Golfing in Leelanau yesterday and today — Part II
Photo of Bahle Farms 8th hole by Linda Dewey
By Linda Alice Dewey
Sun contributor
Here’s your guide to Leelanau County golf courses, past and present, with a little inside info from a few avid local golfers. In the previous issue of the Sun, we looked at the courses closest to Glen Arbor and Empire. This installment expands to courses in Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay.
My tour of Leelanau’s golf courses with Glen Arbor golf enthusiast Bob Johnson continues as we head northeast of the Glen Arbor area. Our mission: to check out each course’s condition, learn its history, and to find out how its current business stacks up.
First, a little golf history is in order. The sport originated in Scotland; the first American course opened in Connecticut in 1885. Michigan saw its first courses open in 1896, two in Harbor Springs and one at Harbor Beach at the tip of Michigan’s thumb. Historians say that the location of these courses is due to the number of summer travelers who journeyed Lakes Michigan and Huron at the time.
Northport Point Country Club
Leelanau County celebrated its first golf course opening in 1913. The Northport Point Country Club was built by famous Scottish golf architect Tom Bendelow, who would design more than 400 courses across the United States, including the Traverse City Golf and Country Club in 1915. Northport Point was, and still is, very private. The Great Gatsby-like gated community of the same name located on Lake Michigan’s shore just north of Northport is comprised entirely of summer homes and old money.
Our experts guess that the number of member families there is less than 100, but that’s only a guess. As for our tour that was supposed to cover every golf course in the county? We were stopped at the gate. A woman took my name and said someone would get back with us, but that never happened. We can tell you though that a few of our experts have played there over the years and describe it as a nice, well-maintained course. It has been said that the course plays a second nine holes backwards, so there are 18 holes total on nine greens and fairways, but that could not be substantiated with our experts, and worldgolf.com shows only nine holes.
Private
NUMBER of holes: 9
DIFFICULTY: Unrated
FEATURES: View of Grand Traverse Bay and Old Mission Peninsula
PAR: 36*
FUN FACT: First golf course built in Leelanau County
Leland Country Club
A year after Northport Point opened, Leelanau County’s only other current private course, the Leland Country Club, began operation. Its website says that it was built by Charles B. Wilder of Wheaton, Ill., on the site of a former dairy farm.
Although the course was privately owned, it was at first intended for public use. Well-known throughout the Midwest was the seven-foot wooden tower at the third tee. After climbing the tower, players would place a ball on a bucket-sized pile of sand atop the sod-covered platform and tee off using a hickory club. Green fees were a buck, season memberships cost $40, and caddies, who walked from Provemont (now Lake Leelanau), cost 35 cents for nine holes.
We arrive mid-morning on an idyllic June day. The original hand-cut beamed clubhouse forms part of the current clubhouse, which used to be a barn. After an informative conversation, golf pro Buck McBride introduces us to general manager Andy Palmer, who shows us to a picture on the wall of a woman playing golf in a long plaid skirt in 1916. Palmer tells us that this is his grandmother. The nine-hole course was expanded to 18 in 1965.
Now marketed as a “golf and tennis club,” the course is private but the public is invited to enroll in lessons, clinics, and to attend old-fashioned Sunday night sings in the summer. The main part of the season, when most of the member families are in town, lasts from the first of July to the Barber Cruise, a parade of decorated wooden boats that passes by on Lake Leelanau, usually during the second week of August. After that, families return home for sports and the beginning of school.
McBride says that the focus at the Leland Country Club is on the kids. “It’s a family-based club,” he says. The kids arrive in the morning and begin with sailing lessons on the shore, although the club is not affiliated with the organization giving the lessons. Then the kids move to tennis in the afternoon and golf later on with lunch somewhere in between. It’s the good life as portrayed in old movies.
“It’s a legacy club,” McBride explains, which brings to mind the 1916 picture of Palmer’s grandmother. “As soon as they get out of college, they want to join, themselves.” Membership used to be held at 500, says McBride. However, “Since I have been here, we’ve let in another 100 new members. It’s really blossoming right now. It’s the most participation we’ve ever had.” Many members hail from the Cincinnati area, he says and adds that, currently, they have a three-year waiting list. Remarkable, McBride points out, considering that, “in the state of Michigan, golf is hurting. They’re closing golf courses on a regular basis. Even around here. So for us to have a waiting list …”
To what does McBride attribute this upsurge in membership? “The golf course is in fantastic condition,” he answers. “We have beautiful tennis courts; and we have a new course superintendent from Northport Creek.”
