Day 8: Bahle Farms and Back to Dallas
It’s our last day in Michigan and we have to pack up, check
out and head to Traverse City. One more round of golf. This time at Bahle Farms
(https://traversecitygolf.com/ --
they should get Bahlefarmsgolf.com as a
URL as well because this course isn’t easy to find on the Internet as it should
be), a course we haven’t played that in reviews was called a “hidden gem.” It
looks like it has some rolling hills, maybe an orchard, water. It’s on the
peninsula outside Traverse. Off the beaten path but doable since it’s about 20 minutes
from the airport.
Oh, I forgot in Day 7 to include our dinner adventure (sans Pete who wanted to go to bed). In all of the year's I've been coming to Boyne, I've never been to Teddy Griffins -- a bar/restaurant right near the Boyne Highlands lodge. The parking lot is always packed. We decided to go there for dinner instead of the lodge. It was worth it and when we left, the line went out the door -- in the pouring rain. We sat at the bar and enjoyed the company around us. And, Paul is still talking about the tropical girl poster above the urinal in the men's room.
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| Raining on our way into Teddy Griffins |
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| Bar says "no sniveling." |
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| "no pissy attitudes" |
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| My prime rib sandwich. Yum. |
Off we head at 5:00 am to make our 8:10 am tee time. Plenty
of time to stop at Bob Evans (https://www.bobevans.com/
) for breakfast (I know I talk about nonchain restaurants, but breakfast
doesn’t always count since we’re looking for a convenient place to eat along
the way. Besides, I’ve never been to a Bob Evans). Chris, our waitress, takes
good care of us, giving us stronger coffee, Tom a better piece of ham. And then
she sits down when we say we’re from Dallas. Her son lives there – in Kessler
Park, right next to me!
And off to the course. It is in an orchard – a CHERRY orchard!
For $75, it seems a good deal on a Saturday. I opt to eat cherries (and pick
them for the round) instead of going to the range. My body doesn’t have many of
those warm up shots anyway.
The first hole sets us up for a good day – down and then up
hill, lined by trees. The carts are gas, so hopefully we won’t gun it when
Pete’s hitting. That wouldn’t be good. The course only gets better. A lot
hillier than the pictures on their website. The greens aren’t too tricky, but a
couple of holes it would have been good to know the slope. Some of the holes
are in the woods. Some are in the orchard (Cherry and we think Peach or
Apricot). More cherries for me. Get a glimpse of a turkey with her babies.
While I wouldn’t call this course a “bucket list” course, it
was a great way to end our trip to Michigan. Not too challenging. Plenty of
scenery. Little slower pace of play than we like, but it’s a Saturday morning
and the “regulars” play on Saturday as we find out.
Also find out that Mario Batali who has a house up this way,
plays here:
Round ends on a funky little down hill, up hill hole. We end
with a selfie, since Heather showed us how.
Pack up the bags, pack up the car, and then off to the
airport (http://tvcairport.com/ ) we go,
breezing through check in and security before our flight leaves. Unfortunately,
no time for Moomers. Our flight is late in leaving – late enough that there is
concern over catching our connecting flight from O’Hare to DFW. When we land at
ORD, the flight attendant asks people who aren’t connecting not to get off so
that some of us with tight connections can try and make our flights (the woman
next to me, was pretty rude – not connecting, but she’s “fast”). We dart to our
gate, going from G to K, getting on the plane when they are announcing last
call. But, will our bags make it? Why, yes, they do according to the App. And
confirmed by Paul when we land because he watched our bags get loaded onto the
plane.
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| Just make it to the plane |
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| Pete before his nap. |
Pete takes a nap. I read a book. Land at DFW and then the
long wait for bags commences. Poor guy in customer service is overwhelmed – and
he’s the one that has to unlock the oversized bin. All bags arrive. Tony and I
drop off Tom and head home. Another year, another golf trip. And we all
survived.
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