Dunham Hills 2.0 in Hartland
By Tom Lang
It’s not often that a metro Detroit golf course includes a one-mile-plus stretch of dirt road to get to the entrance off the main drag, so right away on the drive into Dunham Hills outside of Hartland you have some indication that you’re going to be in for a remote golf course retreat.
Dunham Hills delivers.
The entire property takes shape after its name. Rolling hills are dominant and a beautiful part of the experience. It’s rare that you’ll find a flat, level lie except for the tee boxes, and that’s OK.
At first glance, you could say the hills are the defense of the golf course, but Ben Cowan, the lead representative for the newer owner/investors group, said it’s really the green complexes that challenge the most.
“When you have this good of land, you don’t need as many bunkers,” he said. “The flatter the land is, is when you need to create more interest by adding bunkers,” of which Dunham has only two dozen.
“We have the perfect amount of elevation change, 74 feet. There’s small rolling hills too. The movement in the land is really exciting as a golfer.”
When hills are always mentioned in tandem with the course, it’s assumed most every golfer power carts their way around the layout. But others say the course is very walkable. Cowan is a former regional rep for a group called the Walking Golfers Society. The Hartland High boys and girls golf teams use it as their home course, and walking is always required in tournaments and at practice.
“As a high school coach, I love this golf course because it’s walkable,” said Hartland girls’ coach Ethan Hawker. “You have to be creative to be successful – have to be able to (mentally) play the golf hole backwards from the green. The areas around the greens are so tough and the greens can be difficult, that you have to be smart working backwards and thinking about the shots.
“You have to chip it to the right places, know how to lag putt, and leave shots in the right places.”
For golfers who haven’t tried Dunham Hills, you’re going to experience some false fronts and a beautiful turtle back green on Hole 6. The green complexes and the rolling hills are as much fun to play as they are to look at. The elevation changes are clearly found all across the property, but none are overly aggressive except for maybe from the back tees of the par 3 Hole 5, and the beautiful elevation drop in the 10th fairway. The 12th green is also perched a little more than others above its par 5 dog leg fairway.
The overall feeling makes you think your way around the course, to know which the right club is to make up for whether you’re going up or downhill.
Tree removal has been going on the last two years, which has greatly increased the condition of the turf as most tree removal programs accomplish. Dunham Hills is no different. The condition is very good for a situation that not long ago was less than stellar.
Most golfers have heard that Dunham Hills has plans to become Michigan’s next Mike DeVries design, the Proving Grounds. That potential is still in the works, but for now, golfers can enjoy what Dunham Hills offers.
“The group of people who are involved in this are those that just really love golf – and they want to make Dunham Hills the best version it can be,” Cowan said. “Restore it to its glory, like when 25 years ago it was rated top 3 in metro Detroit. There’s a sense of pride in making Dunham – we call it 2.0 – the best it can be, on our journey to the Proving Grounds.”
Mountain Ridge Hosts Championships – Where Anyone Can Play Too
By Tom Lang
A recent family vacation allowed the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Mountain Ridge Course at Crystal Mountain. The same course that for 24 years straight has hosted the Michigan PGA Women’s Open – which this year was bolstered by the prestige of being a first-time ANNIKA-Women’s All-Pro Tour event.
Mountain Ridge is clearly a championship-level course in northern Michigan and is one of the top choices for public golf in the region.
“The layout of the land is ideal,” Mark Fenech, the director of golf, said as a venue for the Women’s Open. “It’s not over the top. Getting strong courses like this in the rotation where the ladies can show their talents (is needed more). We have a course here that excites them to play it.”
Mountain Ridge has always been a treat to play. I simply don’t play it enough.
It starts out below the mountain, winding its way through woods and a handful of water features the first 15 holes. Then a trek up the mountain is in order for the closing three holes. On the long, winding journey from 15 green to the 16th tee near the top, make sure to stop for a couple minutes at the scenic overlook along the cart path. The view features nothing but tens of thousands of trees as far as you can see toward Lake Michigan about 15 miles away – trees that paint a very colorful tapestry during their fall peak of early to mid-October.
“We’ve done some thinning out (of tress) and getting the sand back in play at Mountain Ridge has brought a new feel to the property – almost ‘Pinehursty.’ The property has gone through some nice modernization stages,” Fenech added.
My first look at the improved Mountain Ridge came into very clear view behind hole No. 2; a downhill par three with water on the left. They cleared out most of the trees behind the green, leaving about a dozen of the tallest and fullest ones, but it provides so much more open views and airflow to other parts of the course. A great addition by subtraction.
More changes became clear at hole No. 14, a long par five that turns slightly right to left. They’ve remove some large trees on the right side that used to jet out into the fairway so there’s more of an open path now to the green, which is tiered, with lots of undulation. No. 15 has an elevated tee with waste sand going down the entire left side of the fairway to not mess around with, but is an easier medium par 4 compared to others.
Then comes the long cart ride up the hill to the 16th tee that traverses back and forth through the thickness of trees to climb the mountain. The elevated tees at 16 look out over a natural valley before you get back to the fairway and the hole turns right and goes uphill to a green that’s protected by a smaller bunker on the left and a huge one on the right. This can be a very tough par four. It’s not rated the number one handicap but I personally think it’s the toughest hole on the course as far as navigating trouble and shaping it around the corner to get a chance at a decent approach shot.
Hole 17 is a very beautiful downhill par three where you take at least one, probably two less clubs to get the right distance. Even if you land short of green, there’s a good opportunity that the ball will propel forward and settle onto the green.
No. 18 gradually continues downhill – the backside of the mountain – to a large two tiered green. All in all, 18 is one of the nicer finishing holes around, and is an integral part of one the best finishing stretches of three holes, anywhere in Michigan.
Bay Valley Resort; A Quick Look
By Tom Lang
An awakening has taken place by new investors who are rejuvenating a golf resort that was built 53 years ago, right along I-75 between Saginaw and Bay City – Bay Valley Resort.
The course design is by Desmond Muirhead, who might not be widely known in Michigan because this is his only design located in our state, but he is credited for nearly 50 course designs in states and countries ranging from Connecticut to Florida, and from California to Georgia, plus Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Spain and Dubai.
Muirhead has been credited by many as an artistic genius who was also brilliant at maximizing planned communities and resorts. Bay Valley opened in 1973 and the artistry he incorporated more than 50 years ago is similar to design cues found in many more recent course builds as the industry has grown bigger and better. It’s as if the up-and-coming course designers of more recent years reviewed his work.
Its location is on the east fringe of central Michigan, being close enough that Bay Valley and Buck’s Run (east of Mt. Pleasant) pair up to offer packages.
I gave Bay Valley Resort a try in early August. The holes are very creative for the time period they were built and still hold great value.
Hole 1 and 2 are relatively straightforward par fours to get golfers off to a fair start. No. 3 is a hard dog leg left to right that goes over a stream – a stream where the hole keeps wrapping around as it turns right. It’s a little hard to visually pick up the 3rd fairway from the tee box the first time you play it, but there’s not much trouble other than the water.
No. 4 dog legs left with a choice to lay up or try to clear the same little stream approximately 225 yards out as it runs further through the course.
The stream as a water hazard transitions on the course into a large assortment of ponds on property – to the tune of 13 holes of the 18 at Bay Valley having water in play – starting on the front but dominating more on the back nine.
