All Things Michigan Golf.....The Three Putt

[Dave Saylor]

Trip review

 

Day 1

Charlevoix CC - I really enjoyed it, great shape fun golf course, some of the guys did not like it because too much target golf and bad bounces, I thought it was a good mix and if you miss the green there is a penalty for it sometimes, lots of large mound around the greens.  

Bay Harbor Links/Quarry - Feel like I do not need to say much here, amazing golf.  We played with some crazy wind and some of the pin placements were unplayable due to the wind.  

Day 2

36 Belvedere - a lot of overnight rain, was disappointed because it did not play as firm and fast as it could, still an amazing course with great history, ton of fun to play.  

Day 3

36 Dunmaglass - Not in great shape, but never bad enough were I would say it was unplayable.  Course is on a huge piece of land, expensive to maintain I'm sure.  Staff was really nice and happy to see us.  Everything takes longer at Dunmaglass, checking into our rooms took over an hour, we were 45 min early for our teetime and ended up teeing off late.  Due to the size of the property it takes longer to play, card says 4hours 40 min is good pace and I would agree.  The layout is amazing, this place could be special if some money was put back into it. 

 

The lodging was perfect for us.  It was cheap and great location.  Very outdated, but clean, beds were not great, but after playing 36, I slept great every night.  Our group of 8 were the only ones staying there and it sounds like we were the first ones to stay this year as they had call someone to unlock the main doors.   The condos are three rooms, the middle room has kitchen and living area and bathroom, then bedroom, 2 beds, and bath on each side.  

 

Overall it was a great trip and I would recommend 

 

 

[MattSTL88]

Anyone know much about the Devries renovation of Dunham Hills? I read the press release and love his courses in Grand Rapids, so excited for this. Never played Dunham Hills though so not sure what he's working with 

[3_Jack_Par]

4 hours ago, MattSTL88 said:

Anyone know much about the Devries renovation of Dunham Hills? I read the press release and love his courses in Grand Rapids, so excited for this. Never played Dunham Hills though so not sure what he's working with 

Dunham Hills isn't/wasn't great -- it had one hole in particular that is one of of the dumbest in the state, but the site has potential, especially if they do a lot of tree removal like I'd expect that they will. I have no idea what their timeline is for the renovation -- from their website, it looks like the course is still operating this year, so I don't know if they've started anything yet. If not, I'll be surprised if it's done before 2027

Edited June 9 by 3_Jack_Par

[postfold]

6 hours ago, 3_Jack_Par said:

Dunham Hills isn't/wasn't great -- it had one hole in particular that is one of of the dumbest in the state, but the site has potential, especially if they do a lot of tree removal like I'd expect that they will. I have no idea what their timeline is for the renovation -- from their website, it looks like the course is still operating this year, so I don't know if they've started anything yet. If not, I'll be surprised if it's done before 2027

 

There's a half-decent article in this month's Michigan Golf Journal (migolfjournal dot com) about it, says funding-dependent the renovation may start in 2026.  Significant routing changes, playing to a par of 70.

[Curmudg3on]

They are waiting for more funding before renovation.  

[Go_Blue!]

I remember reading somewhere that Oak Pointe - Champions course has gone public. Anyone else hear/see this? Would love confirmation. 

[Naptime]

On 11/22/2024 at 2:46 PM, 1puttTUT said:

 

The Chief is awful lol. Back in the day Hawk's Eye was the same price and it was such a no-brainer between the two.

Just played the Chief.  Staff are friendly but the course is as described by others.  Basically target golf with too many forced carries over ravines/gulleys.  Bunkers were coarsely crunchy underfoot and had a lot of gravel in them.

