As a golfer myself, it is gratifying to know that golf courses are taking note of the public’s booming interest in the sport and investing in and expanding their facilities. Among these is the Island Resort and Casino, near Escanaba in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Island Resort was known as a regional casino option when it first added the highly-rated Sweetgrass Golf Course in 2008. Sweetgrass soon became the longtime host of one of the EPSON Tour’s favorite stops on the schedule. This year marked the 13th year of the pro tournament. The winner earns an exemption into the Evion Championship, an LPGA Tour major.
Remarkably, in 2022, only its 15th year of operation, Sweetgrass also earned the National Golf Course of the Year award, which honors great golf while also recognizing a property’s commitment to growing the game and supporting its communities.
Ten years after Sweetgrass opened, Sage Run was added to give the resort 36 holes — which still might not be enough. So, plans are underway to add 9 more holes to Sage Run, announced this summer. It will be called the Cedar Course (Kishki), located on the Sage Run Golf Course site as its own course, not an extension of Sage Run.
GM Tony Mancilla explained that the new nine is intended to give golfers an additional nine-hole round in the afternoon or evening if they played 18—or a nine-hole experience for golfers who might want to squeeze in more golf but still have time to travel home in the afternoon.
A routing has been released, and Mancilla said that designer Paul Albanese had full freedom to create his vision — but where possible they would like to do some ‘tribute’ holes.
“We want to do something different from Sweetgrass and Sage Run that are already there,” Mancilla added. “So, we are saying to Paul, design the holes and make the course fit right, but if you have the chance to add some bunkers, maybe do ‘church pew bunkers’ like at Oakmont, or maybe build a punchbowl green. Then it becomes unique because a lot of people do not get a chance to play a once-in-a-lifetime-deal like the Chicago Golf Club (location of the real punchbowl) or Oakmont, so if the land is right and we have the chance to add that — and we might not be able to — but let’s add those things in there and share the history with our guests.
“The land we have for Cedar is perfect for the concept,” Mancilla said. “The course will wind through a valley with gently rolling hills and some elevation. It will be less severe land than Sage Run but have more movement than Sweetgrass — somewhere right in-between.”
In addition to the course, Cedar will offer a multi-hole complex featuring multiple greens with varying short and mid-level par 3 shots that can be played in all directions. This will be a fun golf experience for groups and golfers looking for extra golf that can be played in about an hour.
Sweetgrass was doing about 16,500 rounds per year when they added the second course, and now it’s over 25,000 rounds each year. Sage Run hosted over 17,000 rounds in 2023. These are large numbers considering the golf season is even shorter in the great Up North.
“(Bandon Dunes developer) Mike Keiser is famous for saying one plus one equals three — that when you add a second course, it’s not going to double your rounds, it will _more than_ double your rounds, and we are experiencing that right now,” Mancilla said.
This growth, plus the incredibly-fair pricing for the resort’s hotel accommodations and golf options, make Island Resort and Casino one of the best golf resort values in the entire Midwest. Seriously, the pricing is very fair and will surprise you.
“We have invested a lot into our golf hospitality area, hiring three dedicated people who really understand golf from the customer side on building great packages and what golfers are looking for,” Mancilla added.
Beyond the golf courses, Island Resort has wonderful casino games, slots, poker, bingo and table games — and SI SportsBook by Sports Illustrated. Its showroom also hosts entertaining concerts all year long.
Then there is the Drift Spa and the regionally-renowned Horizons Steakhouse on the top floor of the hotel tower on the property, offering an incredible panoramic view of the Sweetgrass Course and surrounding U.P. countryside.
“We’ll have golf groups from 12-to-40 people and they are here several days,” Mancilla said. “I know when I go on trips, about halfway through I’m sore and tired, and think, ‘I sure could use a massage.’ We have that available at Drift Spa and not everyone knows it. And especially if you’re older like I’m getting (age 55), I just wake up sore,” he said with a chuckle.
The prairie links-style Sweetgrass layout meanders to a wide-open vista where many greens and flags can be seen in the distance. The highlight of this course is the fun green complexes. For course architecture geeks, you have a Redan, Biarritz, Island, and Double-green. The back nine also included arguably two of the best par-3’s I have played. The 12th (full disclosure my only career hole-in-one) features one of the coolest Biarritz holes and the par-3 15th requires an accurate shot with a short iron into an island green.
Like Sweetgrass, Sage Run was also designed by Albanese and is a bold contrast to the other. Selected by Golf Digest as one of the “Best New” courses in America in 2019 and ranked 20th in Michigan’s top courses by Golfweek, Sage Run offers a more rugged experience with hardwoods, open areas, and a massive ridge that Albanese likened to Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.
For more information about Island Resort and Casino and its golf packages, visit [islandresortgolf.comor call 877-475-4733.
For more insight on golf in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, visit MIGolfJournal.com
