Northern Michigan Trip

It's been quite a while since my wife and I have taken a proper golf trip.  We spent last summer in South Florida and were focused on playing the courses in Florida.  Therefore, I was very excited to take a proper golf trip this year.  When I was thinking about destinations, one particular place stood out because of a certain course I really wanted to play.  

High Pointe Golf Club, Hole #1

I have been to Northern Michigan a few times in the past twenty years, but recently Tom Doak re-opened his first course that closed a few years ago, High Pointe.  I can't resist a new Doak course.  I've worked at two. So I built the trip around playing High Pointe.  We drove on this trip, so a stop in Ohio to see a former assistant of mine was a wonderful way to break up the drive.  We also hit many of the top resort courses in northern Michigan that I hadn't been able to play yet. 

Portage Country Club, Par 3 8th hole

As I mentioned above we drove to Northern Michigan from Baltimore so we needed a stop to help break up the drive.  Lucky for me, one of my former assistants is now working at Portage Country Club in Akron, Ohio.  Portage is a wonderful William Langford design from 1913.  It's a shorter course on a tight piece of property, but it really packs a punch for just over 6300 yards.

Grand Traverse Resort (The Bear), Par three 13th in the foreground, Par four 12th in the background

Day two of the trip began at a course that Golf Digest ranked as one of the hardest courses in the country.  The Bear course at Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City, Michigan was built in the 1980's. The instructions to architect Jack Nicklaus were something along the lines of "Build the hardest course in the country."  He obliged, and as best I can tell the course hasn't changed very much since, with the exception being maybe a few trees coming down.  The course has no problem filling it's tee sheet, so there is really no incentive to take on a redesign to make the course more playable, but I still wish they would consider it.  My wife had to pick up on several holes because the forced carries made them virtually impossible for a high handicap woman to play.

Elk Rapids Golf Club, Par four 4th hole

Day two continued with my life long quest to play every course designed by Donald Ross.  Elk Rapids is a lovely nine hole course a few miles north of Traverse City, right on Elk Lake.  As usual with Ross, the routing is superb, utilizing a mostly flat piece of property to both maximize views of the lake and the elevation of the site to create some really fun holes.

Cedar River at Shanty Creek Resort, Par four 5th hole

My last stop on day two was the Cedar River course at the 90 hole Shanty Creek resort in Bellaire.  The course was designed by Tom Weiskopf on a very undulating piece of property.  Like most resorts in this area, Shanty Creek is a ski resort in the winter so you can imagine the topography of the property!

Treetops Resort (Tradition), Par three 12th hole

The theme of the third day of the trip was Rick Smith golf design.  We made our way east to Gaylord, Michigan and the five course Treetops Resort.  First up was the Smith designed Tradition course, which was designed as a more traditional links style course.  When it opened, it was walking only.  They now allow carts, but they haven't installed cart paths.  That makes it very interesting getting around some of the greens considering the signs and the GPS route don't always match.

Treetops Resort (Signature), Par five 6th hole

The Rick Smith designed Signature course at Treetops was next on day three.  The Signature course had a lot of interesting bunkering and some very fun topography.  It took 5 1/2 hours to play and they don't put water out on the course, so it made the hot and humid August day extremally unpleasant.

Treetops Resort (Threetops), Par three 9th hole

The Smith designed par three Threetops course was our last stop on day three.  The course is a nationally ranked par three course and a very enjoyable way to wrap up a long day of golf.

Arcadia Bluffs (South), Par four 15th hole

On the fourth day of the trip we headed west to the town of Arcadia for a round on the South course at Arcadia Bluffs.  I played the original Bluffs course the first time I visited Northern Michigan in 2007.  I was very excited to play the South because I read that Dana Fry and Jason Straka designed it as a tribute to the designs of Seth Raynor. I worked at a Raynor course for four years, so I was very excited to see what they conjured up.  

Arcadia Bluffs (South), Par three 12th hole with a Lion's Mouth bunker

I came away slightly disappointed.  The bunkering was definitely in the Raynor style, but they didn't do any of the template par 3's, Biarritz/Eden/Redan/Short, and they did one template, the Lion's Mouth, on a par 3.  Raynor never did that template on a par three, so not sure why they thought that was a good idea.

