GREENVILLE, S.C. – Swan Lake, the Indiana resort that has operated relatively low-key since its opening in 1969, is about to elevate its profile.

Located in Plymouth, near the Notre Dame campus, Swan Lake hosted the National Junior College Championships last week and will host that event again in 2014. Of even more note, it’ll be the site of the U.S. finals of the World Golfers Championship this September and the International Network of Golf spring meeting in 2013.

The announcements of both came at this year’s 22nd ING spring gathering, conducted at Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort and Conference Center and its accompanying golf course, The Preserve at Verdae.

“These are pretty big things,’’ said Andy Mears, director of sales and marketing at Swan Lake and an ING executive committee member. “We’re planning to hold a lot of events like this to showcase the resort.’’

Swan Lake didn’t always take that approach, even after Richard Klingler took over ownership 12 years ago. Mears came on board in November, 2011, as a key mover in changing the resort.

“There’s been a complete transformation of management there,’’ said Mears. “The owners decided to go in an entirely new direction. We’ve opened up to outings and have a whole new staff at the (teaching) academy. We’ve got 70 pros on staff, and they’ve been incredibly busy.’’

Klingler, an Indiana native who founded the Holiday Rambler RV Co. and later sold it, wasn’t even a golfer when he took over Swan Lake in 2000. In addition to taking on the big events, Swan Lake has attracted outings, notably a big one from Wal-Mart, which moved from a course in Valparaiso to Swan Lake. The resort used to average eight weddings a year; this year it’ll host 25.

The teaching operation is a high priority as well, under head professional Chad Hutsell. He had held that job at Plymouth Country Club for 12 years and returned to the area at Swan Lake after a stint at Aberdeen in Valparaiso.

“We’ll turn the golf operation into a learning center for PGA apprentices,’’ said Mears. “We want to be the Triple-A farm club for the PGA of America.’’

Swan Lake, spread over 600 acres, has 92 hotel rooms plus cabins and cottages and a 20m000 square-foot convention center.

The biggest event of this year, the U.S. finals of the World Golfers Championship, will be held Sept. 20-22. The leaders in five flights based on handicap will qualify for the finals in Durban, South Africa. Billed as “the world’s largest amateur tournament,’’ this is a growing competition started 17 years ago by legendary late Swedish athlete Sven Tumba, a hockey great who turned to golf later in life and designed the first course in Moscow.

Tumba’s first events were invitationals, but he eventually switched to a qualifying format and now eliminations are held in 40 countries. Florida-based Anders Bengtson is the majority owner of the U.S.. portion of the competition, which involves about 200 elimination events held year-around.

“We’re now in eight states and looking for tournament directors all over the country,’’ said Bengtson, a fellow ING member. “We’ll have in the thousands try to qualify (for the U.S. finals) and expect 80-100 to play at Swan Lake.’’

John Downey is the tournament director for Illinois, and a former Chicago area judge, Eddie Stephens, was a qualifier for the World finals last year at the U.S. event held in San Antonio, Tex.

The World Golfers Championship is unique, in that men and women of all ages compete together. There’s no breakdowns for age or sex, only by handicaps (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 and 21-25). Different tees, though, are used according to sex , age and handicap differences.

“We feel we’re a true amateur tournament,’’ said Bengtson. “We’ve established camaraderie with people, some of whom can’t even communicate because of their language differences. But they’ve still become friends.’’

Bengtson took next year’s finals to Swan Lake because “it’s very charming and we need at least two courses…I don’t want the players playing one course over and over because they play four in the finals.’’

The World finals were held at PGA National in Florida the first three years but had a more international flavor after that. The finals will be held in South Africa for the second straight year but were held in Spain in 2009 and Thailand in 2010. Arnold Palmer has endorsed the competition and the late Seve Ballesteros was honorary chairman of the advisory committee last year.

Swan Lake has two 18-holers for the 72-hole competition, and the finals include two practice rounds and four tournament rounds, to be played on four different high-quality layouts.

