Crews have been preparing the course for their second season for the past few weeks.
HARRIS -- Even though it's only been a few short weeks since the snow has melted across much of the U.P., the 18-hole championship golf course in Harris is officially open for the season.
Sweetgrass Golf Club, owned and operated by the Island Resort and Casino, kicked off their second season Thursday. Crews have been preparing the course for their second season for the past few weeks, and officials say things are looking good.
"We're running a package with Timberstone and Greywalls," explained Director of Golf, Dave Douglas. "We visited some golf shows throughout the Midwest and starting to see a lot of packages booked, so we're very excited and anticipating a busy season."
Douglas estimates they booked between 5,000 to 7,000 rounds of golf last year which was well above their expectations for their opening season. Recently, the course was ranked one of the top 20 golf courses in Michigan.
But the idea for this 7,300 yard course didn't just happen overnight.
"As the resort expanded for the first time, a golf course was really a natural progression for us," explained Casino General Manager, Tom McChesney. "Probably over the past five years, it really heated up and it took us the past three years to build the course, and then we started last July."
Officials feel the U.P. is definitely driving toward a top golf destination.
"I mean we're getting a lot of nice courses up here and we're really giving golfers from other areas, from the Midwest, wherever, a reason to come to the U.P," Douglas explained.
Weather permitting, officials plan to have the links open to the public until the end of October.
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