Bedford Hills Golf Course Review

Bedford Hills Course
Temperance, Michigan

Grade: C-
Teacher’s Comments: Feels cramped

Bedford Hills is a 27 hole facility located in Temperance, Michigan, near the Ohio border. The nines are named Wolverine, Irish and Buckeye. I played the Wolverine/Irish combination.

My main impression of the course is that too much was crammed into too small a space. The holes are tightly packed, and the routing ceases to make sense in several places. For example, after playing the first hole, I walked to the next tee box and played that hole. It was only after holing out and trying to figure out where to go next that I discovered that I had just played the fifth. To get to the second, I should have walked past both the fifth tee box and the fourth green. I ran into a similar annoyance on the Irish course. After finishing the second, a player needs to walk past the ninth tee and behind the ninth green to get to the third.

Getting from the Wolverine to the Irish calls for crossing the course’s parking lot and going through a tunnel under a road (thank God for the tunnel). The facility also manages to cram a very large clubhouse, a party room, a tight driving range and a miniature golf course into the mix. I half expected to spot a ferris wheel.

From the tips, the Wolverine/Irish stretch to 6,231 yards and play to a 69.4/113. The middle tees measure 5, 898 and play to a 67.9/110. The holes on the Wolverine are largely straight, parallel, open and flat. Water is potentially in play on three holes, and there are perhaps three bunkers. Not much thinking is called for on the Wolverine. All a player needs to do is hit the ball hard and then hit it hard again. Being off line isn’t much of a problem on most holes, either. When I played, it seemed as though I had to wait on every hole for someone who was playing back to his own green or fairway.

The Irish is somewhat more interesting; most of those holes have gentle bends, and three are outright doglegs. On these holes, placement off the tee becomes important. A light forest in the center of this nine provides some visual and tactical interest, as do a couple of well placed ponds. I liked the Irish much more than the Wolverine. The Irish has three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s. It ends on a par 3, which I did not like.

Conditions on the day I played were good, and the greens noteworthy. I thought the Irish course, however, was in better shape than the Wolverine.

I’m sorry that I was unable to play the Buckeye, but I just ran out of sunlight. From a distance, however, it looked as though it might be the best of the lot.

Although I had fun on my outing, this is not a course to which I would return.