WISCONSIN DELLS, Wisconsin – Golf is different in the Wisconsin Dells.  Given all the entertainment options for tourists, golf seems more an amenity than an attraction.

But, make no mistake, it’s a good one.

The Dells offers 142 holes and 12 different golf experiences, ranging from short courses to championship versions. The courses were designed around landscapes left by the glacier period and surrounded by sandstone bluffs, towering pines and rolling hills.  That makes The Dells special as a golf destination.

For the record my favorite course there is the 18-holer at Wild Rock, created by the well respected design team of Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry.  It’s a frequent tournament venue.

That said, the best golf facility in The Dells, in my book,  is Trappers Turn. It’s got three fine nines – the Arbor, Canyon and Lakes – as well as a unique 12-hole par-3 course called 12North.  Two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North and Oliphant Haltom Golf teamed up on this one for a series of challenging holes that measure between 50 and 120 yards and also includes a one-acre putting green.  Toss in the big clubhouse and restaurant and Trappers Turn gives you all you could want.

That’s brings me to the most interesting course in The Dells.  That would be the 18-holer at Christmas Mountain Village, called The Oaks. Christmas Mountain doubles as a ski area with 16 runs and two chairlifts in the winter.

Located in unincorporated Dells, it has the widest range of lodging options I’ve seen at a golf facility.  There are 60 year-round residents and visitors can also stay in campers, tents, log cabins, condos or villas. BlueGreen Vacations Unlimited oversees that.

What Christmas Mountain Village lacks is historical information, perhaps because the staff is relatively new.  Jacob James, the head professional, has been on hand for less than a year and Greg Schernecker, who has done solid work in improving course conditioning as the superintendent, has been on the staff for less than two years after coming over from John Deere Co.

Schernecker built a nine-hole course in Poynette, Wis. from the ground up in 1999.  He had superintendents jobs at two other Wisconsin courses over a 10-year period before his stint selling Deere equipment, but the focus now is on upgrading Christmas Mountain Village.

“We’ll just keep improving,’’ he said.  “I’m excited to see where we can take the course next.  I want this to be the best course in The Dells.’’

From what we could gather the resort opened in 1969 for skiers. The Oaks course was designed by Art Johnson. Johnson passed on in 2010 at the age of 82, and his architectural work on The Oaks was reportedly done in 1985. The course opening, though, wasn’t opened until  1990. At least that’s what we could find in published reports.

Johnson participated in the design of about 40 courses, most all in Wisconsin, and was best known as a park planner for many years in Madison.  He was dedicated to his craft, as his death came following a heart attack triggered when he had been taking down a tree and lugging away some logs near his home.

Christmas Mountain Village also has a nine-holer called The Pines.   Schernecker brought it back to life after it’d been closed for two years.  The Oaks, though, is the eye-catcher – especially the back nine.  The views there are stunning and the course can stand up to any in the area.

While all the putting surfaces are huge, The Oaks has two that are unique.  One is in the shape of the state of Wisconsin, the other in the shape of the state of Illinois.  Flags of both states are behind their respective greens.

Fairfield Hills, located in the foothills of Baraboo, has the largest practice range in the Dells and a course that has 12 holes.  It can be played at three, nine, 12 or 18 holes, however.

Pinecrest, in the Dells’ downtown area, is a par-3 with holes ranging from 90 to 150 yards.  This facility also includes an archery course.

The setting for Spring Brook, another nine-holer, is in tall pines with rolling terrain and wooded surroundings. It’s good for all skill levels and especially good for family games.

 

 

GALENA, IL. – The General at Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa isn’t your ordinary golf course – not by a long shot. So, it’s fitting that this Andy North-Roger Packard design isn’t getting the standard treatment for a course hitting its 25^th anniversary.

It’s getting a “Celebration Restoration’’ instead.  We’ll explain, but first know this:

Not only is The General one of the very best courses in Illinois, it’s also the most different.  No 18-holer in Illinois has the 280 feet of elevation changes that The General has.  It’s a course that isn’t suitable for walking, but its views are unmatched.

So is its history.

John Schlaman was the director of golf at Eagle Ridge when The General was under construction. Schlaman, who would later direct the operation at Prairie Landing in West Chicago, is back now as head professional of the resort’s South Course. He can attest that the building of The General was no easy task 25 years ago.