As for the four-day ING event, it’ll bring golf leaders from management, resort, equipment and media together next May 19–23. Executive director Mike Jamison has taken the event around the country, with this year’s golf portion played on a challenging layout designed by Willard Byrd in the 1990s. It had hosted a Nike Tour event for nine years.

That was in keeping with the type of layouts Jamison had previously used. It was held at Florida’s Innisbrook layout, site of the PGA Tour’s Transitions Championship, in 2010.

JASPER, Ind. – If ever there was a comeback story in the golf business, it’s the one that has unfolded at French Lick Resort — and it continues to get better.

This little town in the resort’s namesake in southern Indiana, near Louisville, was the home to one of the most popular retreats in the United States in the early 1900s and its two stately hotels reflect that. The French Lick Hotel (now with a 24-hour casino added) has 443 rooms and suites and dates back to 1845. The West Baden Hotel, with 243 rooms and suites, was built in 1902.

French Lick went through a lengthy economic downturn after its heyday years, with its only claim being the fact that it was the boyhood home of basketball great Larry Bird. Now that’s all changed.

The original French Lick had an 18-hole course designed by one of the architectural greats, Donald Ross. He opened it in 1917 as The Hill Course, and the 1924 PGA Championship (won by no less a legend than Walter Hagen) was staged there. The course also hosted LPGA and Senior PGA Tour events before a $5 million renovation. In 2005 it re-opened as The Donald Ross Course.

The original French Lick also had an 18-holer designed by Tom Bendelow, perhaps the most prolific architect in golf’s early years in the United States. Bendelow did his creating in 1907, when The Valley Course opened. It also went into disarray and was renovated in partnership with US Kids Golf as a nine-holer. It’s now called the Valley Links course, and its popularity and conditioning in improving rapidly. In what other nine-holer can you go around twice and end up playing a 7,000-yard-plus layout? You can at Valley Links.

Then came the arrival of Pete Dye, arguably the most famous architect of this generation. His most famous creations include TPC Sawgrass in Florida, Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina, Oak Tree in Oklahoma and Honors Course in Tennessee.

Dye, by now in his 80s, created a spectacular course to further spur the French Lick revival. That layout opened in 2009 and hosted a PGA event – the Professional Players National Championship – a year later. It hosted the Big Ten men’s event this year, and will also host it in 2013 and 2014 while The Ross hosts the Big Ten women’s championship at the same time.

Though he’s designed or co-designed about 300 courses world-wide, Dye said his namesake course at French Lick is “probably the biggest construction job I have ever had. This is the most interesting inland site I have built on.’’

Still, the French Lick experience continues to grow. This year the resort took over the management of Sultan’s Run in nearby Jasper. This is a big development for French Lick. Sultan’s Run is an 18-holer designed by one-time Dye protégé Tim Liddy and has a memorable waterfall on its closing hole.

This layout is good all the way around, a real fun track to play. And, if you visit French Lick, it’s not one to miss. Its addition to the golf options should keep lots of golfers at the resort an extra day. They’ll be missing something if they don’t play Sultan’s Run.

“That’s one of the most talked-about holes in Indiana,’’ said Dave Harner, French Lick’s director of golf. “But there’s not a bad hole, and that course is a contrast to both of ours. While (the Dye and Ross layouts) are more links style, this is a parkland course with tree-lined fairways and a far amount of elevation.’’

Sultan’s Run, built in the 1990s, is a challenging 6,859 yards from the back tees. It’s challenging, sporting and playable — a real treat about 20 miles from the resort, but transportation can be provided.

Though it’s not connected to French Lick, those playing Sultan’s Run can make it to Schnitzelbank, the best German restaurant I’ve ever visited — and that’s saying something because I’ve been to quite a few. Schnitzelbank, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary in January, is a fixture in the town of 5,000.

