A Jack Nicklaus Signature-designed course has been named Michigan Golf Course of the Year.
Harbor Shores Resort, on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Paw Paw River in Benton Harbor (in Southwest Michigan, 90 minutes east of Chicago), was named on Thursday the 2024 Michigan Golf Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA).
The award honors a member course that meets four criteria, according to the MGCA: Unique characteristics of the course; exceptional quality of ownership and management; outstanding contribution to its community; and significant contribution to the game.
“I think this is one of the biggest honors a golf facility can receive in the state of Michigan,” Josh Doxtator, PGA general manager at the resort, said in a release Thursday. “Harbor Shores has been the catalyst for the community and honors like this continue to prove that point and tell our story.”
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Previous winners this decade:
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2023: Sundance at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort
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2022: The Emerald Golf Course, St. Johns
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2021: Sweetgrass Golf Club
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2020: Stoatin Brae, Gull Lake View
In May, Harbor Shores hosted its sixth Senior PGA Championship, this time won by England’s Richard Bland.
The course was among the top 10 public sites in the U.S. golfers loved the most in January 2023, according to more than 315,000 reviewers in 2022 on GolfPass.com.
“Pieced together from more than 140 different land purchases as part of a huge industrial remediation effort … this is a prime example of how golf can help turn around the prospects of a struggling community,” GolfPass wrote at the time.
Harbor Shores, a not-for-profit facility opened in 2010, was built on formerly abandoned industrial and polluted land, thanks to $900 million in strategic investments. A portion of fees collected help maintain the area’s trail systems and beach area.
“Harbor Shores embodies all of the characteristics of the award,” Jada Paisley, executive director of the MGCA, said in the statement. “The golf course, through its development on reclaimed land, involvement with the PGA Tour Champions, the onsite First Tee program and more has fostered a vibrant community hub where people can come together for golfing, socializing and events while supporting charitable causes that benefit the broader community.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jack Nicklaus course named 2024 Michigan Golf Course of the Year