This is a great comeback story in that the new investors and the golf team know that the course has needed more TLC than it received in the past decade or so under prior, multiple owners. More than 180 sprinkler heads have been updated to supply better irrigation, and more modern grass care is being implemented.
Director of Golf Doug Temple is also well-known in the region for youth golf development, and even more so for bringing golf to Veterans, mostly via the PGA HOPE program. So, those programs are now running strong at Bay Valley (and at Currie Golf Course under his development) since Temple joined Bay Valley back in February.
So much more needs to be explored and shared regarding Bay Valley’s grand history and its promising future, that we are making it the October cover story. Come back then for more – and in the meantime: https://www.bayvalley.com/
Drummond Island: The Rock
By Tom Lang
If you’re a golfer who likes peace and quiet – and more quiet – then give The Rock at Drummond Island a try.
Drummond Island is located at the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula, which aides in keeping the 133 square mile area feeling remote, despite being only an hour from The Mighty Mac Bridge. By comparison, Mackinaw Island is much smaller – yet much, much busier than Drummond Island. Once you drive your car onto the year-round ferry that takes about 10 minutes across the water from DeTour to Drummond, you can sense you’re in for a unique and remote adventure.
The Drummond Island Resort and Conference Center’s centerpiece is The Rock golf course. The Rock has all the earmarks of an up north golf course with tree-lined fairways, a nice handful of rock out cropping’s for layering of fairway levels and aesthetics – with water features and a mix of hardwoods and pines that are home for an abundance of wildlife. The few elevation changes in the terrain are used well in the design, especially the approach to the elevated green at the end of a hard, dogleg right on No. 5. It’s my favorite on the front nine.
Hole 5 had a lightning strike in late spring that took out a couple greenside trees, and a large portion of the irrigation systems were rendered useless for a couple weeks. It’s a shorter hole overall, but you must make it past the turn in the fairway to be able to attack the highly elevated and very small green as your approach-shot target. It’s protected by the hill climb, and by a large sand trap in front.
Across the entire course, greens average on the smaller side, so a golfer’s approach game will be tested the most of any shots in the bag. The overall design falls between wide open and spacious fairways, to small target golf. The course overall is not really all of either style, but rather, falls somewhere in between.
Whatever you do, bring your accuracy game. Whether it’s avoiding the non-overbearing water features or you’re playing all the other areas without water, most holes are tree lined and require a fair amount of accuracy to score.
No. 2 and No. 15 are as pleasing of short par 3s as you’ll find anywhere – in both challenge and attractiveness.
The depth of greens show that they’re not very large. The deepest green is the par three No. 11 at 36 yards and the shallowest is 20 yards on both No. 10 and 3. Doing quick math as I reflected on the round at 18, it looks like the average depth of greens is only about 25- 26 yards.
My favorite green complex of the day is number 18. Flanked by large bunkers both left and right but well off to each side, the green is slightly elevated and has two tiers front and back. It’s quite deep at 35 yards but I marched it off at only about 11 paces wide. Shots require good accuracy and/or a good chipping game if you go left or right, to have any chance keeping it near the cup.
Accommodations at the resort are comfortable and clean – and yet provide aesthetics that are reminiscent of an outdoors lifestyle likened to a wooded summer retreat or fall hunting. The Pins Bar & Grill has a good food selection and lots of TVs. The Bayside Restaurant on the north shore has great water views and I recommend the incredible Pub Burger plus a berry tart alamode for dessert.
Off The Course:
As a whole, Drummond Island is meant to be a true getaway, to experience the quiet and the abundance of Michigan’s natural resources. Visits to the sand and/or rocky beach areas provide a choice of endless-horizon Lake Huron views to the south or dozens of island and bay views to the north.
There is a 9-hole public golf course on island as well, which is split in two by the runway of the local airfield. It’s a flat layout but with many pine trees lining the fairways. Sometimes the driving range is dual-sourced as the U.S. Coast Guard’s helicopter landing area.
Drummond Island is famous for bird watching, with tons of walking and snow shoe trails, plus dozens and dozens miles of groomed snowmobile trails. But the trails that attract the most visitors in organized events are remote, off-road vehicle (ORV) and Jeep trails stretching 100 miles on state-owned land on the island. The main parking lot when I pulled in was filled with no less than two dozen mud-caked ATVs planning for a great time on the island trails.
A trip to Drummond will be different than most Up North resorts – and that’s the point. More info at: www.drummondisland.com
Course Review: Hawk’s Eye in Bellaire
By Tom Lang
For the past five years, I have made time to get up to Shanty Creek Resort at least once per summer – which still isn’t enough since the wonderful Up North property has five golf courses you could play all week.
The best part is if you stay overnight on site, most of the summer they run specials in which you can play all 90 holes for a total of $90.
That’s a buck a hole. Amazing. For quality Up North golf. A steal.
Thankfully, it’s all good golf – and Hawk’s Eye is one of Shanty’s best.
The opening three holes at Hawk’s Eye are as nice and attractive and as good of a skills test right out of the parking lot as you’ll find most anywhere. No. 1 is a dog leg left with water down the left side that the really big hitters can try to clear and shave off 50 yards on their next shot, but most people will keep to the right to keep it safe and play the hole longer to the green perched up on a hill.
No. 2 is also a dog leg left, but a par five. Water guards the outside bend in the elbow that usually can come in to play on the second shot if golfers are not careful. It’s a getable par five with a bowl-surround green, yet not reachable in two for most people.
Then you go to the third hole which is a longer par three playing 211 yards from the tips, all the way down to 116 yards for the forward box. The same water on hole 2 guards the par three on the right side and can come in to play, if your tee shot is too short or too far right.
On the sixth hole, you want to get the ball as far down the fairway as possible because there’s yet another valley (filled with grass that’s rough length) at the end to clear on the way to a uniquely L-shaped green. The green’s largest tier is the left side, but then a peninsula dives downhill to the right. Scoring can be very dependent on pin placements the superintendent sets out that day. Traps are found front and back of that peninsula part of the green, adding to the need for accuracy on the approach.
Hole 7, a par 5, twists and turns its way downhill, rolling with the natural topography to the green at the bottom that’s guarded on the left (and part of the front) by water. The remainder of the front is challenged by a huge sand trap. The risk reward in going for it in 2 is massive and could go either direction for scoring.
The 11th and 13th holes are par 3s that are top-notch and classically say ‘up north golf.’ Hole 11 is a carry over a deep crevassed water hazard to a green that’s about the same height as the tee boxes. Hole 13 drops off drastically downhill, estimated at least 100 foot drop off, if not more, to a large green protected by three bunkers. It has the look of some of the more defining holes at Threetops.
The back nine’s par fives both turn right to left. No. 15 travels uphill with a trap in the general landing area for most golfer’s second shot. Hole 17 is a direct flip in that it’s aggressively downhill and a draw off the tee for right handers will get an extra bounce or two and plenty of roll out. This par five is very reminiscent of hole 13 on the Hills course at Boyne Highlands.
Passive does not describe Hawk’s Eye. Virtually all 18 have some kind of a water hazard, trap, drop off, hill climb or challenge of another kind that will have you thinking on most every shot for proper attack angle and club selection for the entire round.
Freeways and Fairways: The Prairies, Kalamazoo
By Tom Lang
This is one in a series of stories we do on occasion to highlight golf courses located along our Michigan freeway system. Oftentimes it’s worth the stop to try it out, rather than just zooming by.
With nice days in April in between the soaking rains in Michigan this year, and the itch to get out and play some golf, I gave The Prairies in Kalamazoo a try knowing I only had time for 9 holes.
Well worth it.
I only played the back nine – and absolutely loved it. Surprisingly, there was hardly a single flat hole out there as virtually every fairway had variations like a large knoll to go over; or downhill drop offs into and through valleys; or highly elevated greens adding challenge or tees creating a good view. The only ‘flat’ holes on the back were the two extensions that run next to the freeway. I call them ‘extensions’ because aerial images confirm the original property was pretty square, yet holes 13-14 extend below that square on land not originally utilized for golf.
The back nine is blessed with lots of ground movement for natural water drainage, but the bonus is just visually beautiful for playing the golf course. The land flow also creates some unusual lies on the rolling ground for more challenge and club grip decisions.
I drove past the property for a couple years before realizing there was a golf course along the edge of U.S. 131 northbound, at the Main Street exit. The location used to be the Elks Club golf course, dating back to at least the 1930s, and was a private track most of its life. But there are some indicators that the now-public venue could be older.
A nice surprise was a more natural look due to no concrete/asphalt golf cart paths, and what few paths there were are made out of stone and dirt.
My favorite stretch of holes were starting out on 10, 11 and 12. Hole 10 had a man-made highly elevated tee towering above the fairway – a fairway with a tall ridge near the 150-yard marker, causing a blind shot to the green if you didn’t clear that first hill.
No. 11 was a relatively level par three but with a big dip in front of the green, which has a greatly exaggerated push-up style.
Hole 12 was a short par four that went downhill and flowed to the right to a green protected by two large bunkers on the front, plus one in back. The hole also looked good viewing it backwards toward where you just came from, one of my favorite things course designers go for.
I did not get to play the front, but it was clearly much flatter, and my partner for two hours that day, as he warmed up for league play that evening, said only two holes had some kind of roll or dip in the fairways. The back was a par 35, but the front is set at 36, with three each par 3s, par 4s, and par 5s.
Being located on Kalamazoo’s west side, from Grand Rapids it’s probably just 35 minutes away – yet also convenient for anyone traveling between Detroit and Chicago on I-94 a few miles to the south. I would definitely like to go back as I consider it an excellent course for its medium price ranges.
100 Years: Marywood in Battle Creek
By Tom Lang
The 1950s and 60s were a heyday for golf in Battle Creek. Kellogg’s and Post were behemoths worldwide in the breakfast cereal production world, enough to support four private clubs in the now smaller city in west/central Michigan.
One of the four, Marywood, has been public since the 2000s, about the time its two-story clubhouse burned to the ground.
Marywood turns 100 years old in 2026. The routing and landforms are very private club feeling, but if you have two $20 bills in your pocket, you can play a lot of good golf at today’s Marywood.
When I visited Marywood for the first time, on the last day of September, and I played through a group on the 4th hole, they commented that because they only walk, they never play the back nine. That unusual comment gave me some indication of what was ahead.
And they were not wrong.
The back nine is very hilly, yet had a cool routing through the ups and downs and side hill lies of the landscape.
My first impressions of Marywood: the overall look of the property is gorgeous. So, it’s easy to see why this land was chosen for a country club 100 years ago. It seems remote enough yet still geographically close to a shrinking Battle Creek population that the course seems to be hidden from most golfers’ minds. A nice average-sized crowd was out playing the course with not-yet-fall-color gorgeous weather to enjoy.
I feel that club selection is key because of the hills and valleys. If you don’t hit it far enough and catch the face of a hill it will kill your distance. But if you can clear most crests and your golf ball catches the backside, you can get another 20-40 yards rollout out on many shots. In a few places, playing your ball off a few side hills to bounce into the green can be a successful strategy as well.
The course has a great selection of dogleg holes and variations in the par threes, yet while many holes play fairly straight away, the hills and mounding add a ton of character.
Can I say this now-public course is in pristine country club condition? No. But for a lower-than-average cost it’s a great round of golf, and there are signs everywhere that the grounds crew is working hard to make it nice for all golfers.
The bunkers have plenty of sand, so you won’t have thin lies or hard surfaces, but they are rough looking around the edges. I’m not sure if that’s intended for a more rustic old-course look, or if there’s not enough staff to keep them trimmed pristinely. Overall, I simply felt there’s a genuine 100-year-old look to the course, combined with great use of the land.
Bruce Matthews III, the well-known course designer from the Matthews family we featured in the October magazine, actually worked at Marywood as the GM from 2003-13 as it went public. He and his wife spent that decade putting in thousands of hours a year to manage it and make some changes to the layout along the way.
Arguably the most noticeable were enlarging the 13th green and turning Hole 14 from a par four to a par 5 by adding tees.
Matthews said that Marywood was his mom’s favorite golf course before he arrived there, when she played it in the 1970s and 80s. Marywood was known for its numerous floral displays all around the course and property. The course is across the road from Saint Mary’s Lake.
Two factors allowed four private clubs to exist in the Battle Creek area for so long: the cereal companies, and the fact the National Guard Base at the airport and Fort Custer is part of the city drew many new residents to the region after World War II.
The Battle Creek Country Club became 18 holes in 1922, Riverside (now public) had its 100th birthday a couple years ago, and Bedford Valley was built as a private club in the mid-1960s. It’s been owned by Gull Lake View Resort since 1988 and is also public. Only BCCC, the remarkable Willie Park, Jr. design, remains fully private today.
More information on Marywood can be found at: http://www.marywoodgolf.com/
Black Bear: More Interesting Than Ever
By Coach Rob McIntyre
About two years ago Rob and Olivia Smith bought Black Bear and got to work. Their accomplishments turning the property around in such a short period of time is worthy of awards, press and praise. All three have been produced. All three are well deserved. That’s great, so let’s look at where Black Bear is now at the end of 2025.
From the time you roll down the long driveway approach until the time you drop the bag back into your car, this place is interesting. Very interesting. I am not talking about the recently remodeled and vastly improved club house. Oh no, there are oddities to this course.
Let us start with the warm up par 3. A legitimate, manicured and well-designed extra hole to get you started. Huh, never saw that before. Then you move to the tee on No. 1. Playing the first six holes had me wondering what was going on. Blind shots, links-ish design, undulating greens, and fairways that are different in some mysterious way. Different, entertaining, confusing and interesting. I just couldn’t put my finger on what this course is or how I was going to write about it. That is how the first six holes went.
On the seventh, I was prepared to play it smart. Hybrid was my wise play for sure. That is what I repeated to myself as driver found its way into my hands. It was liberating. No. 7 is a total design platypus. If it had a nickname, “Why Not” would be that nickname. Seven is fantastic. Seven gave me clarity and perspective. I was beginning to understand.
The fairways are rye and were in great shape. Rye has to be kept at a slightly longer length than standard fairways. As a benefit, rye requires less watering, and is better adapted to the soil. It handles the damage from deer and critters. The greens are bent, in great shape and are undulating rollercoasters. They roll at a 9 (stimp meter) on purpose. Roll these to an 11.5 and everyone would 5-putt.
The landing areas are not always obvious due to the terrain and sometimes undefined. This gives you the freedom to think about how you are going to apply your game to the course. How you play some holes greatly depends on the individual. There is no obvious target. You have to decide your target independently. Interesting.
