The Torch Golf Course Review
The Torch
A-Ga-Ming Resort, Kewadin, Michigan
Grade: B-
Teacher’s Comments: Can be a tough day if your accuracy is off.
A park and woodlands course, The Torch is routed across hilly land just to the west of Torch Lake, from whence the course gets its name. It is a design that demands accuracy over length, particularly off the tees.
Trouble is everywhere on the Torch whether it is narrow fairways, blind shots, greens perched on hillsides, or one of eleven water hazards in play. Nearly every hole has an elevation problem to solve. Some of those are quite dramatic.
The Torch was to me a bit unrelenting. As it turned out, I didn’t encounter a hole that served as a “breather.” Thus, I did not enjoy The Torch as much as Sundance, which is adjacent, or Antrim Dells which is just down the road. Both of those are part of the A-Ga-Ming course collection, which also includes Charlevoix Golf and Fitness. I’d play Antrim Dells or Sundance over The Torch, and the Torch over Charlevoix Golf and Fitness.
Still, if you’re staying at the resort, The Torch is worth putting on your itnerary.
Over the years, quite a few architects have had a hand in the design of The Torch. The original nine was built in 1974. It was expanded to eighteen and redesigned in 1986 by Chick Harbert, the 1954 PGA Champion and Michigan Golf Hall-of-Famer. It was redesigned and rebuilt again in 2005 by Jerry Matthews. That’s when the course was renamed “The Torch.”
Matthews also did the designs on the other courses in the A-Ga-Ming collection.
The Torch is a par 71 that comes in at 6, 369 yards from the tips and plays to a 71.0/135.
| Tees | Yardage | Slope | Rating |
| Blue | 6, 369 | 135 | 70.1 |
| White | 6, 020 | 132 | 69.4 |
| Gold | 5, 357 | 66.5 | 119 |
| Red | 4, 819 | 68.6 | 121 |
My favorite hole at The Torch was the par four sixteenth. At 331 yards, it was almost a breather.
The tee box is slightly elevated, but is unlikely to confer any extra roll. From there, the fairways snakes, jogging left and then right, rising to the green the entire length.
A big tee shot will be rewarded, but must avoid a long pond on the left, and a swampy area on the right. There’s also a fairway bunker on the right side just past the marsh.
If the drive can hug the right side and avoid the bunker, it’s just a short lob into the green.
The sweep into the green is neat. The fairway curves to the right, ending with the green perched at the top of a little knoll.
I also really enjoyed the first, which has a downhill tee shot with slopes on both sides that will channel a ball back toward the center line. The green, however, is perched on the side of a small hill up and to the left, tucked behind a stand of trees.
Conditions on the day I played were decent, but frankly less than I expected from a resort course. The green were in good shape, but some of the fairways were suffering. It also needs a pretty serious tree trimming on some of the holes. That might, I think, give players the breather they need.
The Torch golf course review was first published February 6, 2025 from notes and photos taken on a round played during the 2024 season. For a list of all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan golf course reviews, follow the link.
A course tour of the Torch follows:
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Our senior golf club held our season finale (3 day event) at A-Ga-Ming for several years. We always avoided playing The Torch, feeling it was too difficult for our higher handicappers. Your analysis/experience matches ours.
I am glad you concur. I was torn writing it, thinking that my thoughts were just a reaction to a particularly bad day. But I can generally dismiss that, which is one reason why I let my reviews percolate.
Looks like there is a pretty good course in there if they take a chainsaw to quite a bit of that hardwood as you note.