Lakeland Hills Golf Course
Jackson, Michigan
Grade: D+
Teacher’s Comments: A discount level course.
Lakeland Hills Golf Course, near Jackson, Michigan is a basic, relatively low cost affair. As such, you get exactly what you would expect.
After playing the front nine, I thought that the day was going to be a waste. Conditions were not good, and the holes largely uninteresting. The routing was straight and back-and-forth. There is a pond on the first that forces a layup, but elevation changes to the greens offer the only other cause for thought. Other than those, the front nine at Lakeland Hills was a matter of hit the ball as far as you can, then hit it again. Conditions on that front nine also were disappointing.
The back nine, however, improved on several counts. First, the design became more interesting, with holes that required some thought about placement off the tee. There are a four sharp doglegs that also take advantage of elevation changes, and four others that use the rolling terrain to good effect. The only ordinary hole is the par three eighth, which offers a flat shot, albeit over a pond.
Conditions on the back nine were, I thought, also improved.
From the back tees, Lakeland Hills measures 6,401. It plays to a 68.8/117. The second of the three tees reduces the overall distance to 6,013. For most players, I don’t think there’s any reason to move up a tee. Just one of the par 4s from the back reaches 400 yards.
My favorite hole was the par four 14th. It’s a 335 yard dogleg right that starts out relatively level, and then dips sharply down to the green at the dogleg—about 150 out. What made the hole particularly interesting to me was the curved grassy berms that served to guard the left side of the green in lieu of a bunker. You can see them in the photo above—it is the dark green patch. Woe be to the golfer whose hall rolls up to the side of that hazard.
One of the main attractions of the Lakeland Hills has to be the spacious (although not at all fancy—it’s an old quonset hut) clubhouse. A large outing had just finished when I arrived and I have heard several people sing the course’s praises in this reg
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