One major way American golf culture differs from the UK is accessibility. The vast majority of the best golf courses in the United States are closed to the masses. They are private and exclusive, available only to the members with the financial and social clout to join. To be clear, this is not meant to be a diatribe aimed at the closed nature of any top domestic clubs, but it’s important context when highlighting a unique tradition at one of those exclusive enclaves.

A summer club for most of its members, who tend to spend a large portion of the season in the Northern Michigan lake country, Crystal Downs is an Alister MacKenzie design that ranks as one of the very best courses in the world. It’s also home to a unique tradition: Benzie Day.

Crystal Downs sits within Benzie County (population: ~18,000), a county that exemplifies the classic economic divide of a seasonal tourist locale. While the wealthy summer guests descend for a few months per year (and provide an injection of spending vital to the local economy), county residents live and work in the area year-round. It is a summer destination for some of the country’s wealthiest people, but for most it’s just small town life; the county seat, Beulah, boasts a population of just a few hundred. It’s a remote, rural area, about an hour from Traverse City and surrounded by forest, hills, and Lake Michigan itself. The biggest town in the county, Frankfort, has just over 1,200 residents. The kinds of social and economic opportunities that afford one the means to join a club like Crystal Downs are rare there. Imagine knowing your small town has one of the best golf courses in the world, but also knowing you’ll never get to see it, much less play it. On Benzie Day, they can.

Every year on October 1st, Crystal Downs opens its course to the entirety of Benzie County. Any county resident can enter a lottery for a chance to play the Downs. Each player has to pay a modest $10, all of which goes to a scholarship fund. Members not only support the access to the golf course but also make soups and other food for the participants.

It doesn’t change anyone’s life, but it helps keep Crystal Downs from just being a haven for a select few. It’s not exactly hard to do, either. It just takes giving back a day of golf and some time and sweat equity from membership. That’s not much, and the return is obvious: being an active participant in the community the club calls home, rather than treating the clubhouse address as an unavoidable inconvenience.

Additional Reading

– Garrett Morrison and Brendan Porath followed up Andy’s look at Benzie Day with a discussion on whether the tradition could serve as a model for other private clubs, as well as what those clubs could and should be trying to do for their communities.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.