Treetops Resort • Hole 8
Mecca
Run to Michigan
I
America’s true north points to Gaylord where a dramatic experience awaits
t’s always a treat to play one great golf course. Finding a number of them in a relatively small area is a special phenomenon that applies to only a very few destinations around the world. One of them is Northern Michigan where, among the wide-open spaces, natural meadows, dramatic hills, crystal-blue waters, and towering trees you’ll find a collection of courses you won’t soon forget. The Gaylord Golf Mecca, in the middle of the mitten-shaped state, surrounds the quintessentially-quaint yet vibrant village of Gaylord and is home to a number of golf courses designed by some of the game’s great names. Legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. called the Mecca area, and specifically Treetops Resort, a place waiting for golf to find its way. Golf had in a modest way already found its way to Gaylord, but Jones, in an interview at the opening of the Masterpiece course at Treetops in 1987 and what essentially marked the start of the cooperative golf marketing effort known as the Gaylord Golf Mecca, was, in his way, pointing out he had found a perfect site on which to design a wonderful course. Rick Smith, then a 23-year-old fresh-faced, floppy haired PGA golf professional from Toledo armed with endless enthusiasm and a yet-to-be-discovered wide array of skills, nodded his head as Jones talked that day. “It’s so perfect here,” said the young man who would go on to design award-winning courses and gain mainstream golf fame by coaching Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and others. “Just wait until you get out there and play.” 34 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R
