Michael Coppola’s passion for the game of golf in the state of Iowa is unmatched.

Coppola, pictured with Golf House Iowa donor, Doug Reichardt (on left with hat), the owner of Echo Valley Country Club in Norwalk, was a major player in the construction of Golf House Iowa, which is nearing completion. As Coppola’s friend, Charlie Taylor, describes it, Coppola didn’t move the needle for the project. He was the needle.

Coppola’s lead gift, including the land the building rests on just east of the ninth green of Echo Valley’s Creek Course, was crucial. Just as important is his behind-the-scenes role and volunteering his time to help the project move forward. His experience and insight during the fundraising, planning and construction of the project were invaluable.

Coppola’s generous gifts were a major piece of the fundraising goal, which climbed to $5 million due to increased construction costs. The new facility, which will also be home to the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame and Museum, will celebrate the game’s past and serve as motivation for the future. Michael has also been generous with his time and his philanthropic endeavors to help the IGA many times in the past.

“It is nearly impossible to completely and accurately summarize Mike’s contributions to the Iowa Golf Association,” Taylor said. “He has, in my opinion, single-handedly changed the course of the IGA like no one before him. Mike shares a vision with the IGA that Golf House Iowa will provide an important platform to promote the game of golf through its impact on junior golfers.”

This is not the first time the future of the game has prospered from Coppola’s generosity. The Sani Scholarship Fund, which is financed by donations and a percentage of entry fees from selected statewide tournaments, was struggling to find enough money to endow those scholarships.

Coppola was approached around 2013 about making a donation to keep the scholarships – $2,000 a year for four years – up and running. Coppola attended a Sani Scholarship dinner and was deeply impressed with the award winners. He did some research on Sani, who purchased Hyperion Field Club in 1936 for back taxes and gave it back to the membership. Sani was also the first executive director of the IGA and served in that role on a volunteer basis for more than 30 years.

The Coppola brothers – Michael, Arthur and Edward – donated $250,000 to help endow the Sani Scholarship in 2015. Witnessing the Sani Scholarship winners in person, and hearing their stories, was the driving force behind Coppola’s decision to lend a helping hand.

“Mike’s involvement and philanthropic contributions to the IGA already have, and will continue to shape, the game for players in our great state for years to come,” said former IGA president Steve Jermier, himself a former Sani Scholarship recipient.

Echo Valley Country Club, along with Hyperion Field Club in Johnston, host the Herman Sani Tournament every other year on the IGA Championship schedule, thanks again to the generosity of the Coppola family.

Coppola has also made significant investments to improve playing conditions and overall experience for the members at Echo Valley Country Club. The club grew to 27 holes in 2004 when the nine-hole Ridge course was built. The greens were rebuilt on the Vale course in 2021, returning them to their original size. The Creek nine underwent greenside renovations, movement of some fairway bunkers, the addition of new tees and a new irrigation system in 2022 and 2023. And all bunkers on the three nines have been rebuilt over the last two years with capillary concrete to improve drainage and playing conditions.

Coppola has commented that he looks into the future and sees a day when Mike McCoy, one of Iowa’s greatest amateur players and a member of the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame, sits in a meeting room at Golf House Iowa and talks to a group of youngsters about what the game of golf has done for him.

“It’s about enriching lives through golf,” Coppola said. “How do we change a life through the game? And it might not even be on a golf course. Twenty-five years later a kid is going to say, “Mr. McCoy talked to be about what the game did for him. And one thing he said really got to me.”

As a golfer, Coppola isn’t motivated by how many rounds he plays in a year. It’s more about the canvas that golf provides.