Business & Professional

Ride 'Em Cowboy

from page 149

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248.855.2688

1029620

Mon-Fri 10-6 • Sat 10-5

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to receive offer. One coupon
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Not valid on sale merchandise.

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* * * **STAIRWAY LIFTS** * * *

THE CAREFREE WAY TO
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(31 3) 891-6500

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(248) 540-5550 10,0070

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248-655-9010

1019180

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1028370

come to the ranch, too.

For the Lipsitzes, the obvious
answer was golf. They acquired
another 1,500 acres adjacent to
the ranch and, in 1992, at a cost
of $1 million, built the dramati-
cally beautiful Thoroughbred
Golf Club. Designed by noted
golf course architect Arthur
Hills, the award-winning course
uses the topography of forested
hills and vales to maximum
advantage.
"Woods separate the holes
from each other, so when you're
playing one hole you can't see
any others," Lipsitz said. "Our
riding trails wind through the
wooded areas between the
holes."
The success of the
Thoroughbred has exceeded
expectations. A marketing study
predicted a first season of 16,000
rounds at suggested greens fees
of $18. That first summer saw
22,000 rounds at $32 a round.
Now, greens fees have more than
doubled.
In 1993, condos and a hotel
were added to the Thoroughbred
complex, and in 1997 the first
year-round facility opened —
the Sundance-Saloon and
Steakhouse overlooking the golf
course, which has become a
popular western Michigan din-
ing destination.
With the Thoroughbred, the
Lipsitzes had a facility primarily
used by men to complement the
ranch, which was primarily used
by women. But now they were
being asked for activities for the
kids, a place where the whole
family could come. They
responded by building the Back
Forty, which opened in 1998.
At the center of the Back
Forty is an Old West main street
with shops and restaurants.
There's a kids' boarding camp,
log cabins for family rental, a
recreational vehicle park tucked
into the woods, an outdoor
water park with a 145-foot slide
and lots of outdoor, ranch-
inspired activity.
The Double JJ received the
state's first tourism grant for the
Back Forty — $600,000 for the
road and infrastructure. The
development also saw the first
venture into vacation home
development, with 23 private log
homes. Construction will begin

soon on 35 more.
The first season, operating
only the dude ranch, the Double
JJ did about $500,000 in busi-
ness. This year, it will do about
$10 million. In peak season it
employs over 400 people, a figure
which drops to less than half
during the off-season.
"On a busy day, we can have as
many as 2,500 people on the
property," said Bob Lipsitz,
"including families and kids at
the Back Forty, golfers at the
Thoroughbred, guests at the
ranch, visitors in our restaurants
and at our weekly rodeo, and day
groups using the property for
outings and corporate picnics."
Still, except for the Sundance
Steakhouse and snow tubing and
cross country skiing, the Double
JJ is mainly a summer resort.
The Lipsitzes plan to change that
with the newest expansion they
aptly call the New Frontier - a
$40 million, 120,000-square-foot
project that will break ground
this month.
Attached to one end of the
building that houses the
Sundance will be a 19,000-
square-foot conference center
and a 55,000-square-foot mine-

A log cabin living room