Tullymore

In recent years, Michigan has become a serious golfing destination and the Tullymore Golf Resort (formerly the St Ives Resort) in Stanwood is doing its bit to help the cause. There are two courses at Tullymore and the first to be laid out was simply named “St Ives” but it was the second course, designed by Jim Engh, which grabbed world attention when it opened for play in 2002.

“With its wooded vegetation and wetland preserves, Tullymore has a character unique to the world of golf,” wrote Engh. Tullymore is routed through woods and water with the Shinglebolt Creek meandering into play on a few holes. This is a vast site of some 800 acres but the Tullymore playing surfaces are polished to perfection. The closing hole is considered to be one the greatest and most photogenic finishing holes in Michigan.

The hardest hole on the course comes early in the round at the 456-yard 2nd, and it perfectly demonstrates two distinctive Tullymore trademarks, the first of which is the long squiggly fairway bunker and the second is the long narrow green. Golfers who can come to terms with these two unnerving design features during a round will inevitably score well.