Links At Whitmore Lake Golf Course Review

The Links At Whitmore Lake
Grade: C-
Teacher’s Comments: I’ve never found this enjoyable.

I have visited the Links at Whitmore on three occasions, and my reaction was always the same: I didn’t really have a lot of fun. I’ve resolved not to return.

The front nine is relatively open, with wide fairways and relatively straight shots.  There are only a couple of bunkers and water comes into play on two holes. The front nine has in my experience tended to be dry and hot. Everything runs fast. A bogey golfer should be able to score well on this nine.

The back nine becomes much more narrow as it cuts through forest and woodland. This nine tends to be shaggy, wet and humid. Tree branches overhang parts of fairways. I’ve hit more than my share of those. I always found debris on the ground. As you might expect, this tends to play more penal.

There is also on the back nine a hole (13) with a design feature that I consider unforgivable: players are expected to tee off a wooden platform with astroturf nailed to the surface. The course should have turned the par five thirteenth into a par four and gone with a par 70 for the course. I have resolved not to go back for that element alone.

From the back tees, The Links at Whitmore Lake measures 6,275 and plays to a 69.9/132. The men’s middles are 6,071 and 69.1/126. The white tees are 66.0/115 at 5,482.  It is not a difficult course, but players should score much better on the front than on the back.

Conditions on the days I played have always been a mixed bag. The front has always been hard, but usually was in better condition than the back. That’s probably because it gets more sunlight. The back nine had soggy areas, but also tee boxes, fairways and and greens that seemed a bit more beat up. Shading trees surely make it hard for growing grass.

Watch their site’s course tour videos and you’ll see the dry front and the damaged areas on the back.

Greens fees are $30 on the weekdays and $42 on weekends. That’s probably overpriced for what you get.

While it may be a perfectly serviceable course for some, the Links at Whitmore Lake just doesn’t agree with me. There are so many other better courses in the area that it is not worth a return visit.