Welcome to our December Newsletter!

Congratulations to

Rebecca M.

You are the winner of the November Newsletter – You submitted the correct answer

I broke 100 when we golfed The Ridge Course at The Loons Golf Resort

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SNOW?? AGAIN!!! #@&%#@&%

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The holiday has come and gone, the last of the family has headed home and I thought it was a good time to get started on the December newsletter. I hope this doesn’t become a pattern of it snowing while I am writing the monthly newsletter.

Indoor Golf – Yes or No?

This past month I was invited to visit Swing Theory, a new indoor golf facility that is opening up in Traverse City on the east side of town. I took Guy with me because I figured he would be able to give me a better opinion since he has golfed at several indoor facilities. I have only tried simulators when buying clubs.

One of the biggest attractions to golf for me was that it was outside. I am in the sun, the warmth and just a general feeling of enjoying the outdoors. I have never been attracted to golfing indoors using a simulator. Guy seems to mostly enjoy it and I know his league buddies like it, and some belong to indoor leagues and I have a son that enjoys it. Did I change my mind?

I will share more about our visit in the January issue along with pictures. Would love to hear from others their opinion of simulator golf.

Breaking 100

In the November issue I talked about our trip to the Loon Golf Resort in Gaylord area and playing The Ridge Course. As you may remember, that is the course I broke 100 on that course. YAY!!!

In that issue I asked if you were paying attention and some of you were. One of our readers very graciously emailed me with congratulations and said he did do the math and asked what was he missing. Well, it is glaringly obvious that I was typing faster than I was mathing and I was off by 2 strokes. What is even sadder is that I was looking at the score card and the score card clearly did not have 93 written anywhere on it.

My score was 95 – still under a hundred. Shout out to Jim for catching my mistake and we sent him and his wife some cool Up North Golf Schwag.

The Loon Golf Resort

Just a reminder, we booked a weekend stay and play package for the end of September at the Loon Golf Resort. It included 2 rounds of golf for each of us and 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners, total out the door price was $975. We paid for our alcohol and snacks. We thought it was a great deal! You can read more about the resort, meals and our package in last month’s Golf Up North Newsletter.

The Shuttle Ride to the Loon Course

We used the courtesy shuttle service to take us and our clubs to the Loon Course (about 5-10 minutes from our room at The Ridge). The driver was great and asked which course we had already played. We told him we had played The Ridge the day before. He said that was the harder course and that we were going to love The Loon Course. The Loon had wide open fairways and was a much easier course to play.

I just broke 100 on the harder course, I was stoked maybe I could to break 90!

The Loon Golf Course

We arrived at the clubhouse, checked in, grabbed a drink and headed out to the first hole. Just like The Ridge Course they had signage at each hole, not as nice as The Ridge’s but still signage that I wanted to get pics of. Unlike The Ridge Course, the signs were on the opposite side of the tee box from the cart path and the tee was elevated. No big deal I can climb the little hill and take a pic – which I did.

Hit onto the green and drive up and the green is elevated, again not a big deal. I climbed the hill and 3 putt for a double bogey. Not what I need to do if I am to break 90.

Head over hole 2 and the tee box is elevated and the green is also elevated. Again, not a big deal and I bogeyed that hole.

On to hole 3, a par 5 and the 3rd hardest hole on the course. Another elevated tee box and I am getting concerned. I had my best drive of the weekend. Climbed the elevated green and got a par! Maybe breaking 90 was going to happen!

One of the easiest was the hardest!

Hole 4, the 17th hardest hole (almost the easiest) and a par 3 kicked my butt. Had elevated tee box and green and I got a double bogey. Surely this was just a fluke, I would back on track in no time.

Hole 5 was this weird dog leg, it is a par 5. Even though it has a 1 handicap, it didn’t look like it would be hard at all. My tee box was close to the curve, and I had joked that I was being given a gift. Definitely not a gift. I hit straight every single time except when I get cocky and talk some trash apparently. I sliced my first drive right into the trees. Played a conditional and it followed its sister into the trees. Drove up found every ball ever hit in those trees except the 2 I just hit. Finished out the hole with an 8.

Hole 6, a par 4 was another dog leg, just not as severe. This was a hole I would have expected to bogey, but I didn’t bogey. I quadruple bogeyed (is that really a thing?). A 90 was officially off the table.

One of the surprises I alluded to in last month’s newsletter we met between holes 7 & 8. We stopped so I could use the “real” bathroom and when I came out, Guy told me to be quiet because we had visitors. There were several cranes just milling about oblivious to us and the other golfers. As we drove to the tee box on 8, the cranes decided to go fishing in the pond on hole 3 next to 8. They nonchalantly crossed over 8, taking their time and giving us plenty of photo opportunities. I always love running across wildlife on the course, rarely are they scared off by us.

On to the Back Nine

We finished out the front 9 and I got a 53, which is respectable for me, and I should have been happy with it. I was happy considering, but the shuttle driver said it was an easy course and it was not proving to be for me.

I have mentioned that I have arthritis in my back and hips and because I am allergic to anti-inflammatories, there are not many options and I mostly grin and bear it. The golfing for some reason doesn’t hurt my back and hips, golfing actually seems to help. Many times, I will arrive at a course in pain and leave pain free (it is not because of the alcohol 😊). Sometimes the pain will be minimal for a couple of days after golfing.

Courses that have a lot of hills or steps to the tees or greens can be a problem for me. Even slight elevations can be an issue if there are a lot of them. Most courses may have a few and I am usually able to cool the burn sitting in the cart between holes. The Loon had elevated tee boxes and green on all 9 holes in the front. My hips and back were on fire and honestly, I was getting a little cranky.

Quick stop at the clubhouse

Stopped at the clubhouse to refill our drinks and chatted with the bartender for a minute. He confirmed what I feared, the next 9 holes had elevated tee boxes and greens.

I had 2 choices, I could call it day and head back to our room to rest the joints or suck it up and do what I came to do, golf. I chose to finish the round because I was not sure if this was my last round of the season. Had an attitude adjustment and headed out to the back 9.

Although the pain didn’t improve much, the attitude did help some. For me the back nine was as challenging as the front.

Hole 10 has a wicked dog leg to the right. Even though my tee box was close to the curve it was still far enough back to have to hit strategically. I did not do that and got a double.

The second hardest hole on the course, hole 11 was another par 5 same as the hardest hole on the course. Unlike hole 5 this has a nice straight fairway, and I was confident I would do well. I did better than hole 5. Instead of a quadruple, I got a triple.

Holes 12 – 14

These holes were nice and straight and I did okay. Hole 12, a par 3 I doubled, hole 13, a par 5 I bogeyed! Hole 14 another par 3 I was able to par it!

At hole 14 we caught up with the group in front of us (on the green in this pic) and had a very small wait. They were a fivesome and we were a twosome, it was bound to happen. Didn’t think anything of it and it gave my hips and back a little more rest time. This group would prove to be our second pleasant surprise of the day.

After playing hole 14 and pulling up to the tee box for hole 15, we noticed something white on the ground further up. We went to see what it was, and it was a veil! We drove up the fairway to see if it was theirs.

The fivesome in front of us were a bride, groom, matron of honor, best man and officiant. They came and golfed 18 rounds and were married on one of the holes. Not sure if the resort knew they were doing that or if they cared. We thought it was sweet.

We did a Golf Course Wedding too!

When we got married, we did a 9 hole scramble with all of our guests that golf (with prizes for the team with the lowest and highest score). After the scramble our non-golfing friends joined the rest of us by the putting green and we said our vows. (all approved and arranged through the golf course).

The next 3 holes 15-17 were more dog legs. Hole 15 was another quadruple, 16 a double and 17 a bogey. Doglegs had not been kind to me that day. I knew under 90 was out of the question but had held out hope for another below 100. Those hopes were now dashed.

Final Hole

We roll up to hole 18, my back is killing me, and the pissy attitude is trying to take hold. I read the score card and saw that hole 18, a par 4 is their signature hole with an exclamation point! Sounds important, but what does that mean?

Well according to Google, a signature hole is the most memorable, aesthetically pleasing or photogenic hole. I am going with memorable as the reason they call it their signature hole because of what their score card described.

“270 yards to water from the back tees. Enjoy your second shot into this green and be rewarded with cheers from the deck when you clear the water.”

Yay, I will have an audience as I land in the water or one of the 4 bunkers around the green. Not the way I wanted to end my round.

I ended up clearing the water on my second shot and landing on the green. But, I was very disappointed to discover there would not be cheers from the deck because there wasn’t anyone to witness my feat. I went on to 2 putt and ended my round as I should with a par.

My score was a respectable 104 (for me) with 3 pars, it was those damn quadruples that killed me!

Not My Ideal Course

I would like to go back and play their Lakes Course and The Ridge Course again. For me the Loon Course wasn’t a good fit, I don’t think I would go out of my way to play it again. Guy on the other hand loved it.

See all the Pictures from our Trip

Make sure to visit our website for all the pictures we took of the resort and the Ridge Golf Golf Course and Loon Golf Course. Since it was early fall there are some glimpse of the color that was to come! If you have not played it, you should give it a try, we had a lot of fun.

Golf Quote of the Month

This makes a lot of sense to me. Most folks, if they were to golf with me would wonder why I golf based on just how bad I am. When I golf, I always have hope of doing very well and play with the attitude this is “my round”. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time. I love playing the game whether my ball stays true, or I slice it into the woods to be found by the next guy. My not having the expectation of being a scratch golfer I think does make the game much more enjoyable. Plus, it always seems my worse round ends with a par or one unbelievably amazing hole. It is why we come back, right?

Steven Bann is one of Australia’s most successful golf coaches. After turning professional in 1979, Steven played on the Australian PGA Tour from 1981 to 1996. In 1990 Steve was appointed the founding Head Coach of the Victorian Institute of Sport.

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