The Legend - Hole #2

What You Need To Know: The Legend Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Lindsey Southwell, Director of Marketing

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Lindsey Southwell who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Arnold Palmer's The Legend GC's is built with multiple elevation changes, doglegs, water hazards, and well-placed traps. Its setting includes views of Lake Bellaire and the actual Shanty Creek trickles through your round.

Golf Magazine has named The Legend GC among the "Top Resort Courses" in the US. 4½ stars from Golf Digest.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Arnold Palmer helped introduce northern Michigan golf to the world when The Legend was built in 1986. With stunning vistas of Lake Bellaire, the namesake of the resort coming into play (the Shanty Creek) on the 7th and 8th holes, formidable elevation changes, doglegs and tiered greens, The Legend is a must-play Northern Michigan gem.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Arnold Palmer stays true to his playing style, with several doglegs coming into play on several holes. The risk is well worth the reward if you are a accurate player and have the distance to cut out the doglegs completely.

The Legend's Hole #1 is an easy downhill par 5, which leaves you feeling pretty good as you move on to the next hole. Don't let Palmer knock the wind out of your sails on the next hole - you'll need every bit of it to get your ball uphill. Laying it up will be your safe bet here.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
n/a

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Golf Magazine has named The Legend GC among the "Top Resort Courses" in the US. 4½ stars from Golf Digest.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The most photographed hole on the course is #4, which overlooks Lake Bellaire. The view of the lake from the #3 tee and #4 green are unrivaled - just spectacular.

The most talked about hole is #7, the courses's signature hole. Arnold Palmer's design of hole 7 takes golfers over 3 bodies of water to an extremely narrow green, surrounded by large landscaping rocks and sand traps. Par is very well earned on this par-5, which is home to the name sake of the resort, the Shanty Creek.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is #5. Sitting a top an elevated tee, your first shot feels like it flys forever, dropping you in the middle of the tree-lined dogleg valley, which faces due East. The green has 3 tiers, and if the pin is in the back, you'll want to make sure to grab an extra clublength - you'll need it to get all the way back there!

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Well, no round on an Arnold Palmer course should be played without an Arnold Palmer in-hand. Get the lemonade/iced tea combo at Anie's, just off of the Legend's pro shop, overlooking Summit GC.

For the traveling golfer, do you have lodging onsite or partner with any area hotels?
With just under 400 lodging options across four villages to fit all family sizes and budgets, Shanty Creek's reservations agents can customize lodging to suit your needs - from guest rooms to large family homes, and everything in between.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6764
Slope: 137
Rating: 73.2

More Information
The Legend GC
5780 Shanty Creek Road
Bellaire, Michigan, 49615
800-678-4111
https://www.shantycreek.com/golf/

Revised: 06/08/2022 - Article Viewed 5,647 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.