Otsego Club (The Tribute)

Overview: The Tribute is Otsego Resort’s more expansive and demanding 18-hole routing, spread across the Sturgeon River Valley near Gaylord. Rick Robbins and PGA Tour professional Gary Koch used elevated tees and greens, woodland and water to create a course that changes scale as the land opens in front of the golfer. The published course reference lists 7,347 yards at par 72, a length that gives the layout a serious championship profile, while the resort’s multiple tee positions keep the natural elevation and approach angles accessible to different players. It is a different proposition from Diddel’s shorter Classic next door.

History: The Tribute extended Otsego’s golf identity beyond the 1955 Classic and helped turn the resort into a broader destination for golf travel. The current resort history places the course across roughly 1,100 acres of the Sturgeon River Valley and credits Robbins and Koch with its creation. Its early recognition as a new-course standout and its appearance in the Links 2003 video game helped give the Gaylord area a national audience, but the course’s strongest character still comes from its elevated movement through the valley.

Did You Know? The Tribute was featured in the Microsoft Links 2003 golf video game. That digital appearance introduced its Northern Michigan valley setting to players who had never yet made the journey to Otsego.