Visit the Loon Golf Resort in Gaylord, Mich., to experience royal treatment. Not so sure? Allow renowned instructor Butch Harmon and LPGA Tour star Natalie Gulbis to vouch for the resort, recently renovated to rank among the top draws on the packed northern Michigan golf circuit. Already been there? Come back, Jason Deegan writes. The Loon is worth it.
... full article »
It's bold, sleek architecture instantly attracts your attention and curiosity, standing tall, overlooking the West Traverse Bay horizon. For a small, blue-collar summer vacation town, filled with quaint boutiques and bed and breakfasts, you would never expect a world-class, Vegas-style resort to lie right on the town's outskirts.
... full article »
Just a few miles down the road from the tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it village of Lewiston, is a resort that's been doing things its own way since it opened more than 50 years ago. The Garland Resort is home to the classic golf retreat, founded in 1951 by the Otto family, which still owns the resort today.
... full article »
Everybody in Michigan knows where "Boyne Country" is. Turns out, every golfer in America should find it, too. Boyne Country is just a small pocket of land in Charlevoix and Emmet Counties in remote Northern Michigan, but it couldn't have been more influential for the state's tourism industry.
... full article »
What would you do if you owned the busiest golf course in northern Michigan, complete with golf condos, along with a couple of hundred additional hilltop acres overlooking one of the three most beautiful inland lakes in the world? You'd build another 18 holes!
... full article »
As you drive into the Double JJ Ranch and Golf Resort for the first time, you realize you are in for a totally different vacation experience. First, you pass the stockade-type entry to the Back Forty Ranch on your right. Then, on your left, you go by boarding stables and a big rodeo ring, complete with bleachers.
... full article »
Traverse City has long been a major vacation destination in Michigan. And with the relatively recent boom in golf gambling, not to mention the ever-present sparkling blue waters of Traverse Bay, the city has become a year-round tourism Mecca. The "Miracle Mile" of hotels, motels, and resorts lining the city's waterfront boasts more lodging and recreation options per square foot than anywhere else in the state. One property that stands out from the crowd is Waterfront Inn Resort Hotel, the perfect home-base for exploring the riches of the Traverse City area.
... full article »
It is a common myth that bears are docile and even cuddly: Teddy Bears, Gentle Ben, Yogi Bear, children's books filled with fluffy, endearingly gentle creatures whose only desire is to forage for blueberries and maybe pilfer a picnic basket. Savvy campers and hikers, however, know that nothing could be further from the truth.
... full article »
Since 1937, The Double JJ Ranch (originally named the Jack & Jill Ranch) has been the largest dude ranch resort east of the Mississippi, and the largest adult-exclusive resort in the nation. In 1998, it also became the first kid-exclusive resort in the nation. As a working dude ranch, it is a place where city-slickers can escape to test their mettle on horse trails and cattle drives.
... full article »
Mt. Pleasant is an interesting place, one which has been known over the past 70 years as an oil town, a university town, a Native American Reservation town, a gambling town, and, most recently, a thriving golf town.
... full article »
The front door of the Mendon Country Inn is precisely half way between Chicago and Detroit. The inn was the major stagecoach stop between the two young metropolises from 1843 until the 1880s, and around it grew such a thriving town that Mendon (changed from Puddleburg to sound more sophisticated) was chosen originally as the site for Notre Dame University.
... full article »