to see a golf coach, a trainer, and be able to get to events and provide myself more opportunities to play in Monday qualifiers so I can get more starts like I did for The Rocket Classic. When doing it on my own I had a little bit of help here and there, but they saw how I’ve progressed in my career and told me to go chase it, and it’s been awesome, a blessing.”
Adam Squire is director of sports operations for GameAbove and is based in San Diego.
“GameAbove is the product of Keith Stone’s vision where we look to support three pillars: and they are community, philanthropy and professional sports,” Squire said. “We have a goal to support Eastern Michigan alumni, that’s our clear given one. We also have a larger goal to support youth, that’s first and foremost for us in whatever we do.”
Squire shares management duties with Jordan Young, a long-time award-winning metro Detroit teaching pro who came south from Canada and played at Eastern from 1990-94, earning All-Conference his senior year. He is now the GameAbove director of golf operations.
"We had several Canadians each year on the squad, some good players, but never finished better than 6th in the MAC during my four years at Eastern, and that was frustrating,” Young said. “We didn’t have much, but appreciated the opportunity to play D1 college golf. We played against some great ones, many players who made it to the PGA Tour, guys like Frank Lickliter, Ben Curtis, Brad Klaprott and many more.
"Our legendary coach Bruce Cunningham changed the program, the culture and brought integrity and respect to EMU Golf, both men’s and women’s teams. He was respected by all the players and coaches, ultra-competitive, hardworking, tough chest-bump guy. His name is on the building.
“Some are against the new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) landscape and its ever-changing monetization of college sports, but GameAbove really wanted to help and fund the program, do things that many college programs could not do,” Young continued. “Within guidelines, and there are many, EMU chose to support golf first. Nothing guarantees success, but we are providing great opportunities for golfers to develop their game and feel special doing it.”
Young said GameAbove goes beyond golf, also funding the EMU engineering program, plus a program for girls in STEM and a local emergency shelter for youth and families in the area.
Coach Brewer said that GameAbove has elevated golf higher than most universities might.
“Without the GameAbove support initially, I’m probably not at Eastern Michigan,” he said about leaving an extremely successful program at Georgia. “I was fortunate to be at (colleges) where the logo is really shiny, but they kind of forget about golf. They say they’re all in, but we know where everything is funded.
“So, to have GameAbove really support your program, and when you see the support for the student-athletes, it makes you see how special and lucky we are.”
Eagle Crest Golf Club:
Brewer is also a big fan of the popular public course near the I-94 freeway in Washtenaw County.
“I think it’s a perfect golf course for women’s (college) golf,” he told me. “Men’s golf, no matter what course they make, it becomes obsolete because the men hit it so far. For us (women’s golf team) it’s a great challenge. The staff keeps it in amazing shape. The fairways are firm and fast. The greens are great. You have to hit every shot.
“For the public, there are some holes that I’m sure are very fun, and there’s some holes that are the kind that make you want to have a drink inside after the round is over,” he concluded with a chuckle.
The public can go indoors, too, this fall and winter.
"This late fall and winter season, we are excited to open up the building for private rental opportunities” said Dan McLean, executive senior associate athletic director. “Birthday's, weddings and rehearsals, graduation, holiday or year-end parties – we have an awesome and open space for a memorable event.
“We'll also offer our first private memberships, Trackman bookings and golf leagues, providing people access to our spacious bays and 6,000 sq. feet of indoor chipping/putting space, with all revenues going right back into our golf programs."
For more information on EMU golf or renting out the GameAbove Golf Performance Center, go to: https://gameabovegolfperformancecenter.com/
