Indian River Golf Club Adding Short Game Area
Indian River Golf Club is building a short game area to go with their busy practice range.
It’s the latest at the course that bills itself as the friendliest golf course in the north.
“It’s something that happened organically because we had the very busy range and the big new putting green we put in a few years ago up by the clubhouse, but we didn’t really have an area for chipping and pitch shots,” said Corey Crowell, general manager.
Construction started last fall with clearing the area, and it will continue through the season with a possible opening in the fall or next spring.
“Golfers today practice more and we had some members who wanted a place to practice those shots, so we want to answer that need,” Crowell said.
He added that the remnants of a tiny original practice tee are evident halfway down the No. 9 hole. “If you look, you can see where they had a tee aimed toward No. 1 green,” he said. “In the old days, they just squeezed a ranged in wherever they could.”
Crowell reported that year 102 of Indian River Golf Club has been off to a difficult start, but it is going well. The difficulty: weather. The ice storm in April delayed the opening until May because several trees and thousands of branches fell and had to be removed from the course.
“I have to thank our staff,” he said. “We called the maintenance crew back early, and we had the kitchen staff out there, basically everybody who works here, helping clean up. We did most of it in-house and it took a lot of work, but we cleaned it up. Except for a few piles of tree branches we still have off in the woods, you can’t tell we had a storm.”
Crowell said the trees and branches that fell did not damage any of the greens or tees, and that the playability of the course has not been hampered.
“The golf course plays the same. It’s fun, challenging and in great shape,” he said. “Our superintendent, Tom Stouffer, and his staff not only cleaned things up but got the course ready so we could open as soon as possible in May. It was great work by everyone, and I mean everyone really.”
Time marches on at timeless Indian River where the original nine holes were first built in the 1920s by Wilfrid Reid, a legendary member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. Warner Bowen, a busy architect of the 1980s, built the other nine.
When Corey came to Indian River nine years ago, he prompted the public/private facility to join the Gaylord Golf Mecca marketing cooperative.
“It only made sense,” he said. “The Gaylord area has this amazing place for golf, so we need to get the word out. Being part of the Mecca has been a win-win. They let people know about us, and we added another classic course.”
Over the recent July 4 weekend, things returned to a busy, normal season at Indian River Golf Club. “Except for the Sunday, the last day, we had great weather and the course was packed, the range was packed, the town was packed. It was a great Fourth of July,” he said.
Golfers visiting the Gaylord Golf Mecca can build a package that includes a friendly stop at Indian River. The Mecca features 17 courses and 21 lodging partners in the area. Monday is Senior Day, where golfers over 60 get 18 holes with a cart for $49. Reach out at indianrivergolfclub.com or call 800-305-4742. Learn more about packaging with other Mecca members at gaylordgolfmecca.com.
