MAKING GOLFERS SMILE: Gaylord Golf Club Starts Year 102
By Greg Johnson –
For more than a century, golfers have been making their way to Gaylord Golf Club with a smile on their face and leaving with an even bigger one.
Gaylord Golf Club isn’t the typical golf experience, and the Gaylord Golf Mecca isn’t your typical golf destination either. Both have been making people sport smiles of joy for many years.
“The Mecca is unique because it has all the kinds of courses you could want in a destination. But, it also has a course like ours that you don’t usually find open to the public, being this good and member-owned all at the same time,” said J.T. Aude, the head golf professional starting his 18th season at the club. “We see a lot of smiling golfers. I think they are surprised by what we have in the Mecca and what we have at Gaylord Golf Club.”
Gaylord Golf Club, for most of its time known as Gaylord Country Club, celebrated 100 years as a golf haven in 2024. For the first 51 years, the club was located in downtown Gaylord. It had just nine holes, designed by the legendary Wilfrid Reid, and was open to the public.
This is year 51 at the current site just west of the city. Don Childs designed the current gem, and it opened in 1975. The club kept the same name, Gaylord Country Club, until 2018, when the member owners decided a name change would better reflect that they have welcomed public play since the beginning.
Prior to 1987, a smattering of additional golf courses were developed in the Gaylord area, among them The Classic in 1957 at Otsego Resort, which started as a private club, and Michaywe Pines Course, another Don Childs design that opened in 1967.
Then, 39 years ago, Treetops Resort’s new ownership added golf to a ski resort, and Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the Masterpiece Course.
The face of golf in Gaylord changed dramatically, and Gaylord Golf Club became an original member of what is now called the Gaylord Golf Mecca. The Mecca thrives as a cooperative marketing collection of 16 golf courses at nine properties, including three resorts and 21 lodging partners.
Here’s the thing. Gaylord Golf Club was great before the Mecca was created and has continued on that path from the beginning. It’s true, the club has a reputation for having the best greens in all of Northern Michigan. They roll that true and challenging.
J.T. said golfers keep Gaylord Golf Club busy because they love the condition of the course, the challenge of putting on the greens and the great customer service he and his staff strive to provide. “It’s what our members want, and it’s what we hear from the golfers who visit each year,” he said. “About two-thirds of our play is from golfers who are not members. Being part of the Mecca, the driving force for golf in the area since we all joined together, keeps us very busy, and that’s a good thing.”
The club got off to a slow start in 2025 after a historic ice storm toppled trees throughout the region, including across the green expanse of Gaylord Golf Club. “We were in the middle of it all and we did an incredible amount of tree cleanup just to get the course open and spent a lot of money doing it. We are still cleaning up some of the woods around the course,” he said. “The great thing is, we still had a really good summer last year.”
He expects this summer to be especially busy. A new fleet of Yamaha QuieTech (quiet ride) carts has been purchased, and as the weather warms the club will get on a roll. “The days are slowly getting warmer and the tee sheet reflects it,” he said. “The phone calls are coming in.”
He says his goal for Gaylord Golf Club in 2026 is to keep things running smoothly, the way they should be, and as they have been in recent years. “Great golf conditions, and exceptional service,” he said, with a smile.
