October 30, 2006

JACKSON, MI — The Grande Golf Club, ranked 4 1/2 stars by Golf Digest, has been chosen as the facility to host the Carl Spackler Open Championship. The 2007 venue provides huge greens with a very rare combination of contouring and subtleties.

"I am extremely confortable with our tournament course," said Chairman of the Captains Club, Greg Long. "The Grande has a super layout with wide fairways and very prestine conditions. The icing on the cake is clearly the large multi-tiered greens."

A large percentage of the players will notice the largest greens of any past Spackler venue averaging 9,000 square feet per green including depths and widths of 135-160 feet. Holes are plugged into each green using a system of 8 different pin locations.

"The pin placements are critical for everyone including our hackers," said Mike Trojanowski, Winner of the 2002 Golden Jacket. "The front to back pin placements change approach yardages by 50 yards."

"Putters better be working in June," added Trojanowski. "Everyone should expect to see many 100 to 120-foot putts. I just hope none of the putts are mine.”

The 14th green (picture shown from behind) is 138-feet from front to back. The bulk of the green is vertically oval shaped with clover shaped section sloping down and left protected by a large tree.

Another hole, the 4th has a 2-foot deep trough running east-west through it. Standing on the front of the green, golfers will be desperately trying to read a triple-breaking putt and hoping to just three-putt.

The Grande has large multi-level greens including double-tiers and single-tiers as high as 3½ feet. "We are talking about wildly undulating greens in many places," said member Jason Ridgeway. "If you can read them, the ball will fall. If you can't read them, you cannot blame it on the conditions."

The Grande Golf Club boasts very true rolling greens similar to Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem, NC. "The roll was the best I have seen anywhere," said member Chad Long after his July round. "You can only blame yourself this year."

The 2007 Carl Spackler Open Championship begins on November 15 when official registration will begin. The event has been capped at 88 golfers, which will be based on the first 88 received deposits. The ultimate deadline for registration is postmarked by December 28.