Golf travel writing is a lot of fun, but it isn’t easy.  I guess you could say “It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.’’ At least that’s how we felt after the first month of our later-than-usual start for our spring trip.

From May 26 to June 24 we played 342 holes spread over 18 courses in three states. During one stretch we played 13 days in a row. Our long-range planning didn’t call for this, but that’s how it turned out.

Bad weather never stopped play, but it did reduce one round from 18 to nine holes. We’ve done more extensive travel on our golf/writing journeys over the last 13 years but never anything as concentrated as this.

The goal was to ascertain how golf travel has changed with a little more time separating us from the heart of that horrible pandemic. Looking back now, the start – three rounds each in golf hotbeds Pinehurst and Myrtle Beach – seem like a warmup for what was to come.

Sixteen rounds, spanning 234 holes, were played in Michigan. We played rounds that started in 40-degree temperatures there, and also had some that were played in 90-degree heat. With both Joy and I in our seventies, this golfing odyssey took a physical toll.  We were dead (well not quite) tired when we finally drove past the Michigan border into Indiana – but no regrets!

It was clear that golf has benefitted from the pandemic.  That’s what all the course operators told us, corroborating media reports of the last 18 months. We saw more golfers on courses in June than we used to see in that month. Still, it wasn’t like any of those courses were turning away players because they had run out of tee times.

It was much more obvious that staffing issues were a problem in all phases of our golf travel.  Hotels and restaurants were negatively impacted more than the golf facilities themselves. But, it’s important to note that our stops were at places that’d be considered golfing hotspots any time of the near, and not just in June.

The trip climaxed at two of our old favorites, places where we had especially fond memories from past trips.

First of those was Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, Mich.  It’s the home of The Bear, a Jack Nicklaus design that is arguably the toughest course in Michigan. It wasn’t as tough as it had been in June of 1985, when I played it for the first time. That was a breakthrough event in the golf travel industry.

Grand Traverse Resort & Spa took the then unheard of step in staging an elaborate media day to get its newest course up and running.  The U.S. Open was held that year at Oakland Hills at a time when media turnout for tournaments was much higher than it is now.

The upscale resort, which has three courses, invited the media horde from Oakland Hills to come to Grand Traverse the day after the Open, won by Andy North but also notable for T.C. Chen’s “double chip’’ that severely hurt his improbable run at the title.  (He later was dubbed “Two-Chip Chen).

Members of the Golf Writers Association of America were invited to hold a meeting at the resort, spend a night to recuperate from the tournament work week and then play The Bear – a rare, at that time, opportunity that drew a big turnout.

With its elaborate mounding covered in deep fescue, The Bear was brutal at that time. Tom McGee, now the director of golf operations, said the cutting back of the fescue slowly started in the 1990s because players rightly complained that it was too tough.  It wasn’t as tough this time – but it was tough enough and those deep bunkers were still a constant challenge.  The Bear, while never used for a PGA Tour stop, is the annual site of the men’s Michigan Open. In short, all is still well at The Bear.

The final stop came at Crystal Mountain, a popular golf/ski resort that opened in 1956.  It  was to host the Michigan Women’s Open the week after our visit on its Mountain Ridge course. Michigan’s version, which has been held for 29 years, is considered the best of the women’s state opens with its $40,000 prize fund.  This year’s tournament had 74 players for the 54-hole competition.

We made our first of several arrivals at Crystal in 2015, at a time when Joy was playing with clubs that badly needed replacing. An assistant pro, Greg Babinec, played with us and he urged Joy to try a set of upscale rental clubs.  On the second hole of the Mountain Ridge layout , a par-3, she put her tee shot within inches of the cup.  I knew after the excitement of that near hole-in-one that a purchase of that set of irons was inevitable.

Babinec is now the head professional at Crystal Mountain, and we also remember that day because he shot a 64 — a score he said was his best at the time.  Babinec wasn’t on site when we were there this time. Too bad, but – though the clubs we purchased then are no longer in use – that was one of the many fun memories we’ve had in our golf travels.

