Click the AUDIO button to hear RRN Sports interview with Tony Mancilla, Sweetgrass/Sage Run
The Upper Peninsula got some national recognition this week fom the USA Today newspaper.
The UP was named the publication's “Top Readers Choice in the US” for a golf getaway. Our region was listed as the best on the Top Ten list for 2026, after being ranked fifth out of ten in the 2025 poll.
From the USA Today story:
“With rugged forests, rolling terrain, and views of both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, the Upper Peninsula is a unique golfing location. Popular courses include Greywalls at Marquette Golf Club, renowned for its dramatic elevation changes and striking scenery, and Sweetgrass Golf Club, a course known for hosting the LPGA Epson Tour. There’s also an annual day of ice golf when golfers play with fluorescent golf balls on snow-covered lakes.”
One other Michigan area, the Petoskey region in northern lower Michigan, made the list, coming in at Number Five. The Upper Peninsula beat out places like Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, South Carolina, to move to the top of the list.
Tony Mancilla, the general manager of Sweetgrass and Sage Run in northern Menominee County, was pleased with the news.
Mancilla told RRN Sports on Thursday that the whole Upper Peninsula, not just his golf courses, has a reputation now for being a great value. Prices for tee times and hotel accommodations are lower here, but the quality of the courses are just as good, if not better, than some of the flashy resorts Down South.
Incidentally, despite the recent heavy snowfall, Mancilla says that his golf courses are still on target to open on May 1st.
