Whiteford Valley West Golf Course Review

The sixteenth at Whiteford Valley West is a 338 yard par 4.

Whiteford Valley West Golf Course
Grade: C+
Teachers’ Comments: Tidy and enjoyable

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Whiteford Valley West is one of three courses (two eighteen and one nine) at the Ottawa Lake, Michigan facility. It was built in 1969 from a design by Harley Hodges.

The West is a “farmlands” course, routed across land that was quite obviously once fields of corn or beans. It is open, and relatively flat, with irrigation ditches crossing the line of play at various points. A smattering of trees dots the landscape.

An aerial view of Whiteford Valley. The West course is on the left side, starting near the clubhouse, heading down to the bottom of the image, and then running up the left side.

Whiteford Valley West is a relatively straightforward design. Most of the holes are straightish shots from tee to green. There is no threatening water and only a handful of sand traps.

It is not a course that you will brag about having conquered with a low score. Whiteford Valley West is neither particularly long, nor particularly difficult. But that is just fine. Sometimes you need to play a course for the sheer joy of hitting a ball.

And sometimes a golfer’s ego could use a round with a decent score.

Tee	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Gold	6, 719	71.5	124
Blue	6, 316	69.7	120
White	5, 734	67.0	115
Red	5, 098	68.4	113

Whiteford Valley West’s seventh is a 496 yard par 5

My favorite hole was the seventh. It is a dogleg left 496 yard par 5 that begins with a tight tee shot through some trees. The landing zone at the corner is quite wide, so the shot really only needs to be straight for the first hundred yards or so. From the turn, the hole climbs upward to a small hill. The approach to the sloping green must avoid bunkers left and right (I did not). The combination of slope, dogleg and distance make it a challenging hole.

A view from the fairway on Whiteford Valley West’s fifteenth

Conditions on the day I played Whiteford Valley West were good. The course is well-kept, with a solid coat of mowed green stuff in the fairways and smooth greens. I played on one of the hottest days of the summer — in the hottest week — and thought the greenskeepers had done a good job of keeping everything alive. It was evident to me that the owners and employees care about the course.

Whiteford Valley West’s second is a 389 yard par 4.

Whiteford Valley West is a good value. Weekday walking rates are $20. With cart, it’s $32. There’s no reason not to walk. There are no challenging hills, and the next tees are never far from the last green.

I plan to go back to Whiteford Valley West in the future. It is a pleasant course at a nice price.

The post Whiteford Valley West Review first appeared on GolfBlogger.Com. It is based on notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2022.

A photo tour of Whiteford Valley West follows: