Sportsmanship Award Winners

In an effort to raise funds and promote awareness for organizations dear to their hearts, Matthew and Lucas Shin started a non-profit organization called golf4Good.

This non-profit serves the Shine Community, which serves mentally disabled youth, and Mango House, an orphanage in Thailand that houses refugee children from Myanmar.

The Shin brothers raised $2400 through golf instruction on the range and on the course, as well as through coordinating a camp for disabled youth with autism and Down Syndrome. In addition to teaching, they spent time on marketing, website development, client scheduling, lesson planning, and finances.

Regarding those at the Shine Community and Mango House, Matthew and Lucas serve as ‘big brothers’ to their students, who refer to them as “Coach Matthew and Coach Lucas.” More than just instructing on the mechanics of golf, they have demonstrated etiquette, integrity, and a spirit of fun through golf4Good.

For more information on golf4Good and what the Shin brothers are doing, visit https://www.golf4good.us/home .

The inaugural Junior Chicago Cup raised $67,000 for the AJGA ACE Grant, Misericordia Home, and the Illinois Junior Golf Association. Captains (pictured) were Kiana Pouyat and Ryan Banas. The 2021 event took place at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill.

Other Participants Include:

From the AJGA: After his younger brother spent time at Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Creamean was inspired to raise money for the hospital through the AJGA’s Leadership Links program, and has raised $4,300 for charity. Creamean has volunteered over 150 hours as a founding member of the Chicago North Shore Chapter of Bunkers in Baghdad, a non-profit organization that collects golf balls, clubs and golf equipment to send to United States troops abroad. He led their chapter to earn the Dick Nelson Commitment to Service Award, presented by the President of Bunkers in Baghdad. Creamean most recently raised over $1,000 for the charity in February when he organized a game night fundraiser with food and raffle prizes.

USGA-AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award Recipients – 2020

The York golf team and York golf parents also participated in a golf equipment drive for fellow West Suburban Silver Conference team Proviso West, a team that struggled with putting together equipment for their players. The York team donated 5-6 complete sets of clubs, new shoes, four-dozen new golf balls, and a number of training aids for putting and chipping. In addition, a parent also contacted Sand Valley Golf Resort in Wisconsin, where the York team played this summer, and Sand Valley sent another estimated $5,000 worth of clubs, bags, shoes and other equipment to Proviso West. Another conference coach who learned of this equipment drive expressed regret that his team had not thought to do something similar.

Proviso West Coach Vince Stubstad noted that the York team “treated my players with respect and talked to them on the course,” something he noted the team had not seen with other conference schools. Stubstad’s letter to the York Athletic Director about the York team and its sportsmanship toward the Proviso West players was the “best news and the nicest thing I have heard all year,” according to Athletic Director Rob Wagner.

Proviso West Coach Stubstad and the Proviso West players wrote:
All of the players truly appreciated the generosity, and they are now more motivated to work in the offseason. This was an outstanding learning opportunity for them to see people help each other out and it will make an impact on their life further than just golf. We really appreciate it!

This summer and fall, Matt Buckley raised over $5,000 through the American Junior Golf Association’s Leadership Links Program, with half of those funds going to the Freedom Golf Association, an organization that contributes to the positive development of those with special needs through the magic of golf. The other 50% will go to the AJGA’s scholarship fund, which provides golf tournament fees for those junior golfers who demonstrate financial need. Matt also serves on the Junior Board at Freedom Golf.

During the second round at the DuPage County Junior Classic, Grace made the Rules Committee aware of a possible rules infraction she committed during play. The ruling would cause her to have to take a 2 stroke penalty on the 11th hole which would change her score form a 5 to a 7. Her group was fine with the initial ruling and if Grace had not informed the committee of the infraction, it would have gone unnoticed. Grace really wanted to make sure she abided by every rule even if it resulted in disqualifying herself from the event.