Two years ago, the Leland Country Club celebrated its 100th anniversary with a big “blowout” complete with bagpipes and players in knickers with hickory shafted clubs. The course, which was originally only nine holes, was set up for the anniversary in its 1914 configuration, which is completely different than it is today. Tee times began at 7 a.m. and were full to the last tee at 4:30.
“It’s a good golf course,” says one of our experts. “They have about four holes that were built down in the lower area; I never found those four holes very enjoyable. But through the years, they’ve been … making it better. I like the holes that are up on the top of the hill where the clubhouse is.
“Golf courses in Scotland,” he explains, “were built in the area called the ‘links’ area — the area that links the ocean to the land — where the land wasn’t good for anything else. They raised sheep there and played down there. It was flat, firm, and you were forced to play a lot of run-up shots — bounce the ball up to the green.” Those highest holes at the Leland Country Club are “link-style,” says our expert.
Another of our experts calls it “an old-style country club golf course.” He likens it to the Traverse City Country Club, but he feels that it lacks the character of some of the other courses in Leelanau County, which are more challenging and longer, and that have more changes in terrain and more undulating greens.
Private
18 holes
ADDED FEATURE: Great views of Lake Leelanau
DIFFICULTY: 123-126*
PAR: 71-73*
FUN FACT: Actor/comedian Tim Allen is a member.
Veronica Valley and Matheson Greens
Unlike the courses at Day Forest Estates and the Glen Lake Country Club, which were built in the mid-20s (see “Golf in Leelanau Part I” in our July 28 edition), the Leland and Northport Point courses weathered both world wars and the Depression between them. Yet another golf course would not be built in northern Leelanau County for 75 years.
1990 was a big year for golf in Leelanau, especially for Bingham Township which would see not one, but two new courses. Unfortunately, neither would last.
Veronica Valley, designed by owner Bill Grant, was “one of the most eclectic courses” ever built, in the opinion of one of our experts. Located on County Road 641 (Lake Leelanau Drive) at the intersection with Maple Valley Road in Bingham Township, this nine-hole, 35-par course was built on gently rolling hills, wide open spaces, across wetlands, and through forests that included a stand of cedars, says a Leelanau County website (leelanau.cc/veronicavalley.asp). It included a driving range and putting green, six ponds, and three bridges over a trout stream that ran through it.
“It was a fun, family recreational golf course,” says one of our experts. When you played it, says another, the first three or four holes were like a traditional course. “Then, as you started getting back, like the 5th and 6th holes that kind of went in and through the woods,” he says, “suddenly you’d come upon trolls and little gremlins.” It was all very “gnomish.” It was like you’d “leave the golf course and enter the twilight zone. It was certainly strange,” he recalls, “but it was on a big enough piece of property, you could hit all your clubs. You could hit a driver off two or three tees.” Although to some it was “a miniature course on steroids,” the design won kudos from golf sites.
In 2008, Grant and his wife sold the 93-acre course to the county, which purchased it through the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and Rotary Charities, according to Leelanau.com. Now operated as a public park, it features a kids’ fishing pond and family friendly fishing clinics.
Not too far from Veronica Valley was the other course to open in Leelanau County in 1990, Matheson Greens, which quickly became very popular. Located on family land owned since 1971 by David Warm and his parents, this par-72, 18-hole public course was designed with the community in mind. Built by local golf architects Gary Pulsipher and Steve White, golfers including actor Tim Allen loved it.
Northport, which had been declining since its heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, was beginning to come back, and Matheson Greens was a large part of the reason. Fisher’s Happy Hour Tavern found its busiest meal was lunch for golfers, not the happy hour, after all. The course brought in $875,000 a year and employed 47 people.
David Warm managed the course until his father died in 2005. Lacking his father’s passion for the sport, he and his mother put it up for sale. However, when he saw that potential buyers planned to develop the land further, Warm, who with his mother also owned neighboring land and valued its natural beauty, did not want to see that destroyed. He decided instead to return the course to nature and donate it to the Leelanau Conservancy.
As a result, Northport business began once again to decline. So did lunch business as the Happy Hour.
Bahle Farms
We arrive at Bahle Farms golf course, located three miles south of Suttons Bay on Otto Road, just before lunch. As we approach the beautiful clubhouse, we’re greeted at the carts outside by “Coach” — the only name on his nametag and the only name he goes by with the golfers. Having been a football coach for 35 years downstate, Coach has been at Bahle Farms since it opened in 1999. The guy gets around. Bob Johnson, who chauffeurs me all over the county on this day, mentions that Coach greeted him at a course in Destin, Fla., one winter, just like he does here.
