Day 2: Bahle Farms and Crooked Tree
OK, the Seasons Inn in Traverse City – well, not worthy of a
TripAdvisor review, even though I’ll probably get around to it. At least the
floors in the rooms were laminate, not carpet. And they had free coffee. Day
one starts with a stop at McDonalds on the way to Bahle Farms (https://traversecitygolf.com/, 231-271-2020) in Suttons Bay, MI.
Black 72.2/137 6651
Blue 70.8/131 6298
White 68.5/123 5788
Gold 65.4/109 5062
Red 67.7/114 4606
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| Driving range (no longer have the cherry orchard next to it) |
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| golf in a cherry orchard |
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| Short's local light beer (nice!) |
Definitely off the beaten path south of Traverse City. Lined
in spots with Cherry Orchards. Elevation. Fields. Farms. You’ve got it on this
course. Plus, some of the craziest greens around – definitely need course
knowledge to be on the proper part of the green. They have gas carts, so we’re
bound to get Pete mad by not knowing he’s ready to hit while still driving.
But, their tees are cool – they have their logo on the top where the tee goes.
#1 starts you with a treelined downhill shot. Great way to
start the trip in Michigan. I start out in the woods right, but manage to make
bogey. I really like the par 3s on this course. If you are short, you may be in
the water, or a bunker. If you go long, you may have a crazy chip down a bank
onto the green.
One problem with BF is that they allow a lot of twosomes. As
a foursome, I started out feeling we were bogging down the course. We let two
guys play through at the turn, but then looked at our pace and it was under two
hours for the front nine, and didn’t let any more twosomes play through. At the
turn, Tom and I discovered a new brew: Shorts Local Light (https://www.shortsbrewing.com/ ) (from
Elk Ridge/Bellaire, MI). Tom think it tastes like Wisconsin’s Spotted Cow (he
has Pete’s mom bringing it from WI since you can’t buy it in any other state –
she was on a mission this weekend and secured three cases of canned Spotted Cow).
Tom and I also discover another kind of cherries in the
orchards (I’m the only one who doesn’t mind the tart cherries): yellow cherries
are really, really sweet and yummy (and even better when chilled on ice from
the beer cooler). We may have to “go poopies” later (who cares and yes, we say
that on the golf course), but so good I wish we could have taken time to pick
more.
The 17th hole is a drivable shot if you want to
take on a tight treelined fairway. I should have taken an iron off the tee
instead of listening to Tom have me try a crazy hook (I don’t have a crazy hook
unless it’s by accident). You finish on the 18th hole with a
downhill shot, followed by a steep uphill shot to the green. Go left with a
right pin and have fun with the putt. Go long and have fun with the putt. You
get the drift.
Round 1 down and Round 2 at Crooked Tree.
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| Tom's local grocery store in Traverse City |
Stop for coffee at Biggby’s Coffee (https://www.biggby.com/) – pretty good, go
to Tom’s (grocery store -- https://www.toms-foodmarkets.com/)
for Better Made Butter Braided Pretzels (https://bettermade.com/),
Coors Light and some Shorts Local Light. See a Moomers (http://moomers.com/ ) “outlet” and stop for ice
cream (blueberry cheesecake pretty good, Tom likes his lemon poppysee and Pete creamsicle
– we accidently locked Paul in the mini van).
Crooked Tree is the first round on “Boyne Property” across
the street from Bay Harbor (well really across the street from a gas station,
but close). It’s not always on the rotation. We like it, but there are just
some holes that are “stupid.” They fixed a couple of the tricked-up holes
(think: 16 and 17) by removing some of the hazard between the end of the
fairway and the green that made for tough tee shots and longish second shots).
The last few holes have views of the bay.
Brown 6669 yards
Purple 6396 yards
Orange 6134 yards
Blue 5978 yards
Green 5396 yards
Silver 4528 yards
Before we left, I went on our Boyne account (I say our
account because it’s under Tom’s name, but I’ve been the one adding to it,
using the little Boyne Rewards card for years – you can use it for pro shop,
dining, lodging – AND even bev cart as we discovered late in our trips or we’d
have tons of points). We had almost 14,000 points. I used them up for $600 of
Boyne gift certificates, whatever they may be. When we got to Crooked Tree,
they converted them to gift cards, much easier to use. It goes towards the city
for food/bev/tips/etc. We used it for beer and brats at the Grille at Crooked
Tree.
It’s on the warm side on Sunday – and humid. But, there’s a
chance of rain and a cool front on Sunday night or Monday.
Before heading to Boyne Mountain, we have dinner at Bay
Harbor Golf Club, on the patio (reopened). A little drama over our meal that
should be part of the Super Five Boyne Golf package, but because we haven’t
checked in, we end up using our gift certificate to pay for our meal and drinks
on the patio and then head to the mountain to check in (no drama and they give
us Friday evening dinner because of the mix up at Bay Harbor). Creekside cabin
with hot tub. Unpack, turn in. Been a long day and it’s close to 11:00 pm. Well
past my bedtime.
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