July 18, 2003, Vol. 3, No. 29

Sponsored by:

Mackinac Island
Thompsonville-Crystal Mountain Resort
Traverse City-Chip and Sip
__/ MICHIGAN GOLFER TELEVISION-DOUBLE FEATURE
THE DETROIT NEWSPAPERS MICHIGAN OPEN
TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO GOLF
__/ 1ST ANNUAL OTSEGO COUNTY AMATEUR
__/ LYNN JANSON ELECTED TO GRAND RAPIDS SPORTS HALL OF FAME
__/ NEWCOMB SIGNS TO DO ANOTHER NINE AT TANGLEWOOD
__/ A GOOD READ UNSPOILED-"OPEN"
__/ GOLF ROUNDS PLAYED IN MAY LAG BEHIND PREVIOUS YEAR
__/ SENIOR MOMENTS
__/ AUGUSTA OPEN AT YARROW GOLF AND CONFERENCE CENTER
__/ QUOTE OF THE WEEK
__/ GOLF CALENDAR

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MGN ON THE ROAD

Frankfort- Frankfort Golf Course

Frankfort is a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of summertime TC. This Lake Michigan port city, offers visitors a nice downtown filled with superb restaurants and terrific shops. We stayed at historic Frankfort Hotel and thoroughtly enjoyed ourselves. Just outside of town, is the nine hole Frankfort Golf Course, a tract that was built in the 20's. The course offers some killer views of Crystal Lake, a double green and old fashioned charm. For those that want a little more of a challenge, you can golf the nearby Champion Hill and Pinecroft in Beulah.

Mackinac Island-Mission Point Resort

We were on Mackinac Island to cover the Chicago to Mackinac Race, but could not help notice the jammed putting course at Mission Point Resort. This has been a hit since it started. There are a couple of other such courses in Michigan; Buck's Run and Hawk Hollow, to name a few, that also have great putting courses on property.

Thompsonville-Crystal Mountain Resort

There were smiles around for the crew at CMR as they took a bow for putting on their first major. For Chris McInnes, Brad Dean, Elaine Crosby, Joan O'Neil, Rodger Jabara and everybody else who hosted the 60 professional and amateur women golfers that played in the Fifth Third Bank Women's Michigan Open, it brought fulfillment to their dream to host a first class major tournament.

The winner, Breanne Hall, a senior from the University of Toledo, brought sufficient drama to the tournament, by vaulting into the lead on Tuesday and then holding onto that lead until her final shot for a double bogey on18 on Wednesday. It was then out to the 18th tee for the first and only playoff hole. She hit it down the fairway, while her opponent, Allison Fouch, hit it into the woods. She ended up with a birdie on the hole, which was good for the win, as Fouch scrambled out of trouble with a deft sand shot to put her within six feet of an up and down par.

The Fifth Third Bank Michigan Women's Open Tournament presented by Detroit Newspapers seemed to please just about everybody this year. Moved from the Ann Arbor area, where it had seemed to plateau, to CMR opened up some new enthusiasium. All of the major media were there, with Greg Johnson of the Grand Rapids Press and Booth chain, Larry Adderley of the Michigan Golf Network, Mike Shiels for the Detroit News, Doug VanHouen for the Free Press, Jeff Peek of Traverse City Record Eagle, Phyllis Barone of Golfer's Guide, Jennie McCafferty of Michigan Golfer Television as well as the two television stations in the area. Kudos to all at CMR, it was well done.

Traverse City locals accounted for themselves as Cherie Robinson, finished10th amateur overall, however, the wheels came off from Christy Jonkhoff, as she shot an 85-82-89.

Traverse City-Sip and Chip

This year the chipping will be fine, but there might be a dearth of wine, as the TC area wineries are trying to recover from a brutal freeze in mid March. Bob Begin of Chateau Chantal, indicated that they lost 90% of their crop this year. In mid March it was 39 degrees and then in a matter of a few days, it went to 17 degrees below zero. The vines never recovered. The TC area has been putting together Sip and Chip golf packages with the Park Place Hotel and area golf courses.

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MICHIGAN GOLFER TELEVISION- DOUBLE FEATURE

THE DETROIT NEWSPAPERS MICHIGAN OPEN

Grand Traverse Resort and Spa recently hosted, yet another excellent Detroit Newspaper Michigan Open. The final playoff hole wasn't pretty, as Bob Ackerman won out over Bryan Snyder with a bogey versus double bogey finish. This was after Ackerman bogeyed the 18th hole to bring about the playoff. However, it was still sweet for Ackerman and the end of a long journey, as he had won this tournament before in 1975, as an amateur. He is now the first person to hold both the Michigan Open and the Michigan Senior Open in the same year. He won the Senior Open at Bedford Valley earlier last month. Tim Hygh, reports on the tournament and Ken Devine, Michigan PGA, CEO, hosts the post tournament awards presentation.

TRUMBULL COUNTY- WARREN/NILES OHIO

We visited the golf community of Trumbull County recently and had a ball. While there we visited Yankee Run , Candywood GC, Pine Lakes, Avalon Lakes and Sqaw Valley CC, where the Giant Eagle is contested. While there we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, rated the No.1 Holiday Inn Express in the nation for the past 16 months and then Julia's, an unique upscale B & B, located on the property of Pine Lakes.

Bottom line, there is terrific golf in Trumbull County and we certainly recommend that you consider it for a golfing getaway. The best ways to find out about Trumbull County is to visit their website at http://trumbullcountycvb.org/ or tune in this week's Michigan Golfer Show at http://michigangolfer.tvThad Gutowski reports on the LPGA tournament and also visits these terrific golf properties.

http://michigangolfer.tv
Always On
24/7

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1ST ANNUAL OTSEGO COUNTY AMATEUR

The Natural at Beaver Creek Resort and Marsh Ridge Resort will host the 1st Annual Otsego County Amateur this coming August 30-31.

The tarrif for the event is $70 per player, which includes golf, cart and prizes for both days. It is open to all amateurâ*™s, Otsego County and non-county residents

*Five Flights* Championship, First,Second,Seniors and Ladies

The Natural -18 Holes Saturday-August 30th Marsh Ridge Resort-18 Holes Sunday-August 31st

*8:00 am Shotgun Starts Both Days Space is limited; Entries are due by August 1st 2003 Tournament will be played rain or shine. If course is closed due to conditions, then a rain date will be established

All Prizes Awarded in Gift Certificates
Call Steve Helner at The Natural 989-732-1785 to sign up.
Or e-mail stevehelner@thenatural.org
http://thenatural.org
http://marshridge.com

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LYNN JANSON ELECTED TO GRAND RAPIDS SPORTS HALL OF FAME
by Tom Cleary

Longtime Egypt Valley Country Club golf professional Lynn Janson has added another chapter to his illustrious career by being elected to the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame. The former Michigan State All-America golfer will officially gain induction to the hall at a ceremony later this year.

In doing so, he will join a select group of west Michigan golf figures whohave also been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

"It's one of the great honors I've had in sport to be named to Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame," says Janson. "Not only have I known and enjoyed my association with the other golfers there, but I'm humbled to be affiliated with great athletes from professional football, baseball, basketball and other sports here in the town where I've lived the last thirty years."

A five-time winner of the Michigan PGA "Player of the Year" Award (and a multiple winner of both the Michigan Open and the Michigan PGA Championship), Janson recently competed at his club in the Farmers Charity Classic on the Champions Tour. He became the first club professional in the history of senior golf to win a qualifying event at his home club, shooting a five-under par round of 67 before the Tour stop (which was won by Doug Tewell in a playoff over Eamonn Darcy). It was the second Champions Tour appearance in three years for Janson, who's recorded scores of par or better in four of his last six Champions Tour rounds.

Three years ago Janson was named by his alma mater as the greatest golfer in the history of Michigan State University. While competing on the collegiate level he was named to the All-America second team as a senior, along with former U.S. Open champions Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Andy North. Janson began his career at Green Ridge Country Club in Grand Rapids, which later became known as Egypt Valley when the club relocated to Ada in 1990. He has played in numerous major championships, including the 1975 U.S. Open in Chicago at Medinah, where he was paired in the third round with his boyhood idol Arnold Palmer.

*Ed. Note-The Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame can be viewed at the downtown Days Inn.