Harner is every bit as enthusiastic about the good things happening on the Valley Links. Upon its re-opening the resort offered a junior certification program for residents that allowed youngsters 12 and under to play free if accompanied by an adult who played a half-price.

That plan was more recently stretched to include resort guests. Valley Links has six sets of tees, the shortest providing a layout of 1,100 yards to even 5- and 6-years can play it.

“Our junior program is noteworthy,’’ said Harner, “and it’s been starting to get attention lately. For years we thought the juniors were more of a nuisance, and now we realize we should have taken better care of them.’’

The entire golf world is realizing that in these tough economic times, but French Lick is doing something about it and so are the little towns around it — Mitchell, Orleans, Paoli and, of course, Jasper. I was stunned by how much development has been done (and not just in golf) in those communities since my last visit in 2010. The economic recession seems to have stimulated progress, not slowed it down, in this little corner of Indiana.

GALENA, IL. – I’ve always had a warm spot in my heart for the Eagle Ridge Resort. Not only has it been a favorite get-away retreat for about 40 years, it’s also a place where I’ve been on hand for some special events.

In 1984 I played in the grand opening outing for Eagle Ridge’s South course, a Roger Packard design. In 1997 I played in another celebratory round, one to mark the opening of The General — Eagle Ridge’s premier layout, created by Packard and Andy North.

That’s why it was somewhat nostalgic when I returned to Eagle Ridge this spring after a two-year absence to take advantage of one of its very worthwhile spring golf packages. I played the South course on a Tuesday afternoon in April and The General the following morning. Both were in the best spring shape I’d ever seen them. Then I learned the reason why, from director of golf and head professional Michael Stewart.

Eagle Ridge, located on 6,800 acres 150 miles west of Chicago, endured a disastrous summer in 2011, when extraordinary rainfalls did severe damage to all four of its courses. Just how bad was it? Well, 16 inches of rain hit the par-5 second hole on The General, a layout filled with spectacular vistas resulting from 250 feet of elevation changes.

“Welcome to The General,’’ said Stewart. “It’s a different kind of animal.’’ That it is.

Stewart was barely on the job when the rains hit on July 27, leading to one fatality in addition to the damage to the facility. He’d left a job in Fort Myers, FL., to run the golf operation at Illinois’ premier golf resort facility. Immediately he had to cope with rainfall that stopped play altogether.

“We weren’t closed too long – a few weeks,’’ he said. “But when we opened up we had to use temporary tees, and we let people play at reduced rates.’’

The recovery effort led to a $2.3 million renovation, which was needed anyway. Oliphant Companies, a Madison, WI., firm specializing in course development, construction and management, worked with the Eagle Ridge staff in the recovery effort.

“We had to rebuild over 100 bunkers, reshape the creeks and restore the tee boxes on all four courses,’’ said Stewart. The storms, he now believes, were “a blessing in disguise.’’ They forced repair work that left Eagle Ridge with much better courses than it had previously. Several trees were removed to improve play, drainage was improved and some bridges repaired.

When the work was in its final stages the weather also turned extraordinarily good, so Eagle Ridge had 111 rounds played on the North (which was first played in 1977 and is now open year-around) in January.

“That shows what a mild winter we had,’’ said Stewart. “We had an early run because of the wonderful weather .’’

He calls the courses “absolutely pristine and stunning in every sense of the word’’ and likens their spring condition to what they would be like in the summer.

The openings of the other courses were the earliest in the resort’s history, which spans five decades. The South opened on April 6, the East on April 13 and The General on April 20.

While The General took the biggest hit, the rains did damage to the heavily-played North, the sporty South and the nine-hole East (youngest of the layouts with a 1991 opening) as well. These courses all have extreme elevation changes, making for some fun golf.

The 18th hole of the South course might be my favorite hole of the 63. Or, maybe it’s the par-3 second on the East. The General, though, is filled with one great hole after another, the most eye-catching (see the photo at the top of this story) being the short par-4 14th, with a steep drop off an elevated tee. If The General was an easier course to walk, it’d be a great big tournament venue.

