The first three-day session is June 8-10.  They run most summer weekends either Thursday through Saturday or Friday through Sunday until August 23-25.  Day clinics begin June 12 and run Tuesday or Wednesday until August 28.  Two two-day schools (July 6-7 and August 26-27) are available.  For more information, visit Dave Pelz Scoring Game School.

“We figured with all the hard work we’ve put into Manitou Passage, it was time to showcase the course and all the new facilities with a tournament,” said Jamie Jewell, Vice President of Sales & Marketing.  Nobody delivers a better combination of vacation living and great golf than The Homestead and Manitou Passage. 

After registration Thursday, May 31st, teams will warm up their game on Mountain Flowers, a scenic par-3 course at the resort.  An opening reception, putting tournament and dinner will follow.  Friday and Saturday will feature tournament rounds with shuttles provided to Manitou Passage, where breakfast will be served in the clubhouse.  Following tee times, there will be some down time before a reception on Bay Mountain overlooking Lake Michigan and dinner each night at the Mountain Flowers Lodge.

Check-out day on Sunday doesn’t have to be just a boring travel day.  A complimentary pass to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will allow guests to experience the “Most Beautiful Place in America,” as chosen by viewers of ABC’s Good Morning America.  For more information, visit Manitou Passage Golf Club. 

Extensive modifications by the Wadworth Construction Co. have improved playability while enhancing the course’s charming setting.  The elevated tees with soaring views of the Leelanau Peninsula and the beautiful tree-lined fairways void of houses still elicit goose bumps for those experiencing them for the first time.  It was during these changes – the repositioning of tees and tree clearing – that opened up the view of Lake Michigan from the eighth tee box that gave the course its name.  The Manitou Passage is an underwater preserve filled with ship wrecks.

The completely remodeled clubhouse allows players the ultimate comforts before or after a round.  Early birds can revel in fresh baked muffins and steaming hot coffee free of charge.  The decor – the fireplaces, art and table games – of the Great Room create an inviting atmosphere.  The Grill serves excellent fare inside or out on the patio overlooking the 18th green.  Welcome to Northen Michigan golf at its finest.

Manitou Passage Golf Club opens for the 2012 season Friday, April 27.  For tee times, call 231.228.6000.

Fall Foliage at Manitou Passage Golf Club

The Manitou Passage Golf Club season is coming to a close, but before we say “good-by,” we have a few updates to share with you.

• The warm and sunny autumn is not only bringing out spectacular color, but golfers don’t want the season to end. So,we are extending the season one more week through October 23rd. Don’t miss the fall foliage because it is changing fast.
• Everything in our golf shop is on sale now. Get a jump on the Christmas season to take advantage of the best deals of the year on golf shirts, shorts, hats, gloves and more. The golf shop is open from 8:o0am to 6:30pm daily.
• The Frost Fighters Two-Person Scramble for October 16th has been cancelled.
• On October 17, the front nine holes will be closed for aerification. The back nine holes will be open for play.
• On October 18, the back nine holes will be closed for aerification. The front nine holes will be open for play.
• October 23 is closing day for the 2011 season
• Enjoy the following photographs taken at Manitou Passage Golf Club this fall.

Manitou Passage Golf Club will be closed for routine golf course maintenance beginning at 2:00 pm on Monday, September 5, 2011 through the remainder of the business day on Tuesday, September 6, 2011. The golf shop and clubhouse facilities will also be closed Tuesday, September 6th.

We are closing the course during these days and times so that we can perform fairway and green aerification. This is a process that involves using heavy equipment to puncture small holes into the playing surfaces to help facilitate healthy growth and prevent disease. 

Holes are poked in to the soil to allow air to penetrate the roots. Grass roots require air as well as grass leaves.  Within a few months of aerification, the holes are usually filled with grass roots. This proliferation of roots deep into the soil results in a much better turf. An aerified soil has a much better water holding capacity. Each hole in the lawn acts as a little reservoir to hold water after a rain. Less water will run off, and the need for additional irrigation will be reduced.

This is a common maintenance practice that all golf courses do at this time of the year. We anticipate the playing surfaces healing within 7 -10 days. Manitou Passage Golf Club will reopen on Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

The votes are in and America has spoken in the Good Morning America’s contest, “America’s Most Beautiful Places.” Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore received the most votes out of ten outstanding contenders including Hawaii, California, and North Carolina.

Watch the Good Morning America announcement that aired this morning, August 17, 2011.

Watch the Good Morning America segment, “Most Beautiful Places: Point Reyes, Sleeping Bear Dunes,” that aired on August 9, 2011.

