Indian River Golf Club Welcomes Golfers Longer
By Greg Johnson –
Indian River Golf Club is a welcoming place, bills itself as the friendliest golf course in the north, and follows up with a we-are-still-open plan each fall.
“Most of our members are gone, but we try to stay open at least until Halloween,” says General Manager and PGA Professional Corey Crowell. “We have a good group out there today. We’re sort of the only game in town for about 20 miles and we have a group of golfers who keep playing until the weather won’t let them.”
One of 16 member courses in the Gaylord Golf Mecca, Indian River opens each golf season as soon as possible in the spring, and over the last two years they kept allowing golfers into the second week of November.
“The weather is the key,” Crowell says. “If the weather is nice, we have several rounds, as many as 80 sometimes.”
Indian River has a history of being friendly, not to mention a great history of 100 years that was celebrated in 2023. The original nine holes were first built in the 1920s by Wilfrid Reid, a legendary member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, and some elements of the holes remain much like they were 100 years ago when the club was first established in 1922. In the 1980s, after a land trade with a local developer, another nine holes were added by architect Warner Bowen.
Today’s layout plays to 6,692 yards with five tee distance options. Carts are available, but it is a walkable course, too, and always in impeccable shape.
Crowell, leading the efforts at Indian River for eight years, was first charged with bringing in more public play to the member-owned semi-private golf club. He has answered the bell with promotion, joining the cooperative Gaylord Golf Mecca marketing group, but also that welcoming, friendly thing that keeps golfers coming back for more and more, longer and longer.
“We feel like we are in one of the best areas for summer golf in the country,” he says. “And well, we keep summer going as long as we can.”
In 2021, 12 inches of snow arrived on Oct. 27.
“We closed early that year, but the weather has made it possible to stay open this year,” Crowell said. “I look at it like this; if I owned the place, what would I do? I would keep it open as long as possible and let the people play. We also made a few more bucks last week that will pay somebody’s salary or bonus or whatever, and we had golfers out there having fun. That’s what we do, and it didn’t hurt me. I would be going into work each day anyway.”
Start planning your 2025 getaway to Indian River Golf Club and the other 16 Gaylord Golf Mecca courses at gaylordgolfmecca.com.