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NEWCOMB SIGNS TO DO ANOTHER NINE AT TANGLEWOOD

Bill Newcomb, architect of the Crystal Mountain Ridge course and site of this year's Fifth Third Bank Women's Michigan Open, was in Thompsonville for the fesitivities and to see how his course would hold up. Vanessa Bell, participant of the tournament and also a member of the Futures Tour, loved the course, but took Bill to task for one of the holes, the 16th. As it turned out, par was protected as winner Bremma Hall, with one over par, after surviving a playoff.

Bill was pumped, as he had just signed to do a fourth nine at Tanglewood, his first nine hole course in three years. "It has been tough out there for architects, work has been spotty." said Newcomb. He also is working on removating an 18 hole course in Dorr County, Wisconsin. Bill was highly praised for The Orchards, a course he designed that opened in Dorr Country, a couple of years ago.

Bill, a principal with the Calderone Farms course just outside of Chelsea, indicated that clubhouse construction will begin this August. Calderone Farms is up over 25% this year, a welcomed sign, for a club that has struggled since it opened a couple of years ago. "It has a great location on I-94 and the population is growing towards it," said Bill. "Overall, golf rounds are down about 20% in the industry, we are happy that we are going against that trend."

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A GOOD READ UNSPOILED-"OPEN"

I finally managed to get to John Feinstein's "Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black" and really found it to be a great read. In the past two decades of reporting on golf, I have grown weary of pronouncements like "Golf's best kept secret" or it is "a hidden gem". In the case of Bethpage Black, all that had been said about the course was true. In addition, the original course under the supervision of A.W. Tillinghast held up even after some work by Rees Jones to get it ready. As Tiger Woods said, Bethpage Black "is the toughest par-70 I have ever played in my life." Feinstein does a wonderful job in describing how they brought the course back and how the USGA went about making the decision to play The Open on a real public course. The book is by Little, Brown and Company and I highly recommend it.

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GOLF ROUNDS PLAYED IN MAY LAG BEHIND PREVIOUS YEAR

The monthly National Golf Rounds Played Report from Golf Datatech shows a 3.8% decline in rounds played in May compared to the same month in 2002. For the year, rounds played are down 2.7% versus the first five months of 2002. Gains in May rounds played were posted by the Mountain region (2.3%) and West North Central (1.1%). Largest declines came in the Middle Atlantic (-10.8%), South Atlantic (-6.7%) and East South Central (-6.3%). Through five months, West North Central showed the largest YTD increase, 6.7%, followed by Mountain, 4.1%. The biggest declines came in Middle Atlantic (-13.7%) and New England (-13.3%). Taken from NSGA Research Department at info@nsga.org.

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SENIOR MOMENTS

Since most of the high profile senior golf tournaments have wrapped for theyear, we thought we would dedicate a few songs for them. The songs have been changed just a tad to accommodate their aging tastes:
* Herman's Hermits - "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Walker"
* The Bee Gees - "How Can You Mend A Broken Hip"
* The Temptations - "Papa's Got A Kidney Stone"
* Nancy Sinatra - "These Boots Aren't Made For Bunions"
* The Beatles - "I Get By With A Little Help From My Depends"
* Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grape Nuts"
* Procol Harem - "A Whiter Shade Of Hair"
* Johnny Nash - "I Can't See Clearly Now"
* Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"
* ABBA - "Denture Queen"
* Paul Simon - "Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver"
* Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face"
* Commodores - "Once, Twice, Three Times To The Bathroom"
* Bobby Darin - "Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' A Flash"

Taken from the Internet Advisor Newsletter http://internetadvisor.net

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AUGUSTA OPEN AT YARROW GOLF AND CONFERENCE CENTER

Yarrow Golf & Conference Center is pleased to offer the Augusta Open on Augusta 14 & 15th featuring
-Two Days of Fun Tournament Golf with Cart
-Four Meals
-Overnight Guest Room
-Prizes
-Driving Range
-Scoreboard Party
-All Taxes & Gratuities
Valued over $300
Special Price for First Event = $244

The Golf Club at Yarrow has been nominated for Best New U.S. Golf Course; This event is the best chance to experience all that Yarrow has to offer.

