See below for 2024 update….
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This was my first time playing this course. There were some areas that I thoroughly enjoyed, and other areas that I think are in need of improvement.
I will begin with the needed improvements:
1) I could not find their greens fees rates anywhere on the website. I called a couple times and finally got ahold of somebody and was told it was $20 for 18 holes including the cart….not a bad deal for a week day! I arrived at 9 o’clock and there was not a single car in the parking lot. The clubhouse door was locked with a note hanging on it that said to call a particular phone number. I did as instructed, and one of the groundskeeper’s gave me a cart key and I agreed to just settle up paying after playing 18. After my round was complete, the clubhouse attendant told me the price was $22.50. So I suppose a little consistency with pricing and website design would be helpful. I didn’t think it was pretty cool that he let me go ahead and start playing and trusted me enough to pay up afterwards. Kudos to him!
2) The grounds themselves were in pretty rough shape. Fairways were blotchy, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and chalk that up to the recent three week drought here in Michigan. The greens were extremely rough with patches of hard spots of dirt. This made for some challenging putting as the ball bounced around if I was unfortunate enough to putt from the wrong part of the green.
3) The sand traps literally looked like somebody took a small excavator and dug a hole in the ground and left them not smoothed out. It honestly looked like a backyard does after doing heavy yard work with a tractor. A couple of the traps even still displayed tractor tire marks, and the soil was more consistent with dirt rather than sand.
Onto the areas that were good about the course:
1) What the course lacks in groundskeeping, it definitely makes up for in scenic beauty! The course was alive with lots of active wildlife, and the landscaping, with all the rolling hills and full trees, made it very pleasant to play on a sun-shiny day, providing plenty of shading.
2) Although there were no par five holes, what this course lacks in length, it makes up for in tight, challenging fairways and approaches on several holes. It was quite challenging for an intermediate golfer like myself, and might be extremely difficult or frustrating for a beginner. I don’t typically lose a lot of balls, but I lost a handful on this visit! lol.
3) I suppose since the course and business are still being rebuilt, it makes for fewer golfers on the course during the weekday. This is nice, because I never felt rushed to play today (Tuesday). In fact, I think I was the only player on the course until about 1130 literally. I like not feeling rushed.
All in all, I would definitely play again, but for $22.50. I would prefer to play other area courses that are better maintained for a slightly cheaper price.
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**2024 UPDATE**
Today was a 90 degree day. Other courses were packed, but this was wide open. In fact, not a single other golfer was on the course during my time today, and I started around 430.
Here are some impressions:
First and foremost, the views are absolutely gorgeous!! However, some attention is still needed in a few areas.
For those wondering, it’s $13.50 to walk or $16 to ride. If it’s hot, I recommend riding. There are some challenging areas to walk.
The #1 teebox still only looks like they placed a couple indicators in the ground and called it good. I would think they would want to shine on number one…oh and the ball washer is dry.
There’s not even a ball washer on the #2 teebox, that I could find.
Fairways don’t look like they are watered much. They feel rocksolid.
The ball washer is bone dry on hole #7 and the #8 green looks like it could use some attention.
I love golf too much to say I’ll never play here again, And I recognize they have put in a lot of improvements since just last year. I look forward to seeing what this this course has to offer in the future.