WHEN I FIRST PLAYED CHAMPION HILL fifteen years ago, little did I know, I would someday work part-time at the course. I greet members and guests helping them prepare for their rounds and maintain the clubhouse gardens and attend to the pots of red geraniums. It is a rather nice setting and situation. All this, a labor of love, that keeps me engaged in the golf business that I began working in as a young teenager.
The course is owned by Benzie native Lee Stone. With the help of Jim Cole, it was built almost a decade after they completed construction of Pinecroft, its sister course. The two properties are four miles apart and both are blessed with sandy soils and topography allowing spectacular views that many famous courses would have loved to have had in their constitution. Both courses are off the beaten path and can easily be found on your GPS app.
I have now played Champion Hill hundreds of times in its fifteen years and have become such a fan of its design and minimalist presentation. It is located ten minutes east of M-22 through the Platte Lakes, three miles south of the Village of Honor. It is a links-style course and is carved and sculpted from more than 350 acres of the hilly Benzie County countryside. Four of the par 4 holes are my favorite designs in northern Michigan. It is a must play course when you are on the M-22 Golf Trail.