It’s clear from his repartee with Johnson that Coach knows his golfers. He offers us a cart for an after lunch tour and advises Bob to be sure and show me number 11 where it drops, and number 15 where it overlooks Suttons Bay. The course is built on natural terrain, he says, meaning not much was moved around in its creation and not everything is mowed to perfection. This course is really special, he says. “The first tee drops off after the tee. The old barn. Show her that,” he adds. “She’ll love that.”
The business has gone through a few changes lately. Better known by its former name “The Leelanau Club at Bahle Farms,” the golfing community called it “The Leelanau Club. But the owners called in a marketing team after last season who rebranded the course for this year. “There’s a lot of things up here called ‘the Leelanau something or other,’” explains the course’s new manager, Jason Nelson, “and we just wanted to be more distinctive.”
Nelson was brought in this year as the new director of golf. “I moved up here from Lansing six months ago,” he says, where he worked in golf retail and then managed a restaurant.
Nelson says they have “quite a few outings” during the year but was noncommittal when asked how business so far this season compares with last year. “This year is probably about the same right now,” he observes. “Hard to tell. We’ll see how it all shakes out at the end of the year. May was a cold month, dry but very cold, and it really affected us in May. June has been good; it’s been study. It seems like it’s probably about the same.”
We enter the restaurant area and move to the bar to find someone to help us. The cook is busy in back. He comes out and gives us a menu, but only a few things are available today, he says. Nonetheless, the chicken salad sandwich I order is excellent.
After lunch, we hop on a cart and begin the tour. At the first tee, we see a man working on the hillside to the left of the green. Johnson knew right away that it must be Gary Pulsipher, who, as course superintendent, is never far from his creation, his baby. Says Johnson, “Pulsipher did a magnificent job of capturing and using the land to its best advantage. It’s a beautiful layout, a hidden treasure.”
Owner Karl Bahle had put together a powerful team to design this course which would follow the rugged natural lay of the family’s farmland. Beside himself, Bahle’s team included Matheson Greens architect Pulsipher, who also designed Bay Meadows 3-par course, just across the border in Grand Traverse County, The Crown near Traverse City, Cobi Pines and another in Manistee. Also on the team was Pulsipher’s business partner, the late Steve White, who designed several courses with Pulsipher. Golf pro Chuck Olson rounded out the team.
But the one who gets most of the credit as the course architect is Pulsipher, who is on his hands and knees, working with the earth. “This is what he does,” says Johnson as we approach the architect-turned-superintendent. “He keeps the place going.” When Johnson comments to Pulsipher on what a gem this course is with its hidden contours and special features, the latter seems surprised to hear the compliment.
As we talk about his role in creating it, Pulsipher begins to expand. “I miss my business partner, Steve,” he says. “He owned Bay Meadows; he was the original owner there.” Bay Meadows opened its original nine in 2000. “We just had a ball,” Pulsipher continues. “We went to Michigan State together, started in design, went to Matheson [Greens]. It’s just been great. I miss Steve a lot; he passed in 2007. Stuart Hollander died three days later. It was just a bad time.” He pauses, then goes on. “He was the driving force; he drove me a lot,” he admits.
Pulsipher looks around and notes that the cherry trees are starting to “load up.” We talk about taking pictures of the course, and he suggests a particular spot that is especially good if you can catch it on a misty morning. “Sometimes, if it’s just right — you gotta get lucky — sometimes just the pin shows,” he says (which is the flag, for you non-golfers.) As he speaks, the telling look in his eyes says it all. This is his life, his love. He has created a work of art. The golf course is his office, his passion, his life, and he’ll care for it as long as he can.
As we drive through cherry and apple orchards, wild grapes and blackberries that line the course then open to spectacular views of Grand Traverse Bay, CCC pines and farmland, I see why Pulsipher loves it. I also see why some feel the course is very challenging. One of our experts feels that perhaps this course’s level of difficulty might be marketed to attract the better golfer. “It’s too challenging for many players, but that’s the beauty of it,” he says, “because they [meaning Bahle Farms] go after the better golfers.”
Another of our experts says, “Bahle is a hard walk; you can walk it, but it’s kind of a hard walk. I played it 15 years ago and didn’t like it very well. I played it two years ago and really liked it.
