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Ross Tanner, PGA TOUR Partners Magazine
Sweetgrass Golf Club is without a doubt an excellent track. It is playable by all types of golfers and will test your entire game. Each hole is properly named as it incorporates a special trait paying homage to the Hannahville Band of the Potawatomi Nation. Plan on playing it twice because after stepping off the 18th green and adding up your score, you will be yearning to knock at least six strokes off your first round score….at least that is what I did.
When people think of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, great golf probably does not come to mind. But that is quickly changing and rightfully so. The natural terrain the course designers have to work with cannot be matched. Within a short drive from Iron Mountain, you can find fantastic courses at great prices all playing totally different. At the end of the day, you will have a smile on your face regardless of your score.
Larry Berle, Golf Journeys Magazine
Sweetgrass, as its name implies, is one sweet golf course brought to us by, soon to be well known golf architect, Paul Albanese. He has taken some of the ancient lore and stories of the local Hannahville Band of Potawatomi Nation, and crafted holes that reflect these stories in a genius way ... understanding how the stories fit the holes adds an exciting dimension to playing a round of golf – and it's lots of fun to play.
My trip to play golf in the U.P. was a very pleasant surprise. We played three courses up there and each was a gem unto itself. Each sculpted craftily into its topography, from the mountainous and tree lined TimberStone, to the glacial and granite outcroppings that define Greywalls.
I have played the entire Golf Digest Top 100, so it takes a great course to impress me, but I would gladly return there some day and enthusiastically send my friends as well.
Scott Sumner, Northwest Ontario Golfing News and Thunder Bay Business
The beautifully conditioned Sweetgrass Golf Club features ultra smooth and fast greens and plays to 7,275 yards from the black tees. It has five bridges on it rescued from various county roads around the area when taken out of use. The old one-lane car bridges are a nice look and add to the course ambience.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula offers some tremendous golf in a natural setting. The people here are ultra friendly and go out of their way to ensure your golf experience is a great one! A recent trip offered three excellent courses, Sweetgrass Golf Club, TimberStone at Pine Mountain and Marquette Golf Club where we would play the Greywalls course. You may be able to find a stay-and-play package for two nights at the Island Resort & Casino located in Harris, Michigan and three 18-hole golf rounds at these courses for $200 per person, based on double occupancy. How’s that for a deal in 2008!
Joel Zuckerman, Freelance Writer
Speaking specifically of Sweetgrass Golf Club, I found this facility to be just as dramatic and inspiring a golf grounds as the other courses we experienced, and the lack of elevation on the property only underscores the vision and strategic understanding as implemented by architect Paul Albanese, with whom I had the pleasure of enjoying a round. I will also briefly comment on the absolutely stellar accommodations I was fortunate to enjoy at the Island Resort and Casino, which was one of the most modern and comfortable suites I’ve enjoyed in a great while, and truly a tremendously pleasant surprise to find in an area as rural and rustic as greater Escanaba.
I was fortunate to cross the 600 lifetime course barrier in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in early September of this year, and this milestone was reached at a superlative and challenging golf venue, truly one of the 20 or 30 most enjoyable golf courses I’ve ever had the pleasure to play – TimberStone, in Iron Mountain.
TimberStone was a picture-book example of all the golf I was lucky enough to experience in my first foray to the U.P. – well-conditioned, uncrowded, memorable, and demanding. It’s a little-known, but highly recommended golf destination.
I would recommend the U.P in general, and the Island Resort and Casino specifically, to anyone who wants to enjoy a summer or early autumn golf getaway in an area they haven’t previously explored.
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