One of our regular summer golfers, Mario Batali, played a roll in bringing attention to the area. Mario was interviewed live this morning on Skype at his Leelanau summer home. ABC News created a separate segment of the story just for Mario called, “Mario Batali on the Wonders of Sleeping Bear.” He also helped encourage others to vote by tweeting about the contest on Twitter before the contest ended at midnight on Friday. Read the blog, “Mario Batali’s Passion for Leelanau.”

Traverse Magazine and The Homestead had the inside scoop on what was going on. Read about it in their most recent blog posts:

• Good Morning America: Sleeping Bear Dunes Wins, by MyNorth’s Elizabeth Edwards.
• Good Morning America Comes to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, by MyNorth’s Elizabeth Edwards.
• How Sleeping Bear Dunes Bewitched Good Morning America and Me, by MyNorth’s Rachel North.
• Good Morning America Gets Taste of Sleeping Bear Dunes & The Homestead, by The Homestead’s Jamie Jewell.

Thank you to everyone that voted and spread the word!   

The Father Fred Foundation announced this weekend that in addition to the $100 that Fox Motors is donating for each participant in the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championship golf tournament at Manitou Passage Golf Club, Dan and Pam DeVos will also donate $300 for each tournament participant.

They also announced that the winning two-person team will receive an all-expense-paid trip to play in the Mercedes-Benz Western Regional Final in Santa Barbara, California in the fall. All players will receive a $1,000 credit toward the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz. Those who test drive a Mercedes-Benz will be awarded a pair of golf shoes.

“The more players we can sign up the bigger the gift will become for Father Fred,” said David Abeel, Development Director at the foundation.  “We can’t thank the people enough at Mercedes-Benz of Traverse City, The Homestead and The DeVos Foundation for their generous support.   We will apply these funds to our food pantry and financial assistance programs to help families from the five-county area who are struggling.”   

The golf tournament takes place on August 8, 2011 at Manitou Passage Golf Club in Cedar, Michigan. Participants are asked to check in at The Homestead in Glen Arbor by 11:00am. The Homestead will provide complimentary transportation will be provided to Manitou Passage Golf Club and back to The Homestead after the tournament. The cocktail hour, dinner and awards ceremony will be held at The Homestead’s Mountain Flowers Lodge at at 6pm. Lodging packages are available at The Homestead for out-to-town tournament players that include breakfast, valet parking, and much more. For lodging packages, contact The Homestead at 231.334.5100. For more tournament information, contact Mercedes-Benz in Traverse City at 231.938.3800.

The Father Fred Foundation has been providing assistance to thousands of families for over 20 years, offering food, clothing, furniture, household goods and financial assistance for residents in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau Counties.Its founder, Father Edwin Frederick, was a Catholic priest who served 31 years as a Chaplin for the Traverse City State Hospital. It was there that he got his nickname, “Father Fred.”

Father Fred on His Motorcycle

The state hospital closed in 1989 leaving many people with no place to live. Many did not have jobs or food to eat. Father Fred could not sleep at night knowing that so many people were suffering. It was at that time that he and a small group of people formed a group to help meet the critical needs of the local community. That was when the Father Fred Foundation was born. Its mission was to provide basic needs for those who are unable to get assistance anywhere else.

Running a foundation required money and resources. Father Fred was an avid fundraiser and he had a gift for encouraging others to get involved with him in his quest to help the needy. Father Fred not only leaves a legacy of providing for people’s basic needs, but he also leaves behind his passion for raising needed funds. The Father Fred Foundation sponsors many fundraising events throughout the year that fill the coffers with food, money, clothing and household goods that are so critically needed.

Manitou Passage Golf Club

On August 8, 2011, Fox Motors will host the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championships golf tournament at Manitou Passage Golf Club. Fox Motors will donation $100 to The Father Fred Foundation for each participant in the tournament. The tournament is open to the public. The event will begin with lunch at 11:30am at the Manitou Passage Golf Club pavilion with a shotgun start at 1:00pm. An awards banquet will be held at The Homestead immediately following the tournament for all participants.

Fox Motors is giving away a Mercedes-Benz automobile for anyone who hits a hole-in-one on Hole #13 and a vehicle lease for anyone who hits a hole-in-one on Hole #15. There are other prizes as well including a gift certificate from The Homestead and four rounds of golf from Manitou Passage Golf Club.  For event details, visit the Manitou Passage Golf Club Events page.

To register for the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championships, call Fox Motors at 231.922.2000. For a lodging package that includes the golf tournament ticket and awards dinner, call The Homestead at 231.334.5100.

Visit Fox Motors on their website, Facebook page, on Twitter or on YouTube. Visit The Homestead’s Facebook page, on Twitter or YouTube. Visit The Homestead’s Special Resort Offers page for lodging specials all year long.

