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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – With 971 golf courses (only Florida and California have more) Michigan is one of America’s leading golf states. But Michigan golf was a pretty humdrum affair until June 17, 1985.
That was the day the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa opened The Bear, a brilliant tour de force by Jack Nicklaus that put Northern Michigan on the international golf map. Widely considered a revolutionary course at the time, it has maintained its reputation for difficulty and brilliance during the 25 years since it opened.
"The people who play here are going to have a challenge and also have some fun, whatever level of golfer they might be,” Nicklaus said at the time. “With rolling land, trees, lakes, streams and flatland, you have a mixture of different features that you rarely see on one course. That's what makes this course unique. No two holes are similar."
This year, the resort plans to observe that historic year with a series of special events, prizes and reminiscences – starting with a 25 percent discount on green fees on the 25th of each month.
“We think 2010 will be a great year to play The Bear,” said Tom McGee, the resort’s director of golf operations. “We want to make the 25th anniversary a lot of fun for golfers, and attract golfers who may not have played it within the past few seasons. We want everyone to celebrate with us.”
The Bear is a links-style par 72 course featuring Scottish terraced fairways, tiered greens, deep grassy roughs, moguls, mounds, and deep pot bunkers. It winds its way past lakes, ponds, hardwood forests, streams, and fruit orchards that are home to a variety of wildlife. (But no bears to speak of.)
Nicklaus has designed over 300 golf courses around the globe, but The Bear was his first work in Michigan - and it remains a favorite with many professionals. In spite of its famed difficulty, good golfers can score on it, says the Resort’s head golf professional, Scott Hebert, who won six Michigan Open championships on its challenging terrain.
“The Bear is the best golf course I’ve ever played,” says Hebert, “And after 25 years it has not lost any of its bite. Every hole is different, which makes it unique, and to play it well, your game should be sharp.”
Perhaps the best-known golfer to play The Bear was the winner of the 1990 Ameritech Senior Open, Chi Chi Rodriguez, who said, "(The Bear) is one of the great golf courses we play. The thing that makes this course so great is that it can be set up as tough as you want. This course challenges you on every shot. This is the way golf courses should be designed.”
The Bear also sparked a wildfire of designer course construction all around the Traverse City area. Soon Nicklaus was joined by such names as Gary Player (The Wolverine), Arnold Palmer (Manitou Passage, The Legend), Jerry Matthews (Mistwood, Sundance, The Torch), Tom Weiskopf (Cedar River) and Tom Doak (High Pointe).
Within a few years, Golf Magazine was referring to the region as “America’s Summer Golf Capital,” and Golf Digest gave it the No. 12 spot in its 2001 list of the world’s top 50 golf destinations.
Traverse City markets itself as a “complete golf destination,” stressing the region’s beautiful beaches and the picturesque wine country of the nearby Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas, as well as its quaint shopping districts, fine dining and casino gaming.
Golf at The Bear and at Traverse City’s other 16 courses is easy to arrange through the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau’s unique “create your own golf package” program, which offers golfers the ability to mix and match course reservations and accommodations at 22 hotels, motels and resorts.
Details can be found on line at www.visittraversecity.com/golfdeals or by calling 1-888-499-4503.
Fans of The Bear are being invited to celebrate the 25th Anniversary by sharing their stories and photos. Once the season opens, there will be contests for special prizes as well as a series of special savings events. For more information, visit www.grandtraverseresort.com.
Editor's Note: Photo courtesy of the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau. An aerial view of The Bear at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, showing some of the design features that have made it such a challenging course. While its fairways are modest and its 7,000-yard length and 146 slope rating have been surpassed by more recent designs, its heavily-guarded green complexes are still a “bear” to play.
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