“Building that course was obviously difficult,’’ recalled Schlaman.  “What I remember most was the fire in the hole. For a lot of that course we had to dynamite stuff to create different routings. We also struggled with seeding on the 17^th hole.  It’d wash out and had to be re-seeded.’’

That happened several times, to the dismay of the two architects. North was a two-time U.S. Open champion, and Packard, who also worked on two of the resort’s other three courses was the son of Larry Packard – one of the great architects of his generation.  Both Roger and Larry have passed on.

Playing The General was always a memorable experience, but the course was never ideal.  Keeping the course in proper condition wasn’t easy, in large part because of its elevation changes. Previous owners were reluctant to deal with that.

The nines were flipped after Mark Klausner took over ownership of the resort in 2019 and brought in Mike Weiler as director of golf. That was a big change, and a most positive one.

More recently Weiler uncovered two “mystery tees.’’  They were there when North and Packard did their work but disappeared from the scorecard seven years ago. Weiler found what looked like overgrown tees at Nos. 6 and 8. To be sure he had superintendent Sam Marzahl conduct some soil tests that confirmed it.

Now, rather than honor the reputation The General has built over 25 years, the Eagle Ridge leadership is focusing more on a restoration project centering on those “mystery tees’’ but it’ll go much further than restoring a couple of tee boxes.

“We’re not so much celebrating as we are upgrading,’’ said Weiler.

Marzahl was hired as The General’s superintendent two years ago, and he’s tackled a cleanup project encompassing the “mystery tees’’ that will lengthen those two holes and add still more spectacular views for the players. Other tees have been added and the end result may add as many as 400 yards to the layout from the back tees.

Klausner, meanwhile, brought in Moline, IL.-based John Deere Co. for a much-needed replacement of maintenance equipment that was at least nine years old under the previous ownership.

“A three-year deal for $1 million a year,’’ said Klausner.  “They’ve been super people to work with, and they teach us how to use the new equipment.’’

Klausner had also ordered an expansion of The Highlands restaurant, the moving of the Village Store and the creation of a new, very upscale Stonedrift Spa.  It’s scheduled to open in mid-September. That’ll be a story in itself when it’s ready.

In the meantime the “Celebration Restoration’’ and spa opening will follow The Legends Dream Big Charity Golf Tournament, the highest profile event in resort history coming up on Aug. 10.  That celebrity-filled outing is one of the lead-ins to the following night’s Field of Dreams game between the Cubs and Cincinnati Reds in Dyersville, Ia., about an hour’s drive away.

Eagle Ridge has more golf than just The General.  In all there’s 63 holes – 18 on both the North and South courses and nine on the sporty East layout. Larry Packard designed the North, which opened in 1977 and hosted the Illinois State Amateur right away.  Gary Hallberg, who would become a multiple winner on the PGA Tour, was the champion.

That event set the tone for what was to come.

“Gary was 4-under on the North and the next year, when he won at Crestwicke (in Bloomington) he was 13-under,’’ said Weiler. That underscored the fact that Eagle Ridge had a course of championship caliber.

“The North had just a ton of elevation changes,’’ said Schlaman.  “You didn’t see (PGA) tour events on courses like that.’’

And you still don’t.

The South, which opened in 1984, was a combined effort by Larry and Roger Packard and Roger would later create the East, which is shorter but is certainly no executive course.

Weiler admits that all the resort’s courses had problems.

“The condition of the courses, we had issues,’’ he said.  “Now we’re getting compliments on every golf course.’’

He also found a new forward tee at No. 5 on The General that won’t impact the course’s yardage and – in one of the most visual changes – a bunker fronting the No. 6 green has been reconstructed with railroad ties put in place. A new back tee which would lengthen No. 10 is also under consideration.

While the “celebration renovation’’ has a catchy title, Weiler labels the in-house project more a “tee enlargement program’’ that was needed to bring back the looks that North and Roger Packard originally created.

“Roger and Andy created some visual objects than can confuse your eye,’’ said Weiler, who had never played an Eagle Ridge course until Klausner hired him.

“This has been so exciting,’’ said Weiler, noting the resort has 182 new golf members. “We want to move past that.  Eagle Ridge is back!’’

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GAYLORD, Michigan – This might well turn out to be the best feel good story in golf in 2022.

Gaylord, a town of 4,200 residents, and the small towns surrounding it have long been on the cutting edge of golf marketing.  Led by executive director Paul Beachnau, the Gaylord Golf Mecca was created in 1987 to showcase all the great courses in that area of northern Michigan.

By the start of 2022 the Mecca had grown to 17 golf course members and 21 lodging partners.  Only the Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has been in business longer as a cooperative marketing effort in golf and, most noteworthy, there are no major cities included in the Mecca.  It’s all small towns working together to bring in golfers.

They did that quite well, and we’re expecting a banner year with the town of Gaylord preparing to celebrate its Centennial this summer. Then came May 20, 2022 – a frightful day, to put it mildly.

In mid-afternoon, with little advance warning, a tornado attacked Gaylord.  It wasn’t a little one, either. This one had the width of two football fields, maximum wind speeds of 150 miles per hour and was on the ground for 20 minutes.  Two residents died and 44 were injured. Some were without power for three days.

Meteorologists said it was the strongest twister to hit Michigan in 10 years and the first in the Gaylord area since 2014.  For at least three days the town of Gaylord was prominent in national news reports. That didn’t bode well with the town’s golfing visitors starting to arrive.

“A lot of media made it look like our town was levelled,’’ said Beachnau.  “It wasn’t.’’

The TV and print news coverage showed damage in the downtown area, though.  It was hard to ignore those images, but Beachnau insisted that “none of our hotels were affected and virtually no damage was done on any of our golf courses. It missed all of our tourism aspects.’’

One course, we were told, had golfers back on the course an hour after the tornado left the sheltered areas.

Three weeks later we visited as part of the annual Gaylord Golf Mecca media event, a popular gathering of writers and broadcasters covering the golf industry.  Playing 117 holes at eight courses over a six-day span that included lots of fine dining with the area’s governmental and golf industry leaders, we found that Beachnau’s report was accurate.

There was very minor damage from the tornado at the Otsego Resort’s Tribute course, arguably the toughest 18-holer in the Mecca, and more visual issues at the Rick Smith Tradition layout at the Treetops Resort. That had nothing to do with the tornado, however.

“This is the 25^th anniversary of that course,’’ said Barry Owens, the Treetops general manager.  “During the winter we took out a tremendous amount of trees, pushing 1,000.’’

The Tradition is being converted to a links-style course, and the cleanup effort was still in progress.

“The Tradition doesn’t have the elevation changes our other courses do,’’ said Owens, “so when this project is completed it won’t have to be compared to its brothers and sisters.  We’re very excited about it.’’

In reality the tornado was dealt with aggressively by the entire Mecca community.

“We had 1,500 volunteers come on the Sunday after the tornado,’’ said Beachnau, “and we raised a half-million dollars. That’s what can happen when people come together and work together.  Our message is `We’re open for business.’’’

There’s no question about that.

Long-time attendees at the Gaylord Golf Mecca found all the courses most playable, and were highly impressed by some that had not been on the event playing itinerary in previous visits.  Heading that list was the Gaylord Golf Club, one of the oldest clubs in northern Michigan. It was established in 1924 and moved to its present location in 1975.

This is a classic parkland design that was in top condition and, most important, is fun to play. There is no one style that fits all in the Gaylord Golf Mecca’s list of courses, though.

The Black Lake Golf Club was No. 2 on my list. It’s a Rees Jones design in Onaway that opened in 2000 and is owned by the United Auto Workers.  While Jones is known as the “Open Doctor’’ for his restoration work on already tough courses preparing to host U.S. Opens, Black Lake will entice golfers of all skill levels.

Indian River, my No. 3, is – like Gaylord Golf Club – another layout with deep historical roots.  Founded in 1921 and known then as the Burt Lake Golf Club, Indian River started as a private club.  In 1924 the club hired English architect Wilfrid E. Reid to design a nine-hole course while he was in Michigan to build Gaylord, which was then a country club.  In 1984 the nine-holer was re-routed, additional land was required and architect Warner Bowen converted it into an 18-holer.

Our media contingent didn’t play all of the Mecca’s courses, and one round on Treetops’ Rick Smith Signature course was cut short by day-long rain.  That was a shame because it’s always been a favorite of mine. Treetops has lots of everything in its 81 holes that comprise five distinct courses.

The one that’s gotten the most national attention is Threetops,  which the resort bills as “America’s No. 1-Rated Par-3 Course.’’ A lot of golf’s best players have tested it, and Lee Trevino won $1,090,000 for making a hole-in-one in a nationally-televised event held there 20 years ago. The only problem with Threetops is its steep, windy cartpaths.  When they’re wet they can be dangerous. So, I found, were the ones at the Rick Smith Signature course. Caution is essential.

Though we didn’t play all the courses on this visit we did find the views at Treetops stunning, the elevation changes on the ski hills of Otsego’s Tribute breath-taking and The Natural a short but tricky Jerry Matthews creation at Beaver Creek Resort.

Garland Golf Club, a destination since 1924 with four courses, and The Pines at Michaywe, celebrating its 50^th anniversary, are long-time favorites for Mecca visitors and the Robert Trent Jones Sr. Masterpiece at Treetops has one of the highest slope ratings (143) in the Midwest.

Matthews, long a leading designer of Michigan courses, was also involved in the creation of Lakes of the North which dates back to 1968.

This area, though, is not just about golf.  Skiing takes over in the winter and that has broadened the base as a tourist destination. Gaylord has, in fact, created a new mantra in its marketing.  It now bills itself as “Gaylord, Michigan USA, All Outdoors.” Rafting, fishing, hunting, paddling, biking, wildlife viewing, hiking — they all are a good fit in the Gaylord area.

 

 

 

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – This South Carolina golf hotbed has been at least an annual stop for the last 13 years, but our latest visit was different than all the others. Our travel writing itinerary called for stops at three courses – one on the south side of town (Caledonia), one centrally located (World Tour Golf Links) and one on the north end (Barefoot’s Love Course).

There were other aspects that made this one special. In Caledonia we returned to one of the most decorated of Myrtle Beach’s nearly 100 courses.  In World Tour Golf Links we uncovered a course that we had not even heard of prior to this year’s visit, and in the Love Course we got our first good taste of a four-course facility that holds a unique place in golf history.

As you might imagine, all three have their own story to tell.

CALEDONIA – With sister course True Blue standing nearby this golf opportunity is unmatched in South Carolina’s Grand Strand area.  All the major golf publications have recognized the beauty of Caledonia, to say nothing of the good food served in its clubhouse.

The late Mike Strantz designed the layout officially known as the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club on Pawleys Island. It was named Golf Digest’s Best New Course of 1997.  Strantz, who was based in South Carolina and succumbed to cancer at age 50 in 2005, also designed True Blue and Tobacco Road, another well-regarded Carolina layout.

I find it hard to pick a course better than Caledonia in the Myrtle Beach area, but a survey of club professionals was conducted two years ago and Caledonia was ranked second behind the Dunes Club.

Caledonia was on our schedule in the early years of our Myrtle Beach visits, but we hadn’t been back for at least six years. In the early years we loved it, even when we had rounds in difficult weather.  This time we had an early morning teeoff in bright sunshine – and the course seemed even nicer than it was in our early visits. Given all that has happened in the golf world in recent years, we found that a most pleasant surprise.

WORLD TOUR GOLF LINKS – The concept is the story at this one, and North Carolina golf course architect Melvin Graham had a good one.  Originally he had three nines – the Open 9, which includes holes inspired by the U.S. and British national open championships; the Championship 9, so named because the holes were inspired from courses that have hosted the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and British Open; and the International 9, which no longer exists.

Graham’s project was eight years in the planning stages before he opened it as a 27-hole facility in 1999. The 18 holes in operation now come from 14 courses in three countries and nine states. Playing this course helps a player dream about what playing these famous courses would be like, and the plaques on each hole also provide historical anecdotes of events that occurred on the original versions.

I’ve played six of the holes and seen many of the others on the televised championships. Some of the holes might seem a bit of a stretch, compared to the real ones, but the opportunity to make birdie on the replica of the par-3 sixteens at Augusta National (which one of my playing partners did) was a thrill that would be hard to duplicate with a birdie on just another course.

Augusta National, home of the Masters, has four holes one Graham’s nines – No. 16 is the seven on the Open 9 and No. 11 is No. 4 No. 12 is No. 5 and No. 13 is No. 6 on the Championship 9. Storied St. Andrews has two holes and the others come from Pinehurst No. 2, TPC Sawgrass, Colonial, English Turn, Pine Valley, the National Country Club of Canada, Winged Foot East, Cypress Point, Royal Troon, Olympic Club, Oakmont and Bay Hill.

Maybe you wonder about the selection of a few of them – I certainly did – playing them all created a fun experience.

BAREFOOT’S LOVE COURSE – We had a round on this layout because we were   that the Love Course is the most popular of the four at Barefoot Resort. I still can’t get over what happened when this one was created.

The four courses were designed by Love, Greg Norman, Tom Fazio and Pete Dye. We can’t judge which is the hardest, the easiest or the best because we played only one.  However, they were all designed as championship layouts so they should be tough.  I know the Love Course certainly was.

Love gave this one a special touch to what is considered his breakthrough architectural creation. He did that by creating  faux ruins of an antebellum plantation around the Nos. 4 and 6 greens.

What’s even more amazing is that all four Barefoot courses opened together on April 13, 2000. Such a feat was never done before and hasn’t been done since in American golf. I can’t imagine it ever being done again, and the courses are all still going strong.

 

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – The most famous of the 51 courses in the golf mecca called Pinehurst area is Pinehurst No. 2, recently named an anchor site for the U.S. Open by the U.S. Golf Association. This week the area will also host the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, and many more big events are sure to come to the area now that the USGA is moving its headquarters there.

The USGA will have plenty of courses to choose from, the most unusual being Talamore. A Rees Jones design that opened in 1991, Talamore has long been one of the Pinehurst area’s most popular layouts for both local players and visitors, but they probably best remember it because of the llamas that grazed in a fenced-in area near the No. 14 tee.

When Talamore opened the llamas were used as caddies.  That’s no longer the case, but they’re still on the premises as a photo op for golfing visitors looking for the unusual, and they’ve even been incorporated into the new flags on every green.

The original course underwent a 2016 renovation and more upgrades followed in recent years, resulting in the layout now being called The New Course at Talamore. Visiting golfers still have something new to photograph, and it’s a lot more fearsome than those docile llamas. The resort is one of the first in the country to install EcoBunkers.  There are 10 of them spaced around holes 2, 5, 9, 15 and 17.

To say those bunkers are difficult to escape is putting it mildly. At least no one in my group could get a ball on a green from out of them, and the starter had advised us to just chip back to the fairway most of the time to minimize frustration.  That was good advice.

These sod-wall bunkers are steep, and the tallest on No. 9 is seven feet high.

While these bunkers are a significant challenge and could be controversial, they’re also beautiful.

Matt Hausser, the general manager at the Talamore Resort, likens them to the bunkers on courses in the British Isles that have hosted the British Open. He admits those at Talamore “might be a little daunting’’  to some players, but they’ll also make for good conversation after their rounds.

“(Golfers) are going to notice that they want to miss them,’’ quipped Hausser.

And that’s not all.

These EcoBunkers aren’t going away any time soon. Hausser believes they’ll last for decades. The resort opted to put them in as part of an on-going multi-million dollar property enhancement that also included the addition of a Toptracer range and a 15,000-square foot practice putting course.

EcoBunkers resemble the best of the traditional sod wall bunkers, but they’re more sturdy because synthetic grass tiles were used in their construction.

The EcoBunker edging system dates back to 2006, at the Radyr Golf Club in Cardiff, South Wales. The course there was designed by the legendary course architect Harry S. Colt.  Its bunkers proved  vulnerable to erosion and alternative measures were considered when repair costs escalated.  That led to Richard Allen, a club member and civil engineer, finding a solution.

Some rolls of artificial grass carpet – commonly known as Astroturf – were being temporarily stored in the club’s parking lot. Allen’s ensuing research revealed that much of that Astroturf was being dumped into a landfill, which also meant another big cost, and that the material was not bio-degradable. That suggested it was resilient and durable.

Allen turned inventor, and eventually was granted patent protection. Now clubs in 40 countries have incorporated a form of EcoBunkers.  The system used at Talamore is a wall constructed on multiple layers of stacked artificial grass tiles. That provides a permanently safe resilient edge, significantly reduces sand contamination from bunker sides, prevents damage and eliminates the time-consuming greenkeeping practice of bunker edging.

Allen formed EcoBunker Ltd. in 2014 and the product has evolved since then. Scottish style bunkers became more in demand in states such as Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas where tropical temperatures are more extreme and heavy rain and winds associated with hurricanes and tornados caused significant stress on bunker walls.

The Talamore Resort has a second 18-holer, the King’s Course at Mid South Club. It’s an Arnold Palmer design that opened in 1993 and was completely renovated in 2017.  It doesn’t have llamas or EcoBunkers but does have more elevation changes than Talamore and is generally considered more difficult. Both courses were well-conditioned and had firm, generous fairways and greens that were fast and tricky.

Both also offered excellent lodging options.  That includes the Palmer Cottage, a new feature located between the two courses.