Tullymore, Arcadia Bluffs, Forest Dunes, Kingsley....(Photos Attached)

[CDM]

First off....YES it was cold on a few days. Really cold... but the courses were excellent. Some quick thoughts on each course:

 

(listed in the order we played them)

 

Tullymore:

Initial thought: A good traditional course that comes with a few gimmicky holes.

Weather: Overcast, 60ish with light rain (hard in the last 3-4 holes) and 10-15 mph winds....good thing for trees on this course.

 

Good layout and surprised us with some elevation change, or more so then we expected. Course was in great shape. The greens were very soft from the rain so we had some "spin" back issues. Overall a really good course,

 

Only complaint, there are a few holes that are signature to Jim Engh designs. I was hoping he did not do this at Tullymore but he did. If you have not played many Jim Engh designs, he always has a few holes that are blind shots (partial or full) and you get penalized for not knowing the first time you play the course. Lucky we read the provided sheet on how to play each hole before hand.

 

*Rained hard the last 3-4 holes and took what was going to be a good round in the 70's into 80's.

 

Arcaida Bluffs:

Initial thought: Impressive visually with a good layout.

Weather: It was a bit cool 48/50 but very light wind and clear skies.

 

I had read alot reviews / hype but until you see it in person its pretty hard to explain. Fantastic views of Lake Michigan. I found myself wonder how much dirt was moved to make this course? It seems it must have been a lot to help have the views. (Only say this looking at the properties either side of the course.... not complaining)

 

Excellent course conditions (weather was actually really good). I liked the layout route. Really liked the even amount of par 3's / 4's and 5's on the front 9. Greens were fast but medium on firmness so you could control shots well. The slight breeze we had of the lake I will say had more of an effect on shots into or going with the breeze then I thought it would. Took a few holes to adjust to club selection.

 

Overall really enjoyed Arcadia. There were some excellent touches the course did. Ie: Cart cover and portable heaters in the cart. At the same time there was a few odd things to, but nothing that would detract from the golf experience.

 

Not sure I would play this course a lot, but my playing partner thought it was the best of all of the ones he played.

 

Kingsley Club:

Initial thought: A hidden gem. Has a real "Scottish/Ireland" feel. One of the better courses I have played.

Weather: It was a cold 45/48 and wind (10/20 mph)

 

First and foremost a big thank you to a member for letting me play.... :good: Kingsley is a private club and it is fully geared towards GOLF. No tennis courts, pools, etc. Very nice basic club house with excellent friendly staff and every member I meet was a pleasure to talk too.

 

Course conditions were excellent as would be expected. The course is all fescue grass and it plays firm and fast. The layout is one the better ones I have played and has real feel of a links type course. Its not "Mounded" as per say Arcadia (think 10/11th hole..) but more so it rolls with the terrain. Depending on the wind you can play a hole many different ways from the tee to the green. Visually there are some holes you are stumped on how to play depending on the wind direction. There is challenge to every hole and pin location available on this course. Honestly this is a course I could see being very different every week or day of the week depending on the weather conditions.

 

All the holes are very different in form for the most part, so it is a challenging course. Not a course were one shot type will work. Need the full game to score here. In calm conditions I can see someone attacking it and scoring well...but if its not calm....game on!!!

 

if you get the chance to play this course I would highly recommend it. I could play this course a lot and enjoy it tremendously or get very frustrated with it...LOL either way it would be FUN.

 

Honestly I really wish I had played here first before arcadia. We were the first group off at Arcadia then drove over and I played here solo..

 

Got very stiff from sitting in the car for an hour plus and the cold weather so I did not start the round well at all (second hole killed me LOL). Warmed up later. Had a forecaddie (Josh) who was excellent. There was no one out there (smarter then me I guess lol) and I think we ripped through the course in 2.5 hours in a cart. *Still able to see/play the course and beat the rain coming in which we did...17/18 was pretty rough though as it was coming in quick by then.

 

Forest Dunes:

Initial thought: Excellent Layout / routing. One of the better ones to play IMHO

Weather: it was COLD.... like really cold. 40/42 and wind (5/20 mph)

 

Needless to say it was a question mark to play or not given how cold it got. We "layered" up and went for it.

 

I have to say for my "EYE" this course just fits. I like links courses more but I was surprised how much I really liked this course. I thought every hole had a great shape to it. Almost every hole has a slight bend in it left or right and there was more holes in the trees then I expected. Conditions were excellent as with all the courses. I will say Kingsley and Forest Dunes both had the fastest greens of the bunch and rolled very true.

 

There was nothing gimmicky about the course to me, it blended well with the surroundings. There were a few holes that traps were placed to keep it a challenge and that could take away from the course for some but nothing at all that was a over the top. There were only 3-4 holes I thought were "Mehhhhh" the rest were great.

