Overview | Officers and Directors | History | Past Directors | Board of Directors’ Strategies | Courses Played

Overview

The Michiana Senior Golf Association (MSGA) was started in 1999, the result of many conversations between Bob Brady, John Pavlos and many others about creating an organization dedicated to the promotion of golf for amateur senior players who reside in the Michiana (Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan) area.

The MSGA is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote the best interests of golf for senior players and to encourage friendly competition and sportsmanship for its members.

The organization is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of seven members who serve three-year terms.

Each year, the MSGA schedules ten tournaments to promote good fellowship among the membership through participation in the golf tournaments and concurrent social events. The tournaments are known as the Michiana Senior Tour.

Michiana Senior Tour events are played at both private and public courses throughout the Michiana area.  The general format is Individual Medal play within flights (determined by handicap), except the MSGA Championship which is a Two-man Two-Day Match Play event played in August each year.

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Officers and Directors

Walt Ailes - Valparaiso, IN President 219-462-0663 E-Mail		Tom Spartz - LaPorte, IN Director of Golf 219-363-2534 E-Mail
Tim Holmes - Valparaiso, IN 1st Vice President & Secretary 219-241-7599 E-Mail		Abe Ismail - Osceola, IN 2nd Vice President 574-607-5167 E-Mail
Kevin Shidler - Culver, IN Director & Handicap Chairman 317-903-9706 E-Mail		Rich Wallace - South Bend, IN Director & Schedule Chairman 574-271-7777 E-Mail
Mike Kinsey - Valparaiso, IN Treasurer 317-385-7259 E-Mail		Bruce Ruge - Valparaiso, IN Director 219-405-1834 E-Mail
Mike Hoffman - Granger, IN Director 574-247-0869 E-Mail		Bob Brady - Red Lion, PA Director Emeritus 219-872-6895 E-Mail

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History The concept of the Michiana Senior Golf Association (MSGA) was born in the spring of 1998 when Bob Brady received his 1998 schedule from the Indiana State Seniors Golf Association (ISSGA).  Bob, a member of the ISSGA for many years, noted that again there were few tournaments to be played in Northern Indiana.   This issue, along with the fact that the ISSGA had a long waiting list for membership, had been a topic of discussion among Bob and his friends for many years.  It was under these circumstances that he began to think seriously about creating a similar organization whose territory would include Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan.  The area was noted for many high quality private, resort and public golf courses, a requirement to attract the type of membership required to launch a successful organization.

With the help of John Pavlos, plans were made to launch the organization for the 1999 season.  Five additional Board members were recruited to make up the first Board of Directors.  Those were Ed Kuehl, Dick Trout, Joe Deming, Richard Gosswiller and Chris Condes.  John Pavlos was elected President and Bob Brady Secretary-Treasurer and Director of Golf.  

Seven tournaments were held in 1999 with the inaugural event at Bent Oak G.C. in Elkhart, IN.  Through word of mouth and the efforts of the Board members, membership grew to 125 by the end of the season.

In 2000, the schedule was increased to eight events, and in 2001, a Pro-Am event was added to the schedule for a total of nine events.  A computer was purchased to increase the efficiency and accuracy of the scoring at each event.

In 2002, the MSGA website was first setup to communicate with the membership and visitors, and in 2003, the MSGA engaged an outside handicap service, Handicomp, Inc. to provide USGA recognized handicaps for members who are not affiliated with a golf club.  For 2003, the schedule included nine events, but the Pro-Am event was replaced with a Two-Man, Two-Day Best Ball Match Play Championship played in August each year.  This MSGA Championship has continued each year since 2003.

At the beginning of 2008, the Board appointed Bill Murray as the new Director of Golf.  Bill was a retired PGA Professional and brought significant experience to the organization in setting up and managing MSGA events.  Bob Brady continued in the capacity of Secretary-Treasurer.  For 2008, an additional event was added to bring the total to ten.  After the season, the Board engaged Catalyst Marketing Innovations, LLC to redesign and host the website.

Prior to the 2009 season, John Pavlos, co-founder of the MSGA died unexpectedly.  The Board honored his memory by naming the first event each year, the John Pavlos Memorial Classic and naming the permanent MSGA Championship trophy, the John Pavlos Memorial trophy.

For the 2009 season, the Board established the Brady Cup to provide a year-long competition similar to the “Charles Schwab Cup” on the PGA Champions tour.  Points are awarded for participation, awards won and recruiting new MSGA members.

Prior to the 2012 season, Bruce Fisher was appointed to the position of Secretary-Treasurer replacing Bob Brady who retired as Secretary-Treasurer but remained a Director.

Beginning with the 2014 season, an additional flight was added for higher handicap players who choose to play from the forward tees at all Individual Medal Play events.  Any member whose age plus handicap index equals 95 could choose to play in the flight.

At the end of 2014, Bob Brady retired from the Board after sixteen years of service.  His vision, guidance and leadership are greatly appreciated by the Board.  Bob was honored by being appointed Director Emeritus.

Beginning with the 2020 season, the Board expanded the rules for those players who choose to play from the forward tees by lowering the limitation for age plus handicap index to 85.  This resulted in two flights for players playing the forward tees and three flights for players playing from the regular tees.  Beginning in 2020, the World Handicap System (WHS) began and included handicap systems from around the world including USGA systems at private and public golf courses.  Beginning in 2021, players were required to have a WHS handicap to play in MSGA tournaments.  The handicap system for players not affiliated with a golf course was replaced by the MSGA/Blue Golf system that uses the WHS system so that all scoring conforms to USGA rules.

At the end of 2021, Bill Murray retired as Director of Golf, Michelle Murray as Administrative Assistant and Bruce Fisher as Secretary-Treasurer.  With their passion and hard work for the organization, each made great contributions over the years and will be missed.  The Board appointed Tom Spartz as Director of Golf, Tim Holmes as Secretary and Mike Kinsey as Treasurer for the 2022 season.

In the years that the MSGA has existed, membership has grown from 125 in 1999 to a high of 210 in 2005.  Membership stood at 194 at the end of the 2021 season, up 23 from the COVID depressed 171 for 2020.  Over the MSGA’s years of existence, 860 players have been members of the organization. 

The current membership is below the all-time high of 210, but event participation for 2021 recovered to an average of 105.   The average participation for Individual Medal Play events was up from the depressed level of 93 in 2020.  The average participation has been more than 100 in eight of the past ten years.

To review Tournament participation for the prior 10 years, click here.

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Past Directors Bob Brady * 1999-2014 John Pavlos * 1999-2008 * Co-Founders Richard Gosswiller 1999 Chris Condes 1999-2000 Ed Kuehl 1999-2001 Joe Deming 1999-2001 Dick Trout 1999-2003 Mike Montgomery 2000-2001 Dan Hallowell 2000-2002 Fred Lands 2001 Herb Douglas 2001-2003 Frank Kowal 2002-2007 Frank Vite 2002-2003 Seth Moseley 2002-2004 Mike Gilpin 2003-2014 Bill Tidmore 2004-2005 Dave Zimmerman 2006 Rob Hocevar 2008-2010 Larry Jackson 2009-2014 Ray Nutty 2015 Don Giedemann 2005-2016 Kent Kaeppler 2007-2017 Bob McFadden 2015-2021 Taylor Seward 2004-2022

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Board of Directors’ Strategies

The Michiana Senior Golf Association is an organization dedicated to providing competitive golf tournaments for its membership.  Members are amateur senior players (age 50+) interested in playing the game of golf and generally reside in the Michiana area (Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan).

The Board of Directors’ primary function is to provide the best opportunity for its members to play and enjoy the game of golf in settings conducive to good fellowship and sportsmanship.

Over the MSGA’s years of existence, the Board of Directors has developed strategies to allow the organization to grow and prosper.  Those strategies include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide a competitive format for each tournament by dividing players into flights determined by handicap index so all players are competing against similarly skilled players.
• Provide flights for higher handicap players to play from the forward tees to enhance their overall golfing experience.  Players whose age plus handicap index equal 85 are eligible to play in the flights if they so choose for the year.
• Schedule ten events per year including a Team Two-man, Two-day Best Ball Match Play tournament known as the MSGA Championship.
• Schedule approximately two events per month from May thru September at private, resort and public courses throughout the Michiana area.
• Play courses within approximately one and one-half hour driving distance of Michigan City, Indiana.
• Schedule Member/Guest events to allow potential members to experience the competition and fellowship at MSGA events.
• Generally, do not play tournaments at the same course in consecutive years, except for the MSGA Championship and play at one or two courses new to the MSGA each year.
• Provide an outside handicap system for members who do not have a USGA approved handicap from a golf or country club.
• Subsidize the higher cost of some private club events by adjusting the cost of other lower cost events.  Provide the best overall annual value for the overall cost.
• Limit the number of players for each event to 120 to minimize slow play.
• Tournament prizes are awarded for overall low gross and overall low net for flights playing from the regular tees and from the forward tees.  Prizes are awarded for low gross (1), low net (4-6) and net skins for all flights.
• Separate Closest-to-the-pin prizes are awarded for players playing the regular and forward tees.  The hole-in-one contest is for all flights combined.
• For Individual Medal Play tournaments, awards are limited to one per player to allow for additional winners.
• Schedule events with lunch and the final tournament with lunch and dinner after completion of play and before the Annual Meeting and Awards presentations.
• Honor the co-founders of the organization, Bob Brady and John Pavlos by naming the year-long competition the Brady Cup and the last event as the Brady Challenge and naming the first event each year the John Pavlos Memorial Classic and the MSGA Championship trophy, the John Pavlos Memorial trophy.

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Courses Played

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