Shanty Creek 60 Years and Going Strong
By Tom Lang
As the popular saying goes, ‘you’re not getting older, you’re getting better.’
The same could be said for Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire.
Here in 2023, Shanty Creek has been celebrating 60 years. The party began Memorial Day weekend – commemorating the opening of the main lodge on May 30, 1963 – and continues all through this fall, winter and spring of 2024 with pricing specials and fun events.
On my visit late this summer, I played the Cedar River course – the late Tom Weiskopf’s beauty of a design – for the first time in several years. (See a secondary story coming up on page 18 about Cedar River’s opening day 1999 with Weiskopf onsite, from a very personal perspective.)
Weiskopf added his gem on a piece of Shanty Creek land not as hilly as Arnold Palmer’s The Legend, but still with enough dramatic rolling features it will maintain any golfers interest all 18 holes. Speaking of which, the 18th is very striking and one of my favorites. It’s a long par 5 that stays level for the most part (with a danger zone left and long off the tee) but then the entire fairway drops off dramatically the last 150 yards to a large green guarded on the right half with water, one of only three ponds on the entire layout.
The 13th hole starts my favorite stretch on the course. It’s a shorter par 4 with a split fairway going around a huge tree, with the Cedar River babbling in the background.
The 14th hole could be one of the toughest par 3s in northern Michigan. It’s all drop off from tee to green; so golfers must land the tee shot on the green as there is no fairway fronting the hole, but rather, deep bunkers going down the hill and deep woods right at the back edge of the bean-shaped green. The tee shot also must proceed between ‘goalpost’ trees on both sides to reach the dance floor.
No. 15 is a long but fair par 5 that accentuates Cedar River’s overall setting of wide fairways in which many are shaped with mounding along the way that potentially kick off-line shots back toward the short grass.
The Summit Course was the first green grass entertainment added to the resort originally known best for wintertime skiing. The Summit, at the time called the ‘Deskin’ after founder Roy Deskin, came on the scene in 1968. Palmer’s The Legend was added in 1985.
“The Legend was a huge deal back in its day and was part of helping bring northern Michigan golf to the forefront and made the area a destination,” said Lindsey Southwell, director of marketing and an avid golfer who played high school golf at Greenville. “With Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and their courses up north here, it really made a name for northern Michigan golf. And that made for a natural rivalry even for the golf courses.”
I am unaware of any other northern Michigan resort that emulates what Shanty Creek does to ensures ‘rest’ for their courses. Every golf course is closed a minimum of one day per week, most for two days.
“It really works well for our golf portfolio (of five courses and 90 holes) because we’re able to let the courses have the rest that they really need and fit in that maintenance that you wouldn’t normally get in during the summer,” Southwell said. “It really ‘ups the game’ on the golf maintenance side of things.”
Give yourself some rest and relaxation by giving Shanty Creek a try – any season of the year. Find more information at: https://www.shantycreek.com/golf/
