Text: Greg Johnson
The Sundance course at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort in Kewadin, Michigan is set at the highest elevation of the popular resort’s four courses; a location where one can feel as if they are seeing for miles—and hit the ball that far, too. It is a fall landscape where the ball appears to land with a splash of colors.
“In the fall it’s amazing. You see Torch Lake, Lake Michigan, Charlevoix, all the bodies of water around us, and just miles of color and trees,” says Mike Brown, owner and general manager of A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort.
“First of all, fall is incredible in Northern Michigan. It must have something to do with the pure four seasons we have, but the colors just seem brighter and better up here. Then there’s the great golf, a little less crowded with the summer season having passed, and just great fun because our courses are still in perfect shape,” Brown added.
A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort, or A-Ga-Ming, is less than 30 minutes of easy driving time from Traverse City, Petoskey, or Charlevoix, Michigan and near the beautiful Torch Lake. It offers its foursome of popular golf courses at three sites all within 25 miles.
The original Torch course that overlooks Torch Lake and the modern Sundance course are at A-Ga-Ming’s main resort property in Kewadin. Antrim Dells, meanwhile, is in Ellsworth and Charlevoix Golf and Fitness, formerly known as Charlevoix Country Club, is just outside of Charlevoix.
The main resort property is secluded and offers lodging in more than 350 rooms, which comprises condominiums, townhouses, and 45 well-designed-for-the-golfer units that sleep up to 190 guests and are located on natural bluffs that overlook the property.
A key attraction for exploring golfers at the resort is that the four courses each offer different experiences. Sundance is a modern, fit-the-land course with sweeping open holes through natural grassland areas as well as elevation changes and holes cut into stands of towering trees. It is regarded among the best work by Michigan architect Jerry Matthews.
The Torch overlooks beautiful Torch Lake, and great variety is offered in the layout in addition to the stunning vistas. Traditional smaller green-settings make for the challenge of the course that is fit into the rolling land left by the glaciers long ago.
Antrim Dells is some older work of Matthews, and yet true to his work, fits the land as it rolls through an area once dominated by rolling acres of orchards. Charlevoix offers variety as well, from traditional parkland style golf holes to pure Northern Michigan holes cut through the trees as well as some open looks and water the golfer must navigate.
