Celebrating a Century
Three Michigan courses turn 100 years old in 2024
By Tom Lang
No less than four golf courses in Michigan are still open and operating 100 years after they began serving the game – which by all means was still in its infancy early last century. Holes have been added, others changed – but what remains is a rich and fun chronicle of stories.
This is a short preview of the courses we could confirm are celebrating 100 years in 2024. We hope to play each one at some point this summer and provide reviews in the fall.
Moving west to east, the courses include Sauganash Country Club in Three Rivers, Sharp Park in Jackson, and Verona Hills in Bad Axe. If we missed any others, feel free to let us know and we’ll make sure to check them out.
Sauganash Country Club:
This course almost never saw 90 years. The property was nearly sold off last decade to become a new corn field, until 20 business owners in Three Rivers combined to buy the club and revive it.
A lot of renovations went into the clubhouse building to bring it up to the modern era. Leadership describes the courses as an 18-hole layout winding over rolling terrain and hugging the scenic St. Joseph River. The course offers a good variety of tight driving holes on the front (with trees as a main defense like most clubs developed in the era) and a challenging assortment of holes through the woods and bordering the river on the back nine – which was added more than 60 years ago.
It’s one of the few courses in the state that has been toured and touched by A.W. Tillinghast, the famous architect of Baltusrol, Bethpage and Winged Foot.
The course is one of the oldest still-standing businesses in St. Joseph County. Three Rivers derives its name from its location at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and two tributaries, the Rocky and Portage rivers. The St. Joseph River eventually flows into Lake Michigan.
Sharp Park Golf Course:
“We’re an old-style push up green golf course that I think a lot of golfers appreciate, I think it’s a great place for any golfers,” said PGA pro Eric Terrian. “We just added a fourth set of tees so we can accommodate all abilities, and we often host the best events for Jackson’s better players, so we can set things up for general play and for tournaments for almost anybody.”
Jackson is unique in that the city produced no less than four PGA and LPGA Tour winning players, and all four would show up at Sharp Park at one time or another in their careers. It began with the Hill brothers, Dave and Mike, who won 40 tournaments combined on the PGA and Sr. PGA Tours in the 1960s-1990s. Then came Elaine Crosby who won twice on the LPGA Tour, and more recently, Brian Stuard who won the PGA Tour’s 2016 Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
“When you think of golf in Jackson, one of the places you think about is Sharp Park,” Stuard told me. “I have some great memories of winning the Junior City Championship there. It was always such a fun place to play golf.”
Ella Sharp Park’s 18-hole golf course provides a challenge for golfers of all levels. The course touts two of Jackson County’s most challenging golf holes (2nd and 12th holes) along with an array of other manicured fairways and greens.
Terrian said that Tom Bendelow designed the original nine. The course was lengthened at the more recent turn of the century with a redesign that helped relieve some crisscrossing holes on the 100-acre property. He said the most attractive characteristic for most golfers is the price: just $28 peak time all year, including a power cart.
Verona Hills Golf Club:
This officially private club that allows public play almost every day stands out in the middle of Michigan’s Thumb, just outside Bad Axe. The Thumb is an area that is best known for its wide-open flat land and huge wind turbine farms for Detroit Edison – yet the parcel of land hosting Verona Hills is in part captured in the name; hilly.
“Whenever we go to the golf show in Detroit, we always say it’s a nice Up North course without the long drive from Detroit,” said 11-year head pro Phil Gornowich, who grew up playing the course as a kid and member of the Harbor Beach High golf team. “With all the farm fields and what can feel like a boring ride out of Detroit, you’re surprised to see all the elevation changes and the fun layout we have here.”
Gornowich said the origins of Verona Hills were the traditional nine holes that much later became 18. He said there was plenty of property so that the added holes were not crammed in on top of each other, which is a typical trait of many nine-hole courses built a century ago and then added a second nine.
“The original nine must have been very spread out with lots of open land in between,” he said, adding that the newest nine holes are not just set off to the side of the first nine, but rather, it’s all interconnected.
The course is having its official 100th birthday celebration on August 3.
Gaylord Golf Club:
Founded in 1924, Gaylord Golf Club is one of northern Michigan’s oldest golf clubs. The club moved to its new location just west of Gaylord in 1975 – so the current course is not where the original began like the others featured here, but still deserves some type of recognition. The current 18 holes will be 50 years old next summer.
The original nine holes in 1924 were near downtown. A former home on the property served as the original clubhouse, which was replaced in the 1950s by the building that now serves as the Elks Lodge. The Elks City Park at that location is where the golf holes used to be.
Gaylord Golf Club is a classic parkland design reminiscent of the early 20th century courses featuring close proximity from greens to tees and a variety of designed holes allowing for a more enjoyable round in less time than those which are spread out and longer yardage courses. Gaylord Golf Club is one of the few private clubs in northern Michigan allowing public play anytime.
Former Superintendent Paul Holmes served 38 years before retiring last year. He was replaced by his son, Ryan Holmes, who has all the inside knowledge of each area of the course and expertise of knowing all the tricks.