[Naptime]

Also played Summit twice, Hawk's Eye, and Schuss.  I like having the formal option of mixed tees, e.g. silver and white, to total a reasonable yardage for our ages.  Easy to get same day tee times.  Food is basic golf course fare.  All 3 courses were in good shape.  There are so many courses in the Shanty Creek area and none of them were overly crowded.  Closest "town" is Bellaire, but limited restaurant options and the sidewalks seem to roll up early.  Basic bar food mostly.  Not much around otherwise unless you like looking at trees.  I can't imagine what a non-golfing spouse would do to kill time locally. 

[Pepetito]

1 hour ago, Naptime said:

Also played Summit twice, Hawk's Eye, and Schuss.  I like having the formal option of mixed tees, e.g. silver and white, to total a reasonable yardage for our ages.  Easy to get same day tee times.  Food is basic golf course fare.  All 3 courses were in good shape.  There are so many courses in the Shanty Creek area and none of them were overly crowded.  Closest "town" is Bellaire, but limited restaurant options and the sidewalks seem to roll up early.  Basic bar food mostly.  Not much around otherwise unless you like looking at trees.  I can't imagine what a non-golfing spouse would do to kill time locally. 

Hows Hawks Eye?  Thats the one shanty course i havent played (in addition to the Chief)

[Naptime]

Hawk'e eye is a fair challenge.  More water than the others.  I've played it 3 times over the years.  Not gimmicky.  We made a Friday afternoon tee time that morning.  Advance booking price was crazy, like $140-160 IIRC, so I didn't book in advance of the trip.  But we played for under $100 each.

[SnowbirdTom]

Got out to Lakes of Taylor on Sunday. Wish I lived closer, it’d be a regular round for me. Excellent short game practice facilities, driving range and putting green. 
 

Course itself was tough, but fair. Conditions were better than expected and staff were pleasant. 
 

Shocked that we felt totally alone on course with it being Father’s Day! No one in front after a couple holes and never saw anybody behind!

[cassel191919]

11 minutes ago, SnowbirdTom said:

Got out to Lakes of Taylor on Sunday. Wish I lived closer, it’d be a regular round for me. Excellent short game practice facilities, driving range and putting green. 
 

Course itself was tough, but fair. Conditions were better than expected and staff were pleasant. 
 

Shocked that we felt totally alone on course with it being Father’s Day! No one in front after a couple holes and never saw anybody behind!

In the last year or so they have really done well with conditioning, but still need to work on their bunkers. The greens speeds have also improved, but now that their faster they need to learn where to cut cups. Almost every league day they have 1 cup in an impossible spot.

[SnowbirdTom]

37 minutes ago, cassel191919 said:

In the last year or so they have really done well with conditioning, but still need to work on their bunkers. The greens speeds have also improved, but now that their faster they need to learn where to cut cups. Almost every league day they have 1 cup in an impossible spot.

 

Should have mentioned them rock filled bunkers.  I only hit into one, but good grief! Tried picking them away, but ended up saving the club and moving to the grass right next to my entry point. Got too much money invested in clubs to kick hit rocks. The cup positions were better than a few of my other local adventures like my home course.  Someone needs to discuss and train them on no go zones.

 

Also forgot to mention, my son and I are signed up for the City Championship.

Edited June 18 by SnowbirdTom

[SnowbirdTom]

On 6/9/2025 at 9:08 PM, postfold said:

 

There's a half-decent article in this month's Michigan Golf Journal (migolfjournal dot com) about it, says funding-dependent the renovation may start in 2026.  Significant routing changes, playing to a par of 70.

 

I'll be checking Dunham out on Sunday. Stay tuned for report/pictures. 😉

[SnowbirdTom]

On 6/14/2025 at 8:13 PM, Go_Blue! said:

I remember reading somewhere that Oak Pointe - Champions course has gone public. Anyone else hear/see this? Would love confirmation. 

 

Their website doesn't show any way to book tee times, so I'd say it was a false rumor.

