Treetops - Threetops (Gaylord, MI)

Back in the 1990s, Treetops was the place to be. Teaching pro Rick Smith was the man in charge, and his students were some of the best players on tour. (Lee Janzen, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh etc) He added three courses to Treetops but his most famous one is his shortest. 

Threetops is a nine hole par three course. From 1999-2006, it held the ESPN Par-3 Shootout. The very first one saw Lee Janzen ($260,000) edge out Phil Mickelson ($230,000). The following year Ray Floyd would win the most skins, and Phil once again came in second. In fact, Phil played in the first seven shootouts, never winning it, and coming in second five times. The best shot is undoubtedly Lee Trevino’s ace on the par three seventh in 2001 which won him a million dollars. The pin was in the rear and the ball carried past, spinning backward ten feet into the cup! 

(The 159/146 yard par three second has alternating greens with alternating tees. I love the big bunker cut into the hillside short of the left green. It’s a bit “out of the box” but the two greens perfectly employs the wide ridge they sit on.) 

(Lee Trevino’s ace came on the 150 yard downhill par three seventh. It drops 90’…
…look how high up the group on the tee is! Today’s pin position is only playing 116 yards!) 

Links Magazine called Threetops “…one of the baddest par three courses in America.” I’ve had the privilege of playing both Bandon Preserve, a thirteen hole par three course, and Palm Beach Par-3, an eighteen holer that is one of the best in the world, and I would rank Threetops up there with both of them. The elevation change is so cool! How do you gauge 145’ drop?! It’s awesome!

[I wanted to comment on our golf trip. We had eight guys, and stayed in the Jones Cottage, a four bedroom cabin with every bedroom having its own bathroom. The kitchen and living room shared a two-sided fireplace, televisions in every room. We got three nights, five rounds of golf, price tag of $750! That is a great value! When I was at Bandon, that was my daily price! Obviously we’re not on the ocean, but for an affordable guys trip, it’s hard to beat Treetops!]

I’m doing something a little different with my blog. I played all five courses at Treetops and instead of sending them out one at a time, I decided to sent them all out at once. Here are the links to the other courses. I personally have them ranked in the following order:

1) Signature 

2)Masterpiece 

3)Premier

4)Tradition

 

Read them for yourself and enjoy! 

Signature

 http://golfingwithshawn.blogspot.com/2023/09/treetops-resort-signature-gaylordmi.html?m=1

Masterpiece 

http://golfingwithshawn.blogspot.com/2023/09/treetops-resort-masterpiece-gaylord-mi.html?m=1

Premier

http://golfingwithshawn.blogspot.com/2023/09/treetops-resort-premier-gaylord-mi.html?m=1

Tradition

http://golfingwithshawn.blogspot.com/2023/09/treetops-resort-tradition-gaylord-mi.html?m=1

(Pinehurst, Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley, all premier golf destinations, have added par three courses to their rota. It’s safe to say Rick Smith’s creation here at Treetops was the catalyst for this trend! That, in my opinion, deserves major recognition!)

Treetops Resort - Tradition (Gaylord, MI)

The Tradition is the course that Treetops needed. The Premier, Signature, and Masterpiece are all difficult courses that require strong golf skills to play adequately. This course is none of that.  That is not a dig, and personally, I think it’s fantastic that the resort dedicated this piece of property to newer players and players with less skill. In fact, I believe resorts with these kind of courses do very well. There’s many opportunities for recreational golfers to enjoy themselves and it allows the resort to fill the tee times without it backing up. 

The property itself is very nice. It doesn’t have the elevation change the other courses have but it still moves up and down quite a bit. The course has less bunkers on it and the greens are muted with very little interior movement. In my opinion, that’s the biggest reason the course never attracted my attention. Truthfully, this is a great opportunity for renovation. I doubt they would ever go that route, but Mike Devries or Tom Doak, both Michigan boys, could instantly make this a top Midwest course. Until then, I don’t advocate a reason to play it with one of your packages. The par three course is much better. I give Traditions a 3 (average)(worth driving 15-30 minutes to play).

