Iconic Northern Michigan golf membership hosts historic occasion for the 41st time.
Charlevoix, MI – Belvedere Golf Club, the historic William Watson design in Charlevoix, Michigan, performs host to the 114th Michigan Beginner Championship June 17-25. By the point the primary tee shot is struck, the enduring membership will flip 100, and it’s marking the milestone by doing what it does finest — internet hosting Michigan’s most prestigious beginner occasion for a document forty first time in its century-long historical past.
“There’s simply one thing about this place,” says Dennis (Marty) Pleasure, Belvedere’s long-time head skilled. “The course asks all the precise questions for match play. Gamers love the ambiance, and truthfully, so can we. This yr will likely be particular.”
Particular is one method to put it. Iconic is likely to be higher. Just some blocks from downtown Charlevoix, Belvedere is a postcard come to life. With its William Watson design, walkable routing, and timeless greens, it has lengthy supplied the right stage for match play drama.
The Michigan Beginner first arrived right here in 1930, when legendary Chuck Kocsis defeated James Standish Jr. 9&7—starting a love affair between the membership and the state’s prime beginner golfers that continues to at the present time.
Over the many years, Belvedere has grow to be greater than only a host venue. It’s grow to be a personality within the match’s historical past—its rolling fairways and subtly treacherous greens shaping careers and crushing goals. From 1963 to 1988, the Beginner referred to as Belvedere dwelling for 26 consecutive years, making a sort of summer season pilgrimage for gamers, spectators, and golf lovers throughout the state.
“After I was youthful, it felt like all roads led to Belvedere each June,” Pleasure says. “The Beginner was half competitors, half reunion. The clubhouse porch was at all times buzzing. Governors, writers, gamers—all of them saved coming again.”
That period produced some unforgettable moments. Randy Erskine, the satisfaction of Battle Creek, claimed his Michigan Beginner title at Belvedere in 1972 in a 21-hole thriller. Dan Pohl, who went on to a profitable professional profession, gained twice right here in his beginner days within the Seventies, together with a 20-hole battle in 1975 towards three-time champ Melvin (Bud) Stevens. In 1978, future PGA Tour winner John Morse outlasted Dr. Mark Engleman in—you guessed it—additional holes.
It wasn’t nearly who gained, although. It was about the place they gained. “There’s one thing about this place that makes you rise to the second,” Pleasure provides. “And while you don’t, it exposes you. That’s a mark of an important championship venue.”
After the Michigan Beginner started rotating websites across the state once more in 1989, Belvedere nonetheless stayed within the combine. It returned in 2003 when Colby Beckstrom triumphed, and once more in 2014, when Henry Do defeated Steve Anderson in a 19-hole ultimate. The occasion’s return in 2025 is extra than simply one other chapter—it’s a tribute.
“Bringing the Beginner again for the membership’s centennial seems like coming full circle,” Pleasure says. “We’ve received almost a century of reminiscences tied to this occasion.”
It’s a deep and proud historical past. Belvedere has hosted champions from each nook of Michigan: from the Detroit duo of Kocsis and Sam Kocsis within the Thirties and Nineteen Forties, to Grosse Ile’s Glenn Johnson within the Fifties, to Jackson’s Steve Maddalena within the Nineteen Eighties. All of them etched their names into the membership’s legacy.
The 2025 championship will start with two days of stroke play qualifying on June 17 and 18, narrowing the sphere to 64 match play contenders. From there, it’s single elimination over three days—all the way down to the ultimate two on Saturday, June 21, the place one title will likely be added to a really distinguished record.
“There’s one thing old-fashioned about match play at Belvedere,” says Pleasure. “You don’t overpower the course and your opponent; you outsmart them. That’s why this occasion works so properly right here.”
The bones of Watson’s authentic design stay intact, particularly after a renovation during the last decade that restored the architect’s authentic intentions. When the perfect amateurs in Michigan arrive at Belvedere this yr, they may see a barely totally different golf course than the one they competed on in 2014, most noticeably within the inexperienced complexes, which have been absolutely restored and enlarged to Watson’s authentic plans with added slopes and runoffs, placing a premium on ball place and placing for this yr’s gamers. The greens at Belvedere at the moment are a few of the most difficult in golf. Along with the restored greens, authentic bunkers have been rediscovered, bushes have been eliminated, and fescue traces have been created. The course nonetheless walks the road between subtlety and sting.
Past the golf, there’s the city. Charlevoix in June is a throwback sort of summer season vacation spot. With its harbor, quaint eating places, and tree-lined streets, it supplies the right backdrop for a match with deep roots and traditions. Charlevoix the Lovely, as they are saying—and for one week in June, it will likely be the capital of Michigan golf as soon as once more.
As Belvedere steps into its second century, the message is evident: The Michigan Beginner didn’t simply make reminiscences right here. It helped form the soul of the place. And in 2025, it comes dwelling once more.
For extra data, go to www.belvederegolfclub.com.
Press launch by: Kevin Frisch PR
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