Gaylord Golf Mecca creates success with cooperation

Story by Greg Johnson / Photo above: Otsego Tribute Course

The Gaylord Golf Mecca, currently 17 golf course members and 20 lodging partners strong in the heart of Northern Lower Michigan, has been moving forward as a premier U.S. summer golf destination for 38 years with its time-tested cooperative destination marketing model.

“The real reason the Mecca works and continues to grow is a tremendous group of owners who have vision and believe in destination marketing,” said Paul Beachnau, executive director of the Mecca since its inception in 1987.

“We simply keep getting better together. Our members and partners continually improve their courses, turf, bunkers and tees, and those with lodging keep up to date with regular room renovations. Along with all the improvements the properties keep making, our partnership with the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City has opened new national and international markets to us. We, as a group, share ideas to serve visitors.

“The Mecca is a true meaning of cooperative. As a group and as individual properties, there is a commitment to always being the best golf destination Gaylord can be.”

Gaylord, fondly known as the Alpine Village, is not a typical major golf destination. It started in 1987 when Harry Melling, a flamboyant auto industry supplier and NASCAR team owner who had earlier purchased the Sylvan ski resort on the edge of town, unveiled the Masterpiece, the last major golf course design by the legendary architect, Robert Trent Jones.

The award-winning Jones creation attracted golfers to what became known as Treetops Resort, but also quickly put Gaylord in the national golf conversation as a must-stop in the Midwest. It was also Jones who coined the name Treetops. During construction, he observed the stunning view over the Pigeon River Valley from the ridge and tee 180-plus feet above the green of the course’s iconic signature Par 3 sixth hole. It is treetops for miles.

The Masterpiece was the first of five top-flight and award-winning golf courses Melling would go on to build at the resort, including the only Tom Fazio designed course in Michigan, which is called the Premier.

The Golf Channel launched its popular “Big Break” series in Gaylord and ESPN’s “Par 3 Shootout” at Treetops on the Rick Smith-designed Threetops par 3 course. Both productions, pushed forward by Smith who was then Treetops’ head golf professional, helped spread the Mecca message across America as Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Lee Trevino and others came to town.

Also in that same summer of 1987, the Gaylord Tourism Bureau had formed the Gaylord Golf Mecca – a coordinated marketing effort and label officials hoped would draw attention to the original six Mecca member golf courses. Five of those six – Treetops, Otsego Resort, Gaylord Golf Club, The Pines at Michaywe’ and Lakes of the North – remain part of today’s 17 members.

Black Bear Golf, located just north of Gaylord, is the newest member of the Mecca. Just over one year ago, longtime Gaylord area real estate business owners Olivia and Rob Smith decided to purchase the 18-hole, 6,500-yard course that had seen better times. They promptly embarked on a bevy of improvements, chief among them creating proper and competitive playing conditions on the course.

The course improvements, combined with multiple other enhancements, set the public venue in a more favorable position to compete in a well-established golf market. One online poll revealed that golfers voted it the No. 1 Most Improved U.S. Golf Course in 2024.

It also provided the opportunity for them to join the Gaylord Golf Mecca.

“We’ve lived here in Gaylord, been a part of the business community and we know how successful the Mecca has been and what it has done to make this a golf destination,” Olivia Smith said. “It’s great to be a part of it. We felt it was so important for us.”

The Mecca’s full course lineup, in addition to the new member Black Bear Golf, includes:

• Black Lake Golf Club, with its award-winning Rees Jones-designed golf course.
• Gaylord Golf Club, known for classic pristine greens that have charmed golfers for decades.
• Garland Lodge & Golf Resort, which is home to four golf courses and is in year 73 as a destination.
• Indian River Golf Club, a classic that bills itself accurately as the friendliest golf course in the north.
• Lakes of the North Golf Course, a get-away-from-it-all spot that provides an affordable hidden-gem experience.
• The Pines Course at Michaywe,’ which has been a home of classic golf for 52 years, including hosting the Michigan Amateur Championship twice.
• Otsego Resort, which is continuing multi-million-dollar improvements and features two courses, including the highly acclaimed Tribute course.
• And Treetops Resort, with its unmatched five golf courses including one of the most famous par 3 courses in the world – Threetops.

“We are unique in this country as a destination in the north because of the quantity and the quality of golf,” Beachnau said. “I believe only Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has been together as a cooperative marketing effort in golf longer than the Mecca. And right now, I see and feel a resurgence in cooperative action, in golf travel, a good economy, those types of things. It is also easier to get to Northern Michigan through the success of Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport now, which opens us up to other big golf markets, too. It’s exciting. We have a bright future as long as we keep the quality of our great courses at an elevated level and keep working together.”

For more information on the Gaylord Golf Mecca, click HERE.