Bay Harbor Golf Club, Petosky, Michigan

I played Bay Harbor this past week. It’s one of the Boyne family of resort properties in “Up North” Michigan. The course plays on the shores and bluffs above Little Traverse Bay, an inlet of Lake Michigan.

There are three nines at the course: The Links, The Quarry and The Preserve, all designed by Arthur Hills. The Links is spectacular (first photo above), running parallel to the Little Traverse Bay. The Quarry—not so much. It seems like a good idea to build a course in an old limestone quarry, but the design didn’t work for me. I didn’t play The Preserve, but my feeling is that a Links/Preserve combination of nines would be a better choice.