Golf in Beecher

Dietz Creek Golf Range promotes on-course improvement with a multifaceted golf practice and service facility. Flush drives pierce the atmosphere above the course’s 300-yard driving range, where grass tees accommodate those who prefer a natural feel and turf mats cater to pacifistic 5-irons who consider divots barbaric. To fine-tune their short-game feel, players can chip balls at the short-game area or splash them out of the practice bunker. Inside, the darkened wonderland of Dietz’ Creek’s glo golf course invites guests to steer orbs across a black-lit circuit of rail-lined corridors teeming with obstacles including tricky ramps, a loopty loop, and swooping pterodactyls.

Draped over the tree-spotted hillocks of the Michigan countryside, Meridian Sun Golf Club's 6,090-yard course welcomes golfers to hit through its pristine fairways and enjoy its natural splendor. The course eases players into the round with a wide-open, straightaway front nine before challenging swings and waggling sand wedges with a shorter back nine populated by multiple water-lined holes. Risk-reward shot opportunities await throughout the round, including the tee shot on the par-3 13th, where balls must clear nearly 190 yards of water on their way to the green. Club owner and PGA professional Bill Mory—whose golf career spans multiple decades and includes playing in the PGA Tour's Buick Open, where players ride in 1950s Buick Skylarks in place of golf carts—presides over the grounds, conducting lessons at practice facilities that include a 4,000-square-foot practice green and a driving range with 15 hitting stalls. After rounds, golfers can bask in the sunset at the patio of Khakis Restaurant, the club's on-site grill.:m]]

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole course
• Par 70 from men's tees; par 71 from ladies' tees
• Length of 6,090 yards from the farthest tees
• Link to scorecard

Mark McCucumber’s keen architectural mind gave birth to the 18 championship holes that nestle amid Devil’s Ridge Golf Club’s 400 acres of woods, wetlands, and hills. Trees line the emerald fairways, which challenge golfers with rolling terrain that reaches elevation changes of up to 80 feet, inspiring some players to conscript mountain goats as caddies. Four sets of tees invite golfers of all stripes to aim their orbs away from the rippling surface of water hazards and more than a dozen mischievously placed sand bunkers. Sixty tee stations await golfers at the driving range to help them warm up before hitting the course. Then, after working up an appetite sawing down aim-blocking trees, they can relax with a bite to eat at The Devil’s Grille.

The 2012 golf season at Mulberry Hills Golf Club marks 50 years since architect Hank Clayton unveiled his verdant brainchild, a celebration that showcases the course’s maturation of ancient oak trees and tangled heather that now engulf the site's 188 meadowed acres. The natural habitat invites all players, from greenhorns to green-jacket holders, to take on the 18-hole excursion that covers 6,635 yards of pristine fairways, well-kempt greens, and vibrant flowers that border playable areas. As players captain their GPS–equipped 2012 Yamaha golf carts over the terrain, they encounter a gauntlet of obstacles that attempts to thwart drives, putts, and 3-iron swordfights. The par 3, 155-yard fourth hole presents a difficult forced carry over water onto a peninsula green, the most challenging of the four holes featuring shots over water. The course superintendants keep rounds moving with a pace-of-play program that ensures rounds last 4.5 hours or less, leaving plenty of daylight for sunbathing golf balls or knitting a skirt from collected divots. After the round, players can celebrate their dominance over nature at Hank's Place Bar & Grill with a menu of American fare, draft beers, and free WiFi.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course

• Total length of 6,635 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 70.9 from the back tees

• Course slope of 122 from the back tees

• Four sets of tees per hole

• Designed by Hank Clayton

The Bogey Golf Tour grants golfers a chance to take to the links and compete against fellow amateurs in tournaments scheduled at some of the finest courses in the London, Windsor, Detroit, and Kitchener/Waterloo areas. At each event, scratch golfers compete in the Birdie division, 0–15 handicaps square off in the Par division, and 16+ handicappers trade pinpoint approaches and sequined divot tools in the Bogey division. The top five finishers in each division receive prize money—which can be paid out in gift certificates or cash—and the Tour also holds prize competitions for longest drive, closest to the pin, and 3-iron jousting. The Tour publishes the results from each tournament in local newspapers, and players can chart the peaks and valleys of their careers on the Tour Members list, which compiles all of their tournament results. Along with providing an outlet for amateur golfers to exercise their long-suppressed competitive side, the Tour and its sponsors have raised $74,000 for various area charities since 2003.

Club slinger Kendall Kinsey knows his way to the green. A member of the PGA of America since 1989, he has competed in a number of tournaments and earned a win at the Michigan PGA section of the Schuss Mountain Classic. Only his talent as an instructor trumps his skill with the club. During lessons, he draws upon years of playing experience to help others develop their game and distinguish an 8-iron from an 8-pound club sandwich.