At 10 came the next observation. I don’t know who this Mark Sauger guy is (designer), but I’m guessing he has a gambling issue. Cutting blind shots, putting challenges, taking risks, etc… “wanna bet” rolls off the tongue so easily while playing this course. You don’t have to. You can play it “smart”. Eric in my group did. He used five different clubs off the tee on par 4’s and 5’s. He raved about the course challenging his strategy and using the entire bag. Not me baby, Tin Cup, let’s go!
Overlooking 18 green is the patio that also surveys most of the course. It offers a truly beautiful view. The food from the year-round restaurant is so much better than I expected. This is a place to grab a meal even if you are not playing golf. Nice variety, spotless kitchen, and a comfortable atmosphere left me asking the bartender what I should try. I can only assume what the American College of Cardiology would say about the BBQ Tachos, but they weren’t there to stop me. Fantastic. The night before I had the Buffalo Chicken roll up. Spot on.
We had a bourbon a little later in the Black Bear Bourbon Bar. It was a nice space. I don’t know bourbon, but others in my group were impressed. What impressed me was the Bear Den. This is where I would want to hang out in the off season. When others are on the snowmobile trails, I’ll be there. Playing a round and ready for an order of the BBQ Tachos. The space is comfortable, functional, and welcoming for sure.
The staff at Black Bear are a friendly group. The work atmosphere seems genuinely positive, and it comes out as you interact with them. Some casually discussed how much they enjoyed working there. The person handling the carts shared that working at Black Bear was demanding. Then she talked about teamwork, pride, fun and learning the game of golf. From the head pro to bartender, the employees have a genuine loyalty to Black Bear and you can tell. That’s rare these days.
If you want to go to Black Bear just to witness the incredible rebirth of this place, not a bad call. I’m looking forward to going back for other reasons. I want to play this bizarrely interesting course. I want to hear the comments as my friends tell each other the “right way” to play a hole. I want to relax on the patio afterward and hear the banter of what just happened out there. Cold beer and BBQ Tachos will be involved. More than any of these things, I want to play No. 7 again.
Freeways and Fairways: The Woodlands Course at Whittaker
By Tom Lang
I took advantage of some free time on Labor Day weekend to go play the Woodlands Course located right on the Michigan/Indiana border along I-94 heading toward Chicago. That entire New Buffalo area is a hot spot for Chicagoans looking for a quiet Michigan getaway along the beautiful shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Who could blame them?
Whenever I see a golf course that bumps up against a freeway I like to check them out when possible. Due to their locations, often times they get passed by in the public’s rush to their final destinations.
My experience at The Woodlands Course at Whittaker was a mixed bag, to which I would give it an overall average rating – but thankfully it seems to be on an upswing. The course design is nice, the surroundings very natural (despite the front nine bordering a railroad track and the Hole 14 green up against I-94), but the conditions have been suffering. Allow me to explain:
At the Woodlands, which turns 30 years old in 2026, I found greens and green complexes that are for the most part in really great shape. New sand in the traps, smooth putting surfaces and some re-seeding of a couple surrounding areas. I could tell that they were coming back to life under new management.
But by the staff’s own admission, some tees were really rough. In a couple cases, some grass burnout was bad enough that some of the tee boxes were closed. Most of the fairways were in good shape but did have occasional bad spots – but that can describe almost any course, even private clubs. Woodlands’ staff said tee boxes are the next big project.
Here is how one reviewer described his experience, posted August 2 on GolfNow:
“I first want to state that I and my group of golf buddies were one of the first to play this course when it opened. No massive clubhouse, just a double wide trailer on a stone parking lot. Cost: $38 with a cart. The course was pristine and the greens were already fast and true. From that opening in 1996 to about six years ago the course stayed that way. For whatever reason things started going south quickly. I just played this weekend and the course is far from pristine, but is on the road to recovery. Progress is being made but is taking time. Greens are slower than normal but run true. I hope the mission statement from the new management stating they will bring it back to its glory days is true. Only time will tell.”
My first experience revealed much of the same, but I liked the layout, the nice mix of green complexes with bunkering and some without sand, and a hardwood tree-lined course capturing the natural beauty of SW Michigan. The front-nine played tighter – on the back nine the trees were pushed back further and the driver could come out of the bag. Many wetlands dot the course and add a nice challenge to the layout. Lots of nature were out and about. Curiously, I don’t recall a single dogleg turning right – they all seemed to turn left.
Hole 12 is a beautiful downhill par 3 to a green complex shaped like a bowl to help catch shots. Hole 14 is a dogleg left wrapping around a pond to a fun green. That is the closet point to I-94, where you can also see the ‘Welcome to Indiana’ sign.
I paid $125, way too much for the experience on a holiday weekend at a currently average course, be here’s hoping for its comeback to give the New Buffalo area a great option for golf.
Boyne’s Heather Course Standing the Test of Time
By Tom Lang
It’s called a pond – but for many golfers the body of water fronting the 18th green at The Heather at The Highlands, it feels more like a small lake to cross to reach the green.
And that pond has drawn a ton of attention over the years, 60 years in 2026 to be exact, as a calling card at BOYNE Golf ever since the venerable Robert Trent Jones Sr., designed the course under the direction of Boyne Resorts founder Everett Kircher.
Kircher needed a water source for making snow for the ski hill right near 18, as well as a basin to catch water from that same melting snow every springtime. What came to be is the now-formidable ‘pond’ that catches thousands of golf balls each season.
The story goes that Jones didn’t want it, and especially not a pond that large. So, Kircher made a plan to keep golf more fun, that there would be a special local rule for any golfer’s tee shot that goes in the water. You will find that local rule posted on the underside of the bench at the tee box.
The Heather provides a lot of drama and great golf before anyone gets to the 18th hole. Fair warning, we hope you like doglegs, because The Heather has plenty of them. The first hole starts out with a medium-length dogleg that tuns hard right. The second and third holes are also doglegs that turn slightly right. After navigating the par 3 fourth hole over a pond to a very large green, more doglegs loom ahead.
Holes 5, 7, 8 and 9 are all doglegs, which happen to turn left. Holes 5 and 9 are the most demanding of the quad, both being long par 5s with hard turns, and both have water on the left. The 9th is a very dramatic hole with a highly-elevated green to hold.
On the back nine, my favorite stretch of holes is 11-13.
The 11th is a moderately long par 5 with a well-bunkered green complex, followed by a par 3 over water that always seems to play longer than the scorecard yardage claims. The 13th is a dogleg left that wraps around trees all along the left side, to a tricky and slightly elevated green. This three-hole stretch is in a nutshell a review of the entire course. More fun holes connect these three to the venerable 18th.
Bearing all the markings of its legendary designer, The Heather has earned its reputation as one of the best championship courses in the entire United States.
The Heather has tested the finest in the game since 1966, playing host to five Michigan Amateur Championships, the GAM Mid-Am multiple times, AJGA Championships, the Michigan State Pro-Am, and The Celebrity Tour. The Heather additionally hosted the inaugural 2025 Great Lakes Championship on the LPGA’s EPSON Tour and will again in 2026.
The Heather was named the 2018 Golf Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA) and awarded the 2019 National Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA), and was rated a America's Top 100 Greatest Public Courses as recently as 2021.
Proving its broad appeal, the course is consistently recognized as one of the friendliest for women and senior golfers. It’s many awards and rankings include being listed among "The Top 100 Courses You Can Play” by Golf Magazine, and "50 Best Courses for Women" by Golf for Women magazine.
