Upper Peninsula Golf Trip - Michigan Destination Golf Trip

The Island Resort and Casino has provided a break through moment for the destination golfer. Previously, golf in Michigan's Upper Peninsula had been a local secret with few notable exceptions, not quite enough to draw folks from far away. This bucolic and friendly destination was lauded for its peaceful low velocity and natural sylvan beauty, not as a place for great golf. All that is still there in spades but the great golf deficit has finally vanished with the opening of Sweetgrass Golf Club, the newest amenity of the Hannahville Indian Community's gaming destination. This offering also completes The Perfect 4-some, a formidable value stay-and-play package with three outstanding golf courses (Sweetgrass, TimberStone and Greywalls) of diverse character. Golfers stay at the Island Resort & Casino for two nights and play three rounds of golf for as little as $249.

Native Americans moved to the Hannahville area following their forced relocation to Kansas in the early 1830s. They were principally members of the Potawatomi, one of three groups making up the Three Fires Society along with the Ojibway and the Ottawa. The Potawatomi are responsible for keeping the symbol of light, the Sacred Fire, alive. They became a federally recognized tribe in 1913, by 1942 their reservation consisted of 134 members on 3,400 acres. Electricity came in 1966, paved roads in 1978, the original bingo hall in 1981, the original casino in 1985. At the time the new medical center opened in 1997, there were 611 members with 5,000 acres of tribal land. A new casino followed in 1998 with a convention center, value oriented RV park, live music show room and restaurants added over the last 10 years.

Sweetgrass Golf Club is the newest addition to the resort. Opened in July of 2008, the golf course has a wide open, grasslands feel. This big sky aspect is further heightened by nearly 45 acres of fairways, about half again more than a typical golf course might have. Sweetgrass is anything but typical, however - it presents a generosity and serenity throughout. Tee it high and let it fly works well here, there are no narrow landing areas. The generosity resides not only in the broad fairways, a local rule holds that long fescue grass bordering fairways may be played as a lateral hazard.

This gorgeous new golf course transports players to the wide open prairie. Everything about Sweetgrass speaks of well honed plans on a grand scale. The course is set on more than 300 acres of gently rolling terrain, twice as much land as a typical course. And the departure from average doesn't stop there. Other unique features include a massive double green in the shape of the Upper Peninsula for holes nine and 18 - mirrored twin sister par-5s that share a small lake and waterfalls.

Five handsome antique iron bridges were wisely rescued from oblivion by regional municipality's refurbishments, they have a second life now connecting golfers to their goals. Potawatomi tribal legend and tradition infuse the holes with their names and even their shapes, further connecting players with this land and their hosts.

The course stretches from just over 5,000 yards to nearly 7,300 yards over five sets of tees. The front nine exemplifies the open grasslands nature with thick stands of fescue framing the holes. Both the first and 10th holes are welcoming short par-4s. Take advantage if you can as there is only one other under 400 yards. The back nine flirts with the forested part of this tract a bit more closely and about half the holes have water hazards. With ample fairways offering different strategies to varying skills and power, the defense of the course comes at the very lively greens. Expect testing approach shots with well bunkered and shaped surrounds.

The Island Resort and Casino has 275 rooms with penthouse suites and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The full compliment of card games, roulette and almost 1,500 slots is available. The Island Showroom seats more than 1,300 people and ticket pricing is kept phenomenally low. Dining choices include Firekeeper's Restaurant, Beachcomber Restaurant & Bar, Coral Reef Grille and Bingo Snack Bar. There's live music in the Club Four One lounge, a swimming pool along with a conference center for the complete range of groups, buddies to business. Firekeeper's Restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner with daily specials, including an all you-can-eat soup and salad bar. Friday night is the Fish Fry, featuring whitefish, perch or walleye.

Over near Iron Mountain, TimberStone at Pine Mountain has just about everything any peripatetic golfer could ever want, summed up by great challenge through a stunning, elevation-driven design. Since 1997, this Jerry Matthews creation has been drawing high praise for its bold use of this thickly wooded mountainside. Matthews recounts this was one of the most challenging sites he'd ever seen, that he could've walked the entire course before construction entirely on rocks, there was so little soil. Paul Albanese, designer of Sweetgrass was Matthews' project architect for TimberStone, but the only obvious similarity is that holes nine and 18 finish on a large double green protected by water.

Precision shot making rather than raw power is required throughout with some narrow tee chutes and blind tee shots. Driver will often not be the best choice off the tee here. Use it judiciously. Albanese says "this design is particularly unique because the course integrates with the mountainside in a way that allows golfers to experience myriad feelings. I wanted to exhibit the beauty of the impressive rocks and magnificent white pines throughout the design, all while creating a memorable experience for golfers of all abilities."

Four sets of tees range from just over 5,000 yards to nearly 7,000 yards. The par-3 215-yard 17th hole features a drop of more than 100 feet from back tees to green. The par-5 18th plunges downhill 625 yards with both a blind drive and a (more than likely) blind second shot. Other remarkable features include a very wild double green at the culmination of holes seven and 12, as well as the daunting tee shot on No. 6. Simply and safely, play this 415-yard par-4 as a par-5 your first time around, there's much more water than fairway in view all the way to the green. TimberStone has earned the signal honor of 5 stars from Golf Digest - one of only 24 out of roughly 6,000 golf courses in America.

The third gem - Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club - is hallmarked by brilliant routing and land use as well as visionary green sites. Architect Mike DeVries boldly went where other course architects feared to tread. Most would have looked at this site and asked for more land, DeVries saw the possibilities by walking, scrambling and climbing over the rocky ribs of this most challenging site. And instead of being all knees and elbows, it works so well that it seems miraculous that such an outstanding design could occupy the dramatic terrain found on the front nine.

What's especially gratifying is that while Greywalls seems very modern, it's infused with classic sensibilities of the Golden Age of golf course architecture. Think Alister MacKenzie and Perry Maxwell, because DeVries cut his teeth and his grass at Crystal Downs - the understated MacKenzie/Maxwell masterpiece in Frankfort, Mich. Introduced to Crystal Downs by his grandfather, DeVries worked on the grounds crew there for eight years. DeVries said "Crystal Downs really influenced me, it led me to say this is what I want to do, design golf courses. Every piece of property has a unique quality ... I try to maximize that quality. I want the land to dictate the design, not the opposite. It's reactionary architecture."

DeVries was the last in a series of 20 architects interviewed for this course. He was selected after the building committee saw his work at The Kingsley Club, a private course near Traverse City, Mich., that has been drawing great interest and praise since it opened in 2001. Greywalls has inevitably and often been compared to Kingsley in a very telling way, main point being Kingsley lies upon flat ground. That's a relative statement as Kingsley is not flat, but Greywalls is certainly alive with movement. One hole after the next supplely garnishes this rugged landscape with finely tuned hazards and demanding green sites. DeVries chose locations so very carefully that something like one-tenth of the usual average amount of dirt was moved, with a corresponding savings in time and costs.

Golfers who come to Marquette to play Greywalls will have a unique experience from the moment they reach the first tee and gaze out over a 50-mile view to Lake Superior, to their finish at the apparently forgiving but disarmingly testing 18th hole. This is a course that feels hand crafted and polished as a jewel from beginning to end, extraordinary diversity yielding an unforgettable adventure.

The Perfect 4-some is therefore one of the best value premium quality stay-and-play-packages to be found anywhere.

Sweetgrass Golf Club
www.islandresortandcasino.com
800-682-6040 ext.2125

TimberStone
www.pinemountainresort.com
906-776-0111

Greywalls
www.marquettegolfclub.com
866-678-7171