From left: Skip Runnels, IGA Board President; Patrick White, PGA Board President; Alan Morrison, Indiana DNR Director; Mike David, Indiana Golf Executive Director; Lucy Dye Bowman, Granddaughter of Pete & Alice Dye; Gina Giacone, Indiana Golf Foundation Board President; and Mayor Deb Whitfield, City of Lawrence.
Indiana Golf celebrated the grand opening of the new Pete and Alice Dye Indiana Golf Center located on the grounds of The Fort Golf Resort at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park in Indianapolis. Indiana Golf serves as the administrative hub for golf in Indiana, and the new headquarters houses the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame.
The new centralized location allows Indiana Golf staff to best serve courses, events, and programming throughout the state and manage the Indiana PGA, Indiana Golf Association, Indiana Women’s Golf Association, Indiana Golf Course Superintendents Association, Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association, Indiana Golf Foundation, and First Tee-Indiana. The 13,000-sq.-ft. headquarters also includes the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, a new indoor golf academy, and a short game practice facility.
The project was announced in the fall of 2023, with the groundbreaking taking place exactly one year before the ribbon-cutting event on June 5, 2024. Indiana Golf raised nearly $6.5 million toward the capital campaign, which supported the new headquarters, facility upgrades at First Tee-Indiana host facilities Riverside Golf Academy and Douglass Golf Course, scholarships for youth to attend First Tee-Indiana programming, and a Dryvebox Mobile Golf Simulator to take state-of-the-art technology on the road. The Dryvebox will make golf more accessible by visiting schools, children’s hospitals, VA hospitals, festivals, and other interested groups.
“This new facility represents not just a physical structure, but a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence in golf and community engagement,” says Mike David, Executive Director of Indiana Golf. “I’m thrilled to see this long-time vision come to life and to start witnessing the positive impact it will have on our organization and the golfing community in Indiana as a whole.”
Indiana Golf exists to provide quality programs and experiences to promote, develop, grow, and enhance golf throughout the state. A recent Economic Impact Report from the National Golf Foundation found that golf contributes more than $2 billion in total economic impact and $1.042 billion in direct expenditures annually to Indiana’s economy. The study also reported that golf supports just over 23,300 jobs with $612.6 million of wage income, drives more than $147.2 million in state and local taxes, and contributes more than $50.4 million to charities and foundations.
The study also found golf provides an active outlet and life skills building opportunity for youth, with the First Tee-Indiana serving more than 100,000 youth across 55 courses and 335 school program sites. Additionally, golf enhances Indiana’s tourism industry, generating $152.9 million in spending across more than 1 million day and overnight trips.
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