“Every golf course we have built since has been measured against The Heather, as in, is this as good as The Heather?” said Josh Richter, Sr. VP of Golf at Boyne. “Frankly, they might not be. As for 18 and the pond… Everett wanted to do something dramatic. Now it’s the signature of the course, and really a signature of Boyne Golf. On almost all of the courses we have, the last hole has a pond in front of it, and The Moor and The Alpine have two each.”
A Coach’s Look at Black Lake and Gaylord Area Golf
By Robert McIntyre
Editor’s Note: Bob McIntyre was the long-serving coach of state champion Grosse Pointe South High School and in retirement plays golf more often around the state, sharing his views.
If you were to close your eyes and imagine Northern Michigan Golf, what would it be?
I am not just talking about the elevation changes and a whole bunch of trees. Fill in some details. Solitude on each hole. The course challenges, risk/rewards, views, and more. The natural surroundings framing each hole. The foliage acting as a barrier from everything outside the round, hole and swing. Smells that are better than any Yankee Candle. The sound is only the noise nature intended. Details.
The image you are thinking of is Black Lake.
“We've been driving forever and we’re only halfway there.” grumbles our aging buddy who left his man purse at the gas station in West Branch. Circling back added 20 minutes to the drive. Black Lake is up there all right. It is secluded. It is in the woods. But, it takes me the exact same time to drive to Traverse City. Black Lake is away from things in a good way. Spoiler alert: The “man satchel” was in the car the whole time.
At Black Lake, the clubhouse is welcoming and fully functional at a high level. Refreshments are reasonably priced. The staff is friendly, helpful and nice to talk to. The practice facilities are complete. The breakfast sandwich was superior. All positives before starting the round. We hosed down in carcinogenic bug repellent and headed for the first tee.
Prior to teeing off the starter will warn your group that the course will play 400 yards longer than the scorecard says. I guess it was even validated in an article written by a more competent golf journalist some years ago. Well, they're not wrong. Move up a tee. There are plenty of tee selections. Using the correct one will still be more than a test of your game. Really, when they play the Michigan Open Qualifier here, they play from the blues.
Moving around the course it is obvious what a healthy test of golf Black Lake is. Challenging, well designed, nothing hidden, and fair. The greens are as inviting as elevated greens can be. The forced carries are appropriate when playing the correct tees. The greens read true and were in phenomenal shape. Rees Jones did a fantastic job carving this course out of the forest.
This course is also one to be respected. This is not where you have a round shot-gunning Natty Lights while cranking modern country on your magnetic cart speaker. Sure, the carts are equipped with a cooler, and some in my group used them. It’s just that your game needs to remain mostly unblurred to get around the course. Black Lake is what I like to call a morning course. Even in the afternoon, a morning course.
After the round we went back to the condo and to debrief. Higher than usual numbers confessed. Lots of discussion about playing the correct tees. Waxing poetic about the beauty of the course. Most importantly, everyone agreed that the course offered a positive challenge. They appreciated and respected how the course played and tested their games. Nothing negative.
Now, let’s talk about the accommodations for a second. Yes, you have to park your non-UAW vehicle in a lot just outside the property. There is a shuttle and you can drop things off at your condo/lodge. Black Lake is secluded, but they do have a well-stocked general store on site. I am amazed at everything the property offers. Beach, gym, Bocci Ball, nature trails, pool… I could go on and on. I didn’t get to see the old lodge or accommodations there. I can tell you about the main lodge and the condos we stayed at.
Black Lake looks like Mike Brady gave a Master Class in Mid-Century Modern architecture. This place is fantastic. Our condo was clean, comfortable and absolutely oozed retro cool. Relaxing in the common room we felt the need to have a Manhattan/Rusty Nail/Tom Collins or some other Rat Pack era cocktail. All of our condos had room for the entire group to gather. The kitchen, dining area, bed rooms and other areas were great. I want to go back.
We did this trip as a package with two other courses. The Pines at Michaywe and Gaylord Golf Club. It was a tremendous deal in hindsight – and name me one golfer that doesn’t seek a deal. Three distinctly different courses, two nights, all reasonably priced. Good stuff.
Both the Pines and Gaylord GC took a great deal of damage with the late winter ice storms. Let me tell you, the staff at both have done amazing work. Both courses are fully playable and able to offer the complete golf experience. I stand behind my thoughts on Gaylord from last year's MGJ article. It was my first time playing the Pines though.
The Pines at Michaywe is a very nice cottage course. The cottages are not packed together nor are they on top of the course. They do not interfere with your experience, but are present. The course itself is a good time. You can see the sense in the design. Myself and my group had a great time playing it. Even though I was more than satisfied with the condition, I know the staff is not. That is a testament to them.
The courses I write about don’t know I’m coming. I see what I see. With the Pines and Gaylord CC I saw two courses that are ready to go and great to play. I also saw staff that were working very hard to get it to their standards. I appreciate that and believe that all of you do, too.
100 Years: Indian Lake Hills
By Tom Lang
There is so much great golf to praise and enjoy in Michigan that it feels like a double celebration when we can also recognize wonderful courses that have reached a century of service.
One such 100-year-old course is nestled deep into Southwest Michigan in the lakes region that serves so many summer vacationers from Chicago – that region known to Chicagoans as their ‘Up North.’
Indian Lake Hills in Eau Claire has three nine-hole layouts, the original being the East Course which opened in 1925. No one at the property has been able to clarify who the East designer was.
The East Course is a very playable, fun and unsurprisingly a classic style from the 1920s era – to which some designers laid out ‘loops’ for golfers that modern-day designers have been resurrecting. As is, golfers could play East holes 1, 8, 9 for a quick half-hour experience on a tight schedule before jumping into Indian Lake to go swimming with the kids. Or just as easily a loop of holes 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9. Or the full nine holes.
“You can play this old East course in loops,” said general manager Suzy Vanderburg. “I have a sneaky feeling in the late teens or 1920s when they were thinking about this, maybe constructed it three holes at a time. This course is the way God designed it. The hills have been there since the beginning. They weren’t out there moving dirt.”
Vanderburg is the adult daughter of property owners Steve and Lyn Miller, now in their 63rd year of marriage, who secured Indian Lake Hills in 1982 and have been stewards of the land ever since. They have built a four-generation golf business which makes the family history story as intriguing as the historic golf course itself.
Vanderburg’s grandfather, Massie Miller, was a golf pro who spent much of his career in Ohio and Indiana at private clubs, before coming to Jackson (and later working in Howell) as his son, Steve, was soon to enter high school. Steve was quickly lured to play at Jackson St. Mary’s High, where he joined future PGA Tour pros, Dave and Mike Hill, to win multiple state titles. The program won 8 straight Class C-D titles from 1954-61. Steve Miller then went to MSU on a full-ride Evans Scholarship, and soon after caddied some for Dave Hill out on the Tour before deciding that lifestyle wouldn’t work for him long-term.
Steve is the middle of three consecutive generations of PGA members.
“I grew up obviously in a golf family, from the age I could crawl up and make caddy change on the bar stool,” the now 87-year-old Indian Lake Hills owner Steve Miller told me after he drove up in a ‘gator cart’ at the 9th tee. “My dad (a member of the Jackson golf Hall of Fame) always had to answer to a board of directors or the like, and with dad being the player that he was, always thought it would be nice to be your own boss. Well, that never happened for dad and mom, but as times changed a little bit, we were able to do that.
