Me either, until I started researching what course I would go to next on my journey to playing 100 Maryland courses and naturally looked at the Bay Hills Golf Club in Arnold, since it was the next one alphabetically. While looking at their website, I found a reference to MISGA near the bottom of their Membership page. The short description indicates that each of the MISGA participating clubs schedule “Mixers” at their club and invite members from other participating clubs to play in shotgun start events at their clubs throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall. In turn those clubs invite Bay Hills players to their courses to play in Mixers. A link to the MISGA website indicates the association has been active since 1975 and there are currently 32 participating clubs, including several private country clubs, most in Maryland but a few in Delaware and West Virginia. MISGA has some 1,800 members and during 2025 there were over 130 Mixers at 27 courses from April 1st to October 20th. Some of the touted benefits include playing a variety of courses for a reasonable fee (several of which are strictly private), not having to fight for tee times, and of course, meeting new golf friends.
I spoke with Carl Lazar, the MISGA Club Representative at the Bay Hills Golf Club in Arnold. He’s been playing at Bay Hills since 1974, has been the MISGA Club Representative for 21 years and has participated in too many Mixers to count. Carl indicated the Mixers generally start at 8:30 or 9:00 a.m., cost between $45 and $75, and include donuts, coffee, 18-holes of golf, cart, lunch and a shot at prizes. To become a member, you must be at least 50 years old and participation in the Mixers requires you to have a handicap through the USGA. Each club sets its MISGA membership fee and Bay Hills current charges $60, which includes access to the USGA handicap system. When a Mixer is announced, Bay Hills members can sign-up and available slots are filled on a first-come first-served basis. Some Bay Hill members play in well more than a dozen Mixers each year. In addition to all of that, there are currently two multiple day road trips being planned – Crystal River, Florida, in March and Williamsburg, Virginia, in October.
Courses occasionally leave MISGA and sometimes new ones are added. Besides Bay Hills, the participating courses listed on the MISGA website are Blue Mash, Bretton Woods Recreation Center (private), Chester River Yacht and Country Club (private), Compass Pointe, Crofton Country Club (private), Eagle Creek Golf Course (military), Fairway Hills, Garrisons Lake, Glade Valley, Hampshire Greens, Hobbit’s Glen, Hog Neck, Holly Hills Country Club (private), Hooper’s Landing, Leisure World (private), Montgomery Country Club (private), Musket Ridge, National Golf Club (private), Northwest Golf Course, Prospect Bay Country Club (private), Sparrows Point Country Club (private), Rattlewood, The Club at Cress Creek (private), The Links at Challedon, US Naval Academy (military), University of Maryland, Walden Country Club and Wild Quail Golf and Country Club (private).
If you’re interested in getting more information about MISGA, including contact information for each club’s MISGA representative, their website is misga.org. It sounds worthwhile to me.