2017 Yearbook (2)

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Dear IGA Foundation friends and supporters,
I am very excited to report 2017 was the best year ever for the Iowa
Golf Association Foundation. We raised more money than we ever have
before, allowing us to grow our programs and contributions that “Share
the Game, Impact the Future and Protect the Past”.
A few years ago we set a goal to “Secure the Sani” and raise $350,000
over a five-year period for th We reached
that goal - and then some - this past year. The generous donation from
Mike, Ed and Art Coppola a few years ago was instrumental in reaching
this milestone, as they committed $250,000 toward the effort. Their
gift combined with significant contributions from hundreds of others,
resulted in a total of nearly $450,000 raised over the past five years. It truly is remarkable.
With the Sani scholarship in a very secure place financially, our scholarship funding will now shift
somewhat to ou We are going to focus on two aspects of this
scholarship in th ase the reserve fund and two is to raise the level of
our awards each year. Currently we give five Iowa high school girls a scholarship of $2,000 for one
year. We would love to get this gift in line with our Sani scholarship, which awards $2,000 per year
for four years ($8,000 total) to four Iowa students (boys & girls) each year. In fact, we don’t intend
to stop there with either scholarship. We ultimately want to increase the value of both as the cost
of college is only going up.
In addition to scholarships we continue to impact the future by our support of junior golf. We
awarded more “Grow the Game” grants to PGA Section pros who are administering the Golf in
Schools program. We once again volunteered with the Iowa Section PGA in their administration of
Drive, Chip and Putt qualifiers and look forward to working with them more closely in the coming
years on junior golf programs.
We increased our funding t nd support of the Iowa Golf Course
Superintendents Association. We are a Gold Sponsor of the Iowa Turfgrass Institute and a Silver
Sponsor of the Iowa GCSA. We made a significant donation that supports club visits from Iowa
State University to our member clubs as part of their We are very
proud of this and hope to only increase our support i
Once again one of the highlights of the year was the induction of our new members into the Iowa
We had a wonderful ceremony at Hyperion Field Club for John Ausen, Rick
Brown, Emil Roewert, Brad Schuchat and Jerry Smith. These are five truly wonderful individuals
who have done a ton for the game in Iowa. We continue to raise funds for displays, plaques
and other memorabilia to display at our office and, hopefully sometime in the near future, at a
permanent Hall of Fame and Museum building.
None of this is possible without the generosity of so many who are willing to donate to the IGAF.
We cannot say “Thank You” enough. We are grateful and cherish the support we have received
since our Foundation began in 2011.
My two-year term as IGAF President is now over as I handed the reigns over to Andy Burton in
November. I am excited to remain on the IGAF board as we continue to grow and expand what we
do for golf and golfers in our great state. Please take a few moments to read the following pages,
which showcase in greater detail what we have been up to. Finally, thank you one more time for
your support. We appreciate it greatly.
Iowa Golf
Association
Foundation
2017
Annual Report
To Promote Golf and its life-enhancing
values with an emphasis on teaching,
preserving, and protecting the history and
traditions of the game in Iowa.
Letter from the President
Tom Christensen
President