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BATTLE CREEK ON FIRE
With its convenient location just off of I-94 in the state’s midsection, FireKeepers Casino attracts players from every direction. Michigan’s newest casino keeps the action flowing with 2,680 slots, 78 table games and a 120-seat poker room. Hidden behind a wall of flowing water, Nibi, the signature restaurant, serves steak and fish dishes with a large wine list. More than 20 TVs dominate the scene at Dacey’s Sports Bar.

“Next to MGM in Detroit, we offer the closest thing to a Vegas experience,” Facenda says.

Every golfer who books a package with The Southern Swing (misouthernswing.com) receives a $20 slot voucher to FireKeepers. The packages offer your choice of at least 12 different courses and eight lodging properties.

Staying in one of the lodges at the spectacular, secluded Yarrow Golf & Conference Center or in the foursome-friendly villas of the Gull Lake View Resort & Club, both in Augusta, would be ideal home bases to explore some of the area’s best courses.

Playing Yarrow’s beautiful track designed by Ray Hearn, Gull Lake’s idyllic Stonehedge South and Angels Crossing in Vicksburg are a must. The unique combination of six par-3s, six par-4s and six par-5s make shooting a career round at Stonehedge North a tantalizing possibility.

DOUBLE DOWN ON BOYNE
Similar to the Southern Swing, all three BOYNE properties in northern Michigan – The Inn at Bay Harbor, Boyne Highlands Resort and Boyne Mountain Resort – offer $25 slot vouchers to the Odawa Casino Resort in Petoskey for every golf package sold. Odawa also offers stay-and-play packages with True North Golf Club, including a shuttle service to and from the magical Jim Engh design in Harbor Springs.

What trumps the Southern Swing deal – beyond the northern Michigan golf experience – is the addition of roundtrip transportation. Everything about Bay Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan, staying and dining at the Inn and playing the 27-hole Bay Harbor Golf Club, exudes class. They both deliver some of best lakeside views in the Midwest.

The two courses at Boyne Mountain, the Alpine and the Monument, romp through the woods and heaving terrain. Even so, it’s the spacious Grand Mountain Lodge suites and thrills of the Avalanche Bay Indoor Waterpark that steal their thunder. With four courses and a golf school, Boyne built the Highlands for a golf binge.

Constructed to replace the pedestrian Victories Casino, the Odawa Casino is a sight to behold. Its architecture pays tribute to The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians with a roof shaped like an upside down “jiimaan,” or canoe. More than 15,000 square feet of hand-laid tile decorate the main atrium. Copper waves bent by hand hang over the casino floor. There are 140 flat-screen TVs spread throughout. The Ozone nightclub’s all-white interior enhances light shows. Eight V.I.P. pods are tricked out with a cyclone fireplace and two plasma TVs.

A TWOSOME IN TRAVERSE CITY
There are no golf packages at Turtle Creek and no gaming packages at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, but considering the two resorts on the outskirts of Traverse City share similar owners, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and a shuttle service between the two properties, this is a perfect destination to transform your gambling winnings into an extra tee time or two.

Golfers with a false sense of bravado love The Bear, a 7,080-yard Nicklaus design ranked No. 18 by Golf Digest on its list of toughest courses in America. The 7,043-yard Wolverine, by Gary Player, and the 6,304-yard Spruce Run, by William Newcomb, are infinitely more playable but just as fun. The on-site Jim McLean Golf School can help fix any crooked swings.

Golfers who stay at Grand Traverse, ranked the 45th-best U.S. golf resorts by readers of Golf World, will enjoy the convenience of the nearby courses and golf packages that include $15 in casino credits. Home to two restaurants, six bars and a night club, the seven-story Turtle Creek complex houses a 54,000-square-foot gaming floor with more than 1,500 slots, 30 table games and a poker room.

PLEASURE IN MOUNT PLEASANT
The sprawling Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant resides close enough for a day trip, yet remains large enough – with 200,000 square feet of gaming space, a 512-room hotel, a health club/spa and six restaurants – for a longer getaway.

The casino offered golf packages in 2009 to eight area courses, ranging from high-end tee times at Tullymore and Bucks Run to solid layouts at St. Ives, The Emerald at Maple Creek and The PohlCat. As of press time, the 2010 packages were still being negotiated, but it’s likely they will again feature $20 gambling vouchers. Golfers are expected to make their own tee times.

ON THE MONEY IN MANISTEE
One of the reasons Mike Biber says his company, Osprey Recreational Properties, purchased the Manistee National Golf and Resort is because of the nearby Little River Casino Resort. “Casinos attract people,” Biber says.

Golf Manistee (www.golfmanistee.com), a partnership involving area hotels and courses, provides discounted rates for seven area courses and five local hotels. A course that is often overlooked but should be included among your golfing pleasures is the Jeff Gorney-designed Heathlands in nearby Onekama, virtually halfway between Arcadia and Manistee. Michigan GOLF ranks Heathlands among Michigan’s Top 50 public golf courses.

Although access to Arcadia Bluffs is not part of any package deal, playing Michigan’s best golf course is a must if you’re in the area. The towering dunes and views of Lake Michigan combine to create the state’s most dynamic theater for golf.

The two courses at Manistee National, Cutter’s Ridge and Canthooke Valley, remain two of the state’s most underrated treasures. Manistee National’s 42-room Inn and the 292-room hotel at the casino offer the area’s best accommodations. The casino is home to three restaurants and 1,300 slots and 28 table games.

THREE ACES

Several other golf resorts and nearby casinos don’t deliver golf packages, but by proximity alone can deliver a great golf and gaming weekend.

•New Buffalo: Considering both are fabulous venues, the Four Winds Casino Resort could benefit from this summer’s scheduled opening of the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor. The Jack Nicklaus design affords views of Lake Michigan on three holes and assorted challenges among dunes, wetlands and the Paw Paw River. The 165-room Four Winds boasts 3,000 slots and the Midwest’s only World Poker Tour Poker Room.

•Detroit: Guests gambling at the MotorCity Casino Hotel or Greektown Casino Hotel could easily drag their clubs to a nearby public course, like Arnold Palmer’s Northville Hills Golf Club, just a 30-minute jaunt up I-96.

•Leelanau Peninsula: Tucked into the tip of Michigan’s pinky finger, the wonderful Homestead Resort in Glen Arbor last summer purchased the nearby King’s Challenge, a scenic Palmer design. To gamble, hike 45 minutes to the intimate Leelanau Sands Casino & Lodge in Suttons Bay, home to 450 slots and table games.