Polomsky and Stockwell started “Birdies for Bucks” donation drive to benefit Access Sports, an organization in Elmhurst which provides sports programming for kids with disabilities. Connor and Dylan solicited donations as either a flat donation or a donation per birdie made by the entire York Varsity Golf team during the 2019 Fall High School season, including the State championship tournament. Donors could sponsor individual matches, the entire season, or make a flat donation. Total donations of $12,081 were presented to Access Sports on 11/8/19 during the Access Sports 10th Anniversary dinner. This donation ensures Access Sports programming for another year. Twitter: @Elmbirdies4 for pictures and additional information.

The Sportsmanship Award was awarded to the junior board members of the Freedom Golf Association (FGA). The junior board consists of Stewart Leigh, Jack Bartuch, Natalie Spitzer, Grace Owens, Lily Fuchs, Katherine Sinars, and Tommy Clark. The FGA was created by EQ Sylvester in 2012 and is dedicated to bringing joy and a sense of freedom to the special needs community through their inclusion in the game of golf.

This year the junior board decided to host an event at TopGolf to help spread the FGA’s message to more people. The event raised $17,000 for the organization, which is the most money ever raised from a single event by the junior board. The proceeds will be used to help the construction of the new adaptive golf center at Stony Creek Golf Course in Oak Lawn. This state-of-the-art facility, which was designed by David Pelz, will be a training center for many of the most talented disabled golfers in the United States.

IJGA Member, Davis Billows has been awarded the Sportsmanship Award this month after having raised over $9,000 for the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation through the AJGA’s Leadership Links Program.

Billows was one of the top fundraisers who were recognized at the PGA Honda Classic for his work. He also had the honor of meeting Jack Nicklaus, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Fellow IJGA Member, Jackson Bussell was also honored at the PGA Honda Classic.

The Rohwedder Family, Adrienne, Symantha and Max, have raised money for the Illinois Junior Golf Association for the last several years through the American Junior Golf Association’s Leadership Links ‘Birdies for Charity’ Program.

This year the kids raised $5,028, through the Leadership Links Program, bringing their total to $14,905 since 2014.

The AJGA’s Leadership Links Program allows the AJGA to further its mission to develop young men and women by teaching charitable giving skills and service-oriented practices at an early age. One of the ways the participants can help raise money is through the Birdies for Charity Program, which is where juniors collect pledgesmade for each birdie recorded in tournament rounds or flat donations.

Max is now playing collegiate golf at Lake Forest College, but his sisters are still hard at work to earn their spots on college golf teams.

It is because of individuals like the Rohwedders that the IJGA is able to provide financial aid to junior golfers who would not be able to participate in our events because of the lack of financial backing. This kind of support helps us sustain and grow not only the IJGA but also the game of golf.

The Illinois Junior Golf Association has awarded Nathan Kwiatkowski with the IJGA Sportsmanship Award because of the very thoughtful thank you note he wrote to the staff at Cog Hill after he played in the Sizzler Championship.

Even though everyone is encouraged to write a thank you note to the courses who have generously allowed us to use their facilities, it is something that is often overlooked. There is always a section on the tournament information page that lists the individuals that we work with at the courses and their address.

The Illinois Junior Golf Association is pleased to award the very first Sportsmanship Award to Jackson Hulsey (2022) of St. Charles, Ill. Jackson was nominated for this award after he came forward to report his score being incorrect online.

While going through scoring at the YDP Season Opener at Countryside, Jackson and his playing partners had gone hole-by-hole and signed their scorecards. Upon entering his scorecard into the computer, one hole was entered incorrectly. A hole on which Jackson actually made a bogey, the scoring system had him down for a birdie.

Jackson called the IJGA staff to report the error saying that he just couldn’t sleep that night knowing that his score was wrong. He said he knew a lot of players who would have let the scoring error stand, but he needed to make sure it got fixed immediately.

IJGA tournament staff went back to compare the hole-by-hole scores on the signed scorecard to the scores that had been entered into the computer and determined that it was a staff error when keying in the scores and corrected the hole in question.