Welcome to our December 2025 Newsletter!
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Most Courses Closed
The golf courses have been awfully quiet this past month—eerily quiet—the kind of quiet where you catch yourself staring out the window like a golden retriever waiting for someone to throw a ball. One brave area course actually managed to open for three glorious days when the weather hit the high 40s to mid-50s, and their tee times filled up faster than my coffee cup empties on a Monday morning.
As for me? I’m not sure I’ve quite reached the “freeze-my-butt-off-to-play” stage yet. That doesn’t usually kick in until late December. By March though, all bets are off. I’m out there in the 30s, stepping over snowbanks, pretending that frozen fingers are part of the experience.
Heading to Marquette July 2026
You might remember that my daughter golfed for the first time during our trip to Gatlinburg—Team Alex (Up Mid Kid), Ryker (our grandson), and Dom (her fiancé), and Ness (daughter) took first place. She came back declaring she “had a lot of fun.” Well, shockingly, she meant it.
Not only is she ready to play again… she’s doubling down.
They’ve picked a July wedding date and decided to hold it in Marquette—already a win—but then she hit me with the real news: she wants a golf outing the day before the wedding. That’s a bride after my own heart. Dom is German so we will have friends and family flying in from the U.K. and Germany, clubs in hand. Should be a blast.
Dom was introduced to our family when Patrick studied in Scotland. Long story short, Dom and Johnny (from Scotland) came to visit us when Patrick returned home. And the boys continued to visit each other across the Atlantic. Fortunately thanks to Dom’s American mom he has dual citizenship.
On one of those visits, Dom fell in love with my daughter (of course he did, she is amazing!).
Depending on who you ask, that was either fate or trouble brewing.
And here we are.
The upside? I finally get to book the Island Resort & Casino’s Perfect 4-Some package—including Greywalls! I’ve been wanting to do that for years, but carving out a full week is harder than hitting a fairway when someone says, “Don’t hit it left.”
The package includes two courses in the Escanaba area, one in Iron Mountain, and of course Greywalls in Marquette. This time I have absolutely no excuse. We’re taking the week before the wedding off, which happens to line up perfectly with Guy’s annual Fish Camp trip. Fish Camp runs July 15–19, then we head to the U.P. on the 20th—giving Guy a whole 24 hours to recover before teeing it up.
And just to keep things interesting, Guy’s brother is getting married in Traverse City (camping wedding!) a week after my daughter’s. So that’s two full weeks of family, golf, travel, celebrations and—if history is any indication—a whole lot of stories.
Golfing with the Up Mid Kid
With the temperatures dropping, golfing with the Up Mid Kid is officially on standby. Unless we get one of those surprise warm-ups where courses quietly post “OPEN TODAY!” like a Vegas nightclub flashing a neon sign, we’re probably done until spring.
Did You Know?
Time for our monthly “Did You Know?”—and this one’s a gem.
“Bullarding.”
Ever heard that word on the course? Me neither, until recently. “Bullarding,” in one sense, means consistently playing worse than your handicap in competition—basically the opposite of sandbagging. Instead of pretending to be bad to win, you’re actually worse than your numbers say you should be. (Been there. No shame.)
But it gets better.
“Bullarding” is also a term used to describe intentionally hitting your ball into a hazard—yes, on purpose—to set up a more strategic next shot. Water hazard? Bunker? Bring it on. Believe it or not, sometimes it works.
It isn’t an official golf term, and it’s not in the Rules of Golf, but it’s also not cheating or unethical. Just… creative. So the next time someone critiques your shot into a bunker, you can confidently say, “No, no. It’s called bullarding. Look it up.”
⛳ August Golf Weekend Update
In September’s issue, I mentioned a golf weekend we took but didn’t reveal where. In November, I talked about the trip and one of the courses we played—The Rock on Drummond Island.
But I never told you the other course we were aiming for. Ready?
Drummond Island Golf Club
If you guessed Drummond Island Golf Club, the 9-hole municipal course, congratulations—you win bragging rights.
This little course has fascinated me for years. I’ve seen the photos, heard the stories, and wondered how on earth a course could exist in such an odd location. So when I called to book a tee time, the guy just said, “We don’t take tee times. Just show up.”
Very casual. Very island.
