Thunder Bay Golf Course Review

Thunder Bay Golf Course Review

Thunder Bay Golf Course
Hillman, Michigan
Grade: C+
Teachers’ Comments: Pleasant enough, but nothing stands out.

Thunder Bay Resort in Hillman is perhaps better known for its elk viewing, snowy carriage rides and themed weekends than its golf. The resort’s course is worth a play, though, if you are in the area.

Unlike many of its Northern Michigan brethren, the Thunder Bay golf course is a relatively flat parklands style affair. The front nine is more open, and on several holes feels like a meadows course, with wide, accommodating fairways and few trees`. The back nine, however, has holes that play into and out of wooded areas, with tighter, tree-lined fairways in between.

The routing definitely eases a golfer into the course.

Water is in play on half the holes, notably guarding several of the greens. Three of the par threes also have water or marsh in play. Short iron and wedge play is at a premium at Thunder Bay.

The scorecard at Thunder Bay shows an unusual slate of holes: Five par fives, nine par fours and four par threes for a par 73. The par fives are all long: the shortest is 488 yards; the longest, 581 yards.

Thunder Bay has eight doglegs of varying degrees, and on the back nine the trees often blocked any view of the green from the tee. In those cases, I had to consult my Garmin GPS watch to determine my best line off the tee. Tee shot placement was particularly important on those holes with water guarding the greens. Too far to one side or the other and the approach would be over a pond.

The eleventh and seventeenth approach shots over ponds were to me the best individual parts of the course.

Still, there was no “wow” factor or even a particularly striking run of holes. It as a fun round, but not a memorable one. With so many excellent courses in Northern Michigan, Thunder Bay wouldn’t be on my list of must-plays.

It’s for this reason that I kept wavering between a C+ and a B- in my grade. There’s nothing “wrong” with the course in particular — other than a couple of maintenance issues — but ultimately, it left me cold.

From the tips, Thunder Bay comes in at 6, 712 yards with a rating of 73.2 and a 131 slope. That’s a difficult course.

Tee	Yards	Rating	Slope
Black	6, 712	73.2	131
White	6, 346	71.5	127
Gold	5, 617	68.3	120

My favorite hole was the 506-yard par 5 fifth. It’s a mostly open affair that rises gently from the tee, turns right, dives down and then up again to the green. There’s a bunker just over the hill on the inside corner to catch the unwary.

Once over the crest, the rough on the left side drops off a bit, potentially leaving wide shots with a side hill lie. There’s a bunker to the right of the elevated green to complicate things.

I like this hole for the way it takes advantage of the rise and fall of the land. The blind, uphill tee shot; downhill second; and uphill approach ask for club adjustments and smart placement from tee to green.

Conditions on the day I played were mostly good. The fairways were well covered, and the greens and tee boxes in fairly good shape. There were some soggy areas on the back nine that seemed as though they were more endemic than due to recent weather conditions.

On the day I played, they were starting on the back nine, and the tenth didn’t leave a good impression, with a smelly, algae covered pond right off the tee. The opening corridor on that shot needed quite a bit of trimming. Fortunately, it opened up and improved after that.

The Thunder Bay golf course review was first published February 15, 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 Thunder Bay Golf Course follows: