Bill Welter and his crew can likely challenge that no one else in the universe will be capable of offering up the chance to pose alongside the most prestigious trophy in all of Champions Tour golf while sipping a craft made cocktail at the ribbon cutting of a Scottish-style putting green golf course behind a world-class distillery right here in Michigan’s Great Southwest.
Welter is the owner and founder of Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks and he has commissioned the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce to assemble the masses for the official ribbon cutting on Welter’s Folly, the Scottish-style putting green course located behind the Journeyman Distillery on Saturday, May 19th at 1pm.
The public is invited to attend the event from 1 pm to 5 pm, where complimentary appetizers and spirit tastings will be offered in the first hour along with an opportunity to take a photo with Alfred, the 2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Trophy. You’ll even have the opportunity to enter for a chance to win a KitchenAid Blender. Additionally, discounted tickets for the 2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, May 22-27, will also be available for purchase on-site.
The 30,000 square foot putting green course features dramatic mounds and contours inspired by the “Himalayas” public putting course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Welter promises, “The course will be a great community asset and completely free to children 12 and under. You don’t have to be a customer to use the green, although we hope our customers will love it. We will have putters out there for people to use, and everybody is welcome just like the “Himalayas” at St. Andrews. It’s my hope that this putting green will introduce a lot of people to the great game of golf.”
Welter teamed up with longtime friend and golf course builder, Craig Haltom to bring this little bit of Scotland to America. Welter lived in Scotland for many years, as did Haltom, who earned his degree in Landscape Architecture in Edinburgh. Welter pitched the project to Haltom, when the idea struck. As Bill tells it, “The project ties in two of my passions: golf and whiskey, a culmination of a life time of golfing pursuits, many of them with my good friend Craig, who just happens to be a leading golf course builder. I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Founded in 2010 by Bill and Johanna Welter, Journeyman Distillery is a grain-to-glass distillery focused on hand-crafted certified organic and kosher spirits that are distributed in 16 states and Europe. You can visit to tour the distillery, dine at the Staymaker Restaurant or putt on the new course at 109 Generations Drive in downtown Three Oaks. For more information click the link below:
