Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Offers Some Great Golf
by Scott A. Sumner
www.golfingnews.ca
In recent years I have been able to golf some pretty nice courses all over North America and the rest of the world for that matter. Last week I had the chance to play three spectacular layouts almost in my own backyard. Well not literally but the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is
really on the other side of the majestic Lake Superior we both share. My day began with a short flight to Minneapolis and then a connecting flight to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Our golf week was to begin with a tremendous treat, seeing the NFL Green Bay Packers play the Minnesota ikings at the historic Lambeau Field. Not only did we see the game but from a luxury box courtesy of our host the Island Resort & Casino located in Harris, Michigan. This experience was just amazing to me for many reasons. It was my first NFL game in person. The teams were ones
we really take as our own being located so close to home. Seeing a game from a luxury box is always exciting.
Green Bay, Wisconsin has a population of 100,000 people and a NFL team! That’s right this city gets 10 home games a year where 71,000 people flow into Lambeau and see the spectacle that is an NFL game. This made me wonder about our city of Thunder Bay with a population of 125,000. No NFL team here, but the Packers are a special situation. The team today is probably worth some $500 million and is owned by the residents of Wisconsin. In fact the games have been sold out for some 40 years. The people come from far and wide to experience the party like, tail gate atmosphere and then some exciting NFL action. Incidently the Island Resort & Casino luxury box costs them some $100,000 per year, has a capacity of 20 and is a nice way to reward special customers and suppliers. It was a great way to start off a golf trip.
Our destination after the game was the Island Resort & Casino which was a 2 hour drive from Green Bay in a stretched Ford Expedition Limo, which would be our mode of transportation this week. The Island Resort Casino has a large gaming area with some 1400 slot machines, many gaming tables, a 1500 soft seat theatre, 250 seat lounge, several
restaurants, etc. It has recently opened a new tower which when added to it’s hotel can provide some 250 rooms including suites. It really is a nice facility to be at for a break. Our trip was planned to play the new Sweetgrass Golf Club which opened July 11th, 2008 which would be
our first course to play in the area. Dave Douglas is the Director of Golf at the Sweetgrass Golf Club at the Island Resort & Casino. Born and raised in the UP at Escanaba Dave carried his bag, played 45 or 54 holes a day and loved the game from the 7th or 8th grade. “ Things are going well here at Sweetgrass. Paul Albanese was the architect on the course and is based out of Plymouth Michigan. He also heads up a golf course management program in
Scotland. Construction of the course was started in 2005 with some holes seeded in 2006 and near the end of last summer,” said Dave Douglas. “ I like the playability of the course. The difficulty comes with the length. There are generous wide fairways which to me sets up
the game. If you hit a nice drive you have a good chance to get on the green. Most of the course has the links appearance as far as the birms and fescue grass. The bunkers are not pot bunkers but regular type. There are a few tree lined fairways.”
The beautifully conditioned Sweetgrass Golf Club features ultra smooth and fast greens and plays to 7275 yards from the black tees. It has 5 bridges on it taken from the various county road around the area when taken out of use. The old 1 lane car bridges add a nice look
to the course ambience. The last green is a double green for 9 and 18 both pars 5s with waterfalls. This is a trademark of architect Paul Albanese. The base green fee rate is $75 but if you join the Island Club at the casino you can play for $56 and can get it down to $35 epending on your status at the casino. “ We are getting very positive feedback on the course and repeat customers already. They really like the course. We are not too far from Canada, a 3 hour drive from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario,” said Douglas who played in our group shooting a smooth 74. Also playing was John Holberton, Greens Superintendent and Denny Grall , local sports editor.
Our second course to play would be Timberstone at Pine Mountain located in Iron Mountain, Michigan. I was able to ask some questions to Susie Fox, Director of Golf and Chris Mazzoni, Marketing Director at Timberstone. “ We opened in 1997, have had a great series of growth
years and the forecast looks terrific. Jerry Matthews, a Michigan based architect saw the rocks located all over the course here as a benefit and hence the name Timberstone. The rocks were used to create accent points, build up the golf course and for an aesthetic advantage,” said
Susie Fox. “ I believe the location of the course built into the mountain, the stones and the way they built the course around nature, the wildlife and the conditioning makes it special. You may see deer, black bears, geese, ducks and eagles as you play your round of golf.”
