Elk Ridge Gc

Elk Ridge opened in 1991 in Atlanta, Michigan, built for Lou and Mary Schmidt of the Honey Baked Ham company and designed by veteran Michigan architect Jerry Matthews. Spread over more than 400 acres of northern-Michigan wilderness in a region known for its elk herds, the layout works around wetlands, marshes and native habitat, threading rolling, tree-lined fairways past ponds and streams to fast, undulating bentgrass greens. From the championship tees it stretches beyond 7,000 yards to a par of 72, with four sets of tees for a wide range of players. Its best-known quirk is a carefully maintained pig-shaped bunker at the tenth green: Matthews first sketched a pig-shaped irrigation pond, and when that proved impractical he reshaped the idea into sand, a signature so beloved it has appeared on an Interstate 75 billboard.