The Mecca Beckons with the Promise of Spring and World Class Golf
Winter indoor golf shows don’t quite scratch the itch for swinging a club in the sunshine on an artistic landscape crafted by a world-class golf architect, though they do remind you how impressive the Gaylord Golf Mecca collection of courses is for adventurous golfers.
The Mecca is essentially an art collection of golf courses and soon the sound of golf balls meeting clubs will again echo across the green canvas of great golf.
The 15 golf courses and 20 lodging partners of the Mecca are ready at this very moment to help you plan your golf season visit. The Mecca marketing effort has been going strong for over 31 years, so they have it down. You just have to come up.
My first awareness of the Mecca was over 31 years ago when the Masterpiece course at Treetops Resort opened as the then latest work of Robert Trent Jones Senior. He had designed many years prior a favorite golf course from my youth, Point 0’Woods in Benton Harbor, Mich., which made the creation at Treetops a must-see for me. I went north to Gaylord.
And I’ve been coming ever since.
The Mecca has expanded and more great architects have brought their artistry to the area.
Tom Fazio (Premier at Treetops), Rick Smith (Signature, Tradition and ThreeTops at Treetops), Rees Jones (Black Lake), Jerry Matthews (The Natural at Beaver Creek, Lakes at the Loon Resort), Gary Koch and Rick Robbins (Tribute at Otsego Resort), Don Childs (Michaywe’ Pines, Gaylord Golf Club), Butch Harmon (Loon redesign), Wilfrid Reid (Indian River original nine holes), and William Diddel (The Classic at Otsego Resort) have all displayed their design skills on Mecca properties.
Here’s a quick trivia question: Who among the architects named in the previous paragraph are in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame?
Answer: Rick Smith, Jerry Matthews and Wilfrid Reid.
Jones Sr., and his son Rees and Fazio are international award winners and either in or headed for many halls of fames. The point is, the Mecca is home to wonderfully designed golf and has been for many, many years. Great art lasts. Great cooperative marketing efforts like the Mecca last.
The Mecca offers anything a golfer could want, including world-class designed golf courses. They have courses that are great for beginners, seniors, families and such, and courses that can challenge and have challenged the best golfers in the world.
It’s a living green gallery of great golf. Don’t wait for spring to plan your next trip – EXACTLY the way you want it – by visiting gaylordgolfmecca.com or calling 800-345-8621. Come see the work of Jones, Fazio, Smith, Reid, Matthews and more. See you on the tee.
-Greg Johnson
