Bay Valley Resort Making Great Strides
By Tom Lang
Most people appreciate and root for a wonderful comeback story.
Bay Valley Resort outside of Bay City just might be that revival story Michigan golf fans really need to watch – and at some point – give it a try.
“When I was young, this was thee golf course to go to,” new director of golf operations Doug Temple told me as we sat near the 18th green this summer. “My family didn’t play a lot of golf, but my dad would bring me out here once or twice a year. It was the most pristine place to be.”
Bay Valley was founded in 1973. It has gone through a handful ownership changes over the last 50-plus years, and already had one comeback after a devastating fire ruined much of the entrance and lobby area of the hotel in the late 1990s.
But a new $15 million investment by the Storie Co. organization out of Indianapolis – of which $5 million has already been utilized to beautifully refurbish every hotel room, conference room and the wonderful onsite Heatherfields Restaurant – should turn the property back into the beacon it once was along I-75 as people traveled north out of Detroit to find peace and luxury without going all the way up north. There’s a nice north woods vibe with the interior.
“We think that the original business plan for Bay Valley of being a 147-room resort with an incredible championship golf course, 14,000 square feet of meeting space, and two restaurants - that’s the right business plan,” Nathan Nichols, CEO of Storie Co. told Saginaw’s Chan. 5 TV news in March of last year. He added that virtually no additional financial investments had gone into the property since the fire restoration almost 30 years ago, until Storie Co. came along with the checkbook and some new vigor.
“It's great news to see the investment and improvements being made at Bay Valley,” said area resident Bill Hobson of Michigan Golf Live. “New ownership and the enthusiastic leadership of Doug Temple are exactly what that once great resort and golf course needed.
“Golfers everywhere – not just in the Great Lakes Bay region – are going to love the finished product and the rebirth of Bay Valley. It's well on the way to returning to its place as a must play destination.”
Temple said the post-fire renovation almost 30 years ago provided a nice update at the time. But there’s almost no part of this building that looks like it did even two years ago he added. He said every room has been are totally redone, and the big entrance. About the only thing that has stayed is some of the dark wood in some area like stairwells. Now it’s all lighter, a more open and contemporary space.
I personally like the look and feel of Heathefieds Restaurant. It’s contemporary, open and has two pool tables and other entertainment options for your time off the golf course.
Designing the Course:
There was a lot of fanfare for the golf course itself when the property opened per the design of Desmond Muirhead, a native of Norwich, England.
Muirhead has overwhelmingly been described by others as unique, eccentric, and an artistic genius. Executive Golfer magazine in their August 2002 obituary/salute to Muirhead (who died, May 2, 2002) stated: “His designs were controversial and provoked emotions and hypocritical criticism from the staid world of golf architecture. He looked at golf design as an artform.”
The same magazine credited Muirhead as working in full design partnerships with Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Nick Faldo and, more so with Jack Nicklaus. He and Nicklaus had what some called a fragile relationship that lasted about five years, but in that time frame they co-designed courses in Florida, Japan and Spain, plus Kings Island and the original Muirfield Village in Ohio. Bay Valley Resort is Muirhead’s only design in Michigan.
“Desmond used the existing land,” said Temple, a native of nearby Hemlock. “There’s big greens which are receptive. There’s not a lot of bunkering right in front of the greens. It’s conducive to players who like to bump and run. But the big greens give us the opportunity for a lot of pin positions – different challenges that way.”
“The way Desmond sculpted some of the doglegs is interesting. We have water on 13 of the holes. So, you have to be strategic. It’s not just grip it and rip it, you have to think your way around it.”
Playing the Course:
An honor-system has been distinctively built into parts of the front nine. On the first tee shot, where many people like to hit a ‘breakfast ball’ to replace a bad opening strike, Bay Valley has a ‘mulligan’ drop box to accept donations of any kind. It’s a wonderfully unique idea to raise money for youth development and the PGA HOPE program that is run at Bay Valley for military veterans.
No. 5 is a challenging par 3 over a natural wetland area. The nice thing is at the back of that green is another honor system set up with coolers and freezers that have drinks and treats you can buy and put your money in the lock box.
Hole 6 is a par 5 that turns left (588 yards from the tips), then goes back to the right over a pond guarding the green. The same creek that runs through holes 3 and 4 must be navigated here, too.
Holes 8 and 9 are a great finish to the front nine. No. 8 is a sweeping par four right to left dog leg wrapping around a large pond. It’s rated the number one handicap hole on the course. No. 9 finishes the front with a short par 4 right to left dogleg in which many long hitters will try cutting the corner over trees to drive the green.
Hole 14 is a par five dog leg left with water all along the left side. It’s where I came across a foursome of ladies who have basically been lifetime members. They agreed the course has a lot of water to navigate, but it rarely affects their games.
The finishing holes of 17 (par 5) and 18 (par 4) are strong. The 17th is framed on the right side by weeping willow trees that will affect your second shot on the right if you’re not careful. The closing hole is a right to left dog leg (like 8 and 9), not surprisingly, wrapping a little bit around a large pond on the left side separating the hotel building and the golf course.
A lot of the design features from Muirhead look similar to today’s modern courses – but he did it over 50 years ago, so back then it was ahead of its time.
Despite the fact that much of the golf course has condo associations along the outer edges, many sand bunkers were filled with deer tracks, so apparently the wildlife is not scared away.
There is work to be done on the course in harmony with Mother Nature, but management knows it and is making progress.
More on the Future:
Temple said Storie Co.’s mission is to find properties that have a story behind it.
“So, when they were looking at how places resonate with their communities, Bay Valley is one where they constantly heard these stories, and I hear them all the time today,” he said. “Like ‘I had my wedding here, my graduation party was here,’ and I’m talking many years ago. So, there’s always this tie-in, so when the (new owners) kept hearing that they thought ‘we’ve got to bring this place back.’ Everyone around here has a story about Bay Valley in its heyday.
Temple expressed that the local area right along I-75 wasn’t built up back then like it is now. There weren’t other golf courses around. Yet Bay Valley was definitely a destination for Detroiters, for Toledo, or anyone coming up the I-75 corridor.
The local leagues have doubled in size from last season with the number of players, so that’s been a big success.
“We’ve got this beautifully remodeled hotel for stay and plays,” Temple said. “We’re working more with other courses nearby so golfers who want to shoot up here on the short drive from Detroit, and play here and nearby so they don’t feel the need to go another three hours north”
Temple, who came from his former role as Director of the Saginaw YMCA for a dozen years, is tied into the Bay Valley story as much as anyone is.
“I love the golf business and I want this place in this region to once again be what it can be. I have all these monumental moments in my life that have occurred at Bay Valley,” he said. “Having the opportunity to work with my brother (in his third season as superintendent at Bay Valley) now. I want to see it be as successful as it can be again, and we’re all passionate about it.
“I remember when the Fortress (in Frankenmuth) was just nine holes,” Temple added. “Now it’s a championship course, and we have Buck’s Run (to the west). Apple Mountain is a great track. There’s a lot of really good golf courses in this region that shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s a lot of golfers who stop here to play on the way to Mt. Pleasant.”
Will you be next? For more information, go to: https://www.bayvalley.com/
