Sage Run

Island Resort Opens Sage Run on Sweetgrass Anniversary

Upper Peninsula of Michigan's premier golf resort destination adds second golf course

By Brian Weis

It was 10 years ago that the Island Resort & Casino, located in Michigan's scenic Upper Peninsula just outside of Escanaba, developed the award-winning Sweetgrass golf course and began a journey toward becoming a leading golf destination.

This week the Hannahville Indian Community, led by its Tribal Chairman Ken Meshigaud, Island Resort General Manager Tony Mancilla, and golf course designer Paul Albanese opened Sage Run, the resort's second golf course, in a ceremony with community members and leaders.

"We are very excited to be opening our second golf course on the 10-year anniversary of our first course Sweetgrass," Mancilla said. "Sage Run is exactly what we wanted - something different from the other courses in the region. It has a very rugged feel that was inspired by a trip Paul Albanese and I took to Royal County Down, including tee-boxes that are natural to the ground on simple land forms similar to how they built them back in the late 1800s."

Albanese, too, is elated with the final product.

"This was an inspiring project to work on," he said. "We spent months on different routings allowing us to experience the different landscapes including the drumlin."

The natural drumlin - an elongated hill or ridge formed by glacial ice long ago - is the primary feature on Sage Run. The golf holes meander over and around the hill offering a scenic variety of shots and creating a fun thrill ride for golfers.

"Sage Run has a very rough and tumble feel to it," Albanese said. "As Tony indicated, our trip to Royal County Down was very inspirational in this design and we incorporated some of the rugged design philosophy into it. Golfers will experience great holes through the trees, some in open areas and just a lot of variety in terms of landscape and feel."

Celebrating 10 years of excellence this year, Sweetgrass, also designed by Albanese, features masterfully crafted rockwork with a prairie links style. The course boasts an island green on No. 15 and a pair of breathtaking waterfalls that greet golfers as they play up the ninth and 18th holes to an enormous, shared green.

A Biarritz and a Redan green, and bridges rescued from other areas in the state are other compelling design components and part of the story of the course. Sweetgrass is also home to a future of women's professional golf tournament, the Symetra Tour Island Resort Championship.

"Not very many architects get the opportunity to come back and design a second golf course at a resort destination like Island Resort," Albanese said. "It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to design this second golf course and now have two very unique designs for golfers of all levels to experience."

MEDIA INVITATION - Members of the media are invited to experience the new Sage Run golf course and Island Resort anytime this season based on availability. Just let us know some dates and we will make the arrangements.

About Island Resort & Casino
Located in Michigan's scenic Upper Peninsula 13 miles west of Escanaba, Island Resort & Casino is one of the Midwest's largest golf, casino and entertainment resort destinations spanning over 408,000 square feet. The resort features 36-holes of championship golf, over 300 guest rooms and a 42-site RV Park. The casino offers a poker room, craps, blackjack, Spanish 21, three card poker, let-it-ride, roulette, bingo and over 1,200 slot machines.

The resort amenities also include the luxurious Drift Spa offering a variety of high-end spa services with access to the resort's salt water pool, steam rooms and sauna. Multiple dining options include the signature 5 Bridges Steak and Seafood House, 5 Bridges Pub, Firekeepers Restaurant, T. McC's Sports Bar, Coral Reef Grille, Signature Subs & Pizza and The Coffee & Custard Shop featuring items from The Bakery.

The Island also regularly hosts headline entertainment in the intimate 1315-seat Showroom as well as weekly bands and comedy entertainers in Club 41. The Island Convention Center provides the perfect venue for special events, business meetings and weddings.

Revised: 06/18/2018 - Article Viewed 11,052 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.