Welcome to our October Newsletter!

Congratulations to the winner this month!

A.J.

You are the winner of the September 1st newsletter – you submitted the correct answer:

Lee Trevino’s Million Dollar Hole at Threetops is hole 7.

Your Golf Up North Schwag is on the way!!

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I cannot believe it is October

Sad that golfing in Northern Michigan is about done until next year. Happy I was able to do a fair amount of golfing the last couple of months. Mostly in Northern Michigan, but a couple of rounds in Virginia. This was a tough year for me and golf. Life did not cooperate with my desired golf schedule.

I mentioned in last months newsletter that I bought a new set of clubs and was struggling with them. I used that excuse a lot during our rounds at Treetops.

Golfed two rounds with my Virginia son when I was there a couple of weeks ago. I took my clubs with me to get some practice in on the new clubs. I think I am making progress with them, except with my irons which have always been a struggle. Loving my new 7 wood, so much so that I am thinking about getting a 9 wood. Thinking a bag full of woods with a chipper and putter is all I need. My son suggested that I get some hybrid irons since I suck so badly with my 7, 8 & 9 irons. Any opinions for a girl that cannot hit an iron to save her soul?

Treetops Resort

I talked about our August weekend at Treetops and playing the fun par 3 course Threetops. We also played an 18-hole course The Signature. When I was booking the weekend, we had the option of 4 courses to choose from. The Masterpiece, The Tradition, The Premier and The Signature. We chose The Signature because The Masterpiece and Premier may have been a bigger challenge than I would have enjoyed, especially with my new clubs. My husband was not a fan of The Tradition course, so we skipped that one.

Now, all of this said, in hindsight I think we may have been hasty. The Masterpiece is on the main property and looked like a great course, one I want to play. The Premier as well as all the other courses are on the North Property and all start from the same clubhouse. From what I could see the other 2 course there looked very nice and very playable for me. Threetops starts from here as well.

All the courses have rolling hills and elevation changes. When driving through northern Michigan and it is common to see this type of terrain. Robert Trent Jones, Sr was looking over the resort before designing the Masterpiece and he commented that “you can’t see anything but treetops.” The name stuck and if you have been to Treetops, you know it is a very accurate name/description.

The Signature at Treetops

The Signature is a par 70 course, there are 3 par 3s on the front nine and 2 on the back nine. There are 3 par 5s, 1 on the front and 2 on the back. We had an early afternoon tee time and was pleasantly surprised to see that we had open in front of us and back of us. We tend to play fast so we were hopeful that the wide open would hold up for all 18 holes. No such luck, by the 3rd hold we caught up with the rest of the golfers and play was a little slow going from there. At one point we let the guys behind us play through because they kept hitting up on us. Figured we were all waiting, it did not much matter which position I waited in and this way I was not dodging balls. 😊

Because of the location it is common to see wildlife wandering through the course. We were lucky to see a momma and her fawn on hole 4. It looked like she was wanting to leave her baby in the tall grass, but these pesky golfers were a threat. She was standing on my tee box; the fawn was on the other side of the fairway, and I just kept walking forward and talking to her. I told her her baby was safe, but I was teeing off and she needed to move. She stood her ground until I was almost in the tee box, then she took off leaving her baby behind, or so I thought. After teeing off I saw her not too far behind me in the trees keeping a very close eye on me and her baby. Deer are very common encounters on Northern Michigan courses, but it always gives me a thrill to see them, and this is the first time with a baby. We were also followed by a red hawk for a couple of holes, I wondered if one of our covers in the basket looked like dinner from her vantage point.

Spectacular views

I do not think there was one hole where I did not stare off in awe of the view. The course is so well maintained that even the tree lined fairways and greens are just phenomenal. Some of the elevations of the holes were crazy, similar to Threetops, but those just added to the view. Truly a beautiful course in every way.

The course had some struggles for me, and I had a couple of blow-up holes. Not sure if it was still adjusting to the new clubs or the course. Regardless of the challenge for me, I had a blast and had some holes that had me puffing out my chest and doing a little trash talking.

First Hole

The first hole starts at a higher elevation it is all downhill. 400+ yards elevated tee box for my husband and around 350 with slightly elevated tee box for me. We thought we had a good chance of getting a decent drive. He did fine, me, still getting used to my clubs. 😊

The green is a bowl and very forgiving. The fairway gets a little narrower as you approach the green, but not enough that it posed any issues for either of us.

This was a great hole to start our round with. Absolutely spectacular view of the countryside and a very playable hole.

Holes 2 and 3 each have their own specialness. 2 is a par 3 and has a bunker lined rolling fairway. Husband parred it, me, still getting used to my clubs. 😊 3 is wide open with elevated trees and a lot of sand traps, not horrible showing, starting to get comfortable with the clubs maybe?

Momma and her fawn

Hole 4 was where we encountered our momma deer. This is a par 3 and has a lot of foliage in front of most of the tee boxes. I was lucky, my tee box was off to the left on the side of the foliage. This is probably why our momma was there, the foliage provided good cover for her baby. I struggle with this because there was still a little foliage I needed to hit over, and the baby was somewhere up there, and I was petrified of hurting it. I lost a ball on this hole.

Holes 5 through 10

Holes 5- 10 were all very playable but with twists to them. Hole 5 looks like a par 5 but is not. The 6th hole is a par 5 and I was convinced they forgot to put the flag out. I could not see the green from my tee box. Hole 7 is a slight dog leg with a bumpy fairway, a fun hole for me.

The 3rd par 3 hole on the front nine is hole 8 and I should have easily got either a par or a bogey on. This hole blew up on me and the sand just grabbed my ball and would not let go. Hole 9 is a perfect hole for me, nice and straight. Plus, the view at the end was just wonderful. 10th hole is another nice and straight for me. A par 5, but the sand traps were easy to avoid. Three putting not so much.

I beat the damn ferns!

Hole 11 is a par 3 and has a fairly deep section of tall ferns that you have to hit over. If there is water, sand or foliage that needs to be driven over you can be assured I will be landing in the middle of it. Add in that the line over the ferns is very narrow and I was sweating it. I was finally starting to feel a little more comfortable with my clubs because I sailed that ball high and long. Ended up on the green and then decided to kill my drive and 3 putt. Did I mention I was still adjusting to new clubs? 😊

Holes 12 through 18

Like the rest of the course, these holes are unique with their own rolling elevations. On a few of them you would hit downhill on one stroke and uphill the next and then downhill again. Definitely kept us on our toes, but so much fun.

We took pictures of every hole with a few extras to show some from a different perspective than the blue tees. You can view them all by visiting our website.

Treetops Weekend

As mentioned in our last newsletter, we felt our weekend was very affordable for just under $700 for the 2 us and 2 rounds of golf each. I definitely want to return and stay longer and play the other 3 courses. I also want to play the Signature again. Plus, I want to try Threetops again now that I know what to expect and I am much more comfortable with the new clubs.

Check them out and book a trip, you will not be disappointed.

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We hope you enjoyed our latest issue of The Golf Up North Newsletter.

^{Disclosure: We never tell a course who we are when we book and play a course. We do not ask nor will we accept free rounds to write about a course. We pay full price for our rounds for everyone in our group.}