Great Times & Golf at the Upper Peninsula’s Island Resort & Casino

The growth of golf resorts across the country is booming, attracting more than 12 million golf trippers per year since 2022 and firmly on the rise. Perhaps its key anchor during the summer months, the Midwest has seen significant investment at first-rate golf resorts like Sand Valley, Kohler, BOYNE Golf, French Lick, Brainerd (eg: Cragun’s Resort) and the Upper Peninsula’s “Perfect Foursome.”

Within that pantheon of world-class golf destinations, just one provides truly high-end golf at an affordable price point: Michigan’s Perfect Foursome.

Comprised of Sweetgrass, Sage Run, TimberStone and Greywalls, “The Perfect Foursome” package combines four premier U.P. golf experiences into one convenient, value-packed getaway that spreads across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula while being centrally headquartered in Harris at The Island Resort & Casino.

“For most people who play here, this is the best course they’ll play all year.”

-Tony Mancilla, General Manager of The Island Resort & Casino

That was resort General Manager Tony Mancilla during an on-site interview conducted during our late-August visit. You can watch our full conversation in the YouTube video shared below:

I agree with Tony wholeheartedly. The surprise isn’t just the setting – it’s how dialed-in the golf is, with smart, modern design from renowned architects including Albanese & Lutzke, Mike DeVries and Jerry Matthews that shines hole after hole.

Sweetgrass, located in the backyard of the resort, sets the conditioning bar high – it’s about as flawless as public golf gets. In fact, the only public course I can think of with as immaculate of conditions is SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It’s pristine.

Sage Run isn’t far behind; its surfaces are in excellent shape and maintained to a remarkably high standard.

TimberStone and Greywalls are generally very well kept, but their mountainous terrain makes them more susceptible to the occasional weather stress or seasonal wear. TimberStone, for example, dealt with some isolated dead spots on its greens this past season – as seen here at the bottom of the ninth and 18th holes – but they were still playable and [from experience] that’s not at all typical for them and the rest of the course was beautiful.

Impressive conditioning throughout? Check ✅

What about the quality of golf course design?

Sweetgrass, the most heavily trafficked of the four, has a high number of holes that would be considered “signature holes” anywhere else; Sage Run, debuted in 2018, was beautifully designed by Paul Albanese and Chris Lutzke with great variety, and TimberStone and Greywalls roll out some of the most laughably memorable holes anywhere in the Midwest.

Greywalls, the 55th best public course in America according to Golf Digest, feels like playing golf on the moon. Shear rock cliffs jut out across its fairways and against its playing corridors, and tee shots are played up, down and across massive ridges.

TimberStone, similarly, features tee-to-green elevation changes as vast as 144 feet from tee to green on 18 (a 625-yard par five from the tips) and 112 on the all-world 215-yard par three 17th.

Sage Run has the perfect combination of it all: jaw-dropping vertical movement – like the 66-foot climb on the par three fifth, or the 110-plus feet of elevation change from tee to green on the drivable, uphill 16th. Its holes with less volatile uphill/downhill drama are every bit as memorable.

If these courses were in Wisconsin, they would cost a minimum $125 per round – some significantly higher.

Impressive golf course architecture? Again, check ✅

It’s not just impressive golf in the U.P., but a fun stay. The lodging at The Island is comfortable, the casino is active and welcoming and there are plenty of dining options and amenities.

This is a golf trip absolutely worth booking.

Getting to The Island Resort & Casino

The Island is easy to get to from the Milwaukee area – just a three and a half hour drive north through Green Bay and across the Wisconsin/Michigan border.

As a family, we’ve visited Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an almost annual basis since before I was born – my parents’ favorite summertime vacation spot has always been Munising, along Lake Superior and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and we now take our kids with them at least once a year.

Curious why? Here’s an example of the area’s natural magnificence: The Log Slide in Grand Marais:

Getting to the resort from mainland Michigan is significantly longer, requiring a trip over the 8,344-foot-long Mackinac Bridge (the third longest suspension bridge in North America) and through much of the U.P.’s east-west expanse. For this reason, it is much quicker to get to your Upper Peninsula golf trip from the Chicago area by crossing initially into Wisconsin. Plus, our highways are free!

When booking your Upper Peninsula golf getaway, you’ll want to keep a couple of things in mind:

1. Location:
   • Sweetgrass is located on-site at the resort – you can walk to it from your room or drive your clubs across the parking lot
   • Sage Run is an 8- to 10-minute drive from The Island (shuttles are available through the resort)
   • TimberStone is a 50-minute drive west of the resort
   • Greywalls is an hour and a half drive northwest of the resort (on Lake Superior)
2. Timing:
   • The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is not all in the same time zone!
     • The Island Resort & Casino (Sweetgrass, Sage Run) and Marquette Golf Club (Greywalls) are on eastern time (one hour ahead of Wisconsin)
       • Your phone may update between eastern and central from Sweetgrass and Sage Run, but both operate on eastern time
     • Iron Mountain (TimberStone) is on central time (Wisconsin time)

The main resort is basically on the eastern/central time zone line, so planning can be especially tricky after a couple cocktails and time spent losing track of time at the tables. Trust me.

