All Things Michigan Golf.....The Three Putt

Curmudg3on · August 17, 2021

13 hours ago, Ger21 said:

Need to get my loft & lies adjusted. Anywhere good on the east/northeast side? I live near New Baltimore, but work in Fraser/Roseville area.

If Carls is the best place, I can drive over there after work.

Thanks.

Miles of Golf in Ann Arbor is very good if that is closer

Ger21 · August 17, 2021

Thanks, but opposite direction.

Mi-Golfer · August 19, 2021

On 8/16/2021 at 9:06 AM, Ger21 said:

Need to get my loft & lies adjusted. Anywhere good on the east/northeast side? I live near New Baltimore, but work in Fraser/Roseville area.

If Carls is the best place, I can drive over there after work.

Thanks.

Go see Don at DC Golf. Fast, cheap and does good work.

https://dcgolfrepairstudio.com/

Ger21 · August 19, 2021

Awesome. Just what I was looking for. I used to go to Chop Shop, who did great work, but he closed down quite a few years ago.

stick chick · August 21, 2021

I apologize in advance if this isn't allowed - but I have several groupgolfer certificates that I'm not able to use and was wondering if any of you would be interested in purchasing? I have to have surgery again and my season is basically over. Each of the certificates expires at the end of September or October, 2021. The list is below, with any restrictions, all are for 18 holes with cart and voucher indicates you must make a tee time:

HIckory Hollow Golf (in Macomb Township) - 4 for $20/ea; AFTER 11am weekends, not good on course holidays, EXP 10/31/21;
Solitude Links Golf Club (in Kimball Township) - 4 for $25/ea; AFTER 12pm Fr - Su and holidays, EXP 10/1/21;
Dunham Hills Golf (in Hartland) - 4 for $22/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends, not good on course holidays, EXP 11/1/21;
Fieldstone Golf Club (in Auburn Hills) - 4 for $35/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends and holidays, EXP 11/1/21;
The Links at Hunters Ridge (in Howell) - 4 for $22/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends and holidays, EXP 11/1/21;
Metamora Golf & Country Cub (in Metamora) - 4 for $25/ea; AFTER 12pm weekends and holidays, EXP 10/1/21

Please dm me if you're interested and I will email certificates to you once payment is received. First come, first served. 🙂. I hope someone can get use of them since I'm not able to. Thanks so much! Cindy L.

Curmudg3on · August 21, 2021

4 hours ago, stick chick said:

I apologize in advance if this isn't allowed - but I have several groupgolfer certificates that I'm not able to use and was wondering if any of you would be interested in purchasing? I have to have surgery again and my season is basically over. Each of the certificates expires at the end of September or October, 2021. The list is below, with any restrictions, all are for 18 holes with cart and voucher indicates you must make a tee time:

HIckory Hollow Golf (in Macomb Township) - 4 for $20/ea; AFTER 11am weekends, not good on course holidays, EXP 10/31/21;

Solitude Links Golf Club (in Kimball Township) - 4 for $25/ea; AFTER 12pm Fr - Su and holidays, EXP 10/1/21;

Dunham Hills Golf (in Hartland) - 4 for $22/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends, not good on course holidays, EXP 11/1/21;

Fieldstone Golf Club (in Auburn Hills) - 4 for $35/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends and holidays, EXP 11/1/21;

The Links at Hunters Ridge (in Howell) - 4 for $22/ea; AFTER 11:30am weekends and holidays, EXP 11/1/21;

Metamora Golf & Country Cub (in Metamora) - 4 for $25/ea; AFTER 12pm weekends and holidays, EXP 10/1/21

Please dm me if you're interested and I will email certificates to you once payment is received. First come, first served. 🙂. I hope someone can get use of them since I'm not able to. Thanks so much! Cindy L.

I've played all of the courses you have listed with the exception of Hickory Hollow this year. I usually don't play them more than once since most are almost 1 hour from my location.

The good news: the value you paid for these vouchers never expires.

teehilden · August 28, 2021

Good evening/morning Michigan WRX,

I just wanted to come to vent about a local Metro Detroit course that most people in the area are familiar with. I was curious if anyone else has experienced situations similar to that I’m about to detail.

I grew up playing Moose Ridge as it was about 10 minutes from my childhood home. It was always considered one of the best public courses in the area. It had that northern Michigan feel to it and was always in fantastic shape. Not anymore. And worse yet, the management is horrible. I have numerous friends and family that have had sour encounters at the course with the GM.

First, my dad was hitting golf balls on the range in early spring time. People were hitting off mats since it was early in the season, however there were no tees to hit off the mats so a guy on the range was teeing up next to the mat and hitting driver off the grass. The GM came flying up to the range in a golf cart and yelled at this individual to get back on the mat. The golfer respectfully attempted to explain why he was hitting from the grass but he was cut off by the management and told to “leave now and never come back.” My dad claims the guy was reasonably confused what just happened and thought it may have been a joke. To everyone’s dismay, it was reiterated, “leave immediately.” I’ve heard of an almost identical situation happening from another friend saying the GM yelled at two guys on the driving range who were hitting from an open area because all the hitting bays were occupied.

