Glacier Club Golf Course Review

Glacier Club Golf Course Review

Glacier Club Golf Course
Washington, Michigan
Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: An interesting, upscale course

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Glacier Club is an interesting upscale development course with a linksy sort of vibe.

The course originally opened in 1993 with Bill Newcomb doing the architectural honors. It was renovated in 2008 by Arthur Hills. I have played numerous courses by both architects and honestly, nothing about Glacier Club would have clued me to its provenance.

I am not generally a fan of development courses; the houses often are too close for comfort. In the case of Glacier Club, however, I feel as though they were less intrusive than most. The homes at Glacier Club are often seen only in the distance or angled away from the fairway.

Glacier Club has a lot of interesting mounding. Much of it marks the edges of the fairways, and in a couple of places, it was like playing through a canyon. The often-craggy look is quite interesting, especially when contrasted with the numerous ponds.

On my one play, I found myself out of position quite a bit; the mounding can be deceiving and hides much of the course. On a repeat play, I would have a better sense of where to bank those shots.

My favorite hole was the par four eighteenth. It is a good example of the surprises that unfold for first time players.

With the left side flush against a pond and the right a long series of hilly mounds, this dogleg right may very well be one of the toughest fours I’ve played.

The tee boxes are slightly elevated to promise a few extra yards, but the dogleg makes the fairway look very narrow. The smart play off the tee is probably just inside the mounds on the right. The hole opens up just out of view.

But there is a long bunker there waiting to catch you.

The approach shot is to a green perched above the fairway. If you’re too far left, it’s going to be over a sliver of pond. One of my playing partners put it in the drink on the approach after nearly getting the ball wet on the tee shot.

I was too far right, and decided to lay up. I was glad of this, because when I got in sight of the green, it revealed that there was no way I was going to run a long, low shot up to the green.

Another fun hole at Glacier Club was the 399 yard par four fourth. The tee shot is tight, but it then opens up to a more linksy style hole.

The left side of the fairway is against a hill; the right is a downward slope. A bunker on the right is placed perfectly to catch weak slicers.

The green is elevated and slightly angled, requiring good judgment on the approach. Don’t go long. That’s where I ended up.

From the longer tees, Glacier Club is a really tough course — especially on a one-time play. I recommend that the bogey golfer play it forward. The blue tees, at 6, 128 yards with a slope and rating of 132/70.2 is probably more than enough course for an enjoyable afternoon.

Tee	Yardage	Slope	Rating
Gold	6, 987	139	74.7
Black	6, 518	137	72.5
Blue	6, 128	132	70.2
White	5, 713	126	68.3
Red	4, 778	121	68.4

Conditions on the day I played Glacier Club were quite good. Greens were smooth and the fairways well covered, if a bit brown in places. Dormant grass in the midst of a hot dry spell is not a bad thing, in my opinion, as long as the dormant doesn’t surrender to the underlying dirt. Overall, the entire course was well kept even to the edges, which is not surprising considering its position as a development course. Homeowners likely wouldn’t put up with careless grooming.

Prices at Glacier Club are reasonable. It’s $45 weekdays in peak season, has a $20 replay rate and offers senior rates to those 55 plus.

An aerial view of Glacier Club.

I would like to return to play Glacier Club. I know I’d do better the second time around. My only hesitations are that it is a housing development course and doesn’t permit walking. There’s no need for that. It’s walkable. There are only a couple of places wehre the distance between holes is questionable.

The post Glacier Golf Course Review first appeared on GolfBlogger.Com. It is based on notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2022.

A photo tour of Glacier Club follows