WEST BRANCH - For Dan Courtemanche, The
Dream Golf Course is a second-generation dream
come true.
Twenty-seven years ago, Courtemanche's father,
Art, built the Green Hills Golf Course in Pinconning. Dan and
his brother, Tom, grew up in the family golf business, both
carving out careers at Green Hills. Dan, 40, is the manager
there, while Tom is the course superintendent.
Now, the brothers have combined to build their own golf
course, The Dream, in West Branch, which they plan to open
May 1.
While the Courtemanches had talked about the idea of building
a course for years, it didn't begin to materialize until 1992,
when they bought part of an old ranch in Ogemaw County.
"West Branch is growing," Dan Courtemache said. "That's why
we bought it. It's a great town."
They also bought it because it was a perfect piece of land for a
course.
"The land was naturally ideal for a golf course," Courtemache
said. "It was 320 acres of virgin territory, all hardwoods
(mostly oak) - not a piece of wetlands.
"Every hole is cut out of the woods. There are elevation
changes from 100 feet - that's how rolling it is.
"It's a regular northern Michigan golf course."
The Dream, designed by Jeff Gorney, the architect of Little
Traverse Bay, began to take shape when construction started in
1994. It was "built in-house," according to Courtemache, as the
brothers did all the construction. It could have opened last fall,
according to Courtemache, but they let it grow out.
"We have bentgrass fairways," he said. "It's an upscale course
at a mid-scale price."
Courtemache compares the course to Elk Ridge in Atlanta and
the Treetops courses in Gaylord. Greens fees at The Dream,
including a mandatory cart, are $xx during the week and $xx
on the weekends for 18 holes.
"My biggest problem is that probably 14 of them could be
signature holes," Courtemache said. "Every golfer I take up
there, he could pick out a different signature hole."
That says a lot about the design and the property.
"It was just that kind of land," Courtemache said. "We kept it
mostly natural, with the valleys and the ridges. It's up and
down - a rolling course."
And despite being cut out of woods, The Dream is fairly open.
"The fairways are extra wide," Courtemache said. "We took
them a little wider than we should have so you could hit the
ball and play it."
There's also plenty of room on the greens.
"All the greens are large," Courtemache said. "Most are 10,000
square feet, if not more."
The Dream, which plays to 6,996 yards off the back tees, has a
complete driving range facility and a clubhouse that should be
ready soon.
The Dream is easy to get to: Take I-75 to West Branch and get
off at Exit 215, then head west for three miles on Old M-55 to
the course, which has a mile of frontage on I-75.
"It doesn't hurt to be on the expressway," Courtemache said
about another advantage of the course. All in all, The Dream is
a dream come true.
Copyright 1999 Michigan Live Inc.
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