Rickie! Five-putts! Tony Paul's Review of Golf in Michigan in 2023

Guys' trip

Every year, we take a guys' trip up north. Every year, we consider booking a new place. And every year, we stay at the same place: Lakewood Shores in Oscoda.

There are a lot of great golf locales in Michigan, and many of them are technically nicer than Lakewood, but it's hard to beat the value. If you don't want your golf bill to be over $1,000, consider teeing it up on the sunrise side of Michigan. Lakewood has three courses on its property, headlined by the links-style Gailes, which is a tribute to Scottish golf, with a postage-stamp par 3, fairway pot bunkers, and, for my money, the toughest par 4 in the state.

Then there's Blackshire, carved out of a forest, complete with waste bunkers, and the traditional Serradella, which used to be considered by far the easiest course on the property, but now is no picnic, with the trees all grown up.

Lakewood was a big hit in the 1990s and early 2000s, but has had its critics in recent years, when it comes to the condition of the course. The condition took a big hit early in the pandemic, when it lost much of its faithful business — from the Canadians. But now that they're back — one day last year was the busiest I've ever seen the place, and I've been going up there since my early teens — and you can see money being put back into course upkeep. It's a process, but it's coming along, so if you bailed on this place a few years back, it might be worth another look — even if, yes, the on-site hotels and carts could use an upgrade.

The Washtenaw courses

The beauty of golf in Michigan is you can play here your entire life and still always find new courses. We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to golf options — and affordable ones, too.

Among my new stops this year was Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti. From what I've been told, this was a gem back in the day, then went through quite a lull, and now, from my perspective, is well on its way back.

A lot of that is thanks to the new ownership group, which includes a legendary figure in Michigan golf: Dave Kendall, the renowned teaching pro.

Washtenaw is one of a bevy of area courses going through some significant renovations and upgrades — thanks to the post-COVID boom, which has led to a serious influx of cash into the golf industry.

Leading the way on the upgrades at Washtenaw, no surprise, is west Michigan-based golf architect Ray Hearn.

It's a slow-and-steady facelift for Washtenaw, but you can already see the fruits of Kendall's and Hearn's labor, particularly on the greens, where some of the new pin positions are absolutely diabolical.

A busy man

Speaking of Hearn, there might not be a busier guy in Michigan golf than him right now.

Hearn worked on projects at 14 different sites in 2023, including a number of upgrades at Boyne, where he's building a new par-3 course called 'Doone Brae,' which will be built into a ski hill.

That will give the resort its 11th course.

At Boyne, in Harbor Springs, Hearn also is building a new putting course, a new passion of his — it's one of the highlights of his new course, The Cardinal, replacing the old track at Saint John's in Plymouth.

Hearn's 2023 work in Michigan also has included projects at Inverness in Chelsea, Three Fires in Holland and White Lake in Whitehall, as well as renovating holes on the Donald Ross Memorial layout at Boyne, which is a tribute to legendary designer Ross, with replicas of his best holes throughout the world.

Hearn, by the way, oversaw all these projects while recuperating from back surgery.

He's on the mend, and expects to finally tee it up again in the spring.

The Cardinal

Hearn also has a number of big projects out of state, which will continue well into 2024 and beyond.

But perhaps the work he's most proud of lately, is The Cardinal at Saint John's, which will open to the public in the spring of 2024. The 18-hole layout is replacing the old 27-hole track.

I've been told the mission was to replace 27 so-so holes with 18 great holes, and while I never played the old course (I've attended weddings there, but that's it), I can see a lot of great holes in the new buildout, particularly the finishing par 4, through a shoot of trees, with an approach to a green guarded by a lake on the left.

There will be plenty of golfers eager to play the course in 2024, and they'll be treated to some nice touches, like their names being announced on the first tee, plus walkup music of their choice.

But it'll be interesting to see how many of the locals opt to play this course twice, because it's not cheap, with peak rates at $150 on weekdays and $175 on weekends. There will be discounts for twilight, resort guests and Plymouth and Northville residents, but that's still an ambitious price point.

Of course, that's by design. The charitable Pulte family owns the resort, and isn't out for profits, so less play and thus less wear-and-tear on the course is much more important than a money grab.

Officials at Saint John's believe they have the makings of something special, and with the putting course and par-3 course, not to mention a heck of a steakhouse (do yourself a favor and get the truffle fries), a neat-o wine bar and the vast and fancy hotel, they almost certainly do.

Down the road, they'd like to see an LPGA tournament played there, and LPGA players would dig it, to be sure.

Golfers of the year

Here are the golfers of the year, per the Golf Association of Michigan:

- Player of the year: August Meekhof, Eastmanville — The MSU golfer became the 13th player to win back-to-back GAM Championships, and he also won the Michigan Amateur in 2023.

- Women's player of the year: Kimberly Dinh, Midland — She won the award for the third consecutive year, after winning the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship.

- Senior men's player of the year: Greg Davies, West Bloomfield — He won the GAM Senior Championship and made the Sweet 16 in the Michigan Amateur for the 11th time.

- Senior women's player of the year: Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, Haslett — MSU's women's golf coach won the GAM Women's Senior Championship, and made the Sweet 16 at the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur.

- Junior boys player of the year: Lorenze Pinili, Rochester Hills — Amid a number of fine tournament showings, he was the Division 2 high-school champion and now plays at Michigan State.

- Junior girls player of the year: Alena Li, Okemos — A high-school junior, she won the GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship.

- Super senior player of the year: John Morgan, Novi — The GAM's player of the decade in the 1980s, he won two GAM super-senior tournaments in 2023.

Shot(s) of the year

He's not from Michigan, but you wouldn't know that by the amount of support Rickie Fowler gets every year at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

At this year's tournament, Fowler won to snap a four-year title drought — and he did it in epic style, with a birdie on the last hole of regulation to get into a playoff, and a birdie on the first hole of the playoff to win it.

Both birdies were set up by ridiculously awesome shots.

First, on 18 at the end of regulation, Fowler was in the left rough and 145 yards out, and he hit a tasty wedge to inside 4 feet for a birdie that got him into the playoff with Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin. Then, on 18 on the first playoff hole, Fowler found himself in the rough again, but this time way right and further away. He took a 7 iron, and hit maybe the most-memorable shot in the tournament's history, to 12 feet.

Fowler drained that putt, putting an end to a victory drought that had lasted 1,660 days.