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.