“That’s the passion. Being in the game but with a little control of what you’re doing – and the pride of ownership. And really, you’re never the (final) owner, you’re just a caretaker of the land to make it as nice for the golfers as possible.”
Making it as nice as possible is a job for son-in-law (Sue’s husband) John Vanderburg with over 30 years’ involvement as the superintendent. “My dad said one of the smartest things I ever did was marry a superintendent, not a golf pro,” Sue quipped.
Their son, Andy Vanderburg, is a 28-year-old PGA Michigan Section member and runs most of the golf programs at the courses and is a huge influence on improved agronomy. Including Massie’s support in the 1980s, Andy makes the fourth-generation worker in the golf business.
“The course is hilly, but not too much,” Steve Miller said. “It’s got a beautiful contour. It’s the hills and vales and the fact that, wow, we’re here. Lyn and I worked at it, but now the kids have taken over and done five times as much as we did or were able to.”
Playing East, West and North:
All the courses have their fair share of walkers, but when playing the East Course, the seven holes that aren’t flat are not only beautiful to look at and can be challenging to play, those holes will give your calves a solid workout.
My favorite is the par 3 No. 2, with its elevated tee box to a green below that is guarded with a large bunker left and appointed with a large azalea bush behind the green – it’s springtime blossoms, like the fruit trees scattered around the property left over from a former fruit farm, sharing their brilliant colors.
I also liked the 9th hole, which gives golfers the choice to drive to a flat plateau a little less than halfway to the green, or try to clear the plateau and gain extra distance on the backside going into the deep valley beyond. The approach shot is to an elevated green. From the tips, the East course is 2856 yards.
The clubhouse is a sturdy Century-plus year old stone farmhouse that is to the right of the 9th green and highly perched above the shoreline of Indian Lake, providing a wonderful view while grabbing a bite to eat in the simple dining area, or their outside patio, before or after a round.
West course: Built by the owner prior to the Millers, it’s relatively flat and open, but with some peaks and valleys in the landscape that are a lot more muted than the East Course. It plays a little bit longer with greens that are a little bigger. From the tips: 3187 yards.
North: It’s the newest course, built in the 1990s by the Millers. The first 4 holes are fairly flat with very wide fairways. Halfway to the 5th green, the fairway goes downhill to a green situated in front of a large pond, the same small body of water that additionally influences play on holes 6, 8 and 9.
There are more trees and fairway twists and turns in this NE section of the property, giving a solid but fair challenge to anyone’s game. The North is longer than the other two courses but also has the largest greens, the most forgiving fairways with bunkers that are mostly out of the way and are more for aesthetics and less about punishing shots. From the tips: 3345 yards.
The three courses all have their own personality and give any golfer a variety of options, all on the same piece of property. At this century old course with two additional, complimentary nines, boredom should never set in.
Freeways and Fairways: Pierce Lake, Chelsea
This is part of an occasional series that looks at golf courses found along Michigan freeways – those you drive by frequently, or on that annual vacation, but never seem to have time to stop and explore. Maybe you should.
By Tom Lang
Pierce Lake is a wonderful municipal course west of Ann Arbor that too many I-94 commuters pass by in their busy lives. It’s truly one of the better ‘munis’ in Southeast Michigan, with very reasonable prices for a course filled with challenge, beauty and fun.
Trees line many holes, but on the front nine they are pushed back away from the wide fairways allowing for a much more open-air experience. A good variety of shot shapes are required and the rolling terrain is a pleasant surprise in the region.
Hole 9 is a really nice closing hole (if you choose not to make the turn), as it goes downhill all the way and gives your drive an extra 20-30 yard kick. If you do make the turn, 18 is also a great closing hole, but is unique in that it’s a long par 3. Even from the middle tees it’s roughly 200 yards to a huge green complex that’s more than 50 yards deep and is framed by a high-banked hill to the left.
The holes where the freeway is evident are easily No. 2-5, then 10-13 on the back nine. And it’s the back nine where the fairways narrow, and accuracy is at more of a premium. Eight of the back 9 holes require going over a marsh, creek or pond either directly in front of the tee, or somewhere along the approach to the green. Of course, forward tees give a break on some of those tee shots.
What jumped out at me is that many holes are actually more attractive when looking from the green back to the tee, so don’t forget to turn around after picking up your putts and enjoy the land you just traversed – a trip I enjoyed the entire time.
More information: https://www.piercelakegolf.com/
Celebrating a Century: Sauganash Country Club
By Tom Lang
Tucked deep in the southwest corner of Michigan, about 10 miles above the Indiana border, is an unassuming but wonderfully-historic golf course that turned 100 years old this past season.
Located south of Three Rivers along the CSX railroad tracks that dissect the small town, Sauganash has maintained the long-time name tradition of a ‘country club,’ but gets about 60 percent of its play from the general public.
I golfed with one owner and two members on an early-October day, before the leaves had fully turned to Michigan’s brilliant annual color show.
Technically, the property has almost two dozen owners, one of which is Rick Daniels. The group kept the course from nearly being sold off about nine years ago to become a new corn field, until the group revived it.
I love the front nine most, the original layout assisted by design legend A.W. Tillinghast, the famous architect of Baltusrol, Bethpage and Winged Foot. Once teeing off, there is little doubt the historic nine is this one, the way it is routed across the rolling landscape. Tillinghast took wonderful advantage of placing greens in the right spots of the key landforms.
A deep valley guards the approach to both elevated greens on holes No. 1 and 8. When we arrived at the latter, I told my playing partners that it was very clear this was originally designed as a square green – and the more I think back about it, No. 1 could have been, too.
Holes 10-18 are a challenging assortment through the woods and bordering the river on the back nine – a layout which was added in the 1970s. The back nine has more open spaces filled with natural golden heather between fairways. Holes 10-12 all turn left, the latter two wrapping along the Prairie River. Hole 15 also turns left. The rule of thumb for playing Sauganash is, on the front nine don’t go right off the tee, and on the back nine don’t go left.
“When you’re in a small community like ours, things just become part of the community. And this golf course has been part of the community for over 100 years, and nobody wanted it to go away,” Daniels told me. “We have at least 10 owners that don’t even play golf. They just came in to help save it.”
Daniels went on to describe what they call ‘The Dark Years’ – when previous ownership let things go to the point almost every golfer in the area said they’d never come back. Grass had turned to almost dirt on more than half of some green surfaces. One of the owners has grass and fertilizer experience and he agreed they could get it all to grow back. It did, and very well for some wonderful greens to putt on. Daniels said that word of mouth of Sauganash’s revival only took about 6 months.
Daniels said the owners are not looking for a big payday; they simply want a great place for members and visitors to play golf, to support jobs and recreation in the community, and maintain a fun gathering place for residents.
He cited an example of Thursdays, when Sauganash has $20 green fees, and that includes a hot dog. Now it’s the busiest day of the week.
“I see all the time golf courses, on Saturday and Sunday, jack their rates up. Why?” Daniels asked. “You want to punish the guy who’s working Monday through Friday? You want to take advantage of him?
“We keep our rates the same all the time. We don’t want to penalize you for having a full-time job. We want you to come out and play golf.”
Daniels went on to share: “The 100-year anniversary party was just so much fun. We had to have over 250 people here, maxing the place out. When it’s a small community it becomes part of the community, and that’s the way this golf course has always been.
