Michigan Golf Journal February 2020

7 February 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com helped that we noticed Golf. com readers selected the Highlands as the country’s “No. 1 Golf Resort for Value.” We opened our four-day golf boondoggle with Boyne’s first-ever layout, The Heather, the 2019 National Golf Course Owners Course of the Year. The opportunity to play one of Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s early designs was a treat. The evening found us hanging out on the patio of Slopeside for pizza and drinks with a few of the tireless golf nuts playing the executive par 3 course that is under the lights and ventures up and down a ski hill. In other words, it was a perfect golf evening. Day 2 was a golfing bonanza that started on the Donald Ross Memorial, which plays homage to one of the greatest golf course designers in history. The Ross Memorial is a wonderful rendition of 18 great Donald Ross holes from around the world, with special attention to holes and places golfers do not have the opportunity to experience. Seminole, Oakland Hills, Oak Hill, Pinehurst, Inverness, Bob O’Link, and Aronomick holes are among the amazing collection. After a quick lunch in the Seminole Pub, we took on an afternoon on the Arthur Hills course. A big, bold design, it kept building in an almost suspenseful way with one fun golf hole leading to yet another. To add even more fun, we moved up a set of tee-boxes and played a comb o set with the Orange and Green tees to fit our group. Boyne does an excellent job of setting tee-markers and playing it forward. Believe m e, 6,100 yards was plenty for our collection of recreational amateurs. Even the single digit handicap guys like myself found plenty of challenge and fun. Our round on the course peaked on the 13th hole, which features a downhill 150-foot drop. The view from the tee complex on the par 5 has to be the best golf view in the region. Golfers look out above beautiful hardwoods of northern Michigan for over 40 miles. Have your camera phone ready for this hole. On that great day most of us were satisfied with 36 holes of golf, but a few of the group who obviously can’t get enough, decided to push some fun bets and take on the Moor course, which is another fun parkland style course with multiple risk- reward shots. The 9-hole two-man scramble proved to be a perfect ending to an amazing day, which concluded around 9:45 p.m. Continues on next page >>