From course redesigns to complete restorations, here are four reasons for golfers across Northern Michigan to be excited.
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Boyne Falls
Josh Richter, BOYNE Golf ’s senior vice president of golf operations, says the team there has been working with course architect Raymond Hearn to restore a number of holes at the Donald Ross Memorial Course at The Highlands. They’re using technology like Google Earth to better replicate the original Ross designs, especially the green complexes, bunkers and new tee boxes.
In many cases, it involves reestablishing sightlines by removing trees that have grown since the course opened in 1969.
Similar work is taking place at the Arthur Hills course, the front nine of The Monument at Boyne Mountain and at Bay Harbor Golf Club. “We didn’t just remove trees, we went out there strategically and restored the views and playability, and removed trees that were impacting turf quality by blocking proper ventilation and necessary sunlight,” Richter says.
Opening this summer will be Doon Brae, a new nine-hole short course on the backside of The Highlands Main Lodge. Bernie Friedrich, BOYNE Golf ’s director of golf course renovations and development, says that as far as he knows, this is the first modern golf course ever built on a ski hill.
Williamsburg
Golfers across the state and beyond mourned when High Pointe Golf Club closed in 2008. The first course designed by celebrated architect Tom Doak—creator of six of the Top 100 courses in the world per Golf Magazine—was regarded as one of the best courses in the state. While some of the 50+ golf courses that have closed over the past two decades in Michigan have become parks or housing developments, High Pointe was among those repurposed to grow crops: It became home to MI Local Hops.
Then a funny thing happened: Investor and golf enthusiast Rod Trump learned about High Pointe, and decided it was time for a rebirth. “High Pointe was acclaimed. It was ranked as high as 79 in Golf Digest,” says Trump. He contacted Doak and told him he wanted to bring the course back to life. Doak had heard it all before, but Trump wouldn’t—couldn’t—let it go. “It holds such a place in my heart,” Trump says.
The result: A reborn High Pointe is set to open later this year as a private club. Six of the original holes—10 through 15—are being revived, with the original 10 and 11 reborn as 8 and 9. Twelve new holes will complement them, building on Doak’s original minimalist design, at a cost of $24 million.
Construction and seeding were completed last year, and Trump expects some of the holes to open this spring—hopefully all 18 by the end of the season. He anticipates 50 to 70 local members, up to 275 national members and a handful of international members.
Read Next: 100 Years Green: The Storied Past of Elk Rapids Golf Club
Photo by High Pointe Golf Club
Petoskey
Petoskey-Bay View Country Club Superintendent Jeremy Neer says their course is undergoing a redesign of holes 6, 7 and 8 this year.
The reno is being prompted by the fact that hole 6 is split by Country Club Road. Unused acreage on the south side of Country Club Road will be used to create new 6th and 7th holes, as well as a new tee deck for hole 8.
By doing tree removal this past winter and working on the vacant area in spring and summer, opening the new layout this fall means there will be no disruption in the ability to play a full 18. “We’re keeping the full loop open. That was a big thing for our membership,” Neer says.
Thompsonville
At Crystal Mountain, a large-scale forestry management program began in 2021 and continues this year. A number of decaying trees on the front nine of the Betsie Valley course were removed, opening narrow, shaded corridors and exposing new vistas with elevation changes and dramatic contour lines. This year it continues along several holes of both the Betsie Valley and Mountain Ridge courses. Crystal Mountain has also enrolled in Monarchs in the Rough, a program sponsored by Audubon International. Monarch butterfly populations have declined by more than 90 percent over the last two decades, and this program utilizes the open spaces of golf courses and the knowledge of course managers to create habitats to host and feed the beloved pollinators.