[postfold]

8 hours ago, SnowbirdTom said:

 

I'll be checking Dunham out on Sunday. Stay tuned for report/pictures. 😉

 

 

[SnowbirdTom]

On 6/18/2025 at 10:37 AM, SnowbirdTom said:

 

I'll be checking Dunham out on Sunday. Stay tuned for report/pictures. 😉

 

With the abundance of local rain and wind currently, we cancelled the Dunham round. I despise saturated course conditions. Haven't played since Tuesday and jonesing to get back out. You can only clean clubs and reorganize bags so much.  😃

[SnowbirdTom]

Any SE Michigan members with a review on Links of Novi?  Subbing with my son on Sunday as his partner and it appears we're playing East/South courses.  I've never been there before, but hope the weather holds and I can play Wednesday morning.

[3_Jack_Par]

 

4 hours ago, SnowbirdTom said:

Any SE Michigan members with a review on Links of Novi?  Subbing with my son on Sunday as his partner and it appears we're playing East/South courses.  I've never been there before, but hope the weather holds and I can play Wednesday morning.

It's fine -- pretty average for the area, though pretty pricey for what it is. It's a little on the short side, but usually in good condition.

[3_Jack_Par]

I'm not sure if anyone has been watching the series "Stick" on Apple TV, but in the 5th episode, at the US Am qualifier that the kid is playing at, there's a guy making an announcement and says that the qualifiers would move on to the final qualifier that is being held at "Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon....Missouri". I was so mad that they screwed that up and either didn't catch it, or left it in knowing that it was wrong.

[Jose c.]

4 hours ago, 3_Jack_Par said:

I'm not sure if anyone has been watching the series "Stick" on Apple TV, but in the 5th episode, at the US Am qualifier that the kid is playing at, there's a guy making an announcement and says that the qualifiers would move on to the final qualifier that is being held at "Forest Dunes Golf Club in Roscommon....Missouri". I was so mad that they screwed that up and either didn't catch it, or left it in knowing that it was wrong.

obviously their outa the "LOOP" ,lol.

[ldchristopher]

Played Beeches and The Meadows on Monday and Hemlock and Blackthorn (Michigan adjacent) yesterday. Always a good time when we play in Michigan. Every course was in great shape, no or at least minimal poa on the greens, and three different styles of course. Hemlock delivers every time. A drive but worth it. Rates went up 130% from when we last played it in 2018 but $69 is still a great price. I kind of enjoyed The Meadows. Great layout, greens were excellent, it was somewhat busy but we played in 3:45. I don’t get the isolated feel that I get at most Michigan courses. But that’s a setting issue rather than a course issue. Blackthorn is outstanding. Good variety and conditioning was pristine. I’ve never seen a course with so many corporate sponsors. Definitely could’ve done without all the casino and insurance ads. 

[MattSTL88]

Any chance anyone is going to be in Northern Michigan the week of 7/21 and wants to get a round or two in? Playing at Black Lake on Tuesday morning (7/22) and will likely play Hidden River on Thursday or Friday. Family vacation and I'm the only golfer so used to playing by myself, but thought I'd ask.

[SnowbirdTom]

On 6/23/2025 at 5:09 PM, 3_Jack_Par said:

 

It's fine -- pretty average for the area, though pretty pricey for what it is. It's a little on the short side, but usually in good condition.

 

Enjoyed the round there.  Played West/East and found it to be a tight course.  Lots of large trees and wet areas.  Enjoyed the play, but once a year would be plenty.

 

Played the Taylor Meadows course this morning, first out as a single paired with a weekend trio. Taylor City Championship coming up the end of July and I really needed to see the place.  Played a few holes with them, saw the backup "we" were causing and parted ways by skipping a hole. Turned my potential 5 hour 18 into a much more delightful 3 hours. Back nine was a hoot with the entire bag cooperating. Course was wet due to the big rain we got late yesterday. Greens were very receptive and actually had some rollout in the fairways, just a bit squishy sounding while walking. One birdie because I missed the long eagle putt on a relatively short par 5 at 435 yards. Only issue I had was short irons not landing where I needed to get them. On the green, but a long putt away from the hole.  