This time we played Crystal’s other course, Betsie Valley. It underwent a four-hole renovation (holes 4, 5, 8 and 9) last year under the direction of architect A. John Harvey. Betsie Valley is 400 yards shorter than Mountain Ridge but still a worthy challenge and offers great views.

The resort also has a 10-acre practice and learning center for golfers as well as archery, tennis, pickleball courts, disc golf, 25 kilometers of mountain biking and hiking trails and a water playground for those looking for more than just good golf.

 

 

 

There are golf resorts – and then there’s A-Ga-Ming. It has four courses in Northern Michigan, but their 72 holes are spread out. Each has its own history, but over the last 22 years they’ve grown together.

Mike Brown and Larry Lavely were 27-year old Central Michigan University alums when this project started. They moved to the northern part of Michigan when they bought a course called A-Ga-Ming in 1996.

A-Ga-Ming had a catchy name. For American Indians it means “on the shore.’’ Roy Wetmore designed the original nine holes in the 1970s and Chick Harbert arrived to build the second nine in 1986.

Ten years later the Brown-Lavely team arrived, and over the years Jerry Matthews – the long respected, prolific Michigan golf course architect – made his impact, too.

Matthews designed Sundance, a second 18-holer at A-Ga-Ming, in 2005 and the original course there was renamed The Torch.  Matthews also designed the courses at Charlevoix Country Club and Antrim Dells.  They’re the other courses in spread out resort.

The 36-hole A-Ga-Ming is in Kewadin.  Antrim Dells is 12 miles away, in Ellsworth, and Charlevoix Country Club is 28 miles from A-Ga-Ming.  For vacationers, though, it’s a resort on the shore of Torch Lake and Lake Michigan that makes for a destination for golf trips as well as membership and daily-fee play. There is also the possibilities for a variety of other social attractions.

A-Ga-Ming has the bulk of the lodging with three on-site accommodation options – Maplewood Ridge, Cedar Hollow and Vista Townhomes.

The Brown-Lavely team purchased Antrim Dells in 2010 and Charlevoix Country Club in 2017.

“The three places are pretty easy to get to,’’ said Brown, “and to do a golf package you need three-four courses.  Everybody stays at A-Ga-Ming.  It’s worked out really well. ‘’

Charlevoix was a private club at one point but, after suffering damage in a fire, it was on the brink of closing when Brown and Lavely picked it up.  Now, in addition to a particularly well-conditioned golf course with four of the toughest finishing holes in Michigan, it has such amenities as a fitness center, swimming pool and pickleball courts.

Antrim Dells opened in 1971 and was the 36-hole qualifying site for the Michigan Amateur throughout the 1980s before the finalists moved on to the match play portion of the tourney at Belvidere. It’s still a tough course with its hill terrain but not the toughie that it had been.

David Hill is the managing partner of Antrim Dells now.  After working at the Boyne Resort and several other Michigan courses Hill calls Antrim Dells “my retirement gig, and I love it.’’

Working with Boyne veteran Bernie Friedrich, Hill had been involved in the opening of The Heather and the Donald Ross Memorial courses at The Highlands (formerly Boyne Highlands).

After taking on the operation at Antrim Dells in 2017 he had over 500 trees removed to make the course more user-friendly.  He also used bird houses and yardage signs (made from redwoods on the original course) and unique décor in the Sunset Bar & Grill to give special touches to the facility.

Antrim is a county in Ireland, and the clubhouse décor underscores that. A view of Grand Traverse Bay as well as six holes of the course is possible from the patio at the elevated clubhouse.

While Hill declares “We’re a family here and have four courses that can stand with anybody,’’ the heart of the resort operation is at Ag-A-Ming.

The Torch is a challenging shot-maker’s course with water coming into play on 11 holes.  Sundance was a delight for our round there. It’s challenging, too, but the wide fairways, windswept bunkers and heather-clad mounding make for a more fun experience.

 

 

 

 

HARBOR SPRINGS, Mich. – I’ll admit it.  I’m a sucker for golf tribute courses because they provide a look back in history.

There are only a handful of such courses nation-wide, and the best may be at The Highlands of Harbor Springs (formerly Boyne Highlands Resort) in Michigan. It has the ideal honoree in Donald Ross because 2022 happens to be the 150^th anniversary of the legendary architect’s birth.

Ross died in 1948, but his courses remain relevant.  Two of his designs were used for U.S. Golf Association national championships this year.  That brought the number of such championships played on Ross designs over the years to 174.

Everett Kircher, the Boyne Resorts founder who is  perhaps better known for his pioneering efforts in the skiing industry, also had a passion for golf and Ross in particular. Prior to his death in 1985, Kircher wrote of Ross: “He was the greatest golf course designer and most prolific architect who ever lived.  Unquestionably he was the Father of Golf Course Architecture in America.’’

Kircher wanted a course at his resort to honor Ross, and work began on the Donald Ross Memorial in the early 1980s. It opened in 1989 and was Golf Digest’s Best New Resort Course of 1990.

The planning alone took four years, and most of the holes chosen were from private clubs because the selectors wanted holes that most of the golfing public wouldn’t be able to play.

A select panel of Boyne Golf leaders, among them Kircher, his son Steve, noted PGA instructor Jim Flick and other Boyne golf professionals, participated in the selection process. They came up with holes from such legendary layouts as Pinehurst No. 2 (North Carolina) Oakland Hills and Detroit Golf Club (Michigan), Inverness and Scioto (Ohio), Seminole (Florida), Aronimink (Pennsylvania) and Oak Hill (New York).

Also in the 18 was No. 9 at Bob O’Link, the all-male club in Highland Park, IL., along with replicas from lesser known Ross layouts like Salem (Massachusetts), Wannamoisett (Rhode Island), Plainfield (New Jersey) and Charlotte (North Carolina).

Indiana architect Bill Newcomb headed the design team for the original Ross Memorial. Now Michigan architect Ray Hearn is working with the present staff to make the Ross Memorial better.

“It’s been so much fun,’’ said Hearn.  “What’s nice is that some members of the Donald Ross Society have been very supportive.’’

The original replica holes have been determined as not good enough. The committee did the best it could,  traveling the world to look at Ross courses with engineers and using photographs to make the duplicated holes as close to the original as possible.

The present Boyne leadership felt it could do better.  Work on No. 1, a copy of No. 6 from Seminole, started last year and was just completed. More of a Florida feel was needed, and the work to provide it also spilled over to the No. 16 of the Ross Memorial.

Now the Ross course is again down to being just 17 holes. No. 15, which was the 11^th at Aronimink, is closed for a remaking and more holes will get similar attention. After the Aronimink hole is revised Hearn will address No. 13, which is the 15^th at Seminole.

“We’re not changing the holes,’’ said Ken Griffin, the resort’s director of golf sales and marketing.  “We are doing a better job with the technology now available to us.’’

“Today, though technology and Google Earth, we are able to gather photos and dimensions to create an even more accurate reproduction,’’ said 47-year Boyne staffer Bernie Friedrich, the resort’s senior vice president of golf operations who was also among the original selectors.

Hearn, meanwhile, will begin work on a new par-3 course next year. The ground-breaking is scheduled for next spring and Hearn says each green will have “a little flavor’’ of the greens he’s recently checked out overseas. He’s already made improvements on The Moor at The Highlands, making the course that was the least favorite of higher handicappers at the resort into a more user friendly version.

Work on the courses is only part of the plans for what Griffin calls “a transformation of Boyne Highlands.’’  Rooms have been renovated at the lodge, and they’re dramatically different from what they had been.  A new welcome center is in operation, a water spa and shops will replace a segment of the current lodge and a sushi restaurant will be built near the 18^th green of The Heather course. Plans also call for a three-story convention center five years down the road.

“The Highlands was the first resort golf in Michigan in 1966 when The Heather opened,’’ said Griffin.  “After 50 years it’s time to refresh this.’’

Nearby Boyne Mountain is getting attention, too, and that will be underscored on Labor Day when an 1,100-foot walking bridge is scheduled to open.

 

 

 

 

AUGUSTA, Mich. – Gull Lake View is not only a pioneer destination among American golf resorts, it is also one of the biggest.

The resort near Kalamazoo, Mich., can boast of being “the sixth largest golf resort in the world’’ with its 108 holes spread across more than 2,000 acres. Within the U.S. only North Carolina’s Pinehurst (171), Michigan’s Boyne (162) and Georgia’s Reynolds Lake Oconee (117) have more holes than Gull Lake View.

It’s long been a popular destination for group outings with its on-site lodging accompanied by the Charles and Darls restaurant. Charles Scott designed three of the resort’s six 18-holers and all were built by the Darl Scott family, which is in its fourth generation owning the facility..

Course building started in 1963 with the creation of the front nine of Gull Lake View West. The back nine opened in 1965. Then, through 1995, expansion was almost non-stop. The front nine of the East course was built in 1975 and the back in 1976. Fairway Villas opened a year later, then it was back to adding courses.

Stonehedge South was completed in 1988, the same year that the family purchased Bedford Valley, a frequent site of tournament play for Michigan’s strongest players.  Stonehedge North was added in 1995 and a new clubhouse in 2008.  The family also created two golf communities – The Woods at Stonehedge in 2002 and Cranes Pond in 2005 – to attract golfers who preferred to be residents rather than visitors to the area.

All that was well and good, but the resort needed something more, and Stoatin Brae has filled the bill.  The sixth Gull Lake View course sits on the highest point in Kalamazoo County, and course’s name in Gaelic means “Grand Hill.’’  The hill certainly provides some grand views and its Blue Stem restaurant only adds to that attraction. (A native grass, called Blue Stem, is plentiful on the course).

Though Stoatin Brae is located in the town of Augusta, that’s the only similarity with Augusta National, the Georgia home of the Masters.  Stoatin Brae is a links course with trees rarely coming into play. The course, which opened in 2017, has been well decorated.  It was in GolfWeek’s Top 100 in 2019, the Michigan Course of the Year in 2020 and the National Course of the Year in 2021.

Despite all the accolades, Stoatin Brae isn’t particularly long (only 6,742 yards from the back tees) and it’s not all that tough.  At least we felt Stonehedge South, the only other Gull Lake View course we played on our visit, was more challenging with its narrow fairways and similarly steep elevation changes.

Stoatin Brae wasn’t meant to be brutal, as many new courses are at multi-course facilities.  It was meant to be different – and that’s a good thing.

It wasn’t quite as different as the reversible course that Michigan architect Tom Doak designed at Forest Dunes in Roscommon in recent years but there is – not surprisingly – a similar feel.  Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design, based in Traverse City, created Stoatin Brae but Doak wasn’t involved in it.  His senior associates – Eric Iverson, Brian Schneider, Brian Slawnik and Don Placek – were.

The well-respected and innovative Doak was reportedly uncomfortable with designing two courses in his home state at the same time, but Stoatin Brae has the same wide open, wind-swept look so evident in his unusual design, called The Loop, at Forest Dunes. We played Stoatin Brae on a 91-degree day but we agreed with what the locals told us.  There’s always wind at Stoatin Brae, and that made for a comfortable day weather-wise.

A trademark of Stoatin Brae is its shaggy-face bunkers with wispy fescue around the edges. The halfway house is unique, too.  It’s called The Bunker and was built into the side of in a hill.

The rough was thick, and getting out of it was never easy.  Finding your ball in it was frequently difficult, too.  More directional signs in a few places would have helped pace of play, but ours was a most memorable, enjoyable round.