Stalk the Cat: PohlCat Golf Course
By Tom Lang
Many golfers in Michigan enjoy taking on courses designed by former PGA Tour players such as Nicklaus, Palmer, Weiskopf and Crenshaw. We are fortunate to have a handful of their courses in our state.
The layouts are usually fun and interesting because those players got their design background from playing golf courses all across the globe, then blended the features of those courses with their own personal style of the type of holes they’d like to play.
We are equally blessed that mid-Michigan has a wonderful 18-hole course that falls into the same category – designed by a former PGA Tour winner, but with one special caveat: golfers can actually talk to him, pick his brain and maybe take a golf lesson because he works there every day.
We’re talking about Dan Pohl, a former PGA Tour champion (twice in 1986), Ryder Cup player and past Vardon Trophy winner (both in 1987) and led the Tour twice in Driving Distance – who was born and raised in Mt. Pleasant and now helps run the PohlCat Golf Course. He designed the course in the early 1990s, and not long after severe back injuries slowed down and eventually ended his playing days on Tour. All totaled he earned 70 top-10s on Tour.
There is something special about having a person with Pohl’s background and professional golf experiences working daily at a high-level, award-winning golf course balanced with reasonable rates, anchored in a Midwestern community. For one, the pro shop and grill are littered with genuine, personalized PGA Tour memorabilia that set a really fun mood for golfers before and after their special round.
Almost 40 years since he tied for first at Augusta National in The Masters in 1982, there’s still a passion in his eyes and enthusiasm in his voice when he serves the golfing guests who stop in for a round, or some excellent food in the Den grill room – or to enjoy a cold one from some three dozen beer options and local craft brews, on the very large veranda overlooking the 18th.
And that passion rubs off on the rest of the staff who want to give each golfer a great experience – golfers like 11-handicap Gayle Ruhl, a woman who is not a member but said she plays the course at least once a week.
“I think PohlCat is more challenging for my game,” Ruhl said in comparison to other area courses. “I like the yardages, and it’s more fair now that they changed some of the tee boxes. I think the staff is great and they’re very friendly – that’s another reason I come out here.”
Playing the Course:
The PohlCat has an intriguing opening four holes and even better closing four holes (aesthetically anyway) in my opinion – and frankly the other 10 in between are pretty darn good. In fact, if you asked the designer himself, the toughest part of the course is the middle stretch that is much more wide open than the bookend quartet of holes.
“Those last four holes are such a good combination of length (variations), open, little doglegs, things I look at,” Pohl said this spring. “But really the meat and
The Par 3 17th at Pohlcat
potatoes of this golf course are right in the middle of the course; 7-12 are good a 6-hole stretch with par 4s and 5s and the toughest par 3. So that area, you really have to play your golf ball. I look at it like you have to score early and score late; even though the beauty of it in those first four and last four, they are probably the more getable holes for scoring.”
No. 1 gets things started as a par 5 dogleg with no trees in play, but a brook to clear and water to avoid on the edges after the fairway turns left to the green. No. 2 (my favorite) is a par 4 with a drop off at the end of the fairway where golfers must clear the Chippewa River to the green framed by trees in the shallow valley below.
Depending on which tee boxes the grounds crew sets up your day, No. 4 can have a straight shot at the par 4 down the right fairway or when going down the left, golfers must turn a little right to access the green.
“I’ve played golf all over the world, and this golf course flows as well as any that I’ve played,” Pohl said. “You don’t get stagnant with one look, or stagnant with one shot selection (like all draws or cuts). In my estimation, when people come out, they could play it over and over and never get stale.”
Jump to Hole 15 and you’ll find an attractive dogleg left that would otherwise be a drivable par 4. Then comes 16, a mid-range par 5 with three massively-tall pine trees splitting the fairway that can cause fits on your way to a 3-tiered green.
“I think that’s the hardest ‘easy’ hole out here (at 455 yards from the white tees),” said GM Dean Paesens. “You can play it in a variety of ways; you could even hit 6-iton, 6-iron, 6-iron and get to the green staying out of trouble. You can hit driver over the wetlands and it’s getable in two – and it’s getable in six,” he added with a chuckle.
The par 3 No. 17 is the course’s signature hole with a carry over the elbow bend of the Chippewa River about 90 feet below, to a bowl-shaped green complex that’s been expanded recently when new tee boxes were also added. Don’t hurriedly play the par three 17th hole; relish it – because 18 (my second favorite) will come soon enough.
The PohlCat has long been a fan favorite stopping point in Mt. Pleasant for golfers heading Up North. Several times I have placed it on my top-10 places to play fall golf with its wide variety of tree colors.
After the Round:
The bar and grill area mentioned above is on the quality high-end of what most public courses offer. The hamburgers, chicken options and various wrap sandwiches are excellent. All can be enjoyed indoors with a bank of windows along the 100-foot-plus veranda or enjoyed outdoors where you can heckle your golf league buddies coming up 18 – or just relax with one of the nicer in-land views in Michigan that’s not on a Great Lake.
The clubhouse has a 300-seat banquet hall to compliment the permanent structure outdoors located near the expansive driving range/practice area that seats about half that number. Both provide the community great options for weddings, proms, graduations and charity outings.
If you’re not hitting the ball well before or after the round and want a lesson with a Ryder Cupper, that pretty rare opportunity is available in group and corporate outing settings.
“You are welcome to play out here, we are excited to have you here – and we want you to come back again,” Paesens said. “The last five years (since an ownership change) we’ve been able to connect better with the community, there’s more local traffic here, people are embracing the PohlCat and it’s becoming home to a lot of people now.”
Are you next?
