What Is an Upper Midwest Connection in Golf?

 In my introductory post, I mentioned a plaudit called the "Upper Midwest Connection of the Week," which I also intend to extend to monthly, quarterly, midyear and annual honours. By now, you might be wondering what an Upper Midwest connection is. The answer to this question centres on three aspects: the definition of the region, what constitutes ties to the region and how to assess the strength of those ties.

The definition of the region varies from context to context but usually includes Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin. Most definitions include the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as well. The USGS definition adds Illinois and Indiana, along with the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, but excludes the Dakotas. For purposes of the Upper Midwest Connection awards, I favour a definition based on that of the Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest, which includes the five core states and the Upper Peninsula. But to keep it simple, I exclude the U.P.

This is the Upper Midwest, but my definition excludes Nebraska.

I define ties to the region according to criteria that I call by the acronym OURS:

O stands for "origin." This simply means that the golfer in question was born in the region. Example: Troy Merritt was born in Osage, Iowa.

U stands for "university." This means the golfer in question played at least one season of college golf for a college or university in the region. Example: Erik van Rooyen played collegiately for the University of Minnesota from 2009 to 2013. Upon graduating, he turned pro and joined his native South Africa's Sunshine Tour.

R stands for "residence." This means the golfer in question maintains--or has maintained in the past for at least a year--permanent residence as an adult in the region. Example: Justin Doeden is a permanent resident of Prior Lake, Minnesota.

S stands for "school." This means the golfer in question played at least one season of high school golf in the region. Example: Tom Hoge played for Fargo South High School in Fargo, North Dakota before going to college outside the region at T.C.U.

As for the strength of Upper Midwest ties, I devised a points system based on these criteria.

• O gets one point.
• U gets one point for a year or more of college golf, another point if the guy graduated and a third point if he played his entire career for the same college or university.
• R gets one point for past residence as an adult and another for maintaining current residence for at least a significant part of the year (three months).
• S gets one point for at least one year of high school in the region and another for graduating high school in the region.

The minimum requirement for Upper Midwest ties is three points. Hope this helps you understand when you see me designate an Upper Midwest Connection of the Week each week!

Edward the Scop