BELLAIRE, MI – Golf professionals and talented amateurs from the U.S. and Canada will congregate in this small Northern Michigan town this fall for a new Michigan Pro-Am Tournament.
The 54-hole event is scheduled for Sept. 7-11 on three championship courses at Shanty Creek Resorts. It’s being organized by The Golf Connection, an international golf promotion group that conducts similar tourneys in Jamaica, St. Kitts, and Cancun, which has signed a three-year contract with Shanty Creek. In a pro-am tournament, teams consisting of one PGA Pro and three amateurs compete against one another.
“This will allow us to provide our attendees with a destination golf experience unlike anything we currently offer in the Caribbean,” said Golf Connection’s president, Tom Jaronski. “The dates are perfect for U.S. teams from the Sun Belt looking to escape the heat of a long summer, and a great way for Canadian clubs north of the border to extend their tournament season.”
Over the three days of the tournament, teams will compete on Tom Weiskopf’s Cedar River Golf Club, a challenging course with dramatic changes in elevation, then on Arnold Palmer’s The Legend, which winds through beautiful hills and ridges while offering stunning views of Lake Bellaire and the surrounding northern Michigan hardwood forests, and finally at the Schuss Mountain Golf Club, which combines tight fairways with exhilarating elevation changes.
The tournament is open to a maximum of 30 teams, although Jaronski is realistically projecting a field of eight to 10 teams for a first-year event. Golfers who need to partner up with a club professional can arrange pairings with the Michigan PGA, which is actively recruiting pros to play.
“Our members are proud of what our state has to offer,” said Michigan PGA director Kevin Helm, “and look forward to the opportunity to host and participate with amateur players coming to experience golf in northern Michigan."
Shanty Creek is eminently suited for such an event. Perched on the steep highlands above Northern Michigan’s scenic Chain of Lakes region, it’s a four-season resort complex made up of three distinct “villages” -- Summit, Schuss and Cedar River. The resort recently completed a $10 million renovation project to the Lakeview Hotel & Conference Center, and features over 500 rooms, 53 ski runs, 72 holes of championship golf and over 35,600 square feet of meeting space.
“We are very excited to showcase Shanty Creek Resorts to club professionals and amateurs from around the country”, said Chris Hale, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Shanty Creek. “Our location and the quality of our championship golf courses make Shanty Creek one of the top golfing destinations in the country, and a natural fit for the Michigan Pro-Am.”
Jaronski says his company’s goal is to market Shanty Creek and the surrounding area to “a wide cross-section of affluent, avid golfers from clubs across the US and Canada.” Northern Michigan provides a very different and much more affordable experience from Golf Connection’s other tourney sites in the Caribbean.
Tournament packages, which start at $1,749 per person (double occupancy) if booked by August 1, include four-nights lodging, all meals, three tournament rounds plus additional unlimited golf, evening dinner receptions with hosted beer and wine, tournament favors and more! Visit www.michiganproam.com for more details.
