Hail to Michigan
Below are excerpts from an article that originally appeared in Colorado Avid Golfer.
Appearing annually alongside the Pebbles, Bandons and Pinehursts in the rarified air of the national Top 15 "Courses You Can Play" rankings, Arcadia Bluffs is the most beloved and busy public- access course in golf-mad northern Michigan. Perched 225 feet above Lake Michigan with views worth paying for, golfers happily shell out $195 per round in the summer high season to ride this Rick Smith- and Warren Henderson-designed rollercoaster. So expectations ran high when Arcadia announced it would build a second course- albeit "across the street" on an apparently feature-less apple orchard with no lake views and just 60 feet of elevation change.
Arcadia owner Rich Postma found the right man for the job in ascendant architect Dana Fry, fresh off global acclaim from his design role with the 2017 U.S. Open course, Wisconsin's Erin Hills. Among many business endeavors, Postma is the co-founder and CEO of U.S. Signal Co., the largest privately held fiber-optic carrier in the Midwest, while Fry has been immersed in golf design since the 1980s (most notably with Dr. Michael Hurzdan) and now partners with Jason Straka.
Postma and Fry quickly bonded over their shared passion for the linear legacy of the circa- 1894 Chicago Golf Club, the oldest club in the country and a timeless tribute to the design stratagem of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. Postma and Fry knew they had to create something special as an Arcadia Bluffs "encore," and Postma was willing to take a risk to get there.
The South Course at Arcadia is not a copy or replica of the legendary Chicago Golf Club, but boldly emulates its old-world style and feel; Arcadia calls it "complexity veiled by simplicity." When it opens on Aug. 1, golfers will be exposed to something entirely new, yet classically old: rectangular tees with 90-degree corners; straight-lined fairways bordered by fescue; Raynor- inspired elevated greens with square corners; and rectangular bunkers with steep grass faces and flat bottoms. Viewed from high above, the right angles appear harsh, but from the ground, with its contours and swirls, the canvas. is natural, fresh and fun. Designed to play hard and fast, fairways average 52 yards in width, with 18 yards of rough before the tall fescue. The huge green complexes average a stupendous 9,400 square feet (get ready for 115- foot putts) and overflow with swales, ridges and slopes.
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