SUMMER 2022 | GET OUTDOORS
Both pages, left to right: A massive American flag sits between holes 9 and 10. Golfers enter the property through the Folds of Honor Memorial Wall. Each hole features two plaques honoring a fallen service member and a Jack Nicklaus championship.
Golf for Good American Dunes GC pays tribute to fallen soldiers with a unique, patriotic approach to golf, a special clubhouse ambience, and funding for family scholarships
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fundraising event was held at Grand Haven Golf Club, then owned by Rooney’s parents, in the summer of 2006. Bucklin’s son, Jacob, became the first Folds of Honor scholarship recipient in 2007. Since then, the organization has awarded nearly 35,000 scholarships worth more than $160 million to the dependents of military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Just over a decade later, Rooney learned that Grand Haven Golf Club had fallen on hard times. His parents were contemplating selling the property to developers. Rooney, a PGA golf professional, couldn’t stomach the thought of that happening. Instead, he envisioned a place that would commemorate the birthplace of Folds of Honor, provide golf’s most patriotic experience, give back to military families, and inspire others to join the Folds of Honor Squadron.
Rooney pitched his bold idea to golf legend Jack Nicklaus, who won a record 18 major professional championships before launching a second career designing hundreds of golf courses. Nicklaus jumped at the idea and waived his usual $3 million design fee, and more than two years of extensive renovations commenced. Rooney renamed the course American Dunes Golf Club after the original Grand Haven course closed in 2018. His vision became reality on May 2, 2021, with the grand opening of American Dunes. By then, 11,000 tee times had already been sold and Golf Digest ranked it fourth on its annual list of the nation’s top new courses. This past January, Links magazine included the course among the top 10 Must-Visit Public Golf Destinations for 2022. Today, American Dunes has committed its profits to be donated to the Folds of Honor
PHOTO COURTESY OF NILE YOUNG
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an Rooney’s knack for turning inspiration into action has positively impacted thousands of lives. In 2006, the decorated F-16 fighter pilot, who served three combat tours of duty in Iraq and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, was aboard a flight from Chicago to Grand Rapids when it was announced that the plane was carrying the body of a fallen soldier named Cpl. Brock Bucklin, who left a young family behind. That resonated with Rooney, who still serves as an Air Force reservist, and the experience compelled him to do something. Rooney soon founded a charity, Folds of Honor, above the garage of his home in Broken Arrow, Okla., with the purpose of providing educational scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen and disabled military service members. The charity’s first
By Mark Spezia
MICHIGAN BLUE
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