Course of the Year Award Winners

2026 Michigan Golf Course of the Year

Pigeon Creek Golf Course Named 2026 Michigan Golf Course of the Year

WEST OLIVE – Pigeon Creek Golf Course and Event Center has been selected as the 2026 Michigan Golf Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Association (MGCA).

“It’s one of the biggest blessings I can think of,” said Chase Kuyers, co-owner and director of golf at the popular public daily fee facility.

“Our team works really hard here and I feel we have earned it with what we’ve improved, but I also think the chance to highlight the public daily fee course in this award process is tremendous, and it lets the golf audience know that small golf courses all over Michigan are doing a lot for the game of golf, too.”

MGCA Executive Director Jada Paisley said Pigeon Creek exemplifies the qualities the MGCA seeks in selecting Michigan’s Golf Course of the Year.

 “This year, MGCA revised its selection process to evaluate courses across five key areas: quality of ownership and management, course character and unique attributes, facility investment and improvements, community engagement, and contribution to the game of golf. Pigeon Creek’s excellence in each of these areas and its commitment to creating an outstanding experience for golfers and the surrounding community make it a deserving recipient of this prestigious recognition.”  

Pigeon Creek’s course, designed by the late Mark DeVries, offers well-conditioned bluegrass fairways with generous landing areas and bentgrass rolling greens on natural terrain. It was designed with golfers of every skill level in mind and is challenging with some links-style features but allows a relaxing round of golf in a picturesque setting amid West Michigan farms.

Chase Kuyers co-owns the facility with his cousin Mike Kuyers, who has served as the superintendent of the course for over 20 years. They purchased the course from their fathers in 2018.

Kuyers, a graduate of Ferris State University’s Professional Golf Management Program, made early career-building stops at three famous destination resorts: Pinehurst in North Carolina, Bandon Dunes in Oregon and Mission Hills in California, before returning home to work once again at the course his father and uncle started 26 years ago, just across the street from the family dairy farm operation.

“I learned a lot and wasn’t planning at first on coming back here because I had some really good things on my resume, but then my dad called and said they were considering selling and I ended up coming home,” he said. “I knew we needed to grow the game and develop golf for women and for kids here. I created programs to reach women and juniors each summer, and they’re sold out, 250 participants in each one, each year.”

He feels Pigeon Creek is being recognized primarily because of its efforts in the community as well as growth of the game, and the almost three-year-old Event Center has attracted a new audience.

“We are in five different Chamber of Commerce groups, we sponsor all kinds of things, three high school golf programs use our facilities, we serve families and we are the working person’s golf course with all of our leagues through the week,” he said. “Honestly those are the things, I feel, that really make us a strong operation.”

Past Winners