Six Michigan courses in Golf Digest's Top 100
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Michigan continues to solidify its status as one of the country's leading golf destinations. Golf Digest's May issue includes six Michigan courses on its list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses." Leading the way for Michigan courses was Arcadia Bluffs, Tullymore Golf Club, Gailes at Lakewood Shores, Black Lake Golf Club, Bay Harbor Golf Club, and Shepherds Hollow.
No. 21 Arcadia Bluffs, designed by Rick Smith, is a stunning Northern Michigan links course playing along a scenic bluff and towering sand dunes 160-feet above Lake Michigan. Breathtaking views of Lake Michigan can be seen from each of its 18 holes.
No. 25 Tullymore Golf Club, in Stanwood Michigan, was awarded the "Best New Upscale Public Course" in the country by Golf Digest in 2002. The name Tullymore was inspired by a village in Ireland, and the course inspires great golf. It features generous movements of the fairways with clearly visible approaches that wind through a vast area of beautiful wetlands.
The Gailes, at No. 30, is part of the Lakewood shores resort near Oscoda, Michigan. Designed by Kevin Aldridge, the Gailes recreates the look and feel of the famed seaside courses in Scotland. Golfers will experience large double greens, meandering burns, sod-faced pot bunkers, and long fescue grasses. Whether you have experienced Scotland or not, The Gailes will fulfill all of your expectations.
Black Lake Golf Club, at No. 34, is an 18-hole facility cut from a 1,000-acre forest retreat owned by the United Auto Workers. Rees Jones, the nationally respected architect, handled all design work. Jones has become known as "The U.S. Open doctor" for his restoration of classic layouts selected by the USGA for U.S. Open sites. Jones has brought some of that classic "feel" to Black Lake.
Another breathtaking site on the Lake Michigan shoreline is the Bay Harbor Golf Club, which came in at No. 36 and is owned and operated by Boyne USA Resorts.
Bay Harbor Golf Club offers three distinct nine-hole combinations of which the Links/Quarry combination was selected for the list. On The Links nine, six challenging holes skirt a high bluff overlooking scenic Little Traverse Bay. The Quarry nine presents a different golfing challenge as it climbs in and out of an old rock quarry. The third nine - Preserve features a classic Northern Michigan design flowing through hardwoods and wetlands.
Shepherd's Hollow, at No. 54, is a 27-hole Arthur Hills design located on 350 acres of dramatically rolling and wooded land 40 miles north of Detroit, near Clarkston.
The course, which features some of the most sweeping elevation changes anywhere in Southeast Michigan, is located on property leased at the Columbier Center, a park-like 420-acre home to the Detroit province of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, a Roman Catholic order of priests.
Michigan, with its continued recognition from the national golf publications, continues to solidify itself as "America's Summer Golf Capital."
May 25, 2003