UPPER MIDWEST

Treetops Resort • Hole 8

Mecca Run to Michigan

America’s true north points to Gaylord where a dramatic experience awaitsIt’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.”

Treetops in its summer glory

Today’s Gaylord Golf Mecca, which has expanded from Treetops to nine welcoming resort area properties featuring 17 golf courses and 21 local lodging partners, awaits your play.

Step to the many tees at Treetops, including the Masterpiece as well as three Smith designs (Tradition, Signature and Threetops). Smith has departed for other venues and accomplishments, but he admitted he soaked up all the design knowledge he could from Jones and international design star Tom Fazio, whose only Michigan creation called Premier is at Treetops, too.

The Mecca is much more than Treetops Resort, though, and more is essentially what the Mecca offers along with the promise of comfortable temperatures over long summer days on the edge of the Eastern Time Zone. More than Jones, Fazio and Smith have their artistry included in the Mecca collection.

Wilfred Reid, a Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member who designed over 20 courses in the state as well as the Olympic Club in San Francisco, did original design work that remains a part of the classic Indian River Golf Club since redesigned by Michigan’s Warner Bowen.

Rees Jones, one of Robert Trent Jones’ sons, created one of his personal favorites and an award-winning course at Black Lake Golf Club.

Rick Robbins and PGA Tour player and NBC golf analyst Gary Koch built The Tribute at Otsego Resort, a tribute to Northern Michigan golf and vistas. William Diddle of Indianapolis, a cofounder of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, designed The Classic, the friendly course along the road at the resort.

The Natural is considered some of the best work by Michigan Golf Hall of Fame designer Jerry Matthews and his associates who have worked on or designed countless courses mostly in Michigan. Matthews also designed nine of the holes at Lakes of the North to go with an original nine by Bill Newcomb, another Michigan designer. Don Childs, another prolific Michigan golf course designer, created The Pines at Michaywe’ and Gaylord Golf Club, shining-star parkland style courses that first brought quality golf to the area.

Treetops Resort • Fazio Premier

Run to Michigan

Beaver Creek Golf Club

Black Lake Golf Club

The late Ron Otto, a Detroit businessman who invented the insulated garage door and later developed and owned Garland Lodge & Golf Resort, also became a golf course designer. His four popular designs at the resort are a clear reflection of his creative mind and talents.

The Mecca is a collective reflection of many talents, and the current leaders believe it’s an unmatched collection of golf variety.

“We might not be as well-known as maybe the Myrtle Beach area or the Alabama Golf Trail, but our courses rival in variety those bigger boys in the destination game and every year we are reaching out further and further to the golfers around the country,” said Judy Mason of The Pines at Michaywe’, president of the Gaylord Golf Mecca.

“Those who want to have a great variety of different courses to play in natural settings with great weather will want to come here, and once they come they will want to come back.”

Getting to Gaylord is easier than ever. After years of wooing golf enthusiasts in the golf centric Dallas/Ft. Worth area along with American Airlines, the Mecca, and its partner, nearby Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport (TVC), started non-stop air service between Dallas/Fort Worth in 2017 making it easier for more southern state golfers to visit and escape the restrictive heat and humidity of their summers. The effort won a Governor’s Award for Innovative Tourism Collaboration. In addition to DFW, TVC airport has nearly a dozen other non-stops including a Destination Golfer favorite New York La Guardia Airport — bringing American golfers just a couple hours away from the Mecca.

Paul Beachnau, executive director of the Mecca, called the honor fantastic and said the bonus has been direct feedback from Texas golfers who have made the pilgrimage to the Mecca.

“They tell us that the golf courses in the Gaylord Golf Mecca are nicer than some of the nicest courses in Dallas,” he said. “I think sometimes we take it for granted. We might be spoiled in Michigan. We always felt we had a great product with great courses, and they confirm it for us.”

Finally, upon arrival, golfers get more bang for their buck according to Kevin McKinley, the director of golf at Treetops Resort. He said even with the high-end pricing choices at Treetops, the price of a trip to the Mecca remains among the most affordable in the country. “Pound for pound it is less expensive than what people think it would be to the point some people not familiar with us look at the price quote and worry that it might not be good quality,” he said. “We get that from our Texas visitors all the time.

“They can’t believe the price and the quality. I think sometimes the Mecca gets overlooked because of that. We have incredible variety, price and quality and we can fit any budget and give you the experience you want in the Mecca. I think that is why our return golf is so strong.”

PUBLISHERS NOTE:

We wish to thank the Gaylord Tourism Bureau for their guidance and partnership on this story.

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The Pines Golf Course