Game Changers

The expense, difficulty and length of time it takes to play 18 holes has put golf in the rough for many would-be players — but not for long.
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Shanty Creek
Photography courtesy of Shanty Creek Resorts

Championed by the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, changes to the way the game is being played are being introduced by courses nationwide, including in Michigan.

In Bellaire, Shanty Creek Resorts is adding 8-inch cups as an option to the 4 ½-inch standard to each of Schuss Mountain’s greens. They’ve also added a new set of forward tees to their 18-hole Summit course, allowing for tee-to-green distances of 95 to 125 yards. As a bonus, children under age 17 play free at both courses when accompanied by a paying adult.

Shanty Creek, along with Treetops Resort in Gaylord (treetops.com), rank ninth and 10th respectively in the 2012 Conde Nast Traveler magazine reader’s poll for Top Golf Resorts in the Northern United States.

Should 12-hole courses ever catch fire in the golf world, Woodside Golf Course in Bath will have the distinction of being Michigan’s first such facility. While original owner John Kazenko hired Canadian course architect Graham Cooke to route the course’s nine holes and build the greens back during the early 1990s, new owner Daryl Kesler — owner of 27-hole Hawk Hollow, 18-hole Eagle Eye and 9-hole Falcon — brought in award-winning Eagle Eye architect Chris Lutzke to design the final three.

The new 12-hole course is expected to open this season.

Learn more at shantycreek.com and hawkhollow.com.

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