Greg Zeller Named 2025 GAM Men’s Player of the Year

Greg Zeller participates in the Joe Fiero Senior City Golf Championship at Ella Sharp Golf Course, July 27, 2025.  JTV Sports file photo.

 (November 10, 2025 10:42 AM ET) Greg Zeller of Jackson likes to keep track of things, like how many rounds of golf and how many courses he has played in the calendar year, and this year how many points he had in the GAM Player of the Year Points standings.

  “I went into the year planning to play in more GAM events and got into more this year,” he said. “My goal is always to win or get in the top five. That shows I’m competing. I didn’t get a win this year, but I was close.”

  Close enough.

  With three top-five finishes in five GAM tournaments, earning medalist honors in the stroke play portion of the GAM Senior Match Play Championship, and finishing second in the Super Senior Division of the Michigan Senior Open, Zeller amassed enough points to be named the 2025 GAM Men’s Player of the Year, Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services, announced today.

  Player of the Year point totals can be found on a pull down from the PLAY tab at GAM.org. Carl’s Golfland is the presenting sponsor of the points lists.

  In the last few weeks, the GAM announced Elayna Bowser of Dearborn as the Women’s Player of the Year, Caleb Bond as the Men’s Player of the Year, Lori Schlicher of Lewiston as the Senior Women’s Player of the Year and Mike Anderson as the Senior Men’s Player of the Year. In the next few weeks, the GAM will announce more Players of the Year in gender and age categories.

   By the way, Zeller, who is 67 and a retired physical education teacher with the East Jackson Community Schools, has played 51 different courses and 181 rounds in the calendar year at last count. He said it was pretty cool to be the Player of the Year.

  “I kept an eye on it last year, and then made it a goal for this year,” he said. “It feels great to achieve that. I feel lucky to still be able to compete and keep up with everybody. There are so many good players in the GAM tournaments, so many great senior and super senior players.”

  Zeller’s top finishes earned him 235 points, just ahead of fellow Jackson golfer Mike Raymond, who was the Super Senior Division winner at the GAM Senior Championship this summer and had 195 points.

  David Bartnick of Novi, who won the GAM Super Senior Championship, tied for third with Randy Lewis of Alma, who won the Super Senior Division at the GAM Mid-Amateur Championship. They each had 150 points.

  Kerry Buettner of Grandville rounded out the top five with 135.5 points.

  Hartmann said Zeller doesn’t look his age and takes advantage of his flexibility and ability to hit the ball farther than most of his competition.

  “He also is a consistent player,” he said. “You always find him the top 10, or at the least not far down the leaderboard. He’s one of those players you would want to invite to be your four-ball partner because of his consistency and length off the tee.”