SYLACAUGA, AL. — The FarmLinks course in this little town about 45 miles from Birmingham already has a big reputation. Golf Digest, Golfweek and the National Golf Foundation have recognized it for one good thing or another.

Soon, though, things will be changing. Honours Golf, which managed the facility for 10 years, will be leaving and a new management team is coming in. Honours did a good job, but 81-year-old owner Jimmy Pursell wants to take his course in another direction.

Pursell, who made a big impact in the fertilizer business, created the course as an agronomic research and demonstration facility. The course, designed by the highly-respected architectural team of Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, is just too good. While the national golf publications have shown their respect, perhaps FarmLinks’ most significant appraisal came from the Birmingham News, which called it the No. 1 public course in Alabama in 2009. Golfweek had previously rated it “one of America’s best (public) courses” in 2004.

With those accolades in mind FarmLinks is changing.

“It’s been very successful, said Chuck Ocheltree, who took over as general manager in January. “Our superintendents’ program has been what FarmLinks has been all about. We took care of 1,000 superintendents a year since the course opened in 2003. Now the Pursell family wants to become a 4-star resort in the golf business.’’

That’s likely to happen sooner rather than later, and it’s already been listed among Golf Digest’s Top 75 Resorts, debuting at No. 39. I’m not one to take the magazine polls as gospel, and I think FarmLinks will eventually be considered much better than that.

The biggest problem with FarmLinks is getting there. It’s an hour’s drive from the Birmingham airport, an hour from a regional airport in Montgomery and two hours from Atlanta. But once you get there you find a very special place.

The course measures 7,444 yards and was the site of the Alabama Amateur championship in 2011, yet it’s playable for a wide variety of players. This year Golf Channel’s Am Tour paid a visit while we were there. Near tornado conditions the night before and a cold, rainy day didn’t detract from either our day on the course or that of the Am Tour competitors, who had become familiar with the course the year before.

It’s not easy to describe FarmLinks, which will likely get a name change — to the FarmLinks course at Pursell Farms. That’d be a more appropriate name, since there’s much more to the place than the extraordinary golf course. It has its conference center with high-tech meeting rooms in an out-of-the-way setting, making it a productive business retreat as well as a vacation option. But it’s also been a site for the First Tee program the last three years.

However you get to FarmLinks, you arrive at an impressive entrance. A windy two-mile drive is required to get from the guard gate to the clubhouse. While the food is top-notch, the staff is just getting prepared to host big events. It doesn’t even have a liquor license yet (that’s expected to be acquired by May).

Pursell, a man with strong religious beliefs, isn’t changing his own lifestyle nor that of his family. His son David is chief executive officer of the facility and son-in-law Tim Spanjer is director of marketing. But, underscoring the overall name of Pursell Farms, the place is being given a more resort-like feel. Pursell has 3,500 acres available, and quail hunting, fishing, hiking, horseshoes and five-stand clay shooting are established offerings. Horseback-riding and hayrides have been added recently as has a working relationship with a Birmingham spa. More resort offerings will be added soon.

“Things can happen here that can’t happen anywhere else,’’ said Ocheltree, who had been living in much more cosmopolitan Atlanta. “But golf still drives everything.’’

Stay-and-play packages got a big boost in 2009 when guests could enjoy new cottages and cabins, each comprised of four suites, a shared great room and outdoor patio areas with views of lakes and mountains as well as the golf course. Ours, at the Jones Cabin, offered a putting green just off the patio. Now there’s also a Golf Academy on site, headed by Layne Savoie, who had coached collegiately had Arkansas and Florida State.

FarmLinks maintains its claim as “the world’s first and only research and demonstration golf course,’’ and will continue to welcome more than a thousand superintendents from all over the world to The Experience — an educational program that showcases the industry’s best products, services and equipment. In the past golf industry professionals have learned about advanced technologies and turfgrass research thanks to partnerships with several top manufacturers via roundtable and focus-group meetings.

