Great Golf in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Island Resort & Casino shines as a must-play Midwest golf destination
By Tom Lang
There are many great golf destinations across the Midwest, with an abundance of them in Michigan – including locations in our natural-resources-rich Upper Peninsula.
From southern Michigan to northern lower Michigan, golfers have a plethora of places to get their game on. While many of these destinations have received high accolades and plenty of attention, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula provides great, award–winning golf as well.
For this golfing adventure, you can road trip north on I-75 crossing the scenic and historic Mackinac Bridge and turning left on U.S. 2 for one of the prettiest 2.5-hour drives in America, along the U.P.’s southern shoreline on Lake Michigan, to Island Resort and Casino in Harris, MI. There are also very affordable, and one of my favorite, flights from Detroit Metro into Escanaba.
The Island Resort and Casino is one of the Midwest’s largest golf, casino and entertainment resort destinations, spanning more 408,000 square feet. The resort has over 300 guest rooms, including spacious suites and many dining options like the signature 5 Bridges Steak and Seafood House, 5 Bridges Pub, Firekeepers Restaurant, and T. McC’s Sports Bar making it an all-encompassing destination that you won’t want or need to leave. On the casino floor, guests can enjoy over 1,200 slots, a poker room, craps, blackjack, Spanish 21, three-card poker, let-it-ride, roulette and bingo.
New This Year and Coming Soon:
We’ll get to the golf course experiences in a minute… I think you’ll want to hear what’s new for this year: golfers can now add sportsbook entertainment to their golf vacation. TwinSpires, the official online wagering site for Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, announced its official partnership with the resort in January.
Through TwinSpires, golfers can now add to their gaming experience by betting on their favorite sports including the PGA Tour, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, MLS and many more at one of the convenient 14 kiosks located in and just outside of T. McC’s Sports Bar. TwinSpires Sportsbook offers all the betting options – straight bets, parlay bets, teaser bets, live bets, futures, and proposition bets.
The resort has been immensely popular amongst golf groups and buddy trips looking for a combination golf and gaming escape. The growing popularity of golf, gaming and resort getaways drove the need for a $30 million expansion that will be completed later this year. More than 100 new hotel rooms are coming, which are being connected to the south end of the current 11-story Palm Tower. Many rooms will have excellent elevated views of the award-winning Sweetgrass Golf Course and will allow for golfers to stay together in larger golf suites.
A high-end dining venue and convention space are also planned for the top floor, as well as a pool and water park.
Consider all of this, plus the current, luxurious Drift Spa, with its variety of high-end spa services and access to the resort’s saltwater pool, steam rooms and sauna, the destination will become a popular escape for buddies, couples and now families.
Golfing Splendor on Site:
Now for the great golf – which has been described as “unforgettable” and maybe sometimes “under-rated.” The resort’s original golf course is the exceptional Sweetgrass Golf Club, built in 2007 and home to the Island Resort Championship, one of the premier stops on the LPGA Symetra Tour, which will return again this summer June 11-13.
Designed by Michigan resident Paul Albanese and ranked among the top 20 public courses in Michigan (which is saying a lot since Michigan, overall, is one of the nation’s top states for golf), Sweetgrass features masterfully crafted rockwork with a prairie links style. The course boasts an island green on number 15 and a pair of spectacular waterfalls that greet golfers as they play up the twin par five 9th and 18th holes to an enormous, shared green.
Classic green complexes like a Biarritz and a Redan along with historic bridges rescued from other areas in the state are compelling design components and part of the story of the course – along with links to the Native American roots of the Hannahville Indian Community.
To complement Sweetgrass, a few years ago the resort added another championship course, Sage Run, which was also designed by Albanese. Opened in 2018, the course, which Albanese said was inspired by the “rough and rugged” appeal of Northern Ireland’s Royal County Down, is also beautiful, but a definite 180-degree site in comparison to Sweetgrass. Built on a natural ridge formed by glaciers, golfers not only have to find the fairways, but the correct side of the fairways to set up ideal scoring opportunities and avoid the thick rough.
The course showcases exceptional variety, including holes like the par 3 fifth, which plays significantly uphill – and the short par 4 reachable 16th which dares you to take on an uphill shot to a blind landing area. Sage Run is beautiful and challenging and built in a thrilling and breathtaking natural setting. Sage Run received a major honor being named to Golf Digest’s prestigious list of “Best New Courses, 2019.”
As previously mentioned, Island Resort and Casino is owned and operated by the proud people of the Hannahville Indian Community. It’s no surprise that utilizing and properly caring for the land is their top priority – making a good match for Albanese, who incorporated legends and tales about the Potawatomi Tribe into every hole.
“It’s my own philosophy and the Native American philosophy that we always try to make the design fit the land, and truly allowing it to reflect the principles of Native Americans’ respect for the land,” said Albanese, a Michigan transplant from Harvard and now Plymouth resident. “This also worked as inspiration for stories to share throughout the course. We put some wooden posts in the side of a hill (along the fairway) that are representative of (the remains of) a fort, from the 1650’s,” Albanese said about design elements at Sweetgrass. “And the green complex itself worked out very nicely to be a redan style green. And a redan is the French word for ‘fortress’.”
Turns out, great golf in the northern part of Michigan doesn’t stop in Traverse City, Petoskey or Gaylord. In the endlessly scenic Upper Peninsula, there is a bounty of outstanding golf and a bevy of captivating tourist attractions. Yet don’t take my word for it; try a stay and play for yourself. I’m confident you’ll keep going back.
For more information about Island Resort and Casino and its golf packages, visit www.islandresortgolf.com or call 877-475-4733.