 

Overall this is one course I really enjoyed. I wish the weather was better when we played. It was just to cold. I honestly could play this course a lot and be happy playing it alot.

 

Overall I recommend to anyone to play the courses listed. They are all very different and what one person likes the other may not, as in our case. I thought Kingsley and Forest Dunes were amazing courses. Arcadia, I really really enjoyed but I was not taken back by the actual course layout itself. It does have some amazing views you wont see everywhere on course outside of say Cali. Tullymore is a excellent course / facility and worth playing, I am just not a fan of blind shots on a course and it has one or two holes that unless you know it frustrates you.

[CDM]

Tullymore

[CDM]

Arcadia Bluffs

[cwglum]

That's a collection of some of the best courses Michigan has to offer, nice trip. Come back and try it when its warm, more fun. Have played all except Forest Dunes.

[CDM]

Kingsley Club: (I play a fade (normally) and you can see how that is going to be tough...)

[CDM]

Forest Dunes:

[CDM]

That's a collection of some of the best courses Michigan has to offer, nice trip. Come back and try it when its warm, more fun. Have played all except Forest Dunes.

 

Planning on coming back already. Different group though, more "players" then golfers next time.I think me going was somewhat a "test" by the scratch group I sadly contribute funds too it seems every weekend. Was it worth it....YES IT WAS...!

[CDM]

Forest Dunes: (Few in the trees to show how different the holes look)

[johnnylongball]

Great post. Thanks for sharing. We're planning to play all of these except Tullymore in August. Fired up!

[SilverBullets]

Im with you on FD. It just fits my eye really well. I love that place. It's one of, if not my favorite layout I have ever played (I've played 20-25 US Top 100 courses). Fantastic conditioning and a really fun Risk/Reward course. It gives you plenty of choices and ways to play almost every hole. If youre aggressive and execute you are rewarded. If you don't execute you will be punished. I really enjoy tracks like that.

[Tipsy McHooker]

Great post. Thanks for sharing. We're planning to play all of these except Tullymore in August. Fired up!

Add Bay Harbour to that list if you're coming up north from NashVegas.

[johnnylongball]

Great post. Thanks for sharing. We're planning to play all of these except Tullymore in August. Fired up!

Add Bay Harbour to that list if you're coming up north from NashVegas.

 

Tipsy, thanks for the suggestion. We played Bay Harbor last time we came to MI. Liked it a lot. We're trying to a little less driving this trip.

[CDM]

Im with you on FD. It just fits my eye really well. I love that place. It's one of, if not my favorite layout I have ever played (I've played 20-25 US Top 100 courses). Fantastic conditioning and a really fun Risk/Reward course. It gives you plenty of choices and ways to play almost every hole. If youre aggressive and execute you are rewarded. If you don't execute you will be punished. I really enjoy tracks like that.

 

Silver I was really surprised by FD. I thought the last few holes 16-18 were "okay" but the rest were great. The 16th green is crazy small with that mound in front. Which was odd to me but pretty open par 5 so needs some defense. The layout as you note is risk / reward. If you can drive it straight and fairly long this is a course you can score on, if not can be tough.

 

I will say the "TWINS" got me as I ended up behind the right one with a little fade. Blocked me out and the pin was back left....wow it slopes off hard on the edge LOL

[CDM]

Great post. Thanks for sharing. We're planning to play all of these except Tullymore in August. Fired up!

 

Johnny, glad your playing Kingsley. Great track. Not like anything you will find around there. Keep it in the fairway for sure, though all fescue, outside the fairway is thick, or will be when you are there. A lot of elevation change, more then I thought so club correctly.

[JimmyF1985]

Good to hear on all these. Looking to do a trip to MI next year possibly. Trying to get as many top 100's in as I can. Looks like a blast.

[JPC187]

I got to play Arcadia Bluffs earlier this year when I was literally the *only* person on the course. It was a surreal experience! Some pretty nasty fog but still amazing. Forest Dunes is phenomenal too. All of those are some of the best bang for your buck golf out there imo

[CDM]

I got to play Arcadia Bluffs earlier this year when I was literally the *only* person on the course. It was a surreal experience! Some pretty nasty fog but still amazing. Forest Dunes is phenomenal too. All of those are some of the best bang for your buck golf out there imo

 

Interesting you mention the fog. It was something I did not think of when we booked the trip.

 

We were the first off we when we played and we had none. The marshal told us we were lucky as the day before it was thick and lasted until mid morning, almost afternoon before it burned off.. Adding to it, later that night while in Traverse City out having a few pints we ran into a group that played in that fog and they said they could not see more then 50-75 yards. They estimated they lost a dozen ball apiece. One of the guys said he just gave up and started to hit mid irons (5-6 irons) off the tee as he knew he could hit it straight and at least find his ball because he was running out of them... hahaha.

