Pure Michigan

850 Golf Courses Await!

By Brian Weis

Spring in Wisconsin brings two things; Misquotes and Pure Michigan commercials. For the last 5 years, Michigan's tourism arm has targeted Southeasten Wisconsin with countless billboards, radio spots and TV commercials. The first time I saw the golf commercial featuring Michigan Native and Actor, Tim Allen I remembered being wowed by the message, the delivery and the beautiful photography.

Pure Michigan Ad

Recently, I traveled to one of the premier golf destinations in the Wolverine state, the Traverse City Area. Golf junkies take note, Michigan is in the Eastern standard time zone, making it possible to golf as late as 10:00pm. Making it possible to golf 36, 45 or even 54 holes in a day.

Top Tracks - Traverse City - Northern Michigan

Traverse City, nestled at the head of beautiful crystal-clear Grand Traverse Bay, on the northwestern shores of Lake Michigan. The region features endless miles of sugar-sand beaches, great family recreation, boutique shopping, winery tours, fabulous dining, casino gaming and most importantly championship golf.

Bay Harbor Golf Club
The golf resort features 3 distinct nines. The Links mirrors an Irish seaside experience with magnificent views of the lake. The Quarry weaves thru an expansive shale quarry complete with dramatic elevation changes along and through gorges and cliffs. The Preserve carves through Michigan woodlands and wetlands that features a double green in the parkland setting.
Bay Harbor Golf Club
3600 Village Harbor Drive,
Bay Harbor, Michigan 49770
www.innatbayharbor.com

Dunmaglas Golf Course
Off the beaten path in Northern Michigan lies Dunmaglas. Sheltered from distractions, the course provides a pure and unspoiled golfing experience. Ranked as one of the Best 50 Upscale Courses in the United States by Golf Digest, this 6,897-yard masterpiece features 18 of the most scenic and breathtaking holes you will ever play.

Dunmaglas Golf Course
09031 Boyne City Road
Charlevoix, MI 49720
(231) 547-4653
www.dunmaglas.com

Boyne Highlands Resort
Boyne Highlands is a Michigan destination in itself with four courses. The Heather by Robert Trent Jones
BOYNE's very first course, The Heather, has stood the test of time as an elite, best of the best, championship course. Arthur Hills course features generous fairways, elevation changes and intense greens. The Donald Ross Memorial is a composite of classic golf holes designed by Donald Ross in the early part of the century and re-created at BOYNE from some of the architect's most renowned courses including Oakland Hills, Seminole Golf Club, Pinehurst #2, Inverness, and Oak Hill. The Moor features numerous doglegs, marshes and water holes along its 6850 yards. A well designed course for players of all levels.

Boyne Highlands Resort
600 Highland Drive
Harbor Springs, Michigan 49740
231-526-3000
www.boyne.com

Hidden River Casting Club
Located less than ten miles from Boyne Highlands Resort, this northern Michigan gem affords visitors an unforgettable setting, impeccable course conditions, exceptional guest service and an exquisite menu. Whether you visit frequently or are a first time visitor, you can immediately recognize that Hidden River is unique from other courses in northern Michigan.

Hidden River Golf & Casting Club
7688 Maple River Road
Brutus, MI 49716
231-529-4653
www.hiddenriver.com

Explore this region and the other great destinations online, your trip begins at Michigan.orgMichigan.org.

Revised: 06/20/2011 - Article Viewed 31,709 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.