Roughly 140 flat-screen TVs populate the casino floor and the Ozone nightclub, northern Michigan's best answer to a Vegas-style nightclub. More than 15,000 square feet of hand-laid tile decorate the main atrium. The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians spared no expense replacing the pedestrian Victories Casino with a $140 million tribute to the tribe. Odawa, built in 2007, becomes a hotbed of entertainment at night. Both the inn and 27-hole golf club deliver some of best lakeside views in the Midwest. The shortest trip to the casino - and best golf experience - comes courtesy of Bay Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan. No need to worry about a designated driver or getting lost on dark northern Michigan roads. The best part about the deal, though, is the free shuttle ride to and from the casino. Sweetgrass, an elegant Paul Albanese design, will host the ladies of the Symetra Tour for the fourth straight season in 2014.Īll three Boyne USA Resort properties in northern Michigan - The Inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey, Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs and Boyne Mountain Resort in Boyne Falls - offer $25 slot vouchers to the Odawa Casino Resort in Petoskey for every golfer who buys a stay-and-play package. The Perfect 4-some Package includes two nights at the hotel and rounds at the resort's Sweetgrass Golf Club, Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club and the five-star TimberStone at Pine Mountain. Several hours to the west, the Island Resort & Casino in Harris boasts, without a doubt, Michigan's best golf-casino package. Michelle Wie once played Bay Mills as a teenager during a Canadian Tour event. A ridge through the 7,056-yard course provides views of the bay and a cool driving range looking down on target greens in the shape of a heart, diamond, spade and club.

Architect Mike Husby added the final piece, the Wild Bluff Golf Course, three years later.

The tribe's earnings eventually helped build the 142-room Bay Mills Resort & Casino, Michigan's only waterfront casino on the shores of Waishkey Bay, in 1995. The Bay Mills Indian Community claims to be the first in the nation to open a tribal casino, way back in 1980. Michigan's gaming industry began north of the Mackinac Bridge in the Upper Peninsula. Birdies and Blackjack in the Upper Peninsula

Upper michigan golf and casino resort