That won’t change. Neither will FarmLinks’ involvement with various ministries. A large prayer group is booked at the facility in early May. But there’ll be more weddings and other gatherings mixed in with the great golf moving forward.

CARMEL, Ind. — No disrespect to Tom Fazio, Rees Jones, Robert Trent Jones, Jack Nicklaus or any of the other high-quality golf course architects putting their talents on display these days, but — for my money — one stands ahead of the others. Pete Dye is definitely the most innovative and probably the most prolific architects of our generation.

Last year, amidst limited fanfare, his boosters in Indiana announced the formation of the Pete Dye Golf Trail. It was basically an informational website (www.petedyegolftrail.com) then, but this project should turn into something significant for both Dye and golf generally in the Midwest.

This year the same seven participating courses will be on board, stay-and-play packages will be available and other incentives may be added as well. And the heart of all this golf activity is a good place in itself. The Indianapolis suburb of Carmel was selected as the No. 1 Best Place to Live by Money Magazine for cities with population between 50,000 and 300,000.

I wanted an early jump on the Trail, so I hit five courses in five days in the fall. One very unexpected plus was the fact that you don’t have to travel far to get from course to course in the heart of Trail country. From a hotel in this Indianapolis suburb I could get to five Dye courses with drives of 40 minutes or less.

Before getting into the Trail, consider its significance. Only the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which has 11 courses in Alabama, is similar within the U.S. The Dye Trail doesn’t encompass many of his famous courses, but it does include his first 18-holer and his last one. The Trail is a great place to get a feel for all the good things Pete Dye has done in his brilliant architectural career.

Now well into his 80s, Dye has been designing courses all over the world for over 50 years. His best known courses — arguably, at least — are the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the Stadium Course at PGA West in California, Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, Crooked Stick in Indiana and the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

Working alone or occasionally with other architects — usually wife Alice or sons P.B. and Perry — Dye’s portfolio lists nearly 300 courses nation-wide. Many have won awards. Oddly only one, Ruffled Feathers in Lemont, is in the Chicago area. Dye worked with P.B. on that layout, which opened in 1991.

The Dye Trail, strongly supported by Indiana governor Mitch Daniels at its creation, is a journey through Dye’s architectural career. One of the seven courses was built for less than $1 million, another for $15 million. But all are good.

In a perfect world you should start the Dye Trail with a round at Maple Creek, which opened in 1961 under the name of Heather Hills. Dye had dabbled with a few other courses before this one, but this layout — created within the Indianapolis city limits with wife Alice — was his first 18-holer. They got it up and running 50 years ago for about $80,000. Not in the pristine condition of some of the other courses on the Trail, Maple Creek is still a fun public layout with a friendly staff. It’s a must-visit for Dye enthusiasts.

In a perfect world you should also end the Dye Trail at the Pete Dye Course at French Lick, a most difficult layout in very rural Southern Indiana. French Lick, once the home of basketball legend Larry Bird, was a retreat for the rich and famous before serious economic issues decimated the little town. It’s revival is a heartwarming story in itself, and the Dye Course is a big reason for the progress that’s been made.

The Dye Course at French Lick opened in 2009 and has already hosted the U.S. Professionals National Championship. It will take the collegiate spotlight the next three years as the site of the men’s Big Ten Championship. While the men are playing the Dye Course the Big Ten women’s teams will compete for their conference title on the nearby Donald Ross Course.

In between the creation of Heather HIlls/Maple Creek and the Pete Dye Course at French Lick there were plenty of other courses of all degrees of difficulty. The five others on the Trail demonstrate the wide variety of ways Dye has found to make golf interesting and challenging.

Dye has expressed sentimental affection for the Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex at Purdue University in West Lafayette. He helped raise the money to build it in 1997 and Purdue’s agronomy students use it as part of their studies. That course is popular with more than Purdue’s students. In September, 2012, it was ranked the No. 3 course in all of collegiate golf by PGA.com.

