Off to Michigan via Chicago: First up: Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan

Tony is wonderful, as always, at getting me and Tom to the airport. This time we’re flying out of Love Field on Southwest – to Midway. It’ll be my only second time flying since COVID (my first was to Michigan last year). Our flight is at 6:05 am – and, you know I’m a morning person (and, yes, I did get up at 3:00 am to watch The Open), but even this is early for a flight. At least Pete has our bags and we don’t have to check anything (or deal with the travel nightmares of lost baggage – as a lefty, would hate not having my clubs).

Pete and Levi leave on Thursday and drive to Chicago to spend a day with Pete’s Mom, who lives in Wrigleyville and is letting us have her SUV for the trip. That saves $800+ in car rental!

Pete takes my bag, and golf clubs, to Chicago.

This is Levi’s first trip to Michigan, but he has been to Wisconsin with Pete and Tom two times (those are only for about three days of golf). We’ll see how he likes Michigan.

The weather in Dallas this week has been 100+.

We pick up Tom at 4:15 am and head to Love. Surprisingly it’s pretty crowded at this time. A lot of people mask up at Love (ourselves included, even though I had to fish my mask out of my bag). Pretty uneventful in the airport. Pete calls twice. The second time because Levi has seen weather and is worried about us. My comment: we haven’t even left yet, don’t worry about it.

I find out a sad thing: my zipper on my pink sweater. The one that has gone on every Michigan golf trip for over 20 years. The one I bought at Nieman Marcus. It’s unrepairable. The zipper is in many pieces. I am sad. Tom’s comments on getting a new zipper put on it would cost more than the sweater. My pink sweater will be staying in Michigan (along with my underwear, socks, pink golf shoes and who knows what else).

Geekiness: WSJ on the plane since it delivered before we left!

We board – Tom saves me a seat up front next to him so we can get on and off quickly (our tee time is at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan at 11:45 am ET – we’ll have to be perfect to make this tee time).

All is good. We taxi out, get out on the runway. And then, engine off. Pilot: there is weather in Chicago and airport is closed right now. We’ll wait here. We wait. Then, pilot comes back and tells us that the airport is open, but there is a big backlog at Midway, so we’re heading back to the gate to come up with “a plan.” They let a couple of people off who are going to miss their flight. We stay on. Almost two hours later, we finally take off. Harbor Shore tee time looks suspect, but nothing we can do until we get to Chicago and on the road.

[NOTE: I am not blogging live. Right now, I’m sitting on the floor in our cabin at Boyne Mountain, trying to drink coffee, blog and stretch at the same time. It’s only three rounds of golf so far and my back is a little tight.]

We land and book to the baggage claim to meet up with Pete and Levi. On the road. Judy’s SUV is PACKED. And off we go. Traffic is pretty bad out of Chicago, and even in to Indiana and Michigan. We stop in Michigan City to grab snacks (coincidentally next to the Harley Davidson dealership Tony and I stopped at on our ride around Wisconsin and Michigan). We’ve already called and moved our tee time to 2:30 pm ET at Harbor Shores.

We pull into Harbor Shores (https://www.harborshoresresort.com/golf -- they have a Senior event there, Kitchenaid, because Whirlpool is headquartered in Benton Harbor). It’s located on the Lake, but also around a reconverted warehouse area, and right on the railroad tracks. The artwork on the course is pretty cool, with tribute plaques primarily about Jack and his prowess at major tournaments. I didn’t realize how close the driving range was to the railroad tracks!

Driving range is right along the railroad tracks. 

The "tributes to Jack" artwork is nice on all of the holes. This is #1.

Off we go on #1. I am playing the forward tees. Considering I’ve been off golf for almost two years, and I’m 50+ and just not that good anymore there is no sense in playing any further back. It’s a warm day – I think the high is 87 degrees (by Dallas standards, cold).

#1 is a benign starting hole. #2 is a wonderful really short, blind tee shot par 3. I spend the day wondering what the senior pros think of this course. It has a lot of blind tee shots, dog legs, with some really odd greens. Not too long. Quite a bit of sand. A bit of water in ponds and creeks (with people kayaking). While we are almost on Lake Michigan for a few holes (beach was crowded), we don’t play on Lake Michigan.

My favorite hole is a par 4 with the green perched on top (and then you get to see the beach) with lots of bunkering and grasses around. While I didn’t do it this trip, I chipped in for par the last time.

View of Lake Michigan. Beach is crowded.

We’re all a bit sluggish so beer and for Tom, Johnny Renos (vodka and diet Red Bull). Levi’s front nine is pretty bad (53), but he fixes things on the back with a 39. You have to love handicaps like mine and Levi’s. We can sometimes go low, but we have a lot of high potential as well.

We’re behind some people and wait quite a bit. And it’s warm. But a good round at Harbor Shores. Not sure it’s worth the $180 per round to play it, but it is a fun course. The “bar and package store” I talk about John Daly stopping at during my round is spruced up – and next to it they’ve built a brewery!

Load up and head to Cadillac Michigan. We’re staying the night at the, as Don, the GM at El Dorado says, newly renovated Lake Cadillac Resort (last time we stayed there, I had a jacuzzi tub in my outdated room). It’s about a 2+ hour drive – but we stop in South Haven to go to Sherman’s Dairy for ice cream.

Alas, no Sherman’s Dairy for ice cream because it was an hour-long line. I forgot about that. When we were kids, I think we always went early to beat the lines. Culvers across the street it is. I am sad.

The line outside Sherman's Dairy. We went to Culver's across the street instead. Sadness.

Starts raining on our way to Lake Cadillac Resort – but, we pull in, check in in the rain (thunder/lightning kind of rain). Yes, the rooms are renovated and much better. Sleep then meet at 6:00 a.m. to head out to El Dorado on Sunday morning. A gem down the street.