Half an Hour West
to Big Bay de Noc
Gladstone Golf Club — Irish Oaks — is a punishing 18-hole layout through tight, wooded terrain. Good course if you want a challenge and to lose a sleeve of balls in the trees. Nahma Golf Club is the intentional opposite: open fairways, forgiving lines, and Big Bay de Noc sitting right at the edge of the property with the water in view most of the round. Twenty-seven miles east on US-2 and you are on a completely different type of course than anything else in the county.
The route from Gladstone crosses the Days River and Whitefish River bridges before the 24th Road cutoff takes you south. That stretch of 24th Road is narrow, frost-heaved secondary asphalt — the kind that reminds you you are in the UP — and deer are active along the corridor, so watch your speed. At Ll Road, take the sharp right and the bay opens up at the bottom of the hill. The greens have been in play since 1922, dish-shaped and slower in the morning, different enough from modern layouts that the course plays genuinely fresh on a second loop. Nine holes, par 36, 2,875 yards. Green fees from $18.
Gladstone has Little Bay de Noc on its doorstep. Nahma is on the bigger bay, farther from the highway noise. The drive over is easy enough that most golfers who make it once end up back within the same season.
