TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — River Club Glen Arbor (RCGA) with 400 feet of riverfront footage on Crystal Rivers in northern Michigan, opened just before the 4^th of July weekend promising a unique dining experience. It features an outdoor 18-hole Bunkers & Bumps-style custom miniature golf course designed and built by Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS), along with Mexican inspired food, a full bar and music! “There’s nothing like it anywhere in the Midwest,” says Mike Sheldon, owner of the RCGA.

Mike and his wife Gina felt northern Michigan had wonderful wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries and restaurants, but at all those places, besides eating and drinking, they felt there was nothing else to experience.

“So the idea was born,” says Sheldon, “to have a full liquor license so that there’s no veto vote on the alcohol, and to have something to do that you can enjoy whether you’re seven or 97. And putting fills that role.

“We’re an 18-hole executive putting course with food and beverage, live music, riverfront and Sky Deck seating with a full bar and Mexican inspired food – so that’s burritos, tacos, bowls, salads. We like to say, ‘Everything good all at once!’”

According to AGS, the Bumper & Bunks style miniature golf course featured at River Club Glen Arbor is a fairways-and-greens design using interlocking, patented panels made from recycled materials that are also permeable for instant drainage so the course won’t harm natural flora and fauna. The panel permeability also allows the course to be ready for play soon after a rain shower since there is no water pooling common with other surfaces like concrete. And, unlike traditional mini golf that often uses bricks, walls, obstacles or theme elements for boundaries, a Bunkers & Bumps style course relies on various topography and rough turf to shape holes that can include faux sand bunkers. 

“Nine of the 18 (mini golf) holes are ADA compliant,” says Sheldon. “It’s a rolling, meandering, beautifully landscaped design with speakers and lights and a drink holder at the beginning and end of every hole so you never have to set your drink down on the ground. It’s like a stroll through a well-landscaped park.”

As suggested by AGS, the miniature golf course is designed so there are three different ways to play each golf hole. “You could take a route to the hole that is high risk – high reward” says Sheldon, “or play it super conservatively and maybe shoot par or something in between. And so, the more you play, the more you figure out how you want to play a particular hole.

“It is a challenging course,” says Sheldon “…It’s not a putt-putt or goofy golf kind of place, but there are some areas where we’ve created some visual interest and a nod to where we are. We’ve created a bit of an homage to northern Michigan. So one hole is in the shape of Lake Michigan, which you discover once you’re right in front of it. One hole is a tribute to Sleeping Bear Dunes and it looks like the whole thing is a sand trap but you have to go over the ‘dunes.’ One hole has a simulated Glen Lake with Big Glen (lake) and Little Glen (lake).

“The whole thing is turf and then there are simulated areas where it’s blue (turf) that looks like water and tan (turf) that looks like sand. A ‘Bunkers & Bumps’ style course.”

Music also plays a prominent role at River Club Glen Arbor.

“We have live music five nights a week – Tuesday through Saturday,’ says Sheldon. “And when there’s no live music, we have a heavily curated playlist that could be anything from pop hits to classic rock to Motown. Music is a very big part of myself, my family – we’re all very musical. It’s a big part of the offering here.

“We’ve got a defined amphitheater style band stand with metal trusses with a roof and a back and a banner out front that says ‘River Club Live’ and that provides a shaded area for the performers and that’s right at the point on the river focused and pointed at the patrons that will sit and enjoy the performance… It’s all designed purposefully for a concert.”

“We’ve probably got 40 speakers throughout the place so whether you’re listening to the pre-recorded music or you’re listening to the live music, the music will play whether you’re in the bathroom or on the (mini) golf course or walking up to the front of the building or right in front of the stage, you get the same music everywhere.

“Music at River Club Glen Arbor is part and parcel to how you enjoy the place; how you consume the place. The place without music is fine. It’s wonderful. The place with music is ten times the experience because it just provides this sort of emotional transportation that you don’t even realize how powerful that is until you compare the two – music on, music off.”

“…We probably get a dozen people a day just admiring how beautiful the course is and the buildings and the whole property. We think there will be a ton more of that.”

Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS) is a global leader in the design and installation of fun, interactive, cost-effective entertainment attractions like Miniature Golf, Pickleball, Shuffleboard, Bocce Ball, Duck Pin Bowling and other recreational courts. Besides traditional concrete-poured installations, AGS has long term experience installing interlocking panel system versions like the environmentally-friendly Modular Advantage Mini Golf system and Bunkers & Bumps for a variety of  indoor and outdoor applications for businesses, family entertainment centers, amusement parks, campgrounds, retail centers, hotels and resorts, as well as installations on rooftops, piers and cruise ship decks.

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