“There’s no question that Manitou Passage and Bahle Farms are the top of the pecking order for quality,” he continues. “They’re very comparable, in my opinion. Those courses will appeal to the better players and come close to the quality of private clubs in the suburban area … I play Manitou Passage because my friends are there, and it’s closer; and if I lived in Suttons Bay, I would probably play at Bahle. People who play in better courses in Chicago would probably choose those two courses. But those are also the most expensive. They are the two best maintained courses in the county.”
A fourth says, “The course is good. They do a good job of maintaining it.” Then he adds, “I played it once this year. I don’t think the greens are the quality of Manitou.”
Open to the public
18 holes
RATES: $29-$65
DIFFICULTY: 109-137*
PAR: 71*
Carts are suggested
ADDED FEATURES: Spectacular drops, elevations and views
FUN FACT: The Bahle family began farming this land in 1870.
Northport Creek
The newest course in Leelanau County, Northport Creek, is located just north of Northport. As Johnson and I walk up to the small building that houses its pro shop, we notice the rack of walking carts, he notes that players are encouraged to walk this municipal course. Inside, it’s quiet at first, but our visit with manager Chris McCann is soon punctuated by players entering to pay the modest greens fee.
McCann worked at both Matheson Greens and the Leelanau Club, now Bahle Farms. “Matheson Greens had a big effect on the community in Northport,” says McCann. “I used to work at Fisher’s Happy Hour Tavern. My first year there was the last year for Matheson. The next year, the lunch business was less. The next less — then less and less. Lunches [used to be] busier than dinner. Now it’s the opposite.”
McCann explains that one of owner Bill Collins’ purposes in creating Northport Creek Golf Course is to bring business back to Northport. McCann explains how. “To get to this golf course, you have to drive through town … you get a quick little tour of downtown. They get to the golf course. Now they’ve got two hours to think about lunch. For a lot of people coming and playing here, this might be the first time they’ve seen the town.”
The 63 acres the course sits on was foreclosed on. Twice, Collins tried to buy it. In 2012, it went up for a sheriff’s sale, and the automotive retiree—who is a non-golfer—and his limited partnership successfully purchased the parcel. An article by Ron Whitten (October 9, 2015 issue, “2015 Golf Digest Green Star Award: All in on Solar”) describes Collins as “an 83-year-old retired automobile engineer best known for being part of the 1960s Dream Team that conceived the Pontiac Firebird, GTO and Grand Am. (Collins later became the chief engineer behind John DeLorean’s ill-fated automobile.)”
Collins, who moved to Northport in 1998 with his wife, chose 81 year-old golf course architect Jerry Matthews to design it. Known for taking advantage of natural terrain, Matthews and his father before him, both from Michigan, had done over 100 courses, 65 of them in Michigan.
Normally it takes three years to build a course. Matthews and Collins cut that in half. Construction began in the spring of 2013 when they put in a “state-of-the-art” — according to Golf Digest — irrigation system. Grass went in that fall. A solar farm panels by Leelanau Solar to generate electricity for the course, were up and operating by December. In spring of 2014, a second set of 48 solar panels that would track the sun went in, and the course opened in July.
According to the Whitten, solar panels have only recently become affordable. The two sets of panels totaled $210,000, and Collins believes they’ll pay for themselves in 10 years. The only electric bill the course pays is a $25 monthly distribution fee, since it feeds its winter electricity into the power grid, rather than loading it up on cumbersome batteries within the system.
Collins’ plan is working. Business this year has been “really good,” says McCann. “We’re seeing all the people that used to be at Matheson Greens come back, too. There’s a men’s league that used to play at Matheson with 40 teams.” He explains that when he was at the Leelanau Club (Bahle Farms), there were eight. “We have 16 now at Northport Creek.”
It become obvious as he talks that McCann’s knowledge of this community is a real asset to this operation. He was born and raised in Northport. In fact, the doctor who delivered him at the local hospital is on the course as we speak. McCann’s home, which he bought before the course existed, sits off the fourth green. “Many people are coming to play here because it’s close to work,” he explains. “We have a lot of local people; the course isn’t so busy that they can’t get on. People buy a yearly pass for $700, which is affordable compared to other places.”
He explains that people no longer have time for 18 holes. Characterizing Northport as a “blue collar community plus summer wealth,” McCann says, “We’re trying to provide golf for people at 5 to 6 p.m., after work. This makes it convenient. People’s time is invaluable,” he affirms.
