Hickory Hills Golf Course Review – Maize and Blue Nines

Hickory Hills Golf Course Review – Maize and Blue Nines

Hickory Hills Golf Course
Jackson, Michigan
Grade: C+
Teachers’ Comments: An outstanding value

Hickory Hills, on the west side of the city of Jackson, Michigan, is a sprawling 36-hole facility. The four nines are the Maize, Blue, Green and White, after the state of Michigan’s two major Universities.

Across Hickory Hills’ four nines, a golfer will find a huge variety of holes and terrain: parklands, woodlands, marsh, hills, streams, hills and prairie. It’s a smorgasbord of Michigan landscapes.

On my first trip to Hickory Hills in the summer of 2023, I played the Blue-Maize routing.

The Blue-Maize routing is relatively wooded throughout (as opposed to the more open Green-White, but that’s a tale for another day). The Blue begins with an open hole, then gets progressively more wooded before coming back into the open on the ninth. Along the way, there are some interesting elevation changes and a couple of quirky doglegs.

All of the holes had some bit of strategic interest, whether via a dogleg, hazards, fairway bunkers, elevation changes or water.

The Maize nine adds water into the equation on the first, second, fourth, fifth and to some extent, the ninth. Four and five are in some lowlands, run parallel and are separated by a marshy area.

Maize four (a par four) also has a fantastic downhill tee shot. Rip that shot between the trees in front of the tee and watch it sail.

Fairways on all of the holes were comfortably wide; there is no reason to lose one in the woods. The greens also were friendly; what you see is basically what you get.

My favorite hole was the 530-yard par 5 on the blue. It has an epic “Up North” Michigan feel.

Starting from a slightly elevated tee, the hole plunges eases and bends slightly to the left. The next two shots climb uphill, including the approach shot, as the green is on a mound. I thought it was one of the trickier green complexes, with a large bunker left and a sloping green.

Hickory Hills Blue/Maize has four tees, with the longest measuring 6, 715 yards.

Tee	Yards	Rating	Slope
Blue	6715	72.0	128
White	6415	71.1	124
Gold	6158	69.8	120
Red	5445	68.7	118

Conditions on the day I played were okay. The fairways were covered with green stuff, although lots of it was dry due to an ongoing drought. I also think they could have done a little more trimming along the edges, particularly along the edges of the streams and tree lines. Just a little machete work here and there would sharpen the look quite a bit. A few of the tee boxes needed some work and several bunkers needed care.

That said, while Hickory Hills will not be mistaken for a premium course, it is priced way below expectations. In the summer of 2023, eighteen holes on the weekdays was $15 walking. For $15, it is an outstanding value.

I plan to go back in the future.

The Hickory Hills – Maize and Blue — Golf Course Review was first published January 2, 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 Hickory Hills Blue and Maize courses follows: