Selection Process Determined For Team Michigan In New National Junior Golf Initiative

TL;DR

The US National Develoment Program is a USGA effort to identify and develop golf talent.
State teams are intended to expand the pipeline for elite local golfers into the USNDP.
The selection process for the new Team Michigan junior golfers (ages 13-18) uses a points system based on GAM and Michigan PGA top championships and USGA qualifiers.
Teams of eight boys and eight girls will represent Michigan.
Anika Dy, a standout University of Michigan and amateur golfer, is the coordinator, and the committee will also consider head-to-head results and conduct for final selection.

Selection Process Determined for New Junior Golf Initiative

FARMINGTON HILLS – The Team Michigan selections process for junior boy and girl golfers, ages 13-18, has been determined for representation in the U.S. National Development Program (USNDP) initiative created by the USGA.

A points system and tournaments and qualifiers where junior golfers can earn the points have been selected by a committee of Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) and the Michigan Section PGA leaders.

The 2026 golf season will mark the first selection of junior golfers to Team Michigan. The team (a team of eight boys and a team of eight girls will be selected) will represent the state in the program that is designed to expand the pipeline for elite local golfers into the USNDP.

The USNDP aims to ensure that American golf is the global leader in the game by focusing on six key pillars: talent identification, access to competition, national teams, athlete resources, player development and relations, and athlete financial support.

The USGA is asking the state programs to focus on creating a developmentally appropriate, aspirational pathway for athletes within each state to compete at higher levels of the game. The USGA’s goal is to establish a team in every state by 2033, working in partnership with allied golf associations, the PGA of America sections, and local junior golf programs.

Competition among the state teams once they are chosen is not part of the current program, though it may be developed in the future.

Anika Dy, a former University of Michigan golfer, Michigan PGA Women’s Open Champion in 2019, and standout amateur competitor, is the Partnership and Engagement Coordinator for the GAM and charged with working the Team Michigan program.

She said the GAM and Michigan PGA committee concentrated on each association’s top championships and USGA Championship qualifiers in determining the points system for selection to Team Michigan.

Justin Phillips, Tournament Director for the Michigan PGA and a part of the committee, said there was an effort to have a schedule of combined tournaments in the state that would maximize opportunities to make the team and determine the top players.

The committee will use the points standings as the primary criteria, while also considering head-to-head results, scoring average, competitive round statistics, displayed work ethic, willingness to learn, personal conduct (on and off the course), and the ability to work with others and be part of a team.

“I wish this was something they had when I was a junior golfer,” Dy said. “To be part of a team like this would be such an honor, and it would have been a big thing to really work toward during the season. I think this will encourage kids to play in more Michigan tournaments.”

Phillips said the committee followed a similar model to what other states in the program have been doing.

“Other sports have created national programs and things like junior Olympic programs to advance their young athletes, and I think it’s great that golf is doing it, too,” he said. “We made sure to not take away from the current tournament programs of the Michigan PGA and the GAM, but to offer something else that will recognize the golfers in our state and give them chances at greater opportunities down the road.”

Dy and Phillips each said they hope the young golfers will embrace a sense of pride in having a chance to make a Team Michigan. Golfers who are chosen will have access to team apparel in addition to the national exposure through the USGA.

“I think it will generate more excitement and more interest in Michigan junior golf,” Phillips said.

Dy said she will play an active role in displaying the apparel and talking about the benefits of the program and Michigan golf to junior golfers and their parents.

“I will be building awareness with social media, information, ideas and it will be a combined effort with the Michigan PGA,” she said. “I’m excited to see what it can become.”

The boys’ Team Michigan will be selected on points earned in the following tournaments: Michigan Junior Amateur and Qualifiers, GAM Junior Invitational, GAM Boys’ Championship, Michigan Amateur and Qualifiers, GAM Championship and Qualifiers, Michigan PGA Junior, National Boys’ PGA Junior, Michigan Open and Qualifiers, U.S. Junior Amateur and Qualifiers, U.S. Open and Qualifiers and U.S. Amateur and Qualifiers.

The girls’ Team Michigan will be selected on points earned in the following tournaments: Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur, GAM Junior Invitational, GAM Girls’ Championship, Michigan Women’s Amateur, GAM Women’s Championship, Michigan Girls’ PGA Junior, National Girls’ PGA Junior, U.S Girls’ Junior Amateur and Qualifiers, U.S. Women’s Open and Qualifiers and U.S. Women’s Amateur and Qualifiers.

Learn more at GAM.org under TEAM MICHIGAN under the JUNIORS pulldown.