Grand Haven Mens Golf Assoc.

William Michael “Mike” Rowlands is the Grand Haven MGA Spotlight Golfer for the Fall of 2018.  Mike was born in Charleston, West Virginia on May 12, 1955, the youngest of three children.  Mike attended elementary school in Dunbar, WV and graduated high school from Poca High School, about 20 miles north of Charleston, in 1973.
 
After attending and graduating from Marshall University in 1976 with an Associate Degree in Civil Engineering, Mike quickly learned he needed further education to pursue his dreams.  In September 1978, he first stepped into the coal mining business, and was employed by Ford Coal Company, owned by one of the original West Virginia “Coal Barons”, as a rodman on a survey crew in the engineering department.
 
One month later, he began pursuing his Bachelor of Science Degree at West Virginia Institute of Technology at night, while working full time at the mining company.  The pursuit of the Bachelor’s Degree would take 8 years, 6 ½ years at night followed by 3 full time semesters and summer school, all while working full time.  He finally graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in 1986.
 
In 1989, Ford Coal Company was purchased by Arch Mineral Inc., a predecessor to what is now Arch Coal, Inc., the 2nd largest coal producing company in the United States.  Mike started with Arch as an Environmental Engineer, and worked in various engineering capacities in Environmental Compliance, Mine Planning, Construction Management, and Operations for several Arch mining complexes WV, VA, KY, WY, and MT until retirement in 2016.  Starting as a rodman on a survey crew and progressing to Manager of Engineering of the largest surface coal mine in the world, he has hands-on experience with most engineering functions in coal mining.
 
Mike and wife Brenda spent winter vacations for 26 consecutive years at the Daytona 500 beginning in 1992.  Traveling to the race each year brought them past Palm Coast each year, watching it grow between visits.  We visited Grand Haven on two occasions during its early construction, but didn’t seriously plan for retirement until 2011.
 
In 2011, they began looking for a condo to begin the migration to retirement and purchased one in Palm Coast.  After two years in the condo on an infrequent basis, they discovered a preference of a house to a condo.  They sold the condo, and found their home in Grand Haven in 2014.  After closing on the home in August of 2014, The Rowlands Women (Brenda and their two fur babies) spent the winter in Florida while Mike spent the winter working in Montana. 
 
During this time, two things became apparent:
a) the home in Montana no longer purposeful, and
b) the job Mike had in Montana would soon be eliminated.
 
We sold the home in Montana in July, 2015, and Brenda and the fur babies moved to Florida permanently while Mike rented an apartment in Billings, Montana until March 2016, when his job was eliminated.  Mike then moved to Florida and joined the golf club 3 months later.
 
Mike now enjoys playing more golf in a month than he was able to play previously in 2 years.  While not much of a golfer, he certainly enjoys the friendships he has gained in his short time with  the Golf Club and MGA.  He finds the membership to be a very special group and has felt welcome since he joined.