Hall of Fame pro golfer Colin Montgomerie heaped some heavy praise on the jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Harbor Shores Golf Club when he stopped by Tuesday to help ‘break ground’ for the new Harbor Shores ‘Wee Course’ that he helped design.
Montgomerie said, “This is a wonderful course, World Class, one of the best!” He said Harbor Shores is under-rated and should be on anyone’s list of the best courses in the nation and even the world.
Montgomerie said something that sets Harbor Shores apart is that every hole is different—and memorable. The veteran pro said it often takes three or four rounds of golf for a seasoned player to really remember the characteristics of each hole. But not at Harbor Shores. Montgomerie said that he remembered every hole at Harbor Shores the first time he played the course in 2014. He went on to win the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores that year, then repeated in 2015 at French Lick, Indiana. In 2016, Montgomerie returned to Harbor Shores looking for three in a row, but lost to Rocco Mediate, the colorful cigar-chomping golfer who many locals remember from his play at the Western Amateur at Point ‘O Woods back in the 80s.
Montgomerie says his several good runs here at the Senior PGA have made Harbor Shores a special place for him. At a news conference, he talked knowledgeably about the impact the course has had on the Benton Harbor community via its ties to Whirlpool Corporation, the Whirlpool Foundation and the Fettig Family Foundation.
Montgomerie stood next to former Whirlpool Chairman Jeff Fettig as the two turned the ceremonial first shovel of dirt for the upcoming nine-hole, par three ‘Wee Course’, taking shape in a former overflow parking field between the Harbor Shores clubhouse complex and the Renaissance Athletic Club, along Grhaham Avenue. Montgomerie said the Wee Course will help make the amenities of Harbor Shores more accessible to a larger, more diverse community.
Fettig—a driving force behind the six visits of the Senior PGA Championship to Harbor Shores, acknowledged that golf is both a time consuming and fairly expensive sport. But he pointed with pride at the upcoming Wee Course and plans to make the golf there free for kids and available to the general public for about ten percent of the cost of playing a round on the Nicklaus Signature course. Harbor Shores is a public course, not a private country club, however its greens fees are higher than most courses in the region.
Both Fettig and Montgomerie emphasized that the Wee Course is not just a ‘putt-putt’ course or a boring, ‘every hole’s the same’ par three layout. It is being designed by Montgomerie to emulate certain holes on the ‘big course’ at Harbor Shores. It will have two sets of tees, with the white tees up front for kids and novices, and the blue tees for more experienced golfers to work on their chips and pitches, facing built in obstacles you would normally never see on a par three course.
Both men could barely contain their enthusiasm as they described the Wee Course, now under construction for a formal opening next Spring of 2026. Fettig hinted that he hopes to be able to play the first round sometime in the early Fall, as the finishing touches are put on.
Harbor Shores General Manager Josh Doxtater revealed that the Wee Course will offer a new venue at Harbor Shores for hospitality and even some smaller events. Doxtater said ‘Monty’s Place’, named after Montgomerie, will offer specialty Scottish inspired cocktails. Monty’s will have about 50 seats on the patio, plus three fire pits for cozy gatherings. And the entire Monty’s Place venue may be available for private events, depending on the schedule.
By Gayle Olson, MOTM Contributor
Construction underway for Harbor Shores ‘Wee Course’
Renaissance Athletic Club, in the distance
