Early Season Success for Some Michigan Golf Courses
By Tom Lang
Michigan winters can be harsh, which skiers and snowmobilers love.
They can also be milder, which hearty golfers prefer.
The year 2024 has definitely been the latter – so much so that courses in Michigan’s southern half benefitted with more golfers so far than past years.
We checked in with several courses to see if the temperature highs so far this year, where some places reached the 70s in mid-March, were bringing out more golfers as much as bringing out tree and plant buds earlier than normal.
For dating purposes, our survey of golf courses was January 1 through March 15, an 11-week period:
At Calderone in Grass Lake, 2,456 golfers teed it up during this period. Calderone has averaged 1,022 golfers in that same time frame the prior four years.
“We are unique in that we stay open year-round if weather permits, so we are no strangers to off season golf,” said Brian Roberts, GM at Calderone. “We did have quite a lot of golf in December 2023, but after no golf in January we have certainly seen an impressive amount of golf in February and March (through the 15th).”
Course managers agreed that pulling in early season golf revenue is always nice for the bottom line, but what comes with it is bringing in more staff to handle the players and maybe some unfortunate wear and tear.
“The real benefit for us is we get to get our regular golfers out to play, and our staff can do additional projects on the course,” Roberts said. “The weather varies, so in my experience you need to be open when weather allows, because you never know when you are going to have a really wet and cold April or an early winter. If we go over or under budget we always look at the weather to see if that was a reason that caused us to spend more or less.
“One thing I do know for us is the more successful our course is the more we are able to put back into upgrades and maintenance, which is a positive for us and our guests.”
At Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti, early 2024 saw approximately 1,300 golfers on the course. That compares to 1,000 in 2021, a low of 700 in 2022 and 800 last year in the January – March 15th time frame.
The tough part is the balancing act of doing what’s healthy for the golf course and good for the golfers themselves. That ranges from bringing in more staff and charging less than normal green fees; sometimes allowing carts and sometimes not.
“As a club we do feel it is important to take care of our Michigan golfers when the weather allows play,” said manager Donna Gonzolas-Hatch.
West along I-94 to Marshall, The Medalist was open for 14 days in the first 11 weeks, and 1,340 players took advantage of the sunny skies and increased temperatures. Managing partner Lowell Weaver II said that virtually no one played in the same time frame in prior years, so the 2024 number is an increase of easily 80 percent.
“I have been around enough to say, ‘Mother Nature always gets even with us, good or bad,’” Weaver quipped. “We are off to a great start but looking at (the rest of March) it looks like she is getting even with us already.
“The good thing though about a nice early start is that people have gotten bitten by the bug already so it won’t take much to get them back out to the course. Where if it’s just a bad spring it sometimes takes them a while to come out for the first time.”
With The Masters signaling the traditional start of the Michigan golf season, get out and play Michiganders. Most of us have some catching up to do !