“And that’s why we wanted to keep it.”
100 Years: Sharp Park in Jackson
By Tom Lang
One of a half dozen Michigan golf courses that turned 100 years old in 2024 includes Sharp Park Golf Course in Jackson. It was the starting grounds for virtually every player in the community, including three men who recorded several PGA Tour victories – brothers Dave and Mike Hill, plus Brian Stuard.
“When you think of golf in Jackson, one of the places you think of is Sharp Park,” said Stuard, winner of the 2016 Zurich Classic in New Orleans that put him in the 2017 Masters. “I have some great memories of winning the Junior City Championship at Sharp Park. It was always such a fun place to play.”
I built my own memory there in September, one week after playing at the fabled American Dunes in Grand Haven. The comment I shared with my random playing partner at Sharp Park was that while the two courses were polar-opposites in style, size and persona, I had fun at both.
Sharp Park is a fairly-typical municipal course, in that many of them around the country are inside city limits, are land-locked and thus, a shorter parkland style. The Jackson land has some nice gentle rolls to it, enough to even create a handful of unexpected blind shots.
My favorite back-to-back holes are 12-13. Hole 12 is a long par 4, made longer and more memorable by a well elevated green. My best summation is the large green sits 40-50 feet above the fairway.
After being happy with a bogey there, golfers move on to the short par 3 blind shot hole 13 – blind because the entire green complex sits in a bowl below the fairway run up where an extended flagstick barely shows from the tee the tippy top of the flag.
The green complexes are not overrun with sand traps. Most holes have only one trap to avoid (seven holes have two traps). This makes for a less egregious golfing environment, but they’re still nice deterrents that require some accuracy for scoring success. Several greens have run-off slopes on the sides and back that demand precision on approach as well.
The only water on the course sits right of the 2nd green and in front of No. 8’s back and middle tees. Each fairway also has a junior tee. Translation: this is a good course for those learning the game, while still testing good players.
There is a good mix of long, average and short par fours – the latter being short enough for some to try driving the green. But beware, as mis-hits will be penalized.
A very nice surprise for playing an affordable muni that is a good walk, is that their power carts have a nice GPS system. Not top-of-the-line luxury, but still very useable and helpful.
The clubhouse is a classic style, with an older home first on the property serving as the main core. Extensions made to the building since then are architecturally tactful and cool.
The Tom Bendelow design has barely been modified over the years, but at least three greens were moved in the past couple decades in an effort to give more space from possible wayward golfers’ shots. The course is designed as you would expect for Bendelow’s era a century ago – and it still holds its own as a classic.
Course Review: Cherry Creek in Shelby Township
By Tom Lang
I unexpectedly found myself playing at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Macomb County this summer, and I unexpectedly enjoyed it.
My overall impression of the property was its aesthetic appeal and beauty – which doesn’t come often in a high traffic area like those bordering the M-53 highway running north and south. Yet that is what I found when playing in a media and sponsors event the week of the Cairns Cup, an international match play tournament for adaptive golfers with various handicaps like missing limbs, blindness and neurological challenges. By the way, the U.S. team won for a second year in a row, with almost half of the national team members coming from Michigan.
In general, I really enjoyed the course. My notes indicated that some of the holes are rendered to target golf to avoid a fair amount of water on the course.
The overall land is also flat, making for a very walkable course if you so choose, but very nice man-made shaping added to the beauty of the challenges. It’s a Lanny Wadkins/ Mike Bylen design.
I also recall that the greens had much less break to them than the eye test revealed, so take that into account when lining up putts.
No. 8 was fun as a drivable par 4 dogleg left (not drivable for me), but with an over-abundance of sand traps protecting the green.
The sister courses in the Cherry Creek portfolio include Pine Trace and Shepherd’s Hollow – a very nice collection of properties. If you haven’t tried it, Cherry Creek needs checking out.
Watch action of the Cairn's Cup here:
100 Years: Elk Rapids Golf Club
By Tom Lang
Donald Ross designed.
A century of service.
Vintage.
Beautiful waterfront on turquoise-tinted Elk Lake.
Playable and filled with charm.
All are appropriate descriptions of the 100-year-old Elk Rapids Golf Club, a half hour drive north of Traverse City up the coastline of Grand Traverse Bay.
Prior to opening on July 17, 1924, the townspeople of Elk Rapids were struggling to make the area relevant for tourism after the logging and ironworks industries began to slow down in the early 1900s. Summertime retreats were not all the rage as they became more so a few decades ago, but Elk Rapids had a great location squeezed between the GT Bay and area lakes to draw people out of Chicago and Detroit for relaxing retreats.
Historians indicate that Ross must have been swayed to help guide a design for their small town by wealthy Chicagoans who frequented Michigan’s northern woods in an era when Ross was at the height of his golf design business.
The course is classic Ross, a links style using the shores of Elk Lake – which can be seen from every single hole except No. 8 – as the main core.
The course opens with and closes with par 5s. With yardages ranging from 2465 to 3067 yards, most golfers will not need driver. Accuracy is more important on the open yet heather-lined fairways.
Fairway bunkers are trimmed with tall grasses and have elevated ridges on the back side of each, requiring a higher-lofted club to get out. Some, but not all, greens have typical Ross ‘false fronts.’
My playing partner in June was Chris Blasy, a Midland native. We had never met before and although he visits in the summer, like me he had never tried the course before.
"Beautiful little track. A lot of fun and great for just a nice afternoon round to catch 9 holes,” Blasy said. “You could shift around to different tees and play it twice, or just being able to fit in a quick 9 before going out on the lake.
"The layout was very playable. I've played several Ross courses but don't remember the specifics about them, but absolutely this was made very playable and a fun track, and you can score."
My favorite stretch were holes 4-6.
No. 4 runs along the south edge of the property and heads toward the lake. The approach shot is blind to the green because of a slight ridge before reaching the more sunken green complex near water’s edge.
No. 5 is a par 3 right along the lake. The green is elevated with a false front and is guarded by a natural mound framing the hole on the left side, and a huge tree on the back right.
No. 6 is the longest par 4 on the layout, also along the beach.
Most golfers walk this course. It was designed that way in the first place, and although it’s not flat, the slightly rolling hills are not taxing. When it rains, the course drains dramatically well with its sand base and natural drainage to Elk Lake.
Members have made recent improvements in and around the already nice-looking clubhouse in anticipation of reaching the century mark.
If you cannot have fun on this course, you might want to consider playing a different sport.
More info at: www.golfelkrapids.com
100 Years at Grayling Country Club
By Tom Lang
With holes 17 and 18 meandering parallel along the AuSable River, a round of golf at Grayling Country Club can feel as peaceful as a lazy river float.
That’s been the scene for 100 years in the small northern Michigan town, once an epicenter for logging and the manufacturing of arrows at the former Bear Archery company. Old wood moorings of a former lumber company dock on site still poke up out of the river along the 18th hole shoreline, marking an eerie connection to the past.
It’s very common that 100-year-old courses in Michigan first started as nine holes and later expanded to 18. What’s a little unique about Grayling CC – which is open for public play – is that it remained nine holes for almost 70 years before the expansion in 1990.
When the redesign took place to double the course’s size, the new holes were weaved into open land on property – instead of creating an entirely new back nine. The nine original holes are now played as holes 1-4, then there is a jump to 9 and 10, then finishes off as holes 16-18.
