Top 10 Golf Stories of 2025
By Tom Lang
Every year, golfers have their favorite story or two that impacted them or caught their interest in some fashion more than others. In our attempt to cover the best stories in Michigan every month, we’ve come across more than a few options for a Top 10 List, and we present them here (you might change the order), starting with and counting down from No. 10:
#10: 100,000 toppled. The Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) went over the milestone of 100,000 members in July. This is a huge jump considering that only a few years ago the total number of members was 60,000. It is an additional sign of how the game of golf has grown in recent times.
#9: Back-to-Back Collegiate wins. Eastern Michigan’s 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. At The Southern she led the Eagles to the team title as well, the program’s first in the last three years.
#8: Three short courses added in Michigan. The Great Lakes State is blessed with so many public golf options, it’s not surprising that in 2025 alone, three new short courses were added to give players of all levels some fun options playing all par 3 holes. They are Doan Brae at Boyne (The Highlands), The Wee One at Harbor Shores and The Sawyer at Garland, the latter of which is designed to play reversable.
#7: Two Holes in One. Most golfers do not have a single hole in one to their credit. Even more would be thrilled to collect two aces in a lifetime playing the game. Erik Olson of Grand Rapids made not one, but two hole-in-ones in ONE DAY. He was playing in a golf marathon to raise money for First Tee West Michigan. He aced hole number 131 of the day, then struck again just 13 holes later on hole 144. Olson played an incredible 153 holes in a single day, setting a new Cascade Hills Country Club record for most holes played during the event, while simultaneously raising more than $15,000 for First Tee.
#6: Courses Turning 100 Years Old. The 1920s were a time when golf was growing and expanding to small and large towns across our Great Lakes State. More than a half dozen courses were built then, and this year turned 100 years old. We played and wrote stories about two of them: Indian Lake Hills in SW Michigan, and Idyle Wyld in Livonia; plus there were stories on Indianwood Country Club and Belvedere. Other one-century properties include Dearborn Country Club, the 9-hole Calumet Golf Course in the U.P. plus the City of Detroit’s Rackham.
#5: Michigan Golf Course of the Year. Crystal Mountain’s signature golf course, Mountain Ridge, was named the 2025 Michigan Golf Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA). The Mountain Ridge course is best known in Michigan golf circles for hosting the Michigan PGA Women’s Open for 23 consecutive years and treating it as a celebration of women’s golf in the state. It’s one of two award-winning courses at the resort. Betsie Valley is the other. The Mountain Ridge course opened in 1995 and was designed by William Newcomb.
#4: PGA pro Stewart Cink Repeats at Ally Challenge. In August, PGA Tour pro Stewart Cink successfully defended his title in The Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills for his second PGA Tour Champions victory of 2025, beating Ernie Els on the first hole of a playoff. Cink eventually went on to secure the season-long Charles Schwab Cup title.
#3: Calab Bond wins Michigan Amateur. Bond, a Williamston native and member of the Michigan State golf team, not only won the Michigan Am at the famed Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix, he soon afterward reached the Sweet 16 of the U.S. Amateur with his ongoing stellar play. In the Michigan Am, he beat University of Oklahoma star and Cheboygan resident PJ Maybank, an exceptional junior player all of his junior golf career.
#2: Brooke Bierman reaching the finals of the 125th U.S. Women’s Amateur. At Bandon Dunes, the Michigan State golfer fought a wonderful battle at the world’s leading amateur event for women, defeating opponent after opponent until reaching the final head to head match, where she bowed out to national champion Megha Ganne of Stanford.
Despite not winning the championship, it was a strong finish for Biermann in her final amateur competition before entering LPGA Tour Qualifying School. Her resume includes reaching the finals of the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur, winning the 2024 Missouri Women’s Amateur, winning the 2023 NCAA Palm Beach Regional and earning All-American honors and All-Big Ten Conference honors this year at Michigan State.
#1: Michigan the Center of Pro Golf. Michigan simply dominated the country in hosting professional tour golf in 2025. With the addition of the LIV Tour making its Great Lakes State premier by having its Team Championship played at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth, it was added to the calendar that already included the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour (two locations in 2025), the PGA Tour Champions, and the EPSON Tour (3 times in 3 weeks). Florida also hosted all the same major tours but had one fewer LPGA event.
On the amateur side, Michigan hosted several USGA national qualifiers – and in 2026, we will host the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, at Barton Hills.
Michigan golf fans continue to prove we are number one by supporting all these events in one state.