[we played a two man best ball. It was the backend of 36 hole day. Wyatt, an eighteen handicapper, caught fire on the back and really helped their team catch us and take the lead. Joby reaching eleven in regulation was very impressive. It’s 458 yards played extremely long. The short par three seventeenth was the tipping point. Joby made a twelve footer for par and I missed an eight footer. It was a lot of fun and all our C players had a great time.]

Treetops Resort - Masterpiece (Gaylord, MI)

     #83 TOP 100 USA MODERN (GOLFWEEK)

Masterpiece was designed in 1987 by Robert Trent Jones Sr. It was selected by Golf Digest as the second best new resort course that year. The setting is stunningly beautiful, rolling through the hills and valleys of the northern Michigan backwoods. The elevation change drops over 100’ on a few holes! On the spot of par three sixth, Jones told Harry Melling, owner of Sylvan Resort, that all he could see were treetops, thus inspiring the name change that we associate the Masterpiece with today. 

(The 539/510 yard par five fifth plays over and around a dropping valley, enticing players to cut off the yardage and give the second shot a go…
…laying up to the right reveals just how tiny the target is. Jones’ sprawling bunkers protect every part of the green. A par is a fine score.) 

I’m a big fan of RTJ sr older courses. The small greens have good internal contours to them. They demand very precise shots, often times over deep cavernous bunkers. I love the look! I know it’s not en vogue right now, usually criticized as being too difficult and boring (aerial shots only) but as a single digit handicap, the thrill of seeing the ball land safely on the green after taking on a tucked pin position is addicting. Watching your buddies take on the same shot or bailing out is fun too. His “hard par, easy bogey” philosophy means weaker players can layup short of the sand and try their hand at saving par with a good short game.

(The 180/162 yard par three sixth drops 120’ down to a triangular green. The view from the tee is awesome, and only the changing of the seasons when the leaves are ablaze with color can the view be better. Club selection is a bit tricky. It was 175 ish when we played and I hit my 145 club to 5ft!) 

(The 431/389 yard par four ninth begins at the beautiful waters of the Pigeon River. It crawls uphill between thick treelines. Four will be a good score…

…the island tee is particularly beautiful with this wooden bridge leading down to it. The water is crystal clear!) 

The stretch from 5-15 is undoubtedly one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. Pure views at every vantage point is almost like hiking a trail through a national park. The routing through this area covers all the best parts, hitting the high points offering fantastic vistas, while transversing the low area next to the river headlands. Unfortunately, the beginning of the round is somewhat predictable (the par three fourth is an absolute dog) and the final three are on less dramatic land although they’re all solid holes. When I was reviewing my round, I had given 5,6,8,10,15 an exclamation point. They were all really cool holes with great features. 

(The 605/589 yard par five tenth is a monster of a hole! It plays uphill, heaving and buckling all the way to the green. Bunkers guard the front, guaranteeing only an aerial assault. Five feels like a birdie!) 

(The 431/387 yard par four eleventh plays downhill and a draw will take the speed slot into mid to short iron range territory. It’s another well bunkered green.) 

(The 208/176 yard par three thirteenth is nicely set in a grove of trees over wetlands. Today’s pin is on an upper tier although it’s difficult to find the green regardless what level it’s on.) 

The Masterpiece is easily good enough to be a top 100 course in America and I’m pleased to see Golfweek comfortably place it on their modern list. I wish RTJ  had done something different with the first four holes. (I was actually shaking my head after putting out on their new par three fourth hole.) It’s not often that I give a course five exclamation points much less that many in an eleven hole stretch. That said, I like a course to be consistently good throughout, with no poor runs. It’s enough of a letdown to dock it point. I give Masterpiece a 7 (great)(worth driving 3-4 hours to play). 

