GAM SR. Woman’s Player of the Year: Holt’s Julie Massa

By Greg Johnson

Julie Massa of Holt changed putters this year, in the middle of the season no less, and changed styles going from her usual blade putter to a mallet.

“That’s very unusual for me, I’ve probably only used three or four putters my entire life,” she said. “My putting and chipping are the strength of my game, certainly the consistent part of my game normally. I qualified for the (U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in Alaska) with a blade putter, but then I didn’t play well up there, didn’t putt well, and changed after that.”

After the switch Massa found her usual consistency again and won the Michigan Women’s Senior Amateur Championship which propelled her to the top of the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) Points List for senior women. It’s a familiar spot for 59-year-old Massa, who has been named the GAM Senior Women’s Player of the Year for the seventh time in the last eight years.

Massa’s late-season win in the Michigan Women’s Senior Amateur, a Senior Division win in the GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and finishing second in the GAM Women’s Senior Championship helped the Forest Akers Golf Course member total 580 points for the season.

Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett, the women’s head golf coach at Michigan State University, Country Club of Lansing member and a first-year senior at age 50, finished second with 520 points. She won the GAM Women’s Senior Championship and made a run in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur before falling in the match play round of 32.

Massa, an Oregon native, used the same fitted blade putter for several years but was forced to change in 2019.

“My clubs were stolen when I was in Oregon that year and I feel like I haven’t found the right putter since then,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve tried a mallet style putter in competition. I’ve fiddled around with them before, but never took them on the course. I putted consistently, at least in the Michigan Women’s Senior.”

Massa beat Susie Keane of Orlando, Fla., a Michigan resident in the summer, in 20 holes in the title match at Sugar Springs Golf Club in Gladwin. That’s also where she shot 69 in stroke play qualifying, which she said was her best round of the summer.