Boyne’s Fay Wins 2019 Michigan PGA Section Player Development Award

Michigan PGA Section Awards BOYNE Golf Academy’s Mike Fay 2019 Player Development Award

Petoskey, MI – Acclaimed golf instructor and BOYNE Golf Academy Director of Player Performance Mike Fay was recently chosen to receive the Michigan Section PGA’s 2019 Player Development Award. The award recognizes a PGA professional who has displayed extraordinary and exemplary contributions and achievement in the area of player development. An innovator across multiple media platforms and with students of all ages, Fay has built a reputation as one of the most trusted golf coaches in Michigan and beyond.

“To receive the recognition for player development from my peers means everything to me. My fellow PGA professionals understand the long hours that go into building a successful instruction business and serving a loyal clientele,” Fay says. “We have an amazing staff at the BOYNE Golf Academy and unmatched support from our management and ownership, so it’s a blessing to share this honor with them.”

This is the second time the Michigan PGA Section has awarded Fay the Player Development Award, having also singled him out in 2016. This award also considers the PGA Professional’s growth of the game leadership, commitment at the Section and National levels in the player development arena, and the meaningful impact made at the facility. Fay, a three-time Northern Michigan Teacher of the Year, is a tireless educator and is prolific across video, social media and interactive platforms. His weekly “Mike Fay Golf Show,” which is promoted as “Golf’s Most Interactive Online Show,” can be seen live at 9pm Eastern on YouTube, Facebook and Periscope.

Fay has been named one of the best teachers in Michigan by Golf Digest, a U.S. Kids Golf Top-50 Lifetime Master Kids Teacher, a Future Champions Golf Top-25 Junior Elite Instructor. In 2012, he was Michigan’s first and only “Golf Channel Swing Fix” instructor.

The Michigan native has 25 years of teaching experience and has become a leader in the world of golf instruction. Fay received a degree in professional golf management the University of New Mexico in 1996 and become a PGA member in 1997. One of Fay’s many special interests is in developing junior golfers. He serves on the board of The First Tee of Northern Michigan and runs year-round programming for young golfers, including a beginning “Learn the Game” program, a Drive, Chip & Putt Training Camp, an advanced Nike junior Golf Camp and the Boyne Mountain Junior Cup, a unique tournament series that is driven by a season-long points race.

“Getting entire families to play golf is important to me. If kids get hooked on the game, there’s a good chance they’ll influence their parents and siblings to play with them,” Fay says. “I want kids to have so much fun in our programs that they don’t even realize they’re learning golf. The game should always be fun first, so that’s a huge emphasis in our programs.”

Fay and the BOYNE Golf Academy can improve every aspect of a golfer’s game from short game to the long game utilizing the top state of the art teaching technology including Trackman and GEARS Club and Body Tracking System. Guests can also learn from the best instructors through weekly resort clinics and customized private and group lessons.

“Mike Fay is the consummate golf instructor and an exemplary ambassador for the game,” says Boyne Resorts’ Vice President of Golf and Resort Sales Bernie Friedrich, recipient of the Michigan PGA Section’s 2019 Bill Strausbaugh Award. “We’re very proud that Mike has spent more than a decade building his teaching career here at Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands and continues to be the kind of leader the golf industry needs.”

The BOYNE Golf Academy, one of the leading golf instruction schools in the country and part of Boyne Resorts, has been named an Editor’s Choice Award by Golf Digest as one of the Best Golf Schools & Academies. The BOYNE Golf Academy has been one of the top golf schools in the country since 1986. Based at both Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, the academy features nationally recognized professional instructors who have developed a variety of programs for juniors, adults, and ladies of all skill levels.

About BOYNE Golf

Boyne Resorts, named one of North America’s “Premier Resorts” (Gold) by GOLF Magazine, features a trio of resort destinations with 10 golf courses, all within a 45-minute drive of on another. The Inn at Bay Harbor and Bay Harbor Golf Club, Boyne’s flagship properties, features 27-holes with three golf course combinations (Links/Quarry, Quarry/Preserve, and Preserve/Links) all designed by Arthur Hills. Add in the nearby Crooked Tree Golf Club, perched on the bluff overlooking Bay Harbor, as well as the beautiful and iconic hotel, and you have one of the most scenic golf destinations in America set along a five-mile stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline. 

Boyne Highlands, rated the No. 1 Golf Resort for Value by Golf.com, features 72 holes of premier golf design. The Heather was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., while the Arthur Hills Course was crafted by Arthur Hills. In addition, the resort features the Donald Ross Memorial, which is a rendition of the legendary architect’s great holes from around the country, and The Moor course, which always provides fun and great views. The Highlands is the perfect buddy trip destination for golfers who like to play as many holes as they can during the long summer daylight hours northern Michigan features.

Boyne Mountain not only features two fun 18-hole courses (The Monument and The Alpine), along with the charming Mountain Grand Lodge & Spa, it is also the leading family friendly golf destination in the region with the Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark, junior golf camps, and various kid golf programs. Golf Digest named Boyne Mountain one of its “Top-10 Destinations for Family Golf Trips.”

Beyond golf, Boyne is centered amid one of America’s most beautiful vacation spots. The scenic Lake Michigan beach towns of Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, and Petoskey are minutes away, and a side trip to Mackinac Island is easily managed. Guests can enjoy award-winning spas, waterfront dining, sandy beaches, watersports, gaming, microbreweries, wineries, hiking, biking, tennis, zip-lining, shopping and more capped by the spectacular northern Michigan sunsets. For more information, visit BOYNEGolf.com.