Arcadia Bluffs (Dozen)

Next up on day four was the newest course at Arcadia Bluffs, The Dozen.  The course was designed and built in-house by Arcadia Bluffs and features six short par 4's and six par 3's.  It was a great way to kill a few hours before our late afternoon tee time.

LochenHeath Golf Club, Par five 8th hole

We headed back to the Traverse City area for our last round on day four.  LochenHeath Golf Club was designed by Steve Smyers with an obvious nod to the best course in Northern Michigan, Crystal Downs by Alister MacKenzie.  With Smyers designs, I tend to either love them or hate them.  He is known for designing some of the hardest courses to ever exist, most famously Wolf Run in Indiana, but I thought he did a very good job here with the topography and design.  I definitely picked up some Crystal Downs vibes while I was playing.

Treetops Resort (Premier), Par four 1st hole

We returned to Treetops Resort on day five.  We were there to finish the five courses at the Resort.  We started with the Tom Fazio designed Premier course.  Like the Signature, it has some dramatic elevation changes, particularly on the first hole seen above.  

Treetops Resort (Premier), Par three 8th hole

It has the artful bunkering that Fazio is known for as well as some dramatic down hill par 3's

Treetops Resort (Masterpiece), Par three 11th hole

We finished our day at Treetops with the first course at the resort, the Robert Trent Jones designed Masterpiece course.  Besides the very dramatic, and often photographed 11th hole seen above, I didn't find much to like about this course.  Similar to what I said about the Bear above, it was designed at a time when a golf course had to be very difficult to be considered good.  The resort has not done much to soften the design from back then because they have no problem filling the tee times, so people will continue to struggle and wonder if this is supposed to be fun.

High Pointe Golf Club, Par three 6th hole

The last day of the trip was the reason we came to northern Michigan.  High Pointe Golf Club was the first course Tom Doak designed back in the 90's.  It closed in the 2000's and the front nine ultimately became part of a hops farm.  The back nine sat there still mostly intact though deteriorated. A couple years ago somebody purchased the property where the back nine sat as well as additional acreage to the West.  He invited Doak back to create new holes and restore the old holes on his first design.  

High Pointe Golf Club, One of the holes from the original design, the par three 16th hole

As usual, Doak did an amazing job blending the new and old.  The new High Pointe Golf Club is one of the best courses in Michigan and features my favorite thing about Tom Doak designs, that being an incredible short par four, the 7th pictured below.

High Pointe Golf Club, My wife and our caddy Trevor on the amazing short par four 7th hole

FLAGS

2025 Year in Review

2025 can pretty much be summarized by one word, Florida.  Of the 237 new courses I played in 2025, 200 of them were in Florida.  This was very much planned, as I knew when I moved to Florida that my focus would be on playing the courses in the state, and less on traveling, as I do most years.  Ironically, the best course I played in 2025 was not in Florida, but in Georgia.  My wife and I did take one trip to New England to experience some wonderful Ross courses I hadn't seen, as well as a few wonderful golden age designs.

Fall Line Club (East) The best course I played in 2025

The main reason I was able to play so many courses in 2025 was the year didn't exactly go as planned jobwise.  If you read my 2024 year in review, 2024 Year in Review, you would have found out that I left Yeamans Hall in SC after 3 1/2 years for a new opportunity at a brand new course in South Florida.  Unfortunately, the course never really opened, and I ended up leaving in June.  On the plus side, I spent nine months working on the maintenance crew and learned how to do many things:

mow greens in the dark

Mow fairways, rough, tees with various types of mowers

Edging greens, much harder than it looks!

Operate a greens roller

As a result of being in the sun for many hours a day, I also started dressing like I was going to rob a bank after work.

I spent a couple months playing golf all over Florida and eventually found a new job at a wonderful club in West Palm Beach.

My new home course is a ton of fun and has great variety.  

FLORIDA January to June

Since Florida consumed most of my year, I did separate blog posts about the first and second halves of the year.  The first half included some very exciting new Gil Hanse courses as well as a big surprise course near Sarasota.  Read about it here: Florida January to June

Soleta Golf Club

NEW ENGLAND TRIP

Orchards Golf Club in Holyoke, MA.  A wonderful Donald Ross design

I will admit that I was lazy and did not do a writeup of our trip to New England this year.  The focus of the trip was playing Donald Ross courses around Springfield, Massachusetts like the amazing Orchards Golf Club in Holyoke.

There were also side trips to others parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut to play the Ross designed Country Club of Waterbury 

CC of Waterbury, amazing par four 1st hole

The biggest surprise of the trip was the Willie Park designed New Haven Country Club, recently renovated by Brian Schneider.

New Haven Country Club, Par three 9th hole

SC VISITS

Broomsedge Golf Club, Par three 5th hole

Even though I moved away from Charleston, South Carolina, that did not stop me from visiting a few times in 2025.  On the first visit, besides playing the wonderful Yeamans Hall, we were able to play Kyle Franz debut original design, Broomsedge, in Rembert, SC. I also played the extremely private Cherokee Plantation Club in Yemassee, SC.

Cherokee Plantation, Par four 6th hole

The second visit to Charleston was all about Yeamans Hall.  We played it on three consecutive days in November, enjoying everything that I love about the place.  Yeamans was celebrating it's 100th anniversary and had new flags to commemorate the occasion.

We also made a mandatory trip to Lewis BBQ, which serves up the best brisket I have ever eaten.  

OTHER COURSES

Fall Line Club (East), Par four 13th hole in foreground, par three 14th hole in background

The best course I played this year was in of all places, Mauk, Georgia.  A very small town about 60 miles west of Macon.  The Fall Line Club is the American debut of the design firm known as OCM.  Ogilvy, Cockney, Mead.  There are two 18 hole courses at Fall Line, as well as a ten hole par three course.  I was able to play the East course, which OCM designed in an English Heathland theme.  They really outdid themselves and the course is sure to be in all the various top 100 rankings in the future.  I hope to return to play the Australian Sandbelt themed West course next year.

Fall Line Club (East), Par four 16th hole

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS

New Courses Played:       237

States Played in:               6

9 Hole Courses played:    24

Top 10 Courses by Architect

18 Joe Lee

14 Donald Ross

11 Arthur Hills

10 Robert Von Hagge

10 Arnold Palmer

9 Jack Nicklaus

9 Karl Litten

9 Tom Fazio

8 Gordon Lewis

7 Bruce Devlin

5 Ron Garl

5 Jim Fazio

5 Pete Dye

Top 10 Courses by State

200   Florida

23     Massachusetts

8       Connecticut

2       Alabama

2       Georgia

2       South Carolina

Milestones Reached

1.  300 courses played in FL

2.  400 courses played in FL

3.  200 9 holes courses played

3.  50 courses played in MA

Favorite Course:                Fall Line(East)
Least Favorite Course:      Mangrove Sands
Most Overrated:                GreatHorse
Most Underrated:              Country Club of Waterbury

Favorite Par 3:  5th Hole-Fall Line(East)
Favorite Par 4:  1st Hole-CC of Waterbury
Favorite Par 5:  9th Hole-The Ranch(MA)

What's in a name

A fun breakdown of golf course names from 2025

(60)Landforms: Dune, Farm, Field, Hill, Island, Landing, Meadow, Orchard, Park, Plantation, Point, Preserve, Ranch, Reef, Ridge, Town, Trail, Village, Vineyard, Woods

(57)Water: Bay, Beach, Brook, Cove, Creek, Harbour, Lake, Marsh, Ocean, River, Sea, Sound, Spring, Water

(28)Directions: East, North, South, West

(25)Animals: Bear, Beaver, Crane, Deer, Eagle, Flamingo,  Gator, Horse, Ibis, Mustang, Osprey, Panther, Piper, Quail, Sailfish, Tiger

(20)Object/Man Made: Arrowhead, Bridge, Cloud, Fountain, Gate, Hammock, Leaf, Pipe, Sand, Stone, Village, Well, Yacht

(15)Colors: Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Grey, Orange, Red, Yellow

(14)Trees: Cypress, Mangrove, Maple, Oak, Palm, Pine

(10)People: Admiral, Giant, Hunter, Indian, King

(6)The word "National"

