Michigan Golf Journal March 2020

35 March 2020 www.michigangolfjournal.com Gaylord Golf Mecca Expands for 2020 The Gaylord Golf Mecca enters 2020 as its 33rd year operating as a cooperative multi-property marketing effort to bring visitors to the international golf destination in Northern Michigan. “We have come together in an industry that’s very competitive and continued to keep working to make things better year after year,” said Paul Beachnau, executive director of the Mecca. “I think we all realize that if we work together to put Gaylord on the tourism map everyone benefits. A rising tide benefits all ships.” The Mecca generated over 200,000 rounds of golf, with golf expenditures of almost $13.8 million among its 15 golf course members and 20 lodging partners last year. Two new member properties – Garland Golf Resort (with four courses) in Lewiston and Lakes of the North Golf Course in Mancelona – have joined the Mecca for 2020, bringing the total golf courses to 20 for 2020. MGJ The Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti first formed in 1899 and became a 9-hole course. Now the 18-hole gem is under new ownership, anchored by award-winning golf instructor Dave Kendall. Its biggest shift will be making the golf course fully public. “This is a great opportunity and we have a business plan to make it successful as a public course,” said Kendall, a former member of the club for six years. “And this course is a jewel with a notable past.” Washtenaw’s origins trace back to 1898 when the original founders—Cora Henry, Newton Swift and Daniel Quirk—persuaded a local farmer in Ypsilanti to allow them to stick three empty tomato cans in his hay field and invite their cronies for a round of golf. A year later, the trio were joined by a dozen others who formed the Washtenaw County Club still at its current location off Packard Road in Ypsilanti. Kendall will continue teaching at the acclaimed Kendall Academy at Miles of Golf, just a couple miles away. MGJ 1899 Circa Golf Course Under New Ownership