Jack Nicklaus hosts Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Many years in the making, the Golf Club at Harbor Shores is officially opened with the Champions for Change charity skins game event held Aug. 10 in Benton Harbor. Golf course architect Jack Nicklaus invited fellow golfing legends Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller to play for $1 million in prize money -- which was all donated to the First Tee and Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor -- money put up by the Whirlpool Corporation.
"The golf course has been many decades in the making in terms of transforming the industrial base in the community into something very productive," said Jeff Fettig, CEO of Whirlpool. "I can't think of a better group of people, the four legends of golf, we had here today to kick it off."
Some 3,600 spectators attended the event, which also featured a clinic hosted by the foursome, who offered some pointers to the First Tee and Boys and Girls Club members, as well as a full grandstand of onlookers. Tom Watson, the youngest and most competitively active of the foursome, won the most skins on the day. But it was Nicklaus who wowed everyone on the 10th green, the biggest he's designed to date. When Miller was about to hit a flop shot from a lower tier 100 feet below the hole, Nicklaus waived him off, plunked a ball down and knocked it into the cup, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Harbor Shores is an ambitious project, aimed at revitalizing the Benton Harbor community, which has suffered since many of its manufacturing plants closed in the 1980s. The centerpiece of the 530-acre resort and beach development is the Nicklaus signature course, which will host the 2012 and 2014 Senior PGA Championship. Also in the works are residential properties, a marina, river walk and town center.
Jack Nicklaus clinic - Champions for Change - Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Prior to the celebrity skins game, Jack Nicklaus and the gang held a clinic on the Golf Club at Harbor Shores driving range.
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Jack Nicklaus - Golf Club at Harbor Shores - First Tee
The Golf Club at Harbor Shores will serve as the new home of the Benton Harbor First Tee.
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Jack Nicklaus - Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Jack Nicklaus, designer of the Golf Club at Harbor Shores, wowed spectators on the greens during Champions for Change.
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Johnny Miller - Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Johnny Miller made a rare appearance outside of the booth to compete in the Champions for Change skins game at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
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Arnold Palmer - Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Arnold Palmer drains a birdie putt for his partner Jack Nicklaus on the front nine of the Champions for Change skins game at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
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Golf Club at Harbor Shores - No. 5
The par-5 fifth hole features a severely sloped green guarded heavily by water and bunkers at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
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Tom Watson - Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores
Tom Watson hits a bunker shot on the par-5 fifth hole during the Champions for Change event at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
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Golf Club at Harbor Shores - No. 6
The Golf Club at Harbor Shores' par-4 sixth hole plays over wetlands.
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Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores - winners
More than 3,600 spectators came out to watch the celebrity skins game at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
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Golf Club at Harbor Shores - No. 7
Jack Nicklaus takes a swing on the Golf Club at Harbor Shores' par-4 seventh, which is shaping up to be the course's signature hole.
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Champions for Change at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores - Senior PGA Championship
The Golf Club at Harbor Shores will host the 2012 and 2014 Senior PGA Championship.
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