Burr Oak Golf Course Review

Burr Oak Golf Course Review

Burr Oak
Parma, Michigan
Grade: C+
Teacher’s Comments: A pleasant local course; fantastic value

I was pleasantly surprised by Burr Oak.

Over the years, I heard some terrible things about the place, and had even had an unpleasant experience over the phone some years ago when I tried to make a tee time. New ownership in 2021 convinced me to make another attempt at a tee time in the summer of 2023.

Under the new ownership, I found a pleasant course with good conditions at a fair price that I would return to again in the future.

Burr Oak is a parklands style course that is mostly flat on the front nine, but with some sharp changes on the on the back. Half the holes are doglegs to one degree or another; a couple are quite sharp. In all, Burr Oak has an interesting mix of holes.

Trouble on the course is mostly a matter of being off-line on drives, stymied by trees. I counted five fairway bunkers; there is no water to speak of.

At just over six thousand yards, and lacking major strategic threats, Burr Oak is unlikely to challenge better players. A bogey or worse golfer, however, can have some fun. I think it would be a great course for an outing.

Burr Oak was built in 1962; the design is credited to Bill Palmer. I can find no other reference to him.

It is the home course for Spring Arbor University. As with my home course, Washtenaw Golf Club, I feel a good sense of golf appreciation for courses that open their tee times to juniors and their teams.

My favorite hole was the par four sixteenth. It’s a dogleg right with trees and a bunker in the corner 165 to the hole.

The ideal play would be left; I of course hit a line drive to the right and ended up behind the bunker. A pitch out, and I had a decent look at the green.

The green is what caught my attention, as it was slightly below the line of the fairway and created the illusion of being closer than it was.

Burr Oak is a par 72 that comes in at 6, 359 yards, where it plays to a 70.7/121. Go ahead ahead and play from the tips.

Tee	Yardage	Slope	Rating
Blue	6, 359	121	70.7
White	5, 940	117	69.2
Red	5, 023	113	67.1

Conditions on the day I played were generally good. The fairways were all covered in freshly mown green stuff, and the greens were smooth. The tee boxes were hard, but acceptable. On the downside, just off the fairway, many areas were hardpan. For example, I just missed the green on the par three sixth, and found the bare ground impossibly hard to play from.

In the summer of 2023, the price was $14 for 18 holes walking; that is an astounding value.

Overall, I had a good time at Burr Oak. If you haven’t played it in recent years because of conditions or previous poor management, I suggest you give the new management a chance.

The Burr Oak golf course review was first published January 23, 2024 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2023. For all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan Golf Course Reviews (as well as golf course reviews from other states), follow the link.

A photo tour of Burr Oak follows: