Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc is Golf Association of Michigan Senior Women’s Player of the Year

Terry Delcamp has been named as the Golf Association of Michigan’s Senior Women’s Player of the Year. Delcamp, from Grand Blanc, was winner of the GAM Senior Women’s Championship and the Tournament of Champions.

“It’s really exciting to be player of the year,” Delcamp said. “I worked hard on the game and it is awesome to have something to show for it.”

“This year I played more because I was playing better. I have a little more time to work on the game, and getting confidence from a different teacher was big. I don’t think he said anything new, but maybe he gave me a different perspective and once you work on something and it works then it motivates you to work more and then confidence kicks in. With golf, so much is about confidence.”

Delcamp amassed 400 points on the GAM Honor Roll. Joan Garety of Ada was second with 313 points.

Full press release follows:

Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc is GAM Senior Women’s Player of the Year

FARMINGTON HILLS – Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc, a winner of the GAM Senior Women’s Championship and the Tournament of Champions, is the Golf Association of Michigan’s Senior Women’s Player of the Year.

Delcamp, 52 and a member at Atlas Valley Country Club, topped the GAM Honor Roll for senior women with 400 points. Her points total was highlighted by the two wins and solid showings in a busy schedule.

“It’s really exciting to be player of the year,” she said. “I worked hard on the game and it is awesome to have something to show for it.”

Joan Garety of Ada and Egypt Valley Country Club was second with 313 points.

Shelly Weiss of Southfield and the Michigan Women’s Golf Association, who finished second to Delcamp in the GAM Women’s Senior, was third with 300 points.

Maureen Whitehead of Charlevoix and the Michigan Women’s Golf Association (235 points) and Barb Schmid of Grand Rapids and Egypt Valley Country Club (200) rounded out the top five. See the complete Honor Roll listings at http://www.gam.org.

Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood was previously named the Men’s Player of the Year, Jennifer Elsholz of Grand Rapids the Women’s Player of the Year, and Randy Lewis of Alma, the Senior Men’s Player of the Year. In the next two weeks the Boys and Girls Players of the Year will be announced.

Delcamp, who with her brother owns and runs Pontiac Mailing, said taking more time to play golf this summer and working with Spring Meadows Country Club teaching professional Rick Kent helped make her first Player of the Year honor possible.

“I’ve always been kind of a notch below the best, always competing against Stacy (Slobodnik-Stoll), Joan (Garety) and MJ (Mary Jane Anderson) when she lived here,” she said. “I was a pretty good player but never great.

“This year I played more because I was playing better. I have a little more time to work on the game, and getting confidence from a different teacher was big. I don’t think he said anything new, but maybe he gave me a different perspective and once you work on something and it works then it motivates you to work more and then confidence kicks in. With golf, so much is about confidence.”

Delcamp, who played several sports in her youth, said her father Garnet Smith dragged her to the golf course to have her learn what he called a game for life when she was age 12.

“I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “I didn’t know how right he was. The wonderful people I’ve met and the business opportunities have been great. My life has been better because of golf that’s for sure.”

At Atlas Valley, where she belongs with her husband Jay, she has won the club championship 16 times. She said she likes to compete, and that doesn’t mean just play in tournaments to play.

“There was a stretch there when I was in my late 40s where I felt like I was beating my head against the wall,” she said. “Playing against college kids and getting beat by 20 shots was nut very much fun. For me, it’s not that I compete only to win. I love to win, winning is great, but mostly I want to feel competitive when I’m playing I don’t want to go out and get my guts kicked in.

“That’s part of the reason this summer was go great. I beat some of the same people I’ve been losing to for a long time, and I felt competitive, felt positive about my game. That’s fun.”

The Golf Association of Michigan was founded in 1919 and is the governing body for amateur golf in the state. As a not-for-profit organization its purpose is to represent, promote, preserve and serve the best interests of the game. The GAM provides membership and a myriad of services to more than 60,000 golfers and more than 400 golf courses. It also conducts 19 amateur championships and oversees 14 USGA qualifying events.

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