The Myth Golf Course Review

The Myth
Oakland, Michigan
Grade: D+
Teachers’ Comments: Some nice holes, but shabby

The Myth is located in the middle of a golf hub in Oakland Township north of Detroit. By my count, there are no less than a dozen courses within ten miles. Some, like Indianwood are high end and exclusive. Others, like the Myth, are lower end daily fee.

Originally called Beaver Creek Golf Links, the course was built in 1991 from a design by David Calhoun. It currently is part of the Vargo collection of clubs, which includes Whispering Pines, Hampton, Golden Hawk and Bruce Hills.

The Myth Golf Course Review A view of the fifth hole — Five at The Myth is a 315 yard par 4

Water is the Myth’s most prominent feature, with ponds or marsh in play on sixteen holes. Forced carries are a regular occurrence.

As you might expect from the marsh and water, The Myth is a relatively flat, low-lying course. The first, ninth and tenth are on a rise; the remainder are bottomland or nearly so.

The Myth Golf Course Review A view of the seventeenth hole — Seventeen at The Myth is a 293 yard par 4.

The course at times felt oppressively tight. Unsightly growth has closed in on lines of play.

Between the carries and the encroaching jungle, it will be easy to lose a bogey golfer will easy to lose a sleeve or two of balls at The Myth.

An aerial view of The Myth. It does not really show the tight lines on the ground. There’s a par three in the lower right corner.

Perhaps fortunately, the Myth is a relatively short course. A smart golfer can avoid a lot of the trouble with club choices that prioritize accuracy over distance.

Tees	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Blue	6, 203	70.3	130
White	5, 870	68.4	125
Red	4, 669	68.4	124

The Myth Golf Course Review A view of the ninth hole — Nine at The Mythi is a 313 yard par 4.

My favorite hole was the par four ninth. One of the more open holes, it is a dogleg left that plays downhill from the tee. The left side has some mounding that will kick a ball back to the fairway; the right is out of bounds along a road.

It is the second show, however, that makes the hole interesting.

The Myth Golf Course Review a view of the ninth green — A view of the ninth green from the fairway at The Myth

The fairway on the ninth at The Myth runs out well before the green, ending in a marsh. The second shot is the key on this hole: how close are you to the green?; What kind of a lie do you have? (if you are sidehill on the mounding left, you might want to reconsider going for the green); can you play a club long enough to carry the marsh that will stop before your ball rolls off the back of the green, up the mounding there and into the parking lot (my playing partner did this).

I had a lie on the left that had my ball below my feet. That was not likely to turn out well for me, so I chipped down to a flat spot closer to the edge of the marsh. I carded a nice damage-control bogey.

Conditions on the day I played were shabby. To be fair, I was playing in the wake of a period of serious rain and flooding in Southeastern Michigan, so the opportunity to do maintenance on fairways and greens likely was limited. The Myth gets a partial pass on that.

Still, many of the tees, and much of the fairways were in poor shape.

The Myth Golf Course Review A view of the sixth green — The sixth at The Myth is a 434 yard par 4

Of more concern was the general lack of branch and brush trimming, especially in areas where overhanging vegetation interfered with lines of play. At times, I felt as though I was teeing off through a tunnel.