Michigan Tech Portage Lake Golf Course

About Michigan Tech Portage Lake Golf Course

Portage Lake is Michigan Tech's course on US 41 outside Houghton: 18 holes on 160 acres, par 72, about 6,350 yards from the black tees by the course's own hole-by-hole yardages. The course sells it as two nines of distinctly different flavors, and the history explains why: they were built about 70 years apart. It isn't long, and the back nine has a 115-yard par-3 14th, but it closes with back-to-back par 5s, the 17th at 506 and the 18th at 504 from the blacks.

There's been golf here since the early 1900s; the land was deeded in 1903, and the university has run it since 1945. For its first 70 years it was a nine-hole course. The new nine, which is now the front, was built under Verdie Cox, a Michigan Tech coach and the club manager. Cox said moving most of the earth cost just under sixty dollars, and that was the sandwiches for the equipment operators. It opened as an 18-hole course in 1972, and three years later it hosted the Upper Peninsula Golf Association Men's Championship.

It's open to the public, and Michigan Tech students play free through the Experience Tech fee. There's a range, two practice greens, a PGA pro, the Par and Grill with a beverage cart (no outside food or drink), and a Trackman simulator that keeps people swinging through the Keweenaw winter.

Booking a tee time at Michigan Tech Portage Lake Golf Course

Tee times open two weeks ahead, online through the course's booking page after you create an account; bigger groups wanting to book further out should call (906) 487-2641. Groups under four get paired up. Cancel more than 24 hours ahead for a refund or rain check; 24 to 12 hours gets a rain check; inside 12 hours or a no-show gets nothing. The posted public rate is $55 for 18 and $30 for 9, with a power cart $15 for 18 (the page gives no year).

How to get a tee time at Michigan Tech Portage Lake Golf Course