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Timber Ridge Golf Club brings about the kind of elevation change you expect to see in a Las Vegas or a Tucson. But this is central Michigan, though, minutes away from Michigan State's bustling campus, an area where everything is flat. If you're in the area for business or to see a Michigan State game, you'll want to make time to play Timber Ridge, Chris Baldwin writes.
Luxury golf courses such as Bay Harbor, Treetops and Grand Traverse have transformed northern Michigan golf in recent years, but 80-year-old Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix remains a favorite among old Wolverine State golf hands such as PGA Tour legend Tom Watson. Some of the state's top players pass up the newer, longer northern Michigan tracks to play Belvedere, and over the years it's garnered a reputation among national golf cognoscenti as well.
The new private Kingsley Club, south of golf-happy Traverse City, is getting back to the game of golf's understated traditions - proving luxury doesn't always mean flashy accessories. This is luxury in the form of pure and authentic grassroots golf. A true player's club, Kingsley is a challenging golf course, despite a championship yardage under 6,800 yards, that only gets better the more you play and learn it.
Located just off the coast of Lake Michigan in South Haven, Beeches Golf Club is one of the few courses that can claim to be both long on affordability and quality. Michigan golf course architect Bruce Matthews III successfully built an overachieving value courses that is affordable and accessible to every golfer in the area. And indeed the results were impressive. Beeches features an interesting mix of forest and duneslike waste areas and pleasant, naturally rolling terrain.
Built by six unknown designers in an unassuming location about 30 minutes north of Grand Rapids, Pilgrim's Run Golf Club is an unlikely pick for the area's finest round of golf. But Pilgrim's Run, in Pierson, may be just that, rivaling other local upscale courses, including Thousand Oaks, Boulder Creek and Thornapple Point. If you're interested in the best golf for the best value, Pilgrim's Run trumps all three.
Alas! A golf course does exist in Gaylord that isn't catering to the "resort golfer." Black Forest Golf Course, Wilderness Valley's newer big, bad brother opened in 1992 and has been the subject of rave reviews nationally. With dark, tree-lined holes and small, difficult green complexes, designer Tom Doak isn't out to do you any favors. Black Forest is intimidating, getting its name from the dark evergreens and hardwood forest that shade the course, Brandon Tucker writes.
Also: More Michigan golf course reviews
Northern Michigan has no shortage of high-profile golf courses such as Bay Harbor and Arcadia Bluffs. Be sure to visit at least one to see the best in the area, but don't head home until you experience a few of the north's overachieving lesser-known gems. A golf course is around every corner in this neck of the woods. MichiganGolf.com has come up with a list of the most memorable and unique, including Belvedere Golf Club.
While scorching late summer temperatures are keeping golfers away from sunbelt destinations like Scottsdale, another destination equally rich in golf is just starting to heat up: Northern Michigan. The area is saturated with excellent golf, yet few out-of-staters play there, so it's still something of a hidden gem. Bay Harbor Golf Club is one example of the excellent golf courses that make northern Michigan more than worth the price of the ticket for golf travelers.
Located west of northern Michigan's most marketed golf vacation spot, Gaylord, and north of Traverse City, the golf-rich village of Bellaire offers its own niche. The village itself doesn't feature much more than one road with a few small stores. "We have our own bowling alley," one local says. But what it lacks in a vibrant center, it makes up for it with plenty of resort accommodations and the golf doesn't get much more concentrated anywhere.
Also: Gaylord remains the Midwest's top golf mecca
Located in Acme, a small, blue-collar summer vacation town, the Grand Traverse Resort comes completely unexpected. It is without question a world-class, Las Vegas-style golf resort. And it's only getting better. Since the Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians purchased the resort in 2003, they've commanded the site's most aggressive renovation in its 26-year history, spending $12 million — all to ensure their facility is still THE place to stay and play in the Traverse City area.
The Garland Resort in Michigan is home to the classic golf retreat. Founded in 1951, it has been doing things its own way ever since. Garland's vibe remains undoubtedly old-school, from the service to each of the four courses. It prides itself on being an all-inclusive golf retreat, the kind of place where golf and relaxation are on the mind 24/7. Part of this philosophy is based on sheer necessity – after all, there isn't much around Garland.
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