Shanty Creek Courses Play Historic and Memorable Role in Tournament's 24-Year History
Bellaire, MI--In its twenty-four year history the tournament committee has selected Shanty Creek Resorts and its sister courses only twice to host the James E. Vos Memorial Invitational. Both have played significant roles in tournament lore and history.
Part luck, part budget, part ignorance all came together to send the inaugural tournament to Shanty Creek in 1988. The foursome of Jack Vos, Thom Anema, Mark Rice, and tournament namesake, James E. Vos, decided to head north for a few days of golf. All four loved the game and were playing quite regularly, but none had ventured farther north for golf than Candlestone Golf Club in Belding.
The northern Michigan golf landscape was just beginning, but rapidly changing. In addition to long standing traditional classics like The Heather (circa 1972), Wilderness Valley (circa 1974) and Schuss Mt. (circa 1970), a handful of stun
ning new courses with curious names by big-name architects opened in the mid-1980's signaling a new era of golf. The Bear (1985), Treetops (1986) and The Legend (1986) were man-size courses built for the modern era. It was these courses that called these four friends north.
In mid-May 1988, what is now the James E. Vos Memorial Invitational began with these four friends making phone calls (no email then), reading brochures (no websites then), and selecting three courses to play over two days. They started at Wilderness Valley near Gaylord on a Friday morning, finished and drove to Bellaire where they played what is now known as the Summit course at Shanty Creek Resort. As has been reported before, it was that evening, watching the sunset over Lake Bellaire, enjoying a well-earned beer, and anticipating tomorrow's round at Schuss Mt. they knew a buddies golf trip was something special, something that must be both preserved and shared with others. The golf trip was born.
For entirely different but equally memorable reasons, the 2001 tournament at Shanty Creek Resorts will never be forgotten to those who attended.
By this time the tournament had grown in size and sophistication. The tournament now stretched over four days, 36-holes a day. The 2001 tournament had reached its highest historical number of participants. Twenty-four players participated in the 2001 tournament--a record to this day. The 2001 tournament also moved from its historical early June date to three weeks earlier--a before Memorial Day, mid-May date that would come back and bite it in Titanic-sized proportions.
Thursday's 36-holes started off normal enough. Played on a bright, warm, sunny northern Michigan May day at beautiful, newly opened Cedar River, everything seemed grand. Jon Vos' morning 79 scorched the course and earned medalist honors, closely followed by Dave Tanis' 81. Thom Anema earned the turnaround award shooting 90 in the morning followed by an 80 in the afternoon round on the same course--the low round of the afternoon, nipping Jon Vos' 81 by 2 strokes.
Thursday evening's dinner was festive, fun, and hopeful.... They had no idea what was coming.
Rain.
And not just any rain. The kind of Michigan May rain that rotates around a low pressure system and just sits and spins. It was as if the Low was stuck over Bellaire. The mood was somber Friday morning as the tournament committee wondered what to do. To wait it out would be to surely lose the morning round at minimum. Ever hopeful, and perhaps influenced by the likes of Tanis' and VanderWal's, the committee commenced play, with players donning or purchasing every bit of waterproof raingear, headgear, dry gloves they could find and afford.
It was a soggy affair. Not generally cold, but the kind of steady rain that slows play, frustrates the dickens out of you as you constantly clean grips, and eventually seeps into your bones.
Scores soared.
Where Thursday afternoon's Cedar River rounds averaged 88 with thirteen players shooting scores below 90, scores at The Legend ballooned to an average of 94 with only nine players shooting below 90 and most of those in the high 80s. With few exceptions, nearly every player's score went up, the notable exception being Thom Anema who somehow managed to shoot the morning's low round of 80. Remarkable golf given the conditions.
Friday afternoon scrambles were no better. The rain poured and the players slogged through a second soggy, wet, and colder afternoon round of scrambles. Wet as water rats, all were glad to be through with Friday's tournament play, ready for warmth, dry clothes, a good meal, and hope for what must be a better day tomorrow. It certainly couldn't be worse....
It was.
Saturday morning singles were played at the Shanty Creek sister course, The Chief. Located just across the street from Shanty Creek, the two twelve man teams made their way across M88 for the traditional 7:00am Saturday singles with clouds, no rain, and temps not yet out of the 40's. At least there was no rain...that is until the groups teed off. By hole #3 a light drizzle had started. By the 4th hole it had turned into a steady rain. By the 7th hole it was a downpour and the temperature was dropping. Miserable as they were, no one blinked, that is, until the 10th hole. Cold, miserable, and fed up, Steve Spoelhof, down 1 to Mark Rice in singles asked Mark if he wanted to quit and call the match a draw. The offer was not accepted and they played on. The two teed off on #10 and moved to hit their approach shots when the senior Spoelhof, John, drove up in his cart having given up on his match, and told son Steve they were done. Who could blame them? Two days of rain had taken its toll on everyone. And with that, regrettably, the Spoelhof family had played its last (to date) James E. Vos Invitational tournament. The tournament committee hopes they will return in 2012 for the 25th anniversary.
Despite the news that three matches had quit, forfeiting their points, the real news was those who played on. In what has been the worst conditions ever for this tournament, amazingly, over half the matches played on in miserable, soggy, cold conditions. Names like Vos, Anema, VanZee, Vandenberge, VanderWal, Tanis, and Warners deserve MVP status for continuing in such horrific conditions.
The best and most memorable of them all was the last match of the tournament pitting Jon Vos against Dave Tanis. As has been reported previously, these two titans never blinked. Dripping wet, shivering, they never once thought to quit. In the rain and cold they matched each other shot for shot to the last. In the end, on the 18th green, the match all square and each facing a slogging 8-footer to save par and a half, the two looked at each other and knew conceding the putts for a 1/2 was the right thing to do. Concede they did and the legend that is this match was birthed.
Scorecards from the singles match have never been found and the results of the day's singles matches at the Chief have never been recorded--the only matches ever played in the history of the tournament to not have been recorded. Needless to say, the tournament was moved back to its traditional early June date the very next year from which it has yet to be moved. The tournament has never returned to The Chief.