By Guest Blogger Terry Moore, A Network of Great Golf and Travel Writing by Actual Journalists. Reprinted with permission, July 18, 2011

After visiting Manitou Passage Golf Club in Cedar last week I’m happy report it continues to improve as an attractive golf option for visitors to northwest Michigan. As you may recall, Manitou Passage is the old King’s Challenge designed by Arnold Palmer which opened in 1997. It was a playable layout, a lasting trademark of Palmer design, but never given the proper marketing support by its then owners. Mirroring the troubles of nearby Sugarloaf Resort, the course went into a downward spiral for a number of years and its conditioning was sadly neglected.

Manitou Passage is a User-Friendly Layout

Thankfully, a group of investors headed by The Homestead’s Bob Kuras bought the property two years ago and last summer it reopened as Manitou Passage. A host of improvements were made to the course in terms of tees and bunkers and course maintenance. The clubhouse was also handsomely redecorated and accented with many excellent Palmer photos. Attending the Media Day last summer, I was glad to see the course in capable hands. The tie-in to The Homestead, a first-class resort and residential community, always made sense to me.

Unfortunately on June 5 at Manitou Passage there was a fire in the pump house for the irrigation system. Starting as a mechanical fire, the pump house burned to the ground and left the course without water for five days until a temporary pump was installed. Without any significant rainfall, the course took it on the chin with some burn-out areas. But stuff happens and overall the conditioning is still fine. The new pump was being installed the day we played so everything is now back to normal.

With friends in Glen Arbor, I’m very pleased with the progress seen with Manitou Passage. It’s a solid, eye-pleasing golf course with accommodating open-approaches to the greens and no watery cross hazards. The par-five eighth hole with its elevated tee and a majestic view out to Manitou Island remains a delight. Suggestion: mount some naval or vintage coin-operated binoculars at this tee and let golfers enjoy the sights.

As shared by my playing partners it would be nice to see some of the dense fescue cut back and thinned out in the rough. Currently on many holes, particularly on holes no. 5-6, the rough is so thick, penal and gnarly it’s an automatic lost ball. Not only too penal it also slows play. ‘Player friendly’ should be the watchwords going forward. But maybe this is another work-in-progress item that will be addressed in the future. Again, there’s much to like and to enjoy at Manitou Passage. It doesn’t take binoculars to see it’s on the right course. Visit www.manitoupassagegolfclub.com

Visit Terry Moore’s original post on Teemore.com.

Congratulations to our Winners!

Those who attended the West Michigan Golf Show in Grand Rapids and the Michigan Golf Show in Novi had the opportunity to enter our “Golf Show” Sweepstakes. Drawings were held every week in the spring. There were nine winners who received three different prizes plus one grand prize winner.

First Drawing

Scott Harbough of Shelby Township won the first drawing and received one, 18-hold round of golf at Manitou Passage Golf Club at a value of $89.

Second Drawing

Dennis Hill of Lowell, Michigan, Bud Anderson of Grand Rapids, Michigan and Calvin Randolph of Flint, Michigan each received one, 18-hold round of golf including a cart at Manitou Passage Golf Club and lunch at Arnie’s Grill. Each prize is valued at $99.

Third Drawing

Dennis Oszust of Plymouth, Michigan, Ken Schaefer of Williamston, Michigan, Jeff Weymiller of Grand Haven, Michigan and Toni Burkick of Wyoming, Michigan each received one nights’ lodging in Fiddler’s Pond hotel at The Homestead and one, 18-hole round of golf including a cart at Manitou Passage Golf Club for two people. Four prizes were awarded at a value of $407 each.

Mountain Flowers Par 3 at The Homestead

Grand Prize Drawing

Chris Mountford of Ypsilanti, Michigan won the grand prize which included two nights’ lodging in a one-bedroom Stony Brook Lodge suite at The Homestead with breakfast each morning at CQ’s Cabin, dinner one evening at Nonna’s, one round of golf at Mountain Flowers Par 3 nine-hole course at The Homestead, and one 18-hold round of golf at Manitou Passage Golf Club for two people. One Grand Prize was awarded at a value of $1,230.

Chris was so excited when we notified him of his winnings. Here was the email we received from him: “WOW!!!  and  WOW!!!  What a pleasant surprise.  Thank you so much.  I’ve been going to the golf show for years and this is the first time I’ve actually won something.  I guess the old saying is right, “persistence pays”.  I’m excited to play the new Manitou Passage and see what the Homestead Resort is like.  I’m sure it’s in great shape and better than ever.  Thanks for making my day. Many thanks and best regards, Chris Mountford.”