Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2023 - 6

I NS ID E
T HE MG A
What is MGA
Membership?
A Unified Golf
Association
* BY TOM RYAN *
T
he 2023 golf season will be the seventh
season since the unification
of the women's golf associations
with the MGA. Long enough that many of
the young women that participate in MGA
championships might believe it has always
been like this, but not so long for those of us
who worked through the process of unification.
It seems like yesterday to me.
The MGA was founded in 1901, initially
to run the Minnesota State Amateur
Championship. Within the next 25 years,
the Minnesota Women's Golf Association
(MWGA), the Minnesota Women's Public
Golf Association (MWPGA) and the
Minnesota Public Golf Association (MPGA)
were organized to run championships for
specific segments of golfers not served by
the MGA.
The MGA ultimately grew into the state
golf association, where, in addition to running
state championships, it provides handicapping
oversight, course rating, is a golf information
clearinghouse, supports Minnesota's
allied associations and much more.
The MWGA, MWPGA and MPGA continued
to run their championships over the
next 100 years, supported by the MGA when
asked and where appropriate.
As we entered the 2000s, informal meetings
between the MWGA and MWPGA
were held to address challenges these
organizations were facing-including member
volunteering, securing host sites for
championships and a general decline in
championship participation.
In 2013, it was time to seriously face these
issues and address unification of these organizations.
A merger committee was formed,
and the MGA, which had long worked with
the women's organizations, providing staff
and general office support, helped facilitate
the process, ultimately inviting these organizations
to merge with the MGA.
6
MINNESOTAGOLFER Spring 2023
Even so, it would be two more years of
discussions before the committee was ready
to present a formal proposal to its members.
In June 2015 at Mendakota CC, the proposal
was presented, and the members present
unanimously approved the recommendation
to move the plan forward. Committees were
formed to create a championship plan and to
create a new MGA governance structure.
In February 2016, these committees
presented their
recommendations
to
their respective boards, who unanimously
approved the plan. After several months of
moving the plan through legal hurdles, MGA
President Kip Colwell, MWGA President
Ellie Layton and MWPGA President Marion
Holly signed the final documents at the MGA
Annual Meeting in November 2016.
While there were many challenges, the
opportunities outweighed them over these
last six years. Every female member of an
MGA member club is now eligible to play in
an MGA event. The number of entries has
grown, and the number of new participants
has been a big part of that growth.
At the Women's Senior Amateur at
Alexandria GC in 2018, then-MGA President
Barb Hanson asked the women at the welcome
dinner how many of them were " first
timers " in a women's championship. Over
half the room raised their hand. That was
validation for many of us that we had done
the right thing for women's golf.
It's hard to believe it's been 11 years since
the decision was made to get serious about the
issue. Kudos to the perseverance of a small
group of women who, because of their desire
to sustain women's tournament golf, successfully
accomplished a historic achievement.
The MGA is proud of its women's championship
program, and the women's game is better
for it!
See you on the course.
Another Good
Year for MNYOC
It's your invitation
to play some of the
finest golf courses
around, through
participation in MGA
Associate Members' Days
or the MGA Senior Tour. It's
your USGA Handicap Index,
now updated daily, after
a posted score. It's your
subscription to Minnesota
Golfer magazine, delivered
to your home or inbox. It's
your support of programs
and services that make the
game better.
Minnesota Youth on
Course (MNYOC), a junior
golf program founded
in Northern California
in 2006 and adopted in
Minnesota in 2017, ended
2022 with another strong
season. There were 11,100
members in the state,
with an average age of
14 years old, that played
55,930 rounds-which
came out to average five
rounds per member, up
from 3.9 in 2021. MNYOC
has 93 course partners
across the state that
allow members to play
golf at their facilities for
$5 or less. If your kids or
grandchildren are interested
in MNYOC, visit
https://www.mngolf.org/
YouthOnCourse.
mngolf.org
https://www.mngolf.org/Youthoncourse https://www.mngolf.org/Youthoncourse http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2023

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