Our 2023 fall golf weekend at The Loon Golf Resort started with a Friday round on The Ridge.
And The Ridge didn’t waste much time letting us know we were golfing in Northern Michigan.
There is some serious elevation on this course.
Fairways climb and drop through the trees, and there were plenty of holes where standing on the tee box required a little extra thought about where exactly that golf ball needed to go.
Preferably somewhere we could find it again.
Then there were the boardwalks.
And the bells.
And the wildlife.
This wasn’t a course where you simply drove from one hole to the next without paying much attention to your surroundings.
Parts of the back nine wind around wetlands and rougher natural areas, which gave those holes a completely different feel from the front. There were some really interesting holes back there and plenty to look at as we made our way around.
There are also places where you ring a bell to let the golfers behind you know it’s safe for them to hit.
I don’t encounter many golf courses with bells.
Naturally, I rang the bell.
You can’t give me an official golf course bell and expect me not to use it.
The Ridge was challenging, but it was the kind of challenge that made the round interesting. Between the elevation changes, tree lined fairways, wetlands, boardwalks, and wildlife, we never felt like we were playing the same hole over and over again.
We had a blast.
The round also got our weekend at The Loon Golf Resort off to a great start.
We were there near the end of the 2023 season and ended up being among the resort’s last guests of the year. The rooms were a little dated, but they were comfortable, and that didn’t bother us much.
We weren’t there to sit in the room.
We were there to golf.
The food was great, the service was great, and everyone we encountered made us feel welcome.
Friday was The Ridge.
Saturday would bring The Loon.
By the time we headed home, we had played two very different courses and thoroughly enjoyed our weekend at both.
But The Ridge will probably always be the one I remember for the boardwalks, the wetlands, the elevation, and, of course, the opportunity to ring a bell in the middle of a golf course.
Sometimes it’s the little things. ⛳
You can read all about our trip and golfing The Ridge Golf Course in our November 1, 2023 Newsletter. Make sure you don’t miss an issue by clicking on Golf Up North Newsletter and subscribing to our monthly newsletter.
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