(The 446/407 yard par four fourteenth has an awkward tee shot where one lays up to the edge of the ravine. If successful, this is the approach over the valley to a green atop the hill. I love the front left bunker melding into the woods. It’s a daunting shot!) 

(The 363/343 yard par four fifteenth drops over a 100’ to a skinny green edged into the hill. The long hitter can drive this green if he chooses to take on such a risky shot. Look at all the fairway short right. It’s very difficult not to let your eye get drawn to the left…

…the green lies on a narrow ledge with sand guarding every inch. When I saw the green from seven fairway, I actually thought the players putting were on a tee box. It is quite small in the rear. I love 2-7 type of holes!!) 

[we played the blue/white tees at 6100 yards. It was our last round (90 holes) in the three days we stayed at Treetops. The overall goal was to enjoy the round and hit good shots. My 81 was fine. I holed out a bunker shot on the par three sixteenth for my only birdie. My buddy birdied two of the hardest holes on the course at eight and fourteen. Note the back tees with a 74.8/147 course and slope rating. It’s a par 71.]

Treetops Resort - Signature (Gaylord,MI)

The Signature debuted in 1993 a year after Fazio’s Premier, and was designed by teaching pro Rick Smith. It was his first foray into course design and to say he knocked it out of the park would be an understatement. The course uses the main ridgeline often, featuring eleven downhill tee shots with gorgeous views of the valley. 

This is my favorite course at Treetops and for several reasons. Besides the great vistas, it has a lot of width to it, allowing the player to open his shoulders and drive the ball as far as he can. The bunkering is up to scale with the property, stretched over various parts of the fairway, giving players pause before deciding which line to take. The greens have big contour in them, ridges that section off pinning areas. I was pleased to see all the short grass surrounding most of the putting surfaces, giving golfers options for their approach shots. There’s plenty of greenside bunkers too. I felt it was a strong examination of one’s game. 

(The 176/160 yard par three second hole is downhill with a green divided in half by a ridge. Todays pin is just over the bunker, and only the best shots will get close. In my two rounds, I was in both the front left bunker and right bunker, saving par twice with a great shot.) 

(The 556/523 yard par five tenth has the hilltop directly in the background. Look at all the fairway which allows multiple shot shapes to be taken off the tee.)

(The 175/164 yard par three eleventh is the most controversial hole at Treetops due to its claustrophobic setting. It was so much different than any other par three including the par three course. I absolutely loved it! Beautiful hole too!!) 

Golf Channel’s Matt Ginella listed Signature as one of his top 50 public courses in America. I wouldn’t go that far, but in a golf rich state like Michigan, I think it’s top ten public, challenging for a possible top five. Considering places like Arcadia Bluffs, Greywalls, the Loop, and Forest Dunes are perennially being tossed in the conversation for best courses in the country, being in that group is high praise indeed. 

(The 485/461 yard par five fifteenth is one of the coolest, reachable holes I’ve seen. It has a wide fairway but challenging the bunker on the left leaves the best angle. Note the tight gap between the saddle of the trees. Don’t even think about hitting the traps short right…

…the two tier green is very skinny and long. I love how you can work it off the steep banks on either side. It’s a really fun hole!) 

(The 368/361 yard par four sixteenth is a prime example of the scale of the bunkers matching the size of the property. The entire left side is strongly protected, convincing players to go up the right.) 

(The 199/188 yard par three seventeenth sits on the spine of a ridge. The green is well protected, and divided into three pinning areas. It’s a very good penultimate hole.) 

The only nit to Signature is it’s unwalkable. When you have eleven downhill tee shots, it’s obvious that the goal was to get to the top of the hill. I personally don’t have an issue with this, but purists frown upon it. Other than that, I think the course is fantastic! There’s five courses in Michigan that I have rated eight or higher, and Signature is at that level in my opinion. It’s a true experience that you’ll remember long after the round. I give it an 8 (excellent)(worth a weekend visit). 

