Michigan casino resort adds new nine-hole course with Golden Age style

Island Resort & Casino in Harris, Michigan, will launch a new nine-hole golf course for preview play in July 2026 with a full opening planned in 2027. Named the Cedar Course – also dubbed “Kishki” for the word cedar in the Potawatomi language – the new layout was designed by Paul Albanese and features several nods to Golden Age architecture and famous template holes. The golf resort is already home to two highly ranked 18-hole courses.

The Sweetgrass course is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as tied for No. 9 among all of Michigan’s public-access courses, and Sage Run is No. 13 on that list.

Albanese designed both those courses. The Cedar Course (3,445 yards max, par 36) was designed on terrain that isn’t as steep as at Sage Run but that offers more elevation changes than Sweetgrass. “This may be my favorite site of all three courses we’ve done up here,” Albanese said in a media release announcing the planned opening of the Cedar Course.

“It just sets up really well for some great golf. Cedar gives players a chance to experience the strategy, creativity and fun that defined the Golden Age – without it ever feeling forced. ” Said to be inspired by classic courses such as National Golf Links in New York and Prestwick in Scotland, the Cedar Course features fresh takes on such classic design concepts as a Bottle Hole, in which the fairway narrows considerably closer to the green – imagine an old glass soda bottle’s narrow neck.