Golf Up North June NewsletterWelcome to our June Newsletter!

Congratulations to

Keith W.

You are the winner of the May Newsletter – You submitted the correct answer – Adventures in Northern Michigan is one of the websites I write for. The other one is Northern Michigan History

I emailed you requesting the address you would like your Golf Up North Schwag sent to!

If you would like a chance to win some Golf Up North schwag, you have to subscribe to the newsletter. Subscribe at Golf Up North Newsletter and be on the mailing list for the June 1, 2023 edition.

Golf in Northern Michigan is in full swing!

As of today, all golf courses are open for the season. Trying to maintain an accurate open list was really difficult this year. Many courses just were not clear on what their plans were either on their website or social media platforms. What made it even more frustrating was that many were not responding to email, messenger, or phone calls.

I am sure the crazy weather and the Upper Peninsula getting hit with a late massive snowstorm did not make it easy for any of them. I am also sure I was not the only one bugging them about being open and I understand they could not respond to everyone. Add in that they just may not have had any idea when they would be opening, and it may have been easier to ignore the inquiries. I get it, some times head in the sand is the best approach. 🙂

But this is behind us, and I will not have to worry about it again until next year.

Plan to break 100 this year!

I have mitigated the damage for the most part that my struggles with my irons has done to my score by using my 7 & 9 woods more. Because of a health scare last summer I started twice a day rowing, bonus is that it has helped my golf swing! I am seeing another 20-25 yards on my drive, fingers crossed this is not a fluke. The last thing I did was block Wednesdays off on my calendar and let my team know that I would be gone about 5 hours most Wednesdays. I have missed my solo golf rounds. I figure the more I golf, the better I will get, and the more likely I will break 100, right?

Beside my blogs and Golf Up North, I have a “real” job that takes up a fair amount of time. The last few years I have made a lot of excuses for not golfing as often as I would like. Every year we buy a couples membership at the course where Guy plays in his league and I promise I will golf more. That this year it will not go to waste. And every year I start strong and then let the demands of my job override my doing something I love. NOT THIS YEAR!

Life is short. Spend it at the golf course!

Besides golfing weekly locally I am plotting out the other courses I plan to hit in Northern Michigan this summer. I am hoping to do several day trips to courses within a couple of hours of me. Working on golfupnorth.com and researching courses I found several that I am really itching to try. Some because of the name, others because of the location and several because of things I have heard.

There are also several that are 3-4 hours away and would require a long weekend or maybe even a week to play them. I will be doing a couple of those as well. There is a 4 course Stay and Play package in the Upper Peninsula I wanted to do last year that we just could not find dates that would work for both of us. This year I told him, I will go without him if I have to, but I am playing those 4 courses one way or another.

I would love suggestions of bucket list courses I should add to my list. Thinking I still have several years left of okay golf in me. 😊


I am taking Tony Lema’s advice this summer in my goal of under 100. Everyday I golf is another brick.

“You build a golf game like you build a wall, one brick at a time.” – Tony Lema

Tony won the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews at age 30.
He died 2 years later in an aircraft accident.

Seven Rounds Played so far this Year!

I have 7 rounds under my belt so far this year, 2 in Virginia with my son and husband. The past two Wednesdays on my own and the other 3 were with my husband. My control with my 9 wood is getting better and my putting is scary good… for me. I am excited if I par 1 hole a year. So far this year I am at 9 pars! One of them I sunk a 20+ foot putt on a par 5!! Almost broke 100 this past Sunday when I got 3 pars. My final score was 101. Progress is being made!!

I have also learned to use other clubs for driving. I have been very resistant to using anything but my driver at the tee box. Most of the par 3s I have played were about 125 yards which is what most of my drives have been in the past. With my added strength I have tried to adjust my power with my drives this year on the par 3s and that is not working out well at all. This past Sunday there were a few par 3s around 80 yards and I knew I had no choice. I was going to have to use my 3, 7 or 9 wood. Guess what? I nailed a green with my 9 wood!

Chip or Putt – Can’t do both!

It is funny that every year I can either putt or I can chip, have not been able to bring them together consistently the same year. This year is no different. My chipping is horrible, but there has been some glimmers of greatness. If I am going to break 100 this year I am told I need to improve my short game.

I still have to use my irons once in a while. There is still this gray area where my 7 wood is too much and the 9 wood is not enough. I have had a couple of really nice hits with my 8 & 9 irons this year BUT not often enough to be comfortable swinging them yet. I did see that they make an 8 wood, but can I or should I really have a bag of just woods, sand wedge and putter?

Maybe this is the year that it will all come together and not only will I break 100 but kick some cocky kids butts!!! Stay tuned. I promise if I take down Guy or one of my boys head to head you all will know about it!!! LOL

The First of the boy’s golf trip is done!

2016 July The Rock Drummond Island

The guys left Monday for their annual trip to Drummond Island and playing The Rock (pictured on right). They stopped at the Mackinaw Club (pictured in email header) on their way up Monday. They had played it a couple of years ago and really liked it. In fact, they liked it so much that they paid for another 18 holes before heading to the Upper Peninsula to play the Wild Bluff Course. I talked about their late summer of 2021 trip in the September 15, 2021, newsletter that included 2 of these courses.

I will let you know how their trip went in the July issue and hopefully I will have checked some of the courses off my list.


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