GolfBlogger’s Father’s Day Gift Guide: A Round of Golf

GolfBlogger’s Father’s Day Gift Guide: A Round of Golf

I think everyone reaches the point in their life when the last thing they want is more things. This year, try giving your Father an experience rather than something that will take up space in the closet.

A round of golf — or even better, a season pass/ membership — is a perfect gift for your golfing Dad.

If you’re in SE Michigan, I’d recommend a round at my favorite local course: Washtenaw Golf Club (website). Long a private course, Washtenaw is now open to the public under its new owner, Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Dave Kendall. More than a hundred years old, the course is old school goodness.

• Read GolfBlogger’s Washtenaw Golf Club Review

In south-central Michigan, I’d recommend a round at Stoatin Brae (website). Created by Tom Doak’s Renaissance Design, it’s a links-style course on the highest point in Kalamazoo County. Stoatin Brae is a unique experience that I’m sure your Dad will enjoy.

Stoatin Brae is one of six Gull Lake View golf courses. I actually don’t’ think you can go wrong with any of them.

• Read GolfBlogger’s Stoatin Brae review.

My south-west Michigan recommendation is Diamond Springs (website). It is an early Mike Devries design, before he went on to international acclaim for courses like Kingsley Club, Greywalls and Cape Wickham in Tasmania. With teeing grounds rather than tee boxes, Diamond Springs flows organically from one hole to the next.

• Read GolfBlogger’s Diamond Springs Review

In central Michigan, near Lansing, treat your father to a round of golf at Eagle Eye (website). It full of tantalizing holes that require both precision and creativity. The course was designed by Chris Lutzke, a Pete Dye protege and the 17th at Eagle Eye is a replica of Dye’s famous 17th at Sawgrass.

• Read GolfBlogger’s Eagle Eye Review

For a real Father’s Day treat, try North Central Michigan’s Forest Dunes. The golf resort features Golf Digest’s #28 course, Forest Dunes; the #45 course, The Loop Black; and the #47 course, The Loop Red. The Loop, of course, is Tom Doak’s innovative reversible course that plays clockwise or counterclockwise on alternate days. (website)

Three courses in the top 50 of the Golf Digest list. Add to that an acclaimed short course, The Bootlegger and an 18 hole putting course. It’s a trip that can’t be matched.

• GolfBlogger’s Forest Dunes Review
• GolfBlogger’s The Loop Review
• GolfBlogger’s The Bootlegger Forest Dunes Short Course Review

In Northern Michigan, I recommend a round of golf on any of the ten Boyne Golf (website) properties. Bay Harbor gets the most press, but Dad will be thrilled to play any of them. My two favorites are actually The Hills course and The Heather. Hills is a masterwork by Arthur Hills; Heather is a Robert Trent Jones design that dates to 1966.

• GolfBlogger’s The Heather Golf Course Review
• GolfBlogger’s Boyne’s The Arthur Hills Golf Course Review

In the Upper Peninsula, I’d recommend a round at either Sweetgrass (website) or Greywalls (website). Even better: gift Dad an entire weekend of golf, with an overnight stay at Island Resort & Casino and rounds on both those courses.

Sweetgrass is a links style course that is beautiful and immaculately kept. It is adjacent to Island Resort. Greywalls, in Marquette, is a spectacular Mike DeVries design on rocky bluffs overlooking Lake Superior that is listed as #54 on Golf Digest’s Top 100 public courses.

• GolfBlogger’s Sweetgrass Golf Course Review
• GolfBlogger’s Greywalls Golf Course Review