Playing Golf Near Gaylord: Swampfire, Ridge, Otsego Classic

Playing Golf Near Gaylord: Garland’s Swampfire, The Loon’s Ridge and the Otsego Classic

I got in three rounds this week in Northern Michigan near the “Gaylord Golf Mecca”: The Ridge, Swamp Fire and Otsego Classic.

I played all three rounds for just $39 each, thanks to the First Tee of Northern Michigan Player Card. It’s not going to take long to break even on the $149 card. In any case, the money raised goes to a more than worthy cause.

Swampfire at Garland Resort

Swampfire (photo above) is a flat layout that makes the most of its marshes and waterways. Water is present on fifteen of the eighteen holes. Whiile Swampfire is billed as a shotmaker’s course, I think “strategic” is a better description. The landing areas are relatively generous, but players must choose their clubs wisely.

In spite of all that water, I lost only one ball on the day — leading to a disastrous snowman on a par five.

Conditions were quite good, and up to the standards of a premium resort course.

This is definitely is one I would play again.

The Ridge At Loon Resort

The Ridge is a hilly, incredibly tight layout on which I lost more balls than I care to think about. The good news is that venturing into the woods to find those balls, I found far more than I lost. It is reassuring to know that I’m not the only one who struggled to keep the ball in the fairways.

There were times on the Ridge when I felt like Luke Skywalker piloting an X-Wing down a Death Star trench trying to drop bombs into a tiny little ventilation shaft.

With the elevation changes, carries over marsh and small greens, The Ridge played much tougher than the length of the course suggests. From the white tees, it stretches out to just 5, 842 yards at par 71 playing to a 69.0/128.

Conditions were not particularly good. There were lots of swampy areas in the fairways, as well as sparse grass on the fairway edges. The greens were in good shape, but the tee boxes were beat up.

I’m no agronomist, but I think the course would do well to cut a lot of those trees back to let the grass grow.

For the price, I’m happy to have played, but I don’t think I’d go back.

The Classic at Otsego Club

The Classic is a William Diddel design dating to 1955. Diddel’s name is not well known today, but he designed some 75 courses in the Midwest. he was one of fourteen founding members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

As the name suggests, the Classic is a (mostly) charming traditional style course, with parallel fairways separated by thin lines of trees and swaths of tall fescue in the sandy soil. I loved the look.

I say “mostly” charming because four of the holes – one, seven, eight and nine — are very much out of character with the rest of the course. The first is actually a tight, dank, ridiculously uphill par five that probably has some newcomers discouraged before they start.

Fortunately for me, I started on the back nine. The pro was incredibly nice in sending me out to ten to avoid several foursomes who were holding some sort of impromptu outing, and who insisted on teeing off ahead of their tee time (which would have put them after me).

The pro did me a huge favor. The par five tenth is a great start and put me in a good mood. The back nine is great from start to finish.

The resort says its “signature hole” is the ninth, which begins at the top of a ski hill and plays down and back up to the top of another ski hill. The views are great. The hole is meh.

This is one I might play again. But I think I might try to play the back nine twice.

I will of course have full reviews forthcoming.