Skybridge Michigan has become a popular tourist attraction at the Boyne Mountain Resort. It stretches 1,200 feet in length and hangs 120 feet above the valley below. Skybridge can be accessed via the historic Hemlock Scenic Chairlift, the first chairlift built in the United States and installed at Sun Valley, Idaho, in 1938. It was later transferred to Michigan and rebuilt at BOYNE, in 1948. The bridge offers spectacular panoramic views, plus the glass floor in the middle of the bridge enhances the views of the Valley floor. September and October are the best times to visit Skybridge. “It’s so much about how the valley looks then,’’ said Ken Griffin, director of sales and marketing at the Boyne resorts. He said the bridge could hold 5,000 people but never more than 500 have been on it at one time. No. 10, a replica of the 14th hole at Scotland’s Royal Dornoch, is the only one of the 18 holes that wasn’t designed by Ross himself. “But it’s the course where he grew up, where he learned golf,’’ said Griffin. It’s also the course where Ross worked as a golf professional for the first time. The Ross course is not a project to be taken lightly. The BOYNE hierarchy wants each hole to be as accurate as possible. To show how serious the staff takes this project is reflected by the work undertaken on the 15th hole – a replica of No. 11 at Aronimink in Pennysylvania. The original version at The Highlands had five bunkers. Now, after a renovation, it has 22. “We thought what we had was the original, but it wasn’t,’’ said Griffin, “so we moved it up the line and redid it.’’ The Bay Harbor Golf Club offers three nine-hole layouts, The Links, Quarry and Preserve. The Links/Quarry combination, designed by the late Arthur Hills, may be the best of BOYNE’s 10 courses, but Crooked Tree may be a bigger success story there. Harry Bowers was the original architect, and Boyne purchased the course from the family that had built it. “It’s the only of one of our 10 courses that we didn’t build.’’ said Griffin. “The last three holes (16, 17 and 18) were not good holes. Ten years ago, Crooked Tree recorded the lowest number of rounds compared to the other BOYNE courses, however, after a redesign by Arthur Hills it has become one of the top three courses guests want to play, along with the Heather and the Hills Courses.’’ BOYNE Resort is in a class by itself in the Mitten State and management’s commitment to consistent improvements will keep it so a long time in the future. Ohio Golf Journal
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