(6)Food: Citrus, Lemon

(5)The word "Links"

(3)The word "Old"

(3)States: Alabama, Florida

Best Scores

66-Boca Raton Club, Dutchman's Pipe, Kinsale

67-Aileron, Cabot Citrus(Karoo), Cohasse, Dutchman's Pipe, Killearn, Riomar, Santa Rosa, St. Lucie Trail

Worst Scores

77-Apogee(West), Bear's Club, GreatHorse

76-Dutchman's Pipe, Indian River, Yeamans Hall

                   FLORIDA July to October

Watersound Club (The Third)

The second half of the year in Florida involved several trips to the Northern part of the state as well as many trips to Naples. I also played several top quality recently renovated courses in Southeast Florida.  Read about the second half of my year in Florida here: Florida July to December

Club at Quail Ridge (North)

9 HOLE COURSES

Cohassee Golf Club, Par three 3rd hole

I played 24 new nine hole courses this year.  The highlights were Donald Ross courses I played as part of my New England trip.  Cohassee, Greenock, and Tatnuck were all amazing Ross designs.  The biggest 9 hole surprise of 2025 was the Alex Findlay designed Northampton Country Club in Massachusetts.

Northampton Country Club, Par four 9th hole

MY LITTLE HELPER  

The only real sad news in 2025 was the loss of my cat Birdie.  Over the years she loved to "help" as I put together the year end scorecard and ball marker collages.  You can see a sampling of her help above.  She was an amazing cat and I will miss her every day.  Her sister cat Bogie is doing well and is enjoying all the extra attention.  Below is my favorite photo of Birdie with my dog Seabass who passed about 10 years ago.

ECLECTIC EIGHTEENS

                                             Par 3's 1 to 9

Top L to R: #1-Cabot Citrus(Squeeze), #2-Atlantic Fields, #3-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #4-Aileron, #5-Broomsedge, #6-Medittera(South), #7-Addison Reserve, #8-Apogee(West), #9-Jonathan's Landing(Match)

Par 3's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-Fall Line(East), #11-Sandglass, #12-CC of Waterbury, #13-Kinsale, #14-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #15-Lemon Bay, #16-Solata, #17-Bonita Bay(Marsh), #18-Jupiter Dunes

Par 4's 1 to 9

Top L to R: #1-Orchards, #2Cabot Citrus(Squeeze)-, #3-Kinsale, #4-Cherokee Plantation, #5-Fall Line, #6-Oak Hill, #7-CC of Pittsfield, #8-Delray Dunes, #9-Cohassee

Par 4's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #11-New Haven, #12-Sandglass, #13-Broomsedge, #14-Jonathan's Landing(Match), #15-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #16-TwinEagles(Eagle), #17-Wyantenuck, #18-Florida Club

Par 5's 1 to 9

Top Left to Right: #1-Jonathan's Landing(Match), #2-Cabot Citrus(Karoo), #3-Orchards, #4-Frenchman's Creek(South), #5-Wachusett, #6-Atlantic Beach, #7-Gleneagles(Legends), #8-Cherokee Plantation, #9-The Ranch

Par 5's 10 to 18

Top Left to Right: #10-New Haven, #11-Cabot Citrus(Roost), #12-Trump Doral(Red Tiger), #13-Orchid Island, #14-Sailfish Point, #15-Soleta, #16-CC of Pittsfield, #17-Soleta, #18-Dutchman's Pipe

BALL MARKERS

My collecting of ball markers continues after starting a collection at Yeamans Hall a few years ago.  You can read about the origin of my ball marker collecting here: A Collection is Born. 

SCORECARDS

Just like last year, I found it impossible to get 237 scorecards into one picture so this year it's 2.

FLAGS

White

Red

Yellow

Blue

Checkerboard

Miscellaneous

2026

2026 will be a year of transition as I say goodbye to Florida in May and begin a new adventure in the Baltimore area for six months.  After that plans are TBD.  I am 55 courses away from 500 in FL, so I will be aggressive in the four months I have left in the sunshine state.  My move to Baltimore will likely mean several trips to NY & NJ to play many great golden age designs I have yet to see.  I am looking forward to the new opportunities that 2026 will bring.