NOTES: Your two person best ball team plays on both Thursday & Friday. Each team also gets to use scores from a contestant in this years PGA Championship being played concurrently in New York. Yarrow can customize your package to include optional events or additional golf at 11 participating courses.

Call or Email for many more details and Entry Form.
269-731-2698
yarrow.golf@tds
http://www.yarrowgolf.com

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Fay (USGA official who championed the move of The Open to BethpageBlack) circled the third green and walked down the hill leading to the fourth tee. Starting to feel a bit chilled, he walked onto the tee of the first par-five on the golf course and came to a dead stop. 'That's when I knew,'he said. 'Right there it hit me. It all came back.' The fourth tee on the Black is one of those magic golf places that golfers talk about forever. It isn't as scenic as the 18th at Pebble Beach or the ninth at Turnberry, because there's no water anywhere in sight. It isn't as daunting as the 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass or as historic as the Road Hole at St. Andrews.

But it is breathtaking, with Tillinghast's famous cross bunkers in front of you, and elevated fairways on the other side of them, and trees left and right to make you pay for a mistake. For a golf hole built in the 1930's it stands up remarkable well to the technology of today. Even a perfect drive leaves a top player with a decision to make about how to play his second shot. That comes later, though. On the tee, one just stands there and pays homage to Tillinghast.

Taken from "Open", by John Feinstein. Little, Brown and Company, 2003.

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MICHIGAN GOLF NEWS ASSOCIATION SUBSCRIBERS

Golf Association of Michigan
http://www.gam.org
Michigan Golf Course Owners Association
http://mgcoa.org
Michigan PGA
http://michigan.pga.com
Michigan Women's Publinx Golf Association
http://www.mwpga.com
Michigan State Amateur Golf Association
Dick Loring - skillplay@aol.com
Upper Peninsula Golf Association
http://upaga.org

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GOLF CALENDAR

July
07/21/23 Detroit Newspapers Tournament of Champions-Boyne Mountain Resort
07/28-31 Michigan Junior Boys Championship, Battle Creek CC, Battle Creek
07/28-29 Michigan Senior PGA Championship,The Loon, Gaylord
07/28-08/03 Buick Open, Warwick Hills GC-Flint
07/30-08/03 Western Amateur, Point O'Woods, St. Joseph

August
08/11-13 GAM Championship, Grand Haven GC, Grand Haven
08/14 MGCOA Golf Outing, Gull Lake View GC, Augusta
08/16-17 Michigan Women's Publinx State Championship, Forest Akers West GC, East Lansing
08/17-18 Wendy's Charity Golf Classic LPGA Pro-Am, Country Club of Jackson
08/18-20 Michigan PGA Championship-Shanty Creek Resort, Bellaire
08/18-19 GAM Women's Championship, Clio CC, Clio
08/18-24 Bay Mills Open, Brimley-Wild Bluff GC
08/25-26 GAM Women's Senior Amateur Championship, Crystal Mountain,Thompsonville
08/28-29 GAM Men's Mid-Amateur Championship, Treetops, Gaylord

September
09/08-11 Lincoln Mercury Classic-Pine Lake CC
09/03-04 GAM Men's Senior Amateur Championship, Lakewood Shores Resort, Oscoda
09/13-14 Michigan Net Amateur Championship, Pilgrim's Run
09/20-21 Atlas Matches, The Loon, Gaylord
09/30 Tournament of Club Champions (Men and Women) Egypt Valley, Ada

October
10/17-18 Fall Golf, Ski and Travel Show- Novi Expo
10/19-21 The GOLF 20/20 Conference, World Golf Village, Florida 2004

March
03/05-07 12th Annual Michigan Golf Show- Novi Expo
03/19-21 6th Annual Lansing Golf Show- Lansing

http://golf2020.com

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Tour and Association Calendars

Associations
Golf Association of Michigan
http://www.gam.org/champ/schedule.cgi
Michigan Section PGA
http://www.MichiganPGA.com
Michigan Golf Course Owners Association
http://mgcoa.org
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
http://www.gcssa.org

Tours
Canadian Tour- http://www.cantour.com/schedule.php
European Tour- http://www.europeantour.com
Hooters Tour- http://www.ngahooterstour.com
Futures Tour- http://www.futurestour.com/Schedules.html
PGA - http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/pgatour.html
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