The Plum Creek Country Club in Carmel is an upscale public layout that Dye created with fellow architect Tim Liddy in 1997. It was a busy place on the day I visited, the first round of my five-in-a-row tour. (I had played the Kampen Course and the Pete Dye Course at French Lick on previous golf trips).

Most unique of the courses on the Trail is Brickyard Crossing, which has four of its holes inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Golf was played on this land before Dye was involved, but he created a special place in 1993. On my visit the engines of the race cars provided the background music to a round that’ll be hard to forget. I’d played the Brickyard in an informal outing organized by Dye shortly before the course opened, but I was looking forward to the return visit and it didn’t disappoint.

Best course on the Trail from my viewpoint was The Fort, part of a resort built on Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis. It offered something for everybody.

Unfortunately, I can’t say I played the whole Pete Dye Golf Trail — yet. I still haven’t made it to Mystic Hills in Culver. But that trip will be made in the not-too-distant future, I assure you.

During my five-day tour I also played Crooked Stick, the 2012 site of the BMW Championship. It’s one of Dye’s best-known courses and in close proximity to four of the layouts included on the Trail. Crooked Stick, a private club that has proven itself as a big-time tournament venue, isn’t one of the Trail courses but hopefully it can be tied into the project in some way down the road.

PINEHURST, N.C. — My frequent golf travels have led me to introduce you to a term you’re certain to hear more about in the next few months and years. It’s called wire-grass, the key ingredient in the recent renovation of North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2 — one of the world’s most famous courses, as well as one of my all-time favorites.

Pinehurst is certainly no secret. It’s been welcoming guests since 1895 and is America’s largest golf resort with its eight courses. The insertion of wire-grass on its famed No. 2 course, though, is something new and significant. While the topic of wire-grass hasn’t been talked about much yet, it will be. The U.S. Golf Assn., in an unprecedented move, has scheduled for the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst in 2014. By then wire-grass will be a well-known golf term.

Wire-grass doesn’t look all that great, but that’s what Donald Ross — the famed architect of the early 1900s — worked with in creating his layout at Pinehurst No. 2.

According to Don Sweeting, one of PInehurst’s vice presidents and my recent tour guide over the course, wire-grass is “a clump of grass that grows to four-six inches tall and has plumes on it and is very wispy….I provides an obstacle to golfers to play through it — but it’s very easy to find your ball.’’

Sweeting tells me that wire-grass is very indigenous to the sandhills of North Carolina. The fact that it was allowed to grow at Pinehurst No. 2 certainly changed the look of the course that hosted U.S. Opens in 1999 and 2005. I covered both. For those events the rough was bermuda, just like the fairways, only longer.

Pinehurst had a pristine look then. Now it’s more traditional and the rough is more unpredictable for golfers. Maybe some golfers won’t like the new look, but I did because Ross is one of the all-time great architects whose work has withstood the tests of time. He lived off the No. 3 hole at Pinehurst No. 2 before his death in 1948.

“We felt we had moved away from the Donald Ross era,’’ said Sweeting. “Pinehurst is known for its history, and you don’t want to go away from your history; you want to preserve it. We’ve normally done an excellent job of that, but we got away from it in the 1970s and 1980s. The golf world was going to the pristine and perfect look then, but that wasn’t what Donald Ross was all about.’’

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. — Michigan, as any avid golfer knows, is loaded with great courses. While the golf season isn’t as long as it is in some other warmer weather places, there’s an abundance of daylight in Michigan when its season is in full swing.

The problem with Michigan is its abundance of riches. Most any part of the state has a notable golf facility — and that includes the Upper Peninsula. The UP isn’t Michigan’s most popular region for golfers, but it bears consideration.

