BOYNE FALLS, Michigan – Having three top golf resorts is somewhat like having three children. How do you decide which one gets taken care of first?
That’s a potential dilemma at Boyne Mountain, The Highlands and Bay Harbor – the three resorts that have a combined 10 golf courses and plenty of other amenities and attractions. Just a few miles apart, they’re all special places with special needs.
So, how does the Boyne group management handle it? It’s all about planning. A 10-year plan was drawn up in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“We have a 10-year plan for every hole on every course at all the resorts,’’ said Ken Griffin, the director of sales and marketing for the resorts. “There are very specific plans for continual upgrades.’’
And it’s been working – though not without an occasional hiccup. The biggest was at The Highlands, where an exciting new par-3 course and putting course were to be installed.
They were almost finished last year, then a super storm hit.
“We only had two holes to go,’’ said Griffin. “Then we got 25 to 30 inches of rain. We had three-four feet of sand ripped out in the first week of November.’’
Work resumed in the spring but neither the course, dubbed Doon Brae (Scottish for “short walk downhill’’), or the 27-hole putting course have opened to the public yet. The Grand Opening for both has been pushed back to 2025.
Michigan architect Ray Hearn did the design work as part of a series of projects he’s undertaken at the resorts. Each of the nine greens at Doon Brae has a different template, each reflecting a style of green — Ridan, Punch Bowl, Volcano, Postage — played in Scotland.
Just as intriguing is the course’s location.
“It’ll be the only course that we know of where golf is played in the summer and skiing is done in the winter,’’ said Griffin.
Doon Brae will be a walking course, but the walks up the ski hill will be minimal. The longest hole is 136 yards and only two holes require uphill walks. Though pushcarts may be available and carry-bags available, Griffin expects many players will simply carry a few clubs in their rounds.
Despite the weather problems affecting Doon Brae the ongoing upgrades are going on full speed at all three resorts. They don’t just encompass golf course work projects, either. Boyne Mountain received an impressive (and expensive) Skybridge last year, and it’s become a major tourist attraction. Extensive work has begun on the lodge at The Highlands.
Though it can’t be called an upgrade, Boyne has also taken on a new project beginning next year. The Epson Tour, the developmental circuit for the Ladies PGA Tour, will conduct a tournament the next three years on The Heather course at The Highlands. The resorts’ courses haven’t been lacking for players, but pro tour events are another matter.
“We’ve never done a tournament like that,’’ said Griffin. “Pre-Covid we were close to getting the Champions Tour (the PGA’s 50-and-over circuit) but negotiations fell apart.’’
Rain problems and tournaments aside, the beat goes on with new projects at the resorts.
“We’re re-investing at a higher level than I’ve ever seen,’’ said Griffin, who has worked for the resorts for 16 years.
HERE’S WHAT’S been happening at each Boyne resort:
BOYNE MOUNTAIN, in Boyne Falls: The oldest of the trio, the Mountain celebrated its 75th anniversary last year and the addition of the Skybridge was a huge project. Hearn also supervised major upgrades on the Alpine and Monument courses there.
The Mountain has only two courses, but that could change one of these days. Legendary architect Pete Dye designed a course for that resort prior to his death in 2020. Center lines were cut, then work ended abruptly because Boyne management preferred to build a water park. It opened in 2004 and is now the largest indoor water park in Michigan. Land for a future Dye course, however, is still available.
“There’s no further design plans for a course, but we know that we have the space for one,’’ said Griffin.
THE HIGHLANDS, Harbor Springs: The Donald Ross Memorial course here is one project that won’t be completed quickly. Every hole but one is a replica of holes that Ross designed around the world. Hearn has revised Nos. 1, 2, 13, 15 and 16. Work is being done one hole at a time to minimize a reduction in play and No. 9 is being tackled this year, meaning the Ross is temporarily a 17-hole course.
No. 9, a replica of the 14th hole at Scotland’s Royal Dornoch, is the only one of the 18 holes that wasn’t designed by Ross himself.
“But it’s the course where he grew up, where he learned golf,’’ said Griffin. It’s also the course where Ross worked as a golf professional for the first time.
The Ross course is not a project to be taken lightly. The Boyne hierarchy wants each hole to be as accurate as possible. To show how serious the staff takes this project is reflected by the work undertaken on the 15th hole – a replica of No. 11 at Aronimink in Pennysylvania. The original version at The Highlands had five bunkers. Now, after a renovation, it has 22.
“We thought what we had was the original, but it wasn’t,’’ said Griffin, “so we moved it up the line and redid it.’’
BAY HARBOR, Petoskey: This resort’s Links/Quarry Course, designed by the late Arthur Hills, is the best revenue producer of the 10 at the three resorts, but Crooked Tree may be a bigger success story there. Hills didn’t design Crooked Tree. Harry Bowers was the original architect, and Boyne purchased the course from the family that built it.
“It’s the only of one of our 10 courses that we didn’t build,’’ said Griffin. “The last three holes (16, 17 and 18) were not good holes, and about 10 years ago Arthur Hills Jr. redesigned them. Ten years ago the lowest number of rounds (on the Boyne courses) were at Crooked Tree. Now, with the Heather and the Hills (Arthur Hills-designed course at The Highlands), Crooked Tree is in our top three.’’
