GolfBlogger Publishes 200th Michigan Golf Course Review

GolfBlogger Publishes 200th Michigan Golf Course Review

GolfBlogger recently hit a milestone: 200 Michigan golf course reviews.

The most recent review was Boyne Highland’s excellent Arthur Hills Course. The first might have been Whispering Pines, back in 2005.

I hesitate to make the usual top ten golf courses in Michigan list. I think that the original Tim Weiskopf Forest Dunes is number one with a bullet (read the Forest Dunes Golf Course Review). I’ll play there any chance I get.

After that, though, I am less certain. I have tried on any number of occasions to create such a list and have been wracked with doubt. Just when I think I’ve got a list of the top ten golf courses in Michigan (public), I think of another course that should be considered. Then there’s the fine degree of granularity amongst the contenders for top ten courses in Michigan. What makes a course number six, as opposed to number seven?

There’s also the fact that I have not yet played all of Michigan’s courses — or even all of the ones that regularly make other people’s “best golf courses in Michgian” list. I’m working on it, though. Two hundred courses played and reviewed is far more than I think most list writers have managed.

Finally, since I play so many courses, it has often been years since I returned to play again. Conditions — and even the layout — have often changed.

Instead, I offer a list of courses that should be in the conversation for top ten public golf courses in Michigan. Talk amongst yourselves, and leave a comment on this post.

Number 1: Forest Dunes

The remainder, in alphabetical order

• Arcadia Bluffs
• Bay Harbor
• Belvedere
• Black Lake
• Diamond Springs
• The Fortress
• The Grande
• Greywalls
• Heather at Boyne Highlands
• Hills at Boyne Highlands
• The Loop
• Pilgrim’s Run
• Treetops Signature
• Tullymore
• Stoatin Brae
• Sweetgrass
• Washtenaw Golf Club

I think that any of these courses could be considered for the two-through-nine slots.

There are also a number of courses that I would add for consideration for second tier, say, 11 – 20.

• The Alpine
• Bedford Valley
• The Donald Ross Memorial
• Dunmaglas
• Lyon Oaks
• The Medalist
• Moose Ridge
• Shepherd’s Hollow
• Stonehedge South
• Timberstone
• Treetop’s Fazio

I don’t think any of these are good enough to bump someone out of the top ten, but they are certainly in the conversation for the next ten.

And then there are a couple of courses that deserve to be in consideration for top ten, but that are not exactly public courses:

• The University of Michigan Golf Course
• Forest Akers West

Here’s what puts a golf course into consideration on my list:

• Value
  • This is number one on my list. I’ll pay $150 for a round, but it had better be a terrific experience from top to bottom. On the other hand, a $30 course can be forgiven a few shortcomings. The best courses are those that under-promise and overperform.
• Strategic Play
  • Bomb and gouge courses hold no interest for me. I love courses that offer options on every shot. I want to think hard about what I should do next.
• Conditions
  • This is, in a way, tied into value. A $25 course with weedy, but carefully mowed fairways is in my mind better than a $100 course that looks shaggy around the edges.
  • Most important to me: Are the greens smooth? Are the tee boxes level? Is the fairway covered with carefully mowed green stuff?
• Walkability
  • I give higher marks to a course that lets people walk.

You can find all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan Golf Course reviews at the link.