The Island resort & Casino

The centerpiece of The Perfect Foursome Michigan golf trip is The Island Resort & Casino.

With 454 total rooms, the massive resort looms above the Sweetgrass golf course, features multiple dining experiences and a sprawling casino with table games, slots, a bar and The Reef – your quick-turn, affordable and surprisingly enjoyable all-day food stop just steps from gambling and the 5 Bridges Bar.

Well-lit, The Reef has a cafeteria-like ambiance with a lengthy menu that’s sure to have something for everybody. I had chicken fettucini alfredo with breadsticks one night, for example, and a grilled cheese with fried mozzarella wedges and popcorn shrimp another (as explained later, not all of their dining experiences were open during our early-week stay). The Reef is fast, convenient and honestly much better than I expected given its low pricing – no complaints from me!

On the opposite end of the dining spectrum, the highlight of our culinary experience at The Island was the Horizons Steakhouse. Located on the top floor of the hotel, this high-end restaurant dazzles with stunning panoramic views while allowing visitors to indulge in perfectly-cooked steaks, seafood and other delectable plates.

My 8 oz. center-cut filet was exceptional. The old fashioneds were perfect, too. Though you’ll appreciate the pricing at The Reef, a night or two at Horizons is highly worth splurging on!

Do you like to gamble? Me, too. I like to give myself a $100 limit and see if I can make some magic happen. I walked away on day one with an extra $170 in my pocket following a long night of craps and slots – The Wicked Wheel, of course (my wife’s favorite slot machine, which has since become my favorite slot machine ever since our trip to French Lick Resort last summer).

Opening the craps table the following night, I unfortunately gave back the majority of my winnings while Brian and I taught Dario how to play craps. It tends to go fast when you’re there early and the action moves so quickly, but the table got lively by the time we left.

Visiting with your family? Splash Island, their indoor waterpark, is open until 9 pm every night and the resort features the Drift Spa, specializing in nature-based treatments with skilled therapists to help visitors wind down following long days on the links.

My kids would have a blast in Splash Island, and my wife and I would absolutely love Drift Spa, but we unfortunately did not have time during our visit to experience either. Next time, I hope!

For lodging, I stayed in a Golf Suite during our recent visit. This is a terrific way to get three or four buddies in the same room and save on costs – especially if, like us, you’ll be spending your entire time there on the courses and in the casino, anyways.

The resort’s Golf Suites are nicely oversized hotel rooms with two general living spaces, a comfortable connector and three king-sized beds. See below for video walk-throughs of both the waterpark and Golf Suites.

Pro tip: Visit later in the week, if possible, as early-week guests may find some restaurants closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We did not have a chance to check out T. McC’s Sports Bar, for example, and because we did sunrise photography each morning missed out on daily breakfast at Firekeeper’s Restaurant.

The Perfect Foursome Golf Experience

This four-course collection doesn’t just feature world-class golf – it delivers four distinct, top-tier experiences.

In fact, all four of the championship layouts that are part of the package are featured in Golf Digest’s most recently available (2022) ranking of the top public courses in Michigan.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Michigan has incredible golf. They have 702 total public courses (911 total, which is one of the highest supplies in the US) and a top 50-75 that’s deeper than any I’ve seen. It’s my belief, in fact, that the #1 Public Golf State in America that Wisconsin is now toting will eventually go next to Michigan.

Greywalls is the highest ranked of this quartet of top-tier properties, but they are all fantastic for different reasons – and all offer very well-rounded golf experiences.

TimberStone and Greywalls each traverse rugged, mountainous terrain, while Sweetgrass presents a leisurely, perfectly manicured golf experience across the plains and beside the ponds adjacent to the resort. Sage Run is a perfect blend of them all – some rugged, insanely elevated hole designs and a bit of wooded majesty.

Together, they create a golf experience that feels both adventurous and perfectly connected – the kind of trip players can’t wait to repeat year after year.

The Cedar Course (“Kishki”) – Open for Preview Play Fall of 2026

Don’t get too used to saying “The Perfect Foursome” as it will soon become “The Perfect Fivesome” – the new Albanese & Lutzke-designed Cedar Course is currently under development and slated to open in August, 2026.

“It’s been a project that’s based upon customer demand. We have the four courses and the packages fill up fast… What we find is a lot of people want to stay an extra day, but they can’t get a tee time before 4:00… so when you add nine more holes it allows you to use the back nine of Sage as a first nine along with the new nine, or just play the new nine. It gives us about 15,000 more tee times between 7:30 and 10:00. So it’s really kind of fitting that hole that we have. The people are here and they want to use it – we don’t have to create a demand – it’s already there.”

