By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — March 2012, golf courses across the state were in full swing. This year, some are still buried in snow. Last year brought the first signs of growth in a sport that had seen substantial declines in participation in recent years, but lingering winter weather threatens to stop that progress cold. “Last year we were golfing by now and this year there’s still 6-to-8 inches of snow on the ground,” Joy VanDrie, executive director of the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau, said. With eight courses within 30 minutes of each other, the Cadillac area is one of many parts of the state that benefitted from last year’s early spring.