Black Forest/Wilderness Valley

[countvelvet]

Has anyone played these courses recently? It is for sale and I heard they had a new super. I was just wondering about course conditions. Any help is appreciated. TIA

[Timbo Slice]

I planned on playing it this year, but the reviews are terrible. Think the course got damaged, and not cared for. I saw the price tag of 2 million, hopefully someone buys and takes care of it. It is sad a Tom Doak course could potentially go away.

[dozer996]

Played both courses 2 years ago and they both were in terrible condition. Like worst courses I've played in years.

[HighSpeedScene]

I planned on playing it this year, but the reviews are terrible. Think the course got damaged, and not cared for. I saw the price tag of 2 million, hopefully someone buys and takes care of it. It is sad a Tom Doak course could potentially go away.

 

Remember high pointe? If I recall correctly, first Doak course. Gone...

[Openwater22]

Black forest is a fantastic routing with possibly the worst green complex's of all time. Not even kidding a little bit. The greens are terrible.

[BG5]

I heard that Black Forests greens have dead elephants buried underneath them. Great course....terrible greens......I would guess it goes out of business as there are to many great courses in the area that get all the business.

[HackerDave]

My guess is it goes the way of Elk Ridge and somebody buys it to hunt. Great property but the way that course is built, the maintenance costs have to be out of this world. Never played Wilderness Valley. Does not look impressive.

[SilverBullets]

I played Black Forest about a year ago. It's a really good layout. But that's about all I can say that is good. The course was an absolute mess. Many of the greens (maybe 6 greens) had literally no grass. No just dirt/mud. Two holes, I actually didn't even want to walk on the green to pick up my ball because they were so wet with just mud and I didn't want to mess up my shoes. The rest of the greens were completely brown and bumpy with some patchy grass (best described as a 12 year old trying to grow a mustache). It was kind of surreal for a Midwest course to look like it was a desert course going through transition to a different type of grass. We ended up just playing automatic two putts and not playing a 'real' round because the course was that bad.

 

I will say, however, I really like Doak and most of his designs. You could see how BF would be a really solid golf course if it were in decent shape. Like if it were in Otsego condition, BF would probably be every bit as good, if not better, than The Tribute. The greens looked like they would be crazy if they had grass on them lol. If someone buys the course and reseeds it, than it would be a great place. But I have a feeling this one is going under.

[sabram]

I played Black Forest last week. It is a very good course with lots of interesting and fun holes. I would say the holes are well designed but the routing is not a great routing. The course is not walkable... the distances between many holes is long and the distance and terrain to the first hole and back from the 18th is very long. The condition of the course continues to be troublesome. I feel sorry for the owner, who seemed to be a very nice man. The course needs some money put into it in order to improve the greens , but people are staying away because of the conditioning. It poured all morning and we were lucky the rain stopped just as we pulled into the parking lot so some of the holes were very soggy. However, we were surprised by how well most of the holes drained. It obviously didn't play "firm and fast", but that was actually not such a bad thing because Black Forest is a very challenging layout and the soft conditions helped keep balls in play. The greens were not in good condition and had some bare spots.We were advised of that before we teed off. The bunkers needed to be tended to as they basically played like hard rough. We paid $200 for a foursome which included green fee, cart, range balls and a nice BBQ chicken lunch. If you can get over the aesthetics and issues of the greens and bunkers IMO it is worth playing at that price, even though I know some will disagree. I really hope the course can get back on track. Here are a few pix from the round. Don't forget it was a rainy overcast day. I'll post an 18 hole photo tour of the course next week.

 

Black Forest #17 from tee 498

 

Black Forest 491

 

Black Forest 474

 

Black Forest 468

[countvelvet]

Thanks for the update Sabram. Much appreciated!

[SilverBullets]

Based on those pics, that's much improved from when I played it.

[sabram]

Here's a link to a full photo tour of Black Forest from late June 2017: https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157682848918222

 

Also, I played a bunch of other courses in Northern Michigan on the trip here's a link to them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/72157683530589050/

[Timbo Slice]

I really enjoyed your pictures from all those up north. Thanks for sharing.

[sabram]

I really enjoyed your pictures from all those up north. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks. I still haven't posted the Quarry 9 at Bay Harbor or Belvedere