He also explained they had limited carts and they were first come, first served. He suggested we get there at opening. Since that wasn’t going to happen unless we stayed an extra night, I checked with our friend who has a vacation home on the island. He assured us it was late enough in the season that we’d be fine.
He was right. We rolled in around 3 p.m., grabbed a cart, and headed out.
I follow a lot of golf groups and courses on social media for this newsletter and the Golf Up North website, and Drummond Island Golf Club always seemed to pop up in conversations. The location alone was enough to intrigue me.
The Surprise
Okay, I’ve made you wait long enough.
The course is literally at the Island’s airport. As in:
You drive across the runway. Twice.
After hole 3 and again after hole 8, you stop, look both ways, and then take your cart across the actual runway like it’s the world’s most poorly planned crosswalk.
Holes 1–3 and 9 are on one side. Holes 4–8 on the other.
I asked the pro shop how often planes get hit. He said a few times a year there’s a broken window, usually on a parked plane. Comforting, right?
There are a couple of holes where your slice or hook could absolutely send a ball on a runway vacation. I secretly hoped we’d have to stop for a plane crossing, but we weren’t that lucky. We did hear one taking off while we were on hole 7 though—so close to glory!
The Course
Honestly? The course was more challenging than expected. Most holes are straight… except hole 3, a par 5 with a nasty left dogleg that had my number all day.
After that, we made our first runway crossing (I felt like I needed a passport), and played holes 4 through 8, which all run parallel except for hole 7, which sits horizontally in the back. They look simple—but either I was having an off day or the course is sneakier than it appears.
Final score: 56. Not my worst, but definitely higher than my recent rounds.
Still loved the course and can’t wait to go back now that I know what I’m up against.
Curiosity got me wondering how many other airport-golf-course combos exist. Turns out:
• Kantarat Golf Course in Bangkok sits between two runways at Don Mueang International Airport.
• Mountain Air Country Club in North Carolina has a runway running through holes 4 and 6.
• And several private clubs across the U.S. have small airstrips on site.
The FAA Runway-Crossing Shuffle
Here’s an interesting little history nugget about the course layout. Originally, hole 9 was actually hole 4, and golfers crossed the runway right next to the green. The holes on the far side of the runway were numbered differently back then—what is now hole 6 was hole 5, 5 was 6, 4 was 7, 7 was 8 and hole 8 was 9, and the crossing happened at the end of that green instead.
Seems simple enough… until the FAA stepped in.
They told the course that having two separate runway crossings was a no-go, and one of them had to be eliminated. The problem? No matter which crossing they kept, golfers would end up having to drive back down fairways—into potential incoming shots—just to get to the next hole or the clubhouse. Not ideal, unless you enjoy living dangerously.
So the course made the only logical choice: they renumbered everything to keep just one crossing and maintain a safe, continuous routing. That’s how we ended up with today’s layout—one single runway crossing and a set of holes that make much more sense from both a golf and aviation standpoint.
👉 See all the pictures from our round at The Rock Golf Course here.
Golf Quote of the Month
This one hit a little close to home during this trip:
Truer words have never been spoken. Every year I get better in one area, worse in another, and somehow the universe keeps it balanced.
We Got Snow!
Winter decided to show off early this year. On November 9–10, we got about six inches of lake-effect snow, and by November 12 it was completely gone. A couple courses even reopened briefly. Then got another lake effect storm over Thanksgiving.
I’m still holding out hope for a mild winter and maybe—just maybe—some Christmas golf.
🌀 Check Out Our Latest Blog
And speaking of history…
If you missed it on the site:
📍 Allan Robertson: Golf’s First Pro (and the Man Nobody Could Beat)
Allan Robertson may be the most important golfer you’ve never heard of. He mentored Old Tom Morris, pioneered new shots, and even inspired The Open Championship. His story is golf history at its finest.
Reader Shared Course Pictures
🏌️♂️ Fall golf perfection in the U.P.! 🍂 Thanks to Donald W., one of our readers for sharing these stunning shots of Newberry Country Club, taken October 12th — and would you look at that? Still green, gorgeous, and barely a leaf on the ground! ⛳️👏 Have a favorite course pic? Send it our way (contact@golfupnorth.com) — your photo might be featured next! 📸
See you on the course!
Click here to see all the pictures we have taken of courses over the years.
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