Simple pleasures and fond memories lie at the heart
of one of American golf’s great Northern outposts.
Wheel into the parking lot of
Belvedere Golf Club and you know right away that this place is not into pretense
or status. The modest white-clapboard clubhouse sits at the far end of the lot.
At the other end is a compact pro shop, the squeak of its screen door announcing
the arrival of every member and visitor.
Though open to guest play at certain hours, this
80-year-old institution is so low-key as to be nearly anonymous. But to scores
of vacationers who return to the Northern Michigan town of Charlevoix each summer,
it’s the kind of place that captures the heart and never lets go. Steve Braun,
for example, played in the 1964 Michigan Amateur Championship at Belvedere and
loved it so much he became the club’s head professional in
1997.
Belvedere’s story begins in 1925, when members of
the Charlevoix Summer Resort Association decided their existing social club
needed a golf component. They called on Scotsman Willie Watson, who was working
across town as head pro of the Chicago Club. Although a part-time course
architect, his resume included Interlachen and the Olympic Club. At Belvedere he
used five teams of horses and 150 men to build 18 holes through a pair of breezy
valleys just south of town.
Opened in 1927, the course soon became a respected
tournament venue, most notably as a regular host of the Michigan Amateur—39
times in all. Watson’s layout, at 6,713 yards with fast fescue fairways, isn’t
long by modern standards. The greatest examination comes around the greens,
which are generally small and full of subtle, undulations, ridges and slopes
that fall off to chipping areas.
In 2003 the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM)
brought the Amateur back to Belvedere, along with dozens of past champions and
finalists. Almost to a man, they recalled the event as their favorite week of
the year, thanks to the classic course and the charms of “Charlevoix the
Beautiful,” with its petunia-lined streets and downtown drawbridge, which offers
passage from Lake Michigan onto tiny Round Lake and, farther on, 56-mile-long
Lake Charlevoix.
Like Michigan’s
leading amateur competitors, Charlevoix summer residents look forward to
returning year after year, to escape the heat of St.
Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Nashville. Vacation homes and club memberships
remain in families for generations.
One frequent summer guest was Tom Watson, who grew
up vacationing with his family at nearby Walloon Lake. “I love that country up there,” says
the five-time British Open champion. “We’d go for two weeks, then three and then
a month. I went up every summer through college.” An honorary member, Watson
still shows up nearly every summer.
