2016 Yearbook

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Tom Christensen

Dear IGA Foundation Friends and Supporters,

It is with great pleasure I write this introduction to our 2016 report of activities. We

are extremely proud of the work we did this year. Our foundation supports many

different programs, but to put it simply our focus is on “Sharing the Game, Impacting

the Future and Protecting the Past”.

One way we share and protect the history of this great game in our state is through

our administration of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame. This year’s induction of Zach

Johnson was definitely a night to remember. It was, to no surprise, the most

successful induction ceremony we have ever had. We owe Zach and his team a lot

of credit for working so closely with us on everything. He is a terrific ambassador for Iowa as he competes

throughout the world.

We continue to impact the future in a number of ways, be it through scholarships, junior golf & development or

in supporting the turfgrass industry.

We once again awarded nine new individuals with scholarships this year - four new Herman Sani scholars and

five Ann Griffel scholars. In total, we gave out $44,000 in scholarship money in 2016.

We increased our focus on junior golf and player development. At the end of the year, we awarded the first of

what we hope to be many “Grow the Game” grants. Many of these will be focused toward the Golf in Schools

program, which gets golf into the curriculum at elementary P.E. classes. We also volunteered our help to the

Iowa Section PGA in their administration of the Drive, Chip and Putt competitions, which was a very rewarding

endeavor.

We continue to make significant contributions toward turfgrass and environmental projects. This year, we

made our second of two contributions to the water quality study being spearheaded by the Iowa Golf Course

Superintendents Association. We are anxious to see the results in early 2017. We also continue to be a Gold

Sponsor of the Iowa Turfgrass Institute as well as make a significant donation to the Turfgrass Extension service

provided by Iowa State University.

Of course none of this is possible without a great amount of time and effort by our staff and volunteers at

fundraising. 2016 was another good year from that standpoint. All in all, we raised over $150,000 for our

various foundation activities (you can see the breakdown elsewhere in this report).

We fund raise in a variety of ways, and one new method in 2016 was the first ever “Scholarship Benefit

Tournament”. Dennis Albaugh and Talons of Tuscany were extremely generous and hosted about 80 of

us in mid-June, where we had some fun competition and raised money for the Ann Griffel and Herman

Sani scholarship funds. We expect to make this a biennial event, alternating years with our Golf Marathon

fundraiser.

Now the challenge is to keep our momentum going in 2017, and you can help us with that! Please strongly

consider participating and becoming an IGA Partner through our Partners Program. It is our annual campaign

to raise funds for all the things we do.

I look forward to another terrific year in 2017. See you on the golf course soon.