GAM Awards
Course Rater of the Year: Kurt Visniski
By Greg Johnson
Kurt Visniski of Grand Blanc finds it hard to believe he is the Golf Association of Michigan’s Course Rater of the Year.
“When (Hunter Koch, GAM director of course rating) was announcing the rater of the year he had all the previous winners raise their hands,” Visniski recalled of a fall awards and golf gathering.
“I remember thinking that is quite a group, the best raters out there. I look up to all of them. Then he made the announcement, and it still feels unreal that I’m part of that group now. I was quite surprised to tell you the truth.”
Visniski, a 63-year-old retired mechanical engineer, is a GAM member with his wife and fellow course rater Lisa Stewart-Visniski through Flint Elks Country Club.
The award is presented annually to the course rater who demonstrates outstanding proficiency with the Course Rating System™ and is committed to helping grow and develop the GAM Course Rating Program.
Visniski said his wife, a past Course Rating Rookie of the Year winner, started with the course rating teams of the GAM before him, and she suggested he would like it. In addition, he realized it was a way to play golf courses that he might not otherwise have an opportunity to play.
“As I got more involved with it, I realized I may enjoy the rating part of the job more than the playing part,” he said.
The Visniski duo is heavily involved. While some health issues sidelined him late in the season in 2024, Visniski estimates he participated in 30 ratings in the 2023 season.
“I never thought about course rating before Lisa got involved, didn’t realize it existed,” he said. “I went in with no expectations and found out the skills I used as a mechanical engineer, the attention to detail, the numbers, fit with it.”
Additionally, the GAM chose Brett Quencer, a member through Currie Municipal Golf Course in Midland, as the Rookie of the Year, and Don VanOostveen, a member through Sunnybrook Country Club near Grand Rapids, as Trainer of the Year.
Superintendent Award of Merit: Carey Mitchelson
By Greg Johnson
Carey Mitchelson, the director of operations at College Fields Golf Club in Okemos and executive director of the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation (MTF), has been involved in the golf industry for the last 50 years, learning, sharing, serving and making friends.
“I found that even though it is a business and a sport, golf is also a place to meet people and make friends, the kind of friends that want you to be successful,” he said. “You can be a complete stranger on the first tee, but by the end of four hours you have their phone number in your phone, and they become somebody you talk with often. I can’t think of another sport or business like that.”
Mitchelson, age 68, has been named the GAM Superintendent Award of Merit winner for 2025.
The annual award, presented since 2011, is bestowed upon a superintendent who has demonstrated leadership, professionalism, good character and high standards of conduct through pursuits associated with golf course grounds maintenance and care.
Adam Ikamas, executive director of the Michigan Golf Course Superintendents Association (MiGCSA), nominated Mitchelson.
“Nobody works harder than Carey, either out on the golf course or on the front end of the MTF,” Ikamas said. “I’ve heard about and later was part of stories regarding Carey’s influence and involvement in golf. If it happened on the turf side of Michigan golf, Carey was either a part of it or leading it. His contributions, leadership and dedication to Michigan’s golf industry and turf industry are unparalleled.”
Mitchelson, a Michigan native and accomplished player, started in golf with his father Kyran Mitchelson, a longtime superintendent at multiple golf facilities primarily in the Flint area.
“I wanted to be a teacher, but every summer I would find myself working for dad at the golf course and eventually I switched (from Central Michigan to MSU) and changed to turfgrass (management).”
He excelled from the start of his career and was named the head superintendent at the Country Club of Detroit at the age of 25. He served the club for 19 years and then branched into other roles in the industry, helping build courses and working in Florida and Michigan, before returning to take on his current role at College Fields and serving in multiple volunteer positions with MTF, the GAM Green Committee and MiGCSA.
