There’s Something for Everybody at Bay Ridge

As Highway 42 stretches north from the Door County border, every few miles there lays a golf course. There are a few in Sturgeon Bay and a clump near Egg Harbor before reaching Peninsula State Park in Ephraim. Some people think the bend around Eagle Harbor signifies an end to golf courses. They couldn’t be more wrong.

North of the bend is Sister Bay and one of the county’s lesser known golf courses, Bay Ridge. It shouldn’t be that way. The petite 9-hole setting should never be considered an afterthought when it comes to Door County golf. It’s as unique as any of the tracks on the peninsula.

At just 2,934 yards, Bay Ridge is no behemoth. However, sprinkled through its nine holes is everything a golfer is looking for.

There’s a pair of par-3s that couldn’t be more different. Hole No. 2, a 236-yard doozy takes all the power most golfers can provide while the teeny 138-yard 4th pleas for precision. The same goes for the remaining holes.

Some par-4s stretch over 400 yards while others shrink to less than 300. This type of variety is exactly what the people at Bay Ridge love about their course.

“There’s a little bit of something for everybody,” said Ben Ehlert, a long-time manager of the pro shop. “If you golf a lot, you can get yourself in trouble by reaching for too much, but it’s also shorter for new golfers…a lot of different kinds of people can enjoy it.”

If the golfers enjoy it as much as the employees, they’ll be well on their way to a good time. The distribution of labor at Bay Ridge shows exactly how important the course is to its workers; just five people work at the course, only three of them full-time employees.

Joining Ehlert on staff is greens keeper James Martin and Dianne Trenchard, former owner. With so few people on staff, the group needs to know a little bit of everything about running a golf course.

“There’s usually three people that do the mowing, we all know the irrigation system and then three people usually working the pro shop,” Ehlert said. “You’ve got to be a jack-of-all-trades.”

Rightfully so, the course mirrors its workers as a jack-of-all-trades in the sense that it gets played in every single season of the year. Unlike most golf courses in the county or state, Bay Ridge has been played in each month of the year. With fluctuating temperatures and lengths of winter, the course is open to players at any point they please.

Their short staff can’t slave through a chilly, dead pro shop all winter, though, so they operate through the snowy months on an honor system. If golfers want to play the course, simply fill out piece of paper with the cheap greens fee and drop it through a front door slot. It’s quite fitting for a game built on honesty and integrity.

Add it all up and Bay Ridge is likely the most unique of Door County’s courses. Try not to forget about it.

Bay Ridge Golf Course is located at 2688 S Bay Shore Drive in Sister Bay. For more information visit bayridgegolf.com or call 920.854.4085.