 

Got some notes on where to be aggressive and where to lay back a bit. First par 5 on the back 9 is a short tee shot because waste area, then a mid-iron layup to have an easy approach to green. Due to the trees blocking my view, I didn't realize the entire fairway past the waste area was in play. The Grint made it look like more junk to avoid.

 

Mostly used an R7 mini driver off the tee, there's a few par 4s reachable with my GT3 driver. I figure two par 5s are also in play for eagle possibilities.

 

Should be a fun weekend!

[SnowbirdTom]

Yeah, Mystic Creek at Camp Dearborn today. Where do I start?  Not the first hole ever again.  Pace of play was outrun by a melting glacier and got thrashed by a three toed sloth. We knew it was going to be bad when the group in front of us took four strokes each to get to the water 200 yards away. They contributed several balls to the water demons and decided to play from the other side. 20 minutes of watching on our part. 

Second hole on Lakes is a 580 yard par 5 and 35 minutes of sitting for us. By that time, we had three groups stacked and waiting behind us.

 

Our patience gave out on the fourth hole. We left, never to return and I'd advise all y'all to think about this review before setting foot there.  It ain't good, but what little of the course we saw was very nice.  The few greens we rolled balls on were smooth and speedy.

[SkolChicago]

Doing an Upper Peninsula trip - definitely doing Graywalls but wondering which 2 everyone would recommend: Heritage (Marquette Golf Club), Pine Grove CC, Timberstone, Sage Run, Sweetgrass. Originally was thinking Timberstone and Sweetgrass but the Heritage and Pine Grove have my interest piqued. 

[onion]

On 7/12/2025 at 8:14 AM, SkolChicago said:

Doing an Upper Peninsula trip - definitely doing Graywalls but wondering which 2 everyone would recommend: Heritage (Marquette Golf Club), Pine Grove CC, Timberstone, Sage Run, Sweetgrass. Originally was thinking Timberstone and Sweetgrass but the Heritage and Pine Grove have my interest piqued. 

Greywalls, Sweetgrass and Sage Run would be my suggestion. Greywalls is the most expensive and the other two have better rates than others because they are at the casino. Pine Grove is semi private and a nice course so you would just have to navigate when you can play. Weekends members only in the mornings. Heritage is alright but nothing special. 

[Pepetito]

On 7/12/2025 at 9:14 AM, SkolChicago said:

Doing an Upper Peninsula trip - definitely doing Graywalls but wondering which 2 everyone would recommend: Heritage (Marquette Golf Club), Pine Grove CC, Timberstone, Sage Run, Sweetgrass. Originally was thinking Timberstone and Sweetgrass but the Heritage and Pine Grove have my interest piqued. 

Unless you wanted to play 36 the day you are playing Greywalls (then play Heritage), i'd go Sage and Sweetgrass.  Though I loved Timerstone as well.

[odshot68]

Greywalls is sweet. Play 36 here. Timber stone is decent but after a few holes they all seem similar. I liked sweet grass. This was a Semetra tour site for a bit. Haven’t played the others. 

[Gdane]

On 7/12/2025 at 8:14 AM, SkolChicago said:

Doing an Upper Peninsula trip - definitely doing Graywalls but wondering which 2 everyone would recommend: Heritage (Marquette Golf Club), Pine Grove CC, Timberstone, Sage Run, Sweetgrass. Originally was thinking Timberstone and Sweetgrass but the Heritage and Pine Grove have my interest piqued. 

 

I'm headed to the UP this week for the first time in about 10 years.  Last time up we played Greywalls, Sweetgrass x2 and Timberstone.  

 

This time we are playing Greywalls, Sweetgrass and Sage Run, then driving down to Wisconsin for a couple more rounds.   My group felt Timberstone was the weakest of the "perfect 4some" package courses on our last trip.  That said, its still great so you cant go wrong.