| by: WebMaster - 3/25/2004 6:30:30 AM |
GLEN ARBOR, MI (March 25, 2004) - The Homestead, a luxury resort located on the shores of Lake Michigan and known as "America's Freshwater Resort," is expanding its facilities to showcase its new Dave Pelz Scoring Game School.
Recognized for its world-renowned golf schools, Pelz Golf provides golfers a variety of ways to lower their scores through improved putting and short game skills. Dave Pelz himself is recognized as the world's foremost expert on all aspects of the short game, including putting.
Firefly Lodge will be located in an area of the resort called Brook Hill. Currently, there are vacation homes, a resort hotel and a golf academy at Brook Hill. Firefly Lodge will be built and the golf academy will be improved to include these teaching facilities:
* Two common buildings that will be used for multiple purposes. The larger of these will have a gracious foyer, two classrooms, locker rooms and club storage rooms. Terraces surrounding this building will offer guests splendid views across a stream and two ponds to the golf teaching facilities. The smaller of these will have an entrance made welcoming by a pergola and Adirondack style furnishings. Its interior will be used for small group meetings and video analyses. An amphitheatre that will be available for outdoor instruction will be located down a grassy slope between these buildings.
* A two-tiered, 16-station range with two target greens designed to teach shots of 40 to 100 yards.
* Level, downhill and uphill approaches designed to teach short shots to a slightly elevated green.
* A 100-foot bunker designed to teach sand shots to an adjacent green.
* Greens dedicated to chipping and pitching including a small practice fairway with a water hazard.
* A large, undulating green dedicated to putting.
* Two garden style pergolas to provide sheltered space for practice in inclement weather conditions.
As to why The Homestead is making this substantial investment in golf instruction, owner Bob Kuras explains: "We looked at the top teaching facilities in the country - including the others operated by Pelz Golf - and saw that the quality of the facilities did not always match the quality of the instruction. We felt that a facility with quality that was 'on par' with the instruction, had the greatest number of offerings for non-golfers and had truly unique lodging would be the most attractive and successful in the U.S."
The school at The Homestead, which opened without these new facilities last summer, is one of only five nationally acclaimed Pelz schools in the United States.
"Realizing that we are blessed with wonderful summer weather and are most easily accessible of the Pelz Scoring Game Schools for more than 60 per cent of the U.S. population, we felt this was an exciting opportunity and a prudent investment," Kuras said.
"We've known for years what a fantastic golf market Northern Michigan is," says Dave Pelz. "The region is beautiful and full of amazing golf courses. Our programs have been very well received so far and I know people will fall in love with The Homestead and our incredible new learning facility when they visit."
"Great Camp" Concept
The concept for Firefly Lodge came from the "Great Camps" built in the Adirondack mountains as sumptuous retreats for the very wealthy. Typically, those 18th century camps had a common facility designed to encourage social interaction and a series of free-standing cabins in which homes or guest suites were located. All were in extraordinary natural settings on or near the water and were very luxurious.
The common facilities at Firefly Lodge are being built now. (Renderings of the exterior and interior are shown to the right ) Soon, free-standing cabins containing the housing that will be an integral part of Firefly Lodge will be constructed. The first cabins will house single family homes which will be sold on the resort's popular eighth-share program.
"The Adirondack model directed us to do two things with these cabins - one was to make them very, very luxurious. The other was to limit their number. We did both and they will be marvelous," Kuras said.
The Homestead is a waterfront resort community that is located inside of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a unit of the National Park Service. Along with its unmatched natural setting and miles of frontage on Lake Michigan and the Crystal River, the resort offers guests pools, spa pools, tennis and golf in the summer; downhill and cross country skiing in the winter; and shops, restaurants and meeting centers in all seasons of the year.
The three-day Pelz sessions at The Homestead begin on May 20, 2004, and run through August 28th. Package rates that include lodging are from $2,895 to $3,725 for a single or $2,740 to $3,155 double (depending on the type of accommodations selected). The commuter rate is $2,375 per person. This includes all a welcome reception, instruction, lunch each day, a number of training aids and a personal manual.
To learn more about the schools at The Homestead, visit www.pelzgolf.com or www.thehomesteadresort.com. Pelz Golf can be reached at (800) 833-7370 and the reservations office at The Homestead can be reached at (231) 334-5100.
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