Leelanau: Bahle Farms
By Tom Lang
The first time I ever ventured more than 10 miles into Leelanau territory just north of Traverse City was to visit Bahle Farms Golf Course. That was only last year, in the summer of 2021.
And it keeps drawing me back.
The layout was developed by the Bahle family, a multiple-generation name on the peninsula, on parts of the family orchard. It’s now owned by the youngest golf course owner in Michigan at age 26, suburban Chicago transplant Crosley Duckmann, who spent most summers visiting family on the peninsula growing up. When he learned he could combine his love of golf and his fascination with Leelanau Peninsula, the young man found his calling.
Bahle Farms Golf Course is nestled on the high ridges of central Leelanau County. Of the courses I have played in Michigan, this little-known course is easily in Michigan’s top 5 courses of those laid out on land with so many drastic elevation changes and rolling hills.
The tee boxes at No. 10 and 11 (the photos shown here) are easily 90-100 feet above the fairways below. The images are taken standing on each tee box but look like they are taken by drones – and literally every hole except the par 3 Hole No. 4 over a pond and No. 13 (which cuts through the heart of a cherry orchard) is built on land that goes uphill or downhill or crosses sharp valleys – while many have slanted fairways along the way.
To call it naturally rolling countryside is an understatement.
“Every single hole is designed in a way that they aren’t the same to any other,” Duckmann told me last year. “Our elevation changes are magnificent. It’s very beautiful out there, and you get not only great views on the course but of the surrounding county as well. You get big, huge, long views of forest areas and orchards (and of Suttons Bay).”
My favorite stretch of three consecutive holes is 10-12. No. 10 kicks off the back nine from the highly-elevated tee on the par 4 that goes back up to a slightly elevated green. No. 11 is a huge drop off par 3 to a large green, but the view from the tee over the valley can be districting, in a good way. No. 12 is a long par 5 that slowly climbs back uphill to reach the level of the 13th hole, which cuts through the still-harvested cherry orchards.
“Our motto is not selling golf, we sell a good time on a golf course,” said marketing and events director Melissa Obis. “We take that to heart; we really care about the experience people have when they come out here. There’s a few holes where you see other golfers, but for the most part you are in your own world and surrounded by such beauty, the elevations, the hills, the trees; then the view of Sutton’s Bay out on the back nine. It’s really hard to beat.”
All rates always include carts as this is not a walkers’ course. Don’t try to be a hero.
Any golfer that wants a true ‘Northern Michigan’ experience with grand views and a challenging up and down golf course layout – this is one you’ve got to try.
More information found here.
Other Things To Do:
Numerous cider and wine producers are within a few miles of Bahle Farms. If you’re a gambler, the Leelanau Sands Casino and Lodge is a short drive to the north of Sutton’s Bay, one of the most beautiful and quintessential small town northern villages stocked with shopping, a classic movie house, eateries and great homemade ice cream.
