Historic Mackinac Golf Adds to Carless Charm

MACKINAC Island, Michigan - This charming car-less summer getaway is celebrating its 75th anniversary of banning motorized vehicles from its 8 miles circumference, thickly forested island. It relies on horse drawn carriages and bicycles to get around for the tens of thousands of tourist who arrive each summer.

But there is another anniversary worth celebrating this year which even some locals and most visitors don't know anything about. The 125th anniversary of Wawashkamo Golf Club, the oldest continually operating course in Michigan and a delightfully untouched bit of golf history.

The public course with a small dedicated membership was laid out by two-time U.S. Open Champion Scotsman Alex Smith, and has remained a living golf history lesson created on the site of a British victory during the War of 1812.

Smith's small slit-style bunkers are still intact to catch any wayward approach along with the small, greatly sloping greens and thick underbrush in the fairways.

Woe to the golfers who think the course, which plays 5,959 yards from the back tees with two separate tee boxes for 18 holes on the nine-hole layout, is a pushover.

"You would be surprised by how many visitors seek us out to play an old style course in pristine conditions," said longtime head pro Chuck Olson. "We have active members and plenty of play in the summer. It's a nice treat to play out here and get away from the commotion and people on main street."

Visitors who arrive without clubs, can rent a set, either the modern technology advanced kind or the old fashioned hickory version in use when Smith first laid out the course in 1898.

The 1st/10th tee has a large cannon just to the left of the tee box to commemorate the battle that took place here when the British beat back an American offensive and kept the charming island in British hands during the war.

The course itself is ringed thickly by trees which still allow you to hear the bikers, horses and the walkers on the roadways nearby, but concentrate on the old school golf. The par 3/12 hole is one of the few still in existence with an ancient ringed green. It's a small round putting circle surrounded by thick grass which means you need to chip your ball on the green not try to putt through the grass.

No less a golf history expert than two-time Masters Champion Texan Ben Crenshaw praised Wawashkamo, translated to Walk A Crooked Stick, during a 1990 visit here.

"I think it's a wonderful thing that you and the powers that be are continuing to leave the course alone, allowing it to reflect the old Scottish architecture for which Alex Smith originally built the course," he said.

Once you arrive , by carriage, bike or foot, you can walk the course or take a motorized cart, one of the few motorized vehicles anywhere on the island.
Otherwise it is a pleasant walk through an outdoor golf history museum, one many may not know exists, and your tour continues into the small wooden clubhouse. Olson is your tour guide with pictures from the early days of Wa Wa as the locals call it. It's the story of Frank Dufina who served the club, now owned by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, for nearly 50 years and brought friends such has Walter Hagen and other golf great to play here.

There is a small wooden locker room for members, a crowded pro shop and a maintenance barn overseen by golf course superintendent Karen O'Dell and her all female crew. The course is open roughly May to October, but you need to play it, visit it and soak golf's unique slice of history while you can.

The second course on the island, the Grand Hotel layout, was 'only' built in 1916 adjacent to the landmark Grand Hotel. Famed Scottish architect Tom Bendelow designed the course which began as 9 holes across the street from the stately hotel and now includes the Woods nine located a couple of miles from the hotel.

Phil Dufina, Frank's nephew, once served as the head pro here. The course was totally redesigned in the small envelope of space by architect Jerry Matthews in 1987, which allows visitors, known as fudgies for their attraction to the famous island fudge, to get in a quick nine holes and get back to the hotel or main street before anybody knows they are missing.

Former President and Michigan native George Ford once played here and then took a helicopter from a nearby field, one of the few presidential perks allowed.

Mackinac has loads of history, but golf here doesn't take a back seat to anyone. Wawa was named an American National Historic Landmark of Golf by Golf Digest in 1996 along with a Michigan Historic Site designation.

Come for the fudge, the food and the car-less charm, but don't forget to leave room for the historic golf.