A unique dining and mini-Golf experience is promised at River Club Glen Arbor (RCGA), Michigan
The venue features an outdoor 18-hole custom miniature golf course designed and built by Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS), along with Mexican inspired food, a full bar and music.
River Club Glen Arbor (RCGA) makes for a lovely setting with 400ft of riverfront footage on Crystal Rivers in northern Michigan. “There’s nothing like it anywhere in the Midwest,” says Mike Sheldon, owner of the RCGA.
“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.
“It is a challenging course. 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. 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.
Image: AGS