(The 363/343 yard finishing hole has a diagonal fairway where the best position is just over the tree sticking out on the right…
…if you can work the ball to that area then most pin positions are accessible with your approach. For those who hit it to the widest part, a sidehill lie will complicate your short iron shot. Enjoy the final view of the day!) 

[we were playing a two man best ball with an odd number of players, so I had two eighteen handicappers who alternated between even and odd number holes. Ironically, the player who’s score did not count almost always played better than the guy who did. As a group, we ended up at 68 (-2) which won by five strokes. (I was getting seven strokes). Our 33 on the back nine was the key since it was three strokes better than the next group.]

Treetops Resort - Premier (Gaylord, MI)

 Premier is the only Tom Fazio course in the great state of Michigan. That’s hard to believe considering all the the terrific properties developed in the past thirty years in the Wolverine State. It’s also a testament to Treetops for convincing him to sign on to their project. The property was perfect for his style over substance philosophy on golf architecture. 

(The 195/168 yard par three eleventh features the only water hazard on the course. The left side looks very inviting. Why let this one hole torpedo your entire round?!) 

The Premier was the first course to be built on the North property which is three miles from the main lodge. It starts on a high ridge before dropping down to the valley and hopscotching between the hillsides. It has a unique routing. The seventh and tenth tees are perpendicular to each other as Fazio designed a triangular loop at 7-9 in order to take advantage of the broad valley that ten continues to climb.

(The 313/289 yard par four fifth seems like a reasonable birdie chance, and it is, but note the left side of the green. It drops ten feet down to a lower tier and requires absolute precision. I pity the golfer who has to putt up or down that slope.) 

(The 373/333 yard par four seventh plays into a valley before hitting to an elevated green. The putting surface is tipped away from the fairway, adding to the pressure of selecting the correct club.) 

(The 187/163 yard par three eighth is downhill to a perched green. It’s roughly fifty feet below the tee box, again adding pressure to grabbing the correct club. Anything short will spin twenty feet below the green.) 

When Fazio designed this course, everything he touched was getting rave reviews. Premier was no exception. It works well with the northern Michigan landscape, and he used all the elevation change to dramatic effect. My main concern with the course is the playability. The buffer zone between the fairway and treeline was very tight. Some of the C players in our group were having a difficult time NOT losing balls. Two things stood out to me about Premier, and I’m intrigued to find out if they are a Fazio trait. Many of the greens were set an angle from the fairway with a trap between the player and putting surface, forcing a high shot to attack the rear portion. The other was the severity of the bilevel greens. Several of them had the lower tier in the back, and at the par four fifteenth, the tri-level green dropped at least fifteen feet from front to back. The middle section was narrow, the front wide, and the rear half even wider. It was an amazing green! 

(The 362/334 yard par four fifteenth has an incredible green that slides down the hillside in three levels. We dropped balls on the front left just to see if we could putt to the the back left. The trick was hitting it up to the collar where it will gradually trickle to the left. Super cool in my book!) 

(The 546/494 yard par five sixteen doglegs left with a high right side allowing golfers to play the ground game around the tree line. The green has an upper level left and lower level right.) 

When I was looking for reviews on Premier, I noticed there seemed to be a love/hate relationship between the golfers. Some said it was their favorite course while others reiterated the difficulty that I mentioned earlier. Usually, in my experience, that means it’s going to be pretty good.  The course tops out just over 6800 yards, so Fazio made sure to bring precision shotmaking to conquer it. In most states, this would be a top ten public course, but in golf rich Michigan, it’s not even top twenty. Still, in my view, it’s a strong golf course. I give it a 6 (very good)(worth driving 1-2 hours to play). 

[we played the blue tees at 6,274 yards. My playing partners dueled to the finish with Wyatt sneaking out the win over Patrick despite a triple bogey on the last hole. I played arguably my best round of the year. The course had a +2 PCC on the ghin, making my differential 3.8. Playing the par fives in -2 and not making a double bogey will make for a good day.]