-Tony Mancilla, General Manager of The Island Resort & Casino

The course, which will debut as a nine-hole routing next season alongside the Sage Run championship layout, will feature golden age tributes to some of the game’s great holes – but not always the ones that are most often done at other “replica courses.”

“The new nine is going to be our best nine of all the nines we have. It’s that good… It’s going to be a tribute to the golden age of golf. All the holes are going to have some sort of homage to, for example, number six at Augusta National – Juniper, the one that plays down the hill and everybody sits in front of the tee. We’re going to replicate that hole out there. We have 10 at Riviera, it’s going to be a drivable, short par four. The green will be the same and the bunkering will be the same, so that one will be pretty close. We have one from Prestwick, Scotland, called the Cardinal Hole. It’s a par five and one of the most famous holes in golf. And then the other ones will be a mix of holes, like we have a course called Crystal Downs in lower Michigan that has a famous two-tier green that we’re going to be doing – it’s called the Plateau Green. So we’re going to be doing that along with Royal St. Georges’ Sahara Bunker, the big, giant bunker all on one hole. We’re going to have the punch bowl from Chicago Golf Club… You’re going to be able to scan a QR code right on the tee box, and it’ll tell you about the hole and why it’s the way it is.”

-Tony Mancilla, General Manager of The Island Resort & Casino

The Cedar Course was under construction while we visited Sage Run, and you can get a general sense of the land from this aerial video shot on-site – note the beautiful church pew bunkers!

Sweetgrass

Almost 100% of golfers traveling to this destination will play Sweetgrass Golf Club, so what should they expect?

The 14-year host of the LPGA Epson Tour’s Island Resort Championship, Sweetgrass boasts a tremendously well-designed, and somehow even better conditioned, 7,275-yard championship course with a plethora of truly memorable holes that will challenge players’ games both with their clubs and minds.

The 14th might be my favorite of them all. A short par four, it plays over thick native grasses as a cape hole with a wide open fairway that can be sniped from anywhere between 150 and 300-plus yards. At just 330 from the blue tees, players can opt for a 200-yard shot to the fairway for a short-iron or wedge in, but it can be hard to hit that easy button. If you can carry the ball 250-plus yards, chances are you’ll at least consider going for this green in one.

Miss it short and your ball will be lost in the long grass – or if you’re lucky in the long bunker that separates the native from the raised fairway. Hit it perfectly toward the green and chances are your ball will roll off its sloped edges. Seriously, the smart play is to the fairway to set up wedge in – I went this route and walked away with birdie. It can be done!

The par threes on Sweetgrass are fantastic, too, with the most famous one being the island 15th. Measuring between 107-168 yards, it features a massive reclaimed bridge that brings players to its oversized green – one of five former Menomonie County car and train bridges that were repurposed for this soulful golf property.

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There are very few public golf courses I have ever played that are consistently in as pristine of shape as Sweetgrass, and certainly nothing in this price range. It’s kept like a $100,000-plus initiation private club with fast, smooth putting surfaces and immaculate tees and fairways – trust me, you’ll love it.

Each nine on Sweetgrass finishes near their new clubhouse – parallel par fives that run on either side of the shared water hazard en route to an incredibly wide shared greens complex at the finish of the pond.

For more on Sweetgrass Golf Club, visit their website

Sage Run

The last time I visited The Island was in 2016 – for my bachelor party.

Sage Run was under development at that time, and so our return trip this summer was my first time getting a look at it in-person.

Designed by the duo of Paul Albanese (who also designed Sweetgrass) and Chris Lutzke (who was Pete Dye’s right-hand man for over three decades, including work across Dye’s portfolio and The Baths at Blackwolf Run with Herb Kohler), I was really impressed with the golf experience at Sage Run.

While Sweetgrass is steps from the hotel’s back entrance, Sage Run will require an 8- to 10-minute drive from the resort to nearby Bark River.

The first thing you’ll notice at Sage Run is the land. Designed across and around a natural drumlin – an enormous ridge crafted by ice movement many, many centuries ago, Sage Run plays up, down and across the drumlin and its surrounding forests with dramatic elevation changes and even more spectacular hole designs.

This is a big-boy golf course, stretching to 7,375 yards from the black tees but more comfortably at 6,356 from the whites that we played. If you think you can handle 7,375, consider that you will be hitting driver on the par three 14th. While the scorecard says it tips at 250 yards, it was playing from 280 when we were there – all carry over wasteland and a humongous chasm and uphill over 50 feet to a gnarly greens complex. If that gives you a little anxiety (as it should), you’ll probably want to move up. In general, the yardage at Sage Run plays long – as I mentioned, there is a lot of elevation.

To me, the stars of Sage Run, which WiscoGolfAddict.com Contributing Writer Brian Murphy recently reviewed in his article “Sage Run: A Rugged, Raucous U.P. Adventure” (linked below) are the holes that play uphill – the tremendously uphill par three fifth, reachable par four eighth, long downhill par five ninth and the drivable uphill 16th. There are a ton of other holes with beautifully elevated tee shots, too, like the par five 18th, long par four 15th and others.

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Sage Run has it all – great challenge, variety and shot values you won’t find many other places – especially in the Midwest.

Visit the Sage Run website for more on this epic Albanese/Lutzke golf adventure

TimberStone at Pine Mountain

When booking a golf trip to the U.P. players can expect to factor in a lot of uphill and downhill routing. Though only a couple hours from the Wisconsin border, trust me the land is very different.

TimberStone at Pine Mountain shows off that elevation as well as any, especially on the aforementioned par three 17th and while descending its climactic ninth and 18th holes.

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This course is a rollercoaster ride through the forests and ski slopes of Pine Mountain Resort – yes, it is a ski hill during the winter months.

Designed by Jerry Matthews and opened in 1996, TimberStone’s normally lush conditions rival those of the best northwoods public tracks, but very few can compete against its natural beauty and challenge.

With a slope of 150 from the 6,938-yard back “Forest” tees (and still 145 from the 6,536-yard “Boulder” boxes), it will test your accuracy, strategic shotmaking and every club in your bag. We experienced it all first-hand during our visit – it was the last course we played en route back to Wisconsin and brought out all the highest scores.

Just like during the previous two rounds, I won the group skins game at TimberStone handily. I thought I was on fire, in fact, but left with an 89. You can certainly put together solid streaks on this course, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone immune to a few blow-up holes – especially if it’s cool and windy like it was for us.

As you can tell, our morning at TimberStone was primarily overcast although it did lighten up significantly prior to teeing off. If we’d gotten a banner golden hour like we did at Sweetgrass and Sage Run, this course would have shown off its natural beauty just as well. I hope these images still convey it a little while displaying its dramatic contouring.

For more on TimberStone at Pine Mountain, check out their website

Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club

Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to play Greywalls during this recent team trip, but I have been there a number of times over the years and can say this: Greywalls is one of the most unique, exhilarating golf experiences in the entire Midwest.

The work Mike DeVries did at Greywalls to take such an incredibly rugged, literally mountainous plot of land and make it not only playable but unforgettably fun is awe-inspiring.

Here’s the thing, though: Greywalls is not “fair.” Keep that in mind if you visit. It’s the kind of place where shear rock walls jut out into fairways – and literally down the middle of some – which will inevitably take a perfect, well-centered drive or two and bounce them into the woods. You’re going to need to laugh that off and just enjoy the spectacular beauty of this course – if you can do that, you will enjoy your golf experience there as much as at any golf property around.

I was obviously a very different golf course reviewer and photographer in 2012, and I’ve always dreamt about getting back to the U.P. to play and photograph Greywalls again with drone and better land cameras. I’m sure it’ll be absolutely spectacular, especially on holes like the par three sixth:

My last couple articles about Greywalls, including one of the most improbable holes-in-one you’ll ever hear about:

One other thing I would mention about Greywalls: It is part of the Marquette Golf Club, which also includes The Heritage Course, a 1926 Langford & Moreau track that you’ll see initially when arriving on-property. While I have yet to play The Heritage, I’ve heard good things about its front nine (the original L&M design, which combines with a 1969 David Gill-designed back for 18 total holes).

Interesting, by the way, that Gill also did the back nine at Heritage – he was the architect of record for West Bend Country Club’s back nine, too, to complement Langford & Moreau’s work there in the sixties.

For more on Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, visit their website

Book The Island Resort & Casino Early!

With four (soon to be five) well-designed golf courses, gaming and a number of worthy culinary experiences, The Perfect Foursome fits an ideal niche in the Midwest golf scene: an affordable destination that’s perfect for large groups and especially for those who want the full golf trip experience without maxing out their credit cards or driving half a day to make it happen.

As General Manager Tony Mancilla told us during our time together, these are the best courses many golf enthusiasts will play in a given year – they really are that good – and folks don’t need to pay Pebble Beach or Kohler prices to experience them.

Combined with a great stay, full casino experience and plenty of dining options to choose from, The Island Resort & Casino is the kind of two- to four-day golf trip worth making every year.

If you’re looking to put together your own epic visit for golf at The Island next season, take my advice and…

Book early.

If you’re searching for a Midwest golf trip that balances value, quality, accessibility and pure fun, this is it. Just remember to plan ahead – The Island’s tee sheets fill up fast.

Visit The Island Resort & Casino’s website for more on The Perfect Foursome