“When we do the golf shows we can tell that most people know about the UP if they’re skiers,’’ said Dave Douglas, director of golf at Sweetgrass Golf Club — the first of our stops in a sweeping tour of Michigan. “We’re so remote up here. From downtown Chicago it’s a 5 1/2-6 hour drive.’’

Like the rest of Michigan, though, the courses in the UP are first-rate and some of their organizers have established the “Perfect Four’’ package, which ties together three of the best. (The fourth in that slogan is the participating golfer).

Our venture with the “Perfect Four,’’ called for rounds at Sweetgrass, Timber Stone and Greywalls with two nights lodging required in between. Each course was distinctly different from the other two and the side attractions at each destination provided nice variety as well. There’s plenty of highway signage promoting the three-course package.

DAY ONE — A comfortable six-hour drive brought us to the Island Resort and Casino, which is located in Harris, Mich. That’s 14 miles from the bigger city of Escanaba. While the casino is a major attraction, the Sweetgrass course definitely spices up the facility.

Sweetgrass got its name from history, with sweetgrass being the first grass to grow on mother earth. It’s one of four medicines used in ceremonies by the Potawatomi Indians. The course is only two years old, the creation of Michigan architect Paul Albanese.

This links-style course has generous fairways, almost 40 acres of them. (Most courses devote only about 30 acres to fairways).

Given that the general facility is called the Island Resort, it’s almost mandatory that the course has an island green. It’s at the 15th hole. The 10,000-foot putting surface culminates a short hole, with the five tee placements allowing the hole to play anywhere from 102 to 164 yards.

Most striking feature of the course, though, is the shared green for the Nos. 9 and 18 holes. Both fairways wrap around water the incudes waterfalls with the casino providing a backdrop.

For relaxation afterwards there’s always the casino and it’s array of restaurants, but the short dive into Escanaba will bring you to Stonehouse, which provided the best fine dining of the trip.

Sweetgrass has climbed in stature of the years. In 2015 it climbed six places, to No. 20, in Golfweek magazine’s rankings of Best Casino Courses.

DAY TWO — A 40-mile drive from Sweetgrass brings you to Timber Stone, in Iron Mountain. Sweetgrass and Timber Stone have one thing in common. Albanese worked on both, but the long-respected Michigan architect, Jerry Matthews, was in charge of this layout. It opened at Pine Mountain Resort in 1997.

Timber Stone, cut through some beautiful forests, presents a much different challenge than Sweetgrass. One of the most pronounced is the elevation changes. The vertical drop from the back tee on the 17th hole — the highest point on the course) to the lowest spot, at the driving range, is 310 feet. The drops on the 17th (110 feet) and 18th (200 feet) present a spectacular finish to a round.

Elevation changes shouldn’t be surprising, since Pine Mountain is also a ski resort. In fact, it’s one of Michigan’s oldest with roots dating back to 1939.
The 14th hole has eight tee placements, which is also extraordinary.

DAY THREE — A 90-minute drive from Iron Mountain brings you to the lively college town of Marquette. Golf-wise the home of Northern Michigan University offers the Marquette Golf Club, which was established in 1926. Its original course, the Heritage, was designed by William Langford and David Gill.

While Heritage is a scenic layout it’s nothing like Greywalls. This one is loaded with the “Wow’’ factor, thanks to its views of Lake Superior. The first nine holes opened in 2004 and the 18-hole ribbon-cutting was in June of 2005. Mike DeVries designed this 6,828-yard layout that has — for better or worse — plenty of blind shots but it is definitely fun to play.

Marquette has plenty of nice off-course attractions, and two of its restaurants are noteworthy. The Vierling Restaurant & Marquette Harbor Brewery dates back to 1883, and Elizabeth’s Chop House — which is on the same block with lake-front viewing — provides more upscale dining. Unlike the first two stops on the “Perfect Four’’ tour, there’s plenty of lodging available in Marquette.

Need something to top off the trip? How about a three-hour boat cruise. The Picture Rock Tour in nearby Munising provides some unusual scenic views as well as some interesting history of the region.