[novakjrp1]

I am heading up to Michigan for a very similar trip next week with a few buddy's. Tullymore for 18 on Tuesday, Forest Dunes for 36 on Wednesday, Arcadia for 36 on Thursday, and then looping back and playing a course called Pilgrims Runs for 18 on Friday. Wish I could replace Pilgrims Run with Kingsley, but I'm sure we won't be too disappointed overall! I have only played Tullymore out of these 4 courses, so I am stoked about the trip. Just hoping the forecasted rain holds off and that we can avoid any foggy mornings! Thanks for sharing your experience, I am even more excited now than I previously was!

[CDM]

All the courses you list are worth it. Pilgirms Run was on our list as a "before we fly out" aspect but we decided to relax a bit on Sunday before flying from Grand Rapids. Have to let me know what you think of it, I hear it is a great track.

 

Edit: Kingsley is a great track, but you will be playing plenty with 36 at Arcadia and Forest Dunes. Would like to see which one you like best, we were split 50/50 on which was the better course.

[JPC187]

I got to play Arcadia Bluffs earlier this year when I was literally the *only* person on the course. It was a surreal experience! Some pretty nasty fog but still amazing. Forest Dunes is phenomenal too. All of those are some of the best bang for your buck golf out there imo

 

Interesting you mention the fog. It was something I did not think of when we booked the trip.

 

We were the first off we when we played and we had none. The marshal told us we were lucky as the day before it was thick and lasted until mid morning, almost afternoon before it burned off.. Adding to it, later that night while in Traverse City out having a few pints we ran into a group that played in that fog and they said they could not see more then 50-75 yards. They estimated they lost a dozen ball apiece. One of the guys said he just gave up and started to hit mid irons (5-6 irons) off the tee as he knew he could hit it straight and at least find his ball because he was running out of them... hahaha.

 

Yes! There were times I had under 20 yard visibility- no joke. I will upload a pic I took later!

 

However... it was *STILL* awesome and luckily when I played the back 9 it had died down some so I could see 10-13 perfectly! What's insane is there was a moment on the front 9 I hit into one of the par 5s against the bluff and I had no idea how close I was to the edge.

 

I may have also came close to killing a worker on the course without having any idea. I'm glad he found it so funny :)

[JPC187]

Speaking of Forest Dunes I am really interested to hear what WRX'rs think about the new 'loop' with the reversible 18 that is debuting this summer. Hopefully someone gets out there and provides feedback and pics

[Boingergolf]

Played Pilgrims Run as our fly out course and it was great. Perfect t course to finish a trip with.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

Hard to compare Arcadia and Forest Dunes. Two totally different golf courses, and both equally AWESOME IMO.

[johnnylongball]

Speaking of Forest Dunes I am really interested to hear what WRX'rs think about the new 'loop' with the reversible 18 that is debuting this summer. Hopefully someone gets out there and provides feedback and pics

 

We're playing the Loop (both directions) middle of next month, so I'll have a report then. Although someone will likely post long before I get there.

[MI517]

Speaking of Forest Dunes I am really interested to hear what WRX'rs think about the new 'loop' with the reversible 18 that is debuting this summer. Hopefully someone gets out there and provides feedback and pics

 

We're playing the Loop (both directions) middle of next month, so I'll have a report then. Although someone will likely post long before I get there.

 

I'll be heading there the 23-24th of this month. Will get a report back here, hoping someone beats me and shares some good info!

[prsgtrman]

thanks for the review!

[SilverBullets]

Playing the loop tomorrow morning, then FD and then the loop on Thursday. Interested to see how it is. I will post some thoughts but I've never been one for super detailed reviews. I leave that to the other members. I also don't take a lot of photos. But I will post some thoughts later this week.

[raottaviani]

Playing the loop tomorrow morning, then FD and then the loop on Thursday. Interested to see how it is. I will post some thoughts but I've never been one for super detailed reviews. I leave that to the other members. I also don't take a lot of photos. But I will post some thoughts later this week.

 

Thoughts? Playing there in a month.

[SilverBullets]

I made these two posts in the Michigan forum... Ill copy them here:

 

Played the Black version of The Loop this morning. Have the Red tomorrow. It certainly needs more time to be refined. It's pretty bare bones right now. Sparse areas and the greens are pretty slow right now since they are still growing in. Course wasn't in horrible shape or anything like that but it was very raw to say the least. Fairways have a lot of spotty areas, greens are pretty sandy. Its like a course which had winter burn out in the fairways and greens which were aerated. We had to roll the ball in the fairways to find grass lies. I was expecting this type of conditioning heading into the weekend though.