The course is filled with old, majestic white pines that survived the lumber days of Grayling. Two of them guard the front of the 15th green. Since the course plays only 5,800 yards from the tips, it’s a great layout for families, friends and social outings – but there remains enough obstacles and twists and turns to make it a strategic challenge for even the best golfers.
Former manager of the club, Rob Lawe, is now one of 75 stockholders in the club. Now a lawyer by trade, he first began in 1992 at age 12 cleaning carts for free golf. He’s been on staff or involved with the club for 32 combined years. Lawe is focusing on saving those majestic trees, “as long as Mother Nature allows” to help battle the shorter yardage of the course.
“Having those in play can dictate your shot,” he said. “That also makes it one of my favorite things about the course.
“We have enough doglegs and water features that you definitely have to keep the ball in play and hit it to certain spots. And from some of the back tee boxes you really have to shape many of your shots right and left.”
A severe tragedy hit the Grayling CC in April of 2013, when the Grayling High School golf team was involved in a fatal car crash traveling home from a Traverse City tournament. Head coach Jason Potter and player Louis Menard IV were killed. The crash and aftermath made national news and former Golf Channel personality Matt Ginella attended the one-year anniversary. Now, a permanent memorial sits at the back of the clubhouse near the 18th green, made of stone pavers, a firepit and three rocks with commemorative wording carved in stone.
A third player, Jake Hinkle, was in critical condition with brain injury and a shattered femur and went many months in rehabilitation – yet made an amazing recovery to play golf in the following year’s high school state finals, and at a D3 college after high school.
From that tragedy, a foundation honoring Potter was established, with the funding going to promote and fund junior golf for the kids in town. It supports:
Hosting the club’s own golf clinic for 4 days each June
Sponsor the costs for kids to attend additional youth clinics in the region
Purchasing dozens of sets of youth clubs to have onsite all summer long at the club, up to 80 sets, for kids to use free anytime. Clubs are stored in what they call Jason’s Locker.
$1,000 golf scholarships each year, for each of two kids from the Grayling golf team.
More info at: www.jasonpottermemorial.com and www.graylingcountryclub.com
Boyne Mountain: The Alpine Course
The resort’s second oldest layout is not second tier
By Tom Lang
Boyne Resorts has a lot to be proud of in the golfing world.
Choices like elevated views of Lake Michigan/Little Traverse Bay at Boyne’s Bay Harbor, and the first championship course ever built in northern Michigan – The Heather, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and voted the 2019 National Golf Course of the Year – are just two examples which can tend to overshadow very nice golf on other layouts; like The Alpine.
The latter was the second course ever installed at Boyne, in the 1960s. Boyne now has 10 golf destinations in Michigan located above the earth’s 45th parallel. The Alpine is one of two courses at Boyne Mountain, along with sister course The Monument, which was fourth in the Boyne Golf construction timeline.
Each August, The Alpine hosts the prestigious Tournament of Champions, a uniquely special event put on by the Michigan PGA Section that molds pros and amateurs, men and women, juniors, mid-Ams and senior golfers together at one event to go head-to-head, sans varying tee boxes.
“Personally, I love the Alpine and it may be my favorite Boyne course,” said Kevin Helm, executive director of the Michigan PGA. “That is not meant to take anything away from the others, I just like the layout, mix of holes, and how everything is pretty much right in front of you.
“Combine that with consistently excellent turf conditions and you have a great venue to host our Tournament of Champions. We hear a lot of similar feelings from the players as well. The greens can be difficult to read if you do not have a lot of experience playing there, but players still talk about how much they enjoy playing the Alpine.”
Although it’s sometimes cliché in the golf world to say ‘no two holes are alike’ that phrase does aptly describe the Alpine. For example, even the three dogleg left holes each play differently and have their own distinguishing look and needed strategy.
Designer Ray Hearn developed a 10-year plan to change and update, in some small and some big ways, all of Boyne’s golf properties.
At The Alpine, fairway rough around bunkers has been cut down to fairway height. It provides a clean and cool look, but also makes the course more playable for the recreational golfer… but doesn’t necessarily make it easier to score for tournament golf.
I found the greens to be relatively large compared to other courses. They have very little undulation, but that said the slight breaks in the greens can be very hard to detect and read, to make putting just as difficult as if there were many hills and swales in the putting surface.
Speaking of putts, when reading do not forget where the mountain is in relation to the angle of your putts. Most will break away from the mountain top, even those that look flat, in the direction of Deer Lake in the valley.
Hearn’s plan included implementing a shorter cut around most of the greens to make them feel extra expansive and more attractive – and to increase a golfer’s choice to chip or putt when off the edge.
A nice change was on hole 2, a shorter par 4. The second shot is a full carry to the green to clear a pond, so one improvement was to take out a bunker just over the water but before the green to remove the penalty of just making it over the water, to only drive up and find the beach.
Check out The Alpine and any of the other delightful Boyne choices in northern Michigan.
BOYNE Golf New Short Course Named Doon Brae
BOYNE Golf’s newest, and 11th overall, golf course in Michigan has been named Doon Brae.
It’s the new par-3 short course located on the backside of The Highlands Main Lodge and is scheduled to open summer of 2024.
“What excites me most is how beautiful and different it is,” said Bernie Friedrich, Director of Golf Course Renovations and Development at Boyne Resorts said about the course constructed on the downslope of an active ski hill. “There are three or four stacked wall bunkers. Instead of using tee boxes, we'll have just one marker on each hole and let guests play wherever they want.
“And the greens are inspired by some of the great ones around the world. They're not copies of any specific greens, but they look different and are big. There's a lot of excitement about short courses. We want to keep people excited about golf and wanting to play. If playing 18 or 36 holes is not enough on any day, this gives golfers another option.”
The name Doon Brae, where Doon means going down into a valley and Brae means steep bank or hillside in Scottish, is fitting as the routing of the course is set along the hillside that doubles as a ski slope during the winter months.
Michigan golf course architect Ray Hearn was selected to create Doon Brae, among other work he’s been doing to renovate several courses in the BOYNE Golf portfolio.
“Drawing on our inspiration from the British Isles allowed us to create scaled down versions of famous template greens highlighted by The Short at National Golf Links,” he said. “Other green templates include Eden, Punch Bowl, Redan, Reverse Redan, Volcano, Steep Slope, Postage Stamp, and Biarritz."
The course, which will measure 993 yards from the back and 678 yards from the forward areas, will feature a variety of fun yardages with downhill, flat, uphill and sidehill lies, generally moving horizontally back and forth across the slope. Holes range from 57 yards to 134 yards, with very few uphill walks.
The new course, along with the 1.5 acre nine-hole Himalayan-style putting course, are both designed to be fun for everyone. They will create an entertainment area for golfers and families alike to hangout well into the evenings, creating a new level of energy in this space. The golf course will also be lighted, play music, along with food service and fire pits.
"Guests will really enjoy the uniqueness, character and fun atmosphere around the new course and putting green," said Josh Richter, Senior Vice President of Golf Operations for Boyne Resorts. “And with the new Himalayan putting green also being built, we're creating a pretty cool and huge golf gathering space. Guests can gather for games and fun, while enjoying their favorite beverage and taking in all the beauty of Northern Michigan. It's going to be a heck of a space for all to enjoy in way that is best for them. Having music playing as well will make it a fantastic entertainment environment."