“ Timberstone is a public access course with a lot of our business coming from Chicago, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. One of the things to note is annually we will get guests from at least 43 states and usually more than 3 or 4 countries such as Italian or Czech. We
have become a family reunion spot for folks from Texas,” smiled Suzie Fox. “ We open for golf no later than May 1st and close near the 3rd week of October each year. That gives us 6 good months of 5 star golf. The temperature range from 60s to 70 to 85 with low humidity and
few bugs. If we could settle in around 20,000 rounds per year that is a reasonable place to be and that is what we strive for. We are a public golf course and destination golf course and try to give our players an experience they can’t get without driving a significant amount of miles and it will cost more. We try to offer the creme de la creme right here in their own back yard.”
“ The cost to play Timber Stone is $59 to $69 and at peak times $79. If you stay at the lodge or condos your rate is lower. We have a pool, restaurant and a couple bars. You can book your tee time for any time during the season in advance. You can go on line and request a tee
time,” noted Chris Mazzoni. “ I think you have to mention why the course was built in the first place. There was a gentleman in town that wanted to do something nice for the community to draw tourism to Iron Mountain. It used to be a drive through city but now has become a
destination because Timberstone and Pine Mountain are here. What it offers people who come from the city or even an hour away is terrain that changes, the 80 foot pine trees and wildlife that seems to be on payroll.
“ There are so many jaw dropping opportunities here that are reasonable priced and fantastic. The course is very fair, the green size is very large and we have generous fairways. The word is spreading and quickly. The conditions are fantastic because of the people we have in place. Aside from the quality of the course and the value, we have service coupled with the resort. It really is a destination. We offer a free replay of 9 holes quite often. In the winter we are all about skiing,” stated Mazzoni. “ There are daily flights from the Iron Mountain airport to Minneapolis, MN. We offer shuttle service to and from the airport.” For more information on
this special golf course visit www.pinemountain resort.com
Our third golf course destination was the Marquette Golf Club where we would play the Greywalls course. Marc Gilmore has been the Head Golf Professional at the 36 hole facility for 25 years and loves his job. “ My dad was an architect as is my brother and cousin. As a senior in high school I was taking architecture but loved golf and was going to play golf on a scholarship. My dad took me on a trip one Sunday Afternoon and asked me what are you gong to do, be an archiitect but I think you love golf. What do you think of that as a career and I said I don’t think you would like me to do that as a career. He said no I want you to do what your passion is and I will never forget that, “smiled Marc Gilmore. “ I played a lot growing up becoming one of those golf course rats. We would go round and round all day long.”
The Marquette Golf Club began as a nine hole course in 1926. The club added 9 more holes in 1968 and built the new Greywall course which opened June 21st, 2005 with local Mike DeVries as architect. “ We started planning with the club in 2001 and the first tree was cut in 2002 with a soft opening in September 2004 for our 620 members. We do allow non members to play at $125 with great deals with the stay and play getting it to $85. We try to make it reasonable. People come from all over the US. We have groups from Seattle each month,” smiled Gilmore. “ We were ranked in the top 10 as best new course in 2005 by almost every golf publication. It was $3.4 million to build the course.”
“ I like the natural beauty of the golf course. It is gorgeous course, very playable as well as challenging. It has all three of those things going for it. We wanted to make it more difficult than our original course.The holes here are so different with no cookie cutter holes and the shorter holes have the biggest greens. The architect used what he has to work with terrain wise and made it an affordable beautiful layout. Our superintendent was the number 1 assistant in
Oakland Hills before coming here, and we are lucky to have him,” noted Gilmore. “ This is a blue collar area, Marquette. We are doing a new club house near the 18th hole which will be beautiful.”
There are 41,000 rounds per year at the 36 hole Marquette Golf Club. You can join the course for $1350 annually with an initiation fee of $400. The club has some national memberships. This course was a spectacular layout with views of Lake Superior in the backdrop and huge
elevation changes. It reminded me of the Superior National Golf Course at Lutsen, MN with such beautiful scenery. This is another gorgeous course to play here. Visit www.marquettegolfclub.com For an extreme golf value visit the www.islandresortandcasino.com website. You may be able to find a stay and play package for 2 nights in the casino and 3- 18 hole golf rounds at these courses for $200 per person, based on double occupancy. How’s that for a deal in 2008!