 

I love minimalist designs. I love Doak designs. This course is right up that alley. If you like minimalist designs, courses which weren't made by moving a ton of dirt and just an overall solid course than you will like the Loop. It's a cool concept and the course will be very good. But don't expect it to be Forest Dunes. It's not intended to have stunning Sand dunes, bunker and water complexes. It's kind of along the lines of the courses in Bandon. While on the Loop I thought 'golf as it was meant to be'... Which is the Bandon motto. Don't expect cushy, lush fairways and ultra exclusive private club conditioning. It's fescue fairways and greens. That type of course really appeals to me. But some will certainly play the course and think 'it's just a bunch of wide, never ending fairways and 18 greens'. It's somewhat of a cross between like Old MacDonald and Pacific Dunes... Without the ocean.

 

After playing it today, I'm already eager to come back and it play it when it's finished. But you have to like Doak and minimalist design to enjoy the course. If you don't, you'll be disappointed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I played the Red routing of The Loop this morning. The little bit of rain and sun yesterday helped the course out quite a bit. Things greened up and softened a little (it was concrete yesterday). The Black routing, I think is a bit better than the Red. At times on the red I felt like I was playing the hole backwards. Especially on the Par 3's. I thought the par 3's were pretty good on The Black routing... On the Red I thought they were pretty poor. 2 of them visually looked off on the red. They looked backwards.

 

I was a little disappointed in the fact that everything I read talked about how the Red and Black routings feel distinctly different. To me, they felt the same... Just reversed. I have a bit of photographic memory so for me it was really easy to decipher where we were on the course at all times and where the other holes were. My dad, on the other hand, had no idea. To him they were very different courses and he barely recognized a thing. I guess it's a better experience if you have a crap memory lol.

 

One thing I guess I wasn't expecting, though in hindsight I should have expected, is that the course is literally just reversed. So on the Black course of you had a 540 yard par 5, than on the red course you had a 530 or 550 yard par 5 depending on where the tee was. Perfect example is #10 on the black course is like 575. That hole is #9 on Red. It's 570 yards. There may have been 1 spot where that pattern deviated but for the most part it was true.

 

But overall I really liked The Loop. I like minimalist, links style tracks and Doak designs. Lots of putting from the fairway and bumping chips with a PW or 9i... There is NO rough on the entire course. Just lots of wide fairways.

 

To me it really felt like 1 course with 2 options to play it as opposed to feeling like 2 courses. If I were to play 3 rounds on the FD property again, I would 36 at FD and one of The Loop routings. If I were playing 4 rounds, I play FD twice and both routings.

 

The lodging there is pretty nice. It was smaller than the lodging at Bandon but the rooms were nicer and more upscale. The food at the restaurant was great.

 

Very happy with the trip.. Went 75 on Black routing of The Loop, 79 at Forest Dunes and 72 on Red.

 

I will be back once the loop is grown in and completed. I'd give it 24 months before its in really good shape.

[SilverBullets]

Oh and in addition to that... bring your own bottles of water and a protein bar or snack. There was no water on the course for players. There is no cart girl as there are no carts allowed on the course (because there are bunkers with lips facing both directions.. so there are times when a bunker will be 20 yards off the tee and you wont even be able to see it until you fall into it.... those bunkers obviously are in play for the other routing but not the one that you are playing that day). The course does not circle back to the clubhouse at the turn.. in fact, I believe the turn is made at one of the furthest points from the clubhouse. The snack shack at the turn was just beginning construction last week. I would say it's a safe bet that it won't be open in a month. There also were no trashcans on the course yet, no signs indicating what hole you are on and the first day we played there were no sprinkler heads with yardages... although during that round and during the round the next day they were installing them. If you are playing it without a caddie, bring a laser rangefinder... The course is not on any GPS system yet... The course is also not rated yet since it's not officially finished. Like I said, it's very bare bones right now. I would anticipate by the end of the month that some of those things will be installed on the course. Specifically trash cans and hopefully for anyone not using a caddie, they will install markers telling you where the next hole is. It's pretty easy to get turned around.

 

If you are taking a caddie, request Jake or Jeremy. Jake is a college student was plays golf on his school's team. He is a graduate of Grayling high school. If you follow the Golf Channel, Matt Ginella did a special on him and his school after a tragic accident. He was my caddie for both rounds and I could not have been happier. He's a great kid. Jeremy is a transplant from The Golf Club of Houston. He has a lot of personality and was caddying for someone else in our group on day 1. Super nice guy, funny, a bit loud (which is good for someone like me). If you want to have fun that day, he's great guy to go with. He'll bust your chops when you deserve it. Ginella and Ashley Mayo used both Jeremy and Jake during their 100 hole hike at The Loop a couple of weeks ago.