McCann also appreciates the tourist side of the business. “We have a lot of tourists. They really enjoy the 9-hole layout; we have a replay rate for going around again, if they want to do 18. That way, people can go do something else when they’re on vacation.”
They’re also seeing new golfers. “We’re seeing a lot of people who have never played golf before,” he adds. “People have asked, ‘How are you going to grow the business or [attract] new golfers?’ If you want to give it a try, this is the place to come. The course is set up for a wide range of abilities. The forward tees that Jerry designed for kids, actually are just as tough as the back ones.
“People come up and say, ‘It was really fun, but it was tougher than we thought it would be.’ The greens are challenging, undulating, have some speed.”
Northport Creek is making headlines in the golf community in Michigan and nationally — the latter for its solar powered operation, which earned it that Green Star award from Golf Digest. A story also appeared in Michigan Golf Magazine about how Northport Creek is a 9-hole course rather than the usual 18, which, the magazine says, is becoming a “modest trend.”
Even so, the new course has not been without controversy, primarily because it belongs to the taxpayers. “People have concerns about what the golf course may cost them individually. The Village of Northport owns it,” says McCann. “Bill Collins runs the management company that is working on a lease for another four years.” Collins and his limited partnership paid for the solar panels and the $1 million construction costs and agreed to absorb any loss for the first five years. “We pay the village 5 percent of monthly revenues,” continues McCann, “so last year the village made $11,000 on the golf course for owning it. The 5 percent was to offset revenue the village would be out for tax roles; but it’s still on the tax roles, since the county has deemed that, since it’s for profit … so the village is getting double duty.
“People were concerned they would be charged, just like those who are not boaters pay for the marina, the baseball field, Hazerot Park. This is not costing the village or taxpayers any money. The idea is that, because we only have 9 holes, we have less to maintain, less staff.” Although it was not profitable last year, McCann says, “Rounds are up 25-30 percent up over last year already.” (This was at the end of June.) In 2014, the first year, the course was only open only for three months.
In addition, McCann stresses that management is constantly looking for ways to support it, like the $15,000 grant McCann wrote and won to build a new driving range across the street. They also did a “golf-around” with sign-up sheets where people paid per hole; McCann himself played 72 holes that day. “We want to show that the club will support itself,” he says. “So, rather than begging, we’ve asked the people who play here to do it. They said, ‘Yes, yes. We love to play here. We want to do it.’ At the same time, we need the public play, the tourists who come here every week. We have people coming here for a week and spending every day here.”
As Johnson and I talk with McCann, a few players interrupt us to pay greens fees. When they leave, McCann continues. “We don’t have the food and beverage; we’re losing, because we don’t have it. The idea behind the golf club is so that we can be a feeder for the village. This way, we can give back to the community and concentrate on the golf. It’s a sacrifice.”
More players come in, and it’s obvious that we can’t continue to pull McCann away. We thank him for his time and leave.
So what do our experts think of Northport Creek?
“It’s very good,” says one. “I love it. They’ve created something I think is just terrific — an opportunity for players to play six holes at a reduced price. You can play six holes in an hour and a half and have a good time. I’ve never seen that before. The 7th, 8th and 9th holes are much more difficult than the first six holes. It’s very well laid out, in great condition. It’s a great value to families or couples who want to go play golf. A tremendous asset for the community as I see it.
“If I lived my life over,” he continues, “I would love to build a course just like that — a 9-hole community course. We all like 18, but 9 holes is shorter and a lot of fun.
“I’m kind of a golf purist,” he admits. “I’ve been fortunate and played a lot of golf courses in Scotland and Ireland and a lot of places. I believe it’s a walking game, and you should be able to carry your bag. Northport is a good place to do that. I would encourage people to go up to Northport to play that jewel of a golf course.”
Even so, another feels the course is just okay. “I was expecting more, I guess. Personally, I think a 9-hole track [is good] for golfing with your spouse or family, or if you don’t want to play 18 holes as you age.” He does like the drive to Northport. “It’s something at the end of the peninsula; it’s kind of an adventure to get up there.”
Open to the public
9 holes
SUMMER RATES: $17 to walk 6 holes – $46 for 18 holes and a cart.
PAR: 35*
DIFFICULTY: Unrated
ADDED FEATURE: A six-hole rate is offered
FUN FACT: “The first course in the nation to be totally solar powered.” —Golf Digest
Walk or take a cart
*Figures and opening dates pulled from worldgolf.com