My next story comes from my best friend who plays in a Thursday night league at Moose. They have played there for years. One of the guys in the league had a greenside bunker shot on hole 7, opened up the face of his club and took a swing. He sliced off a 12 inch chunk of compacted sand. It was his final hole of their round so he took the chunk of sand to show other players and the workers. He took it inside and explained what had happened, stating, no we pay a lot of money to be in this league and these are pretty unacceptable conditions. The GM became very argumentative and grabbed a stack of cash equaling the total dues for the league. He came back and handed the cash to guy and told him he was no longer welcome at the course. He was kicked out of the league for attempting to diplomatically reason with staff on adding sand or improving the bunkers. At one point the GM had told him, there’s no way for us to haul sand out to the bunkers. Lol?

I played there once about a month ago and I could tell the conditions of the course had deteriorated significantly from what I remember years ago. The sand in the bunkers was very poor, ball marks were all over the greens and the range/putting green are horrible. The worst part is if you are hitting balls on the range, there is only about 8 spots to hit from, so there is not much room. Also, you are only allowed one small bag of balls at a time (~20 balls) if you’re lucky. Any more, you have to go back and retrieve after you hit your first bag. They WILL NOT, under any circumstance, allow a single person to take more than one bag of range balls. Not even if they are for another person. That other person has to come grab their own bag.

Anyone else played there recently or have complaints? It’s really sad to see because it used to be a great place to go, now it’s just overpriced and unfriendly. I hate knocking a course that’s probably struggling like all the others to hire workers and such but I recommend taking your business elsewhere if you’re playing in the area.

golfortennis · August 29, 2021

I recall some people complaining about Moose Ridge having very inaccurate yardage markers in some threads years ago. If those stories are true, it almost seems as if they are intentionally sabotaging business to set up for a sale for development.

ON another note, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/08/29/fire-breaks-out-oakland-county-golf-club/5643436001/

That is not good news.

teehilden · August 30, 2021

4 hours ago, golfortennis said:

I recall some people complaining about Moose Ridge having very inaccurate yardage markers in some threads years ago. If those stories are true, it almost seems as if they are intentionally sabotaging business to set up for a sale for development.

ON another note, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/08/29/fire-breaks-out-oakland-county-golf-club/5643436001/

That is not good news.

Yikes.

Fellaheen51 · August 30, 2021

13 hours ago, golfortennis said:

I recall some people complaining about Moose Ridge having very inaccurate yardage markers in some threads years ago. If those stories are true, it almost seems as if they are intentionally sabotaging business to set up for a sale for development.

ON another note, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/08/29/fire-breaks-out-oakland-county-golf-club/5643436001/

That is not good news.

Played Brentwood last Wednesday. Nick of time it appears.

As for Moose Ridge. Played it for the first time (not in our usual rotational proximity) last fall. No one in our group of eight cared for it. Didn't find it in all that great of shape for the $$. Greens were lousy. But most of all, the utter arrogance that was exhibited by the staff we encountered. As if they didn't give a shizzle that we had made a point to travel to and play their course. Will never return, not going to tolerate that B.S. nonsense. In this area, much better experience playing Lyon Oaks.

A course has one opportunity to prove itself. If it's negative, no reason to return. There are too many other options around that have.

teehilden · August 30, 2021

49 minutes ago, Fellaheen51 said:

Played Brentwood last Wednesday. Nick of time it appears.

As for Moose Ridge. Played it for the first time (not in our usual rotational proximity) last fall. No one in our group of eight cared for it. Didn't find it in all that great of shape for the $$. Greens were lousy. But most of all, the utter arrogance that was exhibited by the staff we encountered. As if they didn't give a shizzle that we had made a point to travel to and play their course. Will never return, not going to tolerate that B.S. nonsense. In this area, much better experience playing Lyon Oaks.

A course has one opportunity to prove itself. If it's negative, no reason to return. There are too many other options around that have.

Well said.

timbo08 · August 30, 2021

19 minutes ago, teehilden said:

Well said.

Interesting. I've always enjoyed Moose Ridge since "discovering" it about 6-7 years ago from a buddy of mine. I've never encountered rude staff, at least with the guys in the pro shop or the folks running the bar. That being said, I've ALWAYS been annoyed by the GPS carts. I get trying to protect some areas of the course from jack-holes that drive everywhere but some spots where you'd think you can take a cart...you can't and then you have to slowly back up at like 1-2 mph. Really kills the pace of a round.

I've also noticed conditions going down the last few. I know they were bragging about re-doing the green on 18 but it definitely isn't the same quality course I originally played. I'll still play there but only if a buddy says they want to go. If I am heading out that way and suggesting a course for my group, it'd be Lyon Oaks over Moose Ridge for the money lately.

teehilden · August 30, 2021

15 minutes ago, timbo08 said:

Interesting. I've always enjoyed Moose Ridge since "discovering" it about 6-7 years ago from a buddy of mine. I've never encountered rude staff, at least with the guys in the pro shop or the folks running the bar. That being said, I've ALWAYS been annoyed by the GPS carts. I get trying to protect some areas of the course from jack-holes that drive everywhere but some spots where you'd think you can take a cart...you can't and then you have to slowly back up at like 1-2 mph. Really kills the pace of a round.

I've also noticed conditions going down the last few. I know they were bragging about re-doing the green on 18 but it definitely isn't the same quality course I originally played. I'll still play there but only if a buddy says they want to go. If I am heading out that way and suggesting a course for my group, it'd be Lyon Oaks over Moose Ridge for the money lately.

OH YES. The carts drive me nuts. The GPS system was horrible. A second thing about the carts, last time I played there our cart died after about 3 holes, got a cart brought out to us and by the time we finished our round, I don’t think we could’ve driven another hole without another new cart.

knickerbocker · September 2, 2021

This year, I have been dealing with a grip change to avoid continued injury to my hand. Add to that equipment change to graphite shafts in my irons and jumbo grips, my game has been really struggling. My handicap went to the highest its been in many years in July.

Then my last three rounds have been 74,70,71, two of those in competition. I am hoping I have figured it out!

timbo08 · September 15, 2021

Heading to FireKeepers Saturday night for a end of season overnight buddies trip. We are doing Stoatin Brae on Sunday morning, anyone have suggestions for Saturday afternoon? Coming from different places in the state so want to stay around Battle Creek. Haven't played hardly at all in that part of the State so I was thinking Gull Lake, Stonehedge? Thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

3_Jack_Par · September 15, 2021

1 hour ago, timbo08 said:

Heading to FireKeepers Saturday night for a end of season overnight buddies trip. We are doing Stoatin Brae on Sunday morning, anyone have suggestions for Saturday afternoon? Coming from different places in the state so want to stay around Battle Creek. Haven't played hardly at all in that part of the State so I was thinking Gull Lake, Stonehedge? Thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

The Medalist in Marshall is on the way (assuming you're coming from the Detroit area), and I'd say it's a better option than the Gull Lake View/Stonehedge courses. Plus, you can hit Dark Horse afterward, if beer is of interest to you guys.

timbo08 · September 15, 2021

1 hour ago, 3_Jack_Par said:

The Medalist in Marshall is on the way (assuming you're coming from the Detroit area), and I'd say it's a better option than the Gull Lake View/Stonehedge courses. Plus, you can hit Dark Horse afterward, if beer is of interest to you guys.

Thank you! I am coming from downtown Detroit and my buddies are coming from the Midland area so I'll see if I can make that work, I've never played there either but I'm always down for checking out a new brewery.

knickerbocker · September 16, 2021

17 hours ago, timbo08 said:

Thank you! I am coming from downtown Detroit and my buddies are coming from the Midland area so I'll see if I can make that work, I've never played there either but I'm always down for checking out a new brewery.

The Medalist is best option. Closest to firekeepers and best public course in the area.

Second best option is Stonehedge North or South.

Battle Creek Country Club is terrific. If any of your group are members at a private club, the pro is very open to working out something.

garyt · September 16, 2021

On 9/15/2021 at 10:28 AM, timbo08 said:

Heading to FireKeepers Saturday night for a end of season overnight buddies trip. We are doing Stoatin Brae on Sunday morning, anyone have suggestions for Saturday afternoon? Coming from different places in the state so want to stay around Battle Creek. Haven't played hardly at all in that part of the State so I was thinking Gull Lake, Stonehedge? Thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

I played Stonehedge awhile back (not sure which one) and actually enjoyed it better than Stoatin Brae, but I'm not a big fan of links courses. I enjoy the privacy of tree lined fairways where you can't see every other golfer on the course.

We were waiting on a tee at SB, maybe 10? and within something like 50 yards there were 2-3 tees and 2-3 greens. It was amazing how they jammed it in.

I think you'd do fine with any of the Gull Lake courses, though there's one that seems to be unanimous to skip. It's not SB, either of the Stonehedge or Betsy Valley course, though.

timbo08 · September 17, 2021

18 hours ago, garyt said:

I played Stonehedge awhile back (not sure which one) and actually enjoyed it better than Stoatin Brae, but I'm not a big fan of links courses. I enjoy the privacy of tree lined fairways where you can't see every other golfer on the course.

We were waiting on a tee at SB, maybe 10? and within something like 50 yards there were 2-3 tees and 2-3 greens. It was amazing how they jammed it in.

I think you'd do fine with any of the Gull Lake courses, though there's one that seems to be unanimous to skip. It's not SB, either of the Stonehedge or Betsy Valley course, though.

Bedford Valley? That's the one my buddy is kind of pulling for on Saturday?

garyt · September 17, 2021

54 minutes ago, timbo08 said:

Bedford Valley? That's the one my buddy is kind of pulling for on Saturday?

Yes Bedford Valley, I think Betsy valley is at Crystal Mountain. The West course at