This week’s “Tips From the Tee” is coming to you from Caberfae Peaks. Caberfae offers one of the most gorgeous 9 holes Northern Michigan has to offer. The 9 holes, 36 par course is 3,326 yards from the tips but can be reduced down to 2,186 yards depending on what tees you’re playing from. Ravishing ravines, tight fairways, sweeping hills, and ski mountain views make for an always-exciting golf round at Caberfae.

The Course

In 1995 Harry Bowers brought over 30 years of golf course design and construction experience to good use while designing Caberfae’s 9 holes. Harry also spent time playing golf as an amateur which has provided him with the knowledge and skill to understand shot-making, challenge, and play-ability at a very thorough level. Over Harry’s career, he has designed 70+ courses. His expertise and knowledge are made quite apparent at Caberfae’s golf course.

Caberfae’s golf course is located at the base of the ski hill. It has gorgeous views of one of lower Michigan’s greatest treasures in Caberfae’s ski hill. The resort is only about 18 miles west of downtown Cadillac and US-131.

Pete Meyer, General Manager of Caberfae Peaks, took some time to help Nate and Dawson get a better understanding of signature hole number 8. Hole 8 is a 153-yard par 3 with a marshy ravine between the tee box and the green. The green is protected by a bunker on the front left of the green and not much room for error on the left, right, and back off the green. On this hole, there is some distance on the front side of the green for those shots that don’t get hit quite perfectly.

Pete explained that Caberfae is a tight course with little room for error left or right on most holes. He said one way to combat this is to play a set of tees up. The course rewards accurate shots and punishes those that get out of hand. Playing the correct set of tees for each golfers ability is essential to scoring well and having fun.

The Hole

When approaching hole 8 Nate and Dawson had the back tees in mind, after some advice from Pete they elected to move a tee box up and play from the blues instead of the blacks. This left them with 135 yards to the pin. With a 9-iron in hand, Nate aimed left and played his fade to the left side of the green. He stuck the green thanks to a fortunate kick to the right and some backspin to prevent the ball from rolling off the green. Dawson hits the ball a bit further, so he choked down on a pitching wedge and attempted to take a ¾ swing.

Approach Shot

Per usual Dawson missed the green to the left. Thanks to some superb wedge skills, he was able to get up with a 56-degree and put it within a foot of the hole. He knocked it in for a well-deserved par.

The Green

Nate was on in regulation but had a lot of work left to do. He had about a 10-foot putt between him and his birdie. After reading the green for a minute or two, Nate had his line in mind. He aligned the text on his ball to the desired line and was ready to go. After a couple of practice swings, he made the putt. He struck it well, the ball rolled right, then left, and eventually found itself in the bottom of the hole. Birdie! A fist pump to celebrate and some (not so) subtle shade from Dawson equated to an all-around good time for Nate.

What’s Going On?

Caberfae Peaks has some of the most competitive deals around. They offer a $49/person for a night stay at their hotel with unlimited golf including cart on both check-in and check-out days. Memberships can be bought for just $99 and children under 15 receive a complimentary membership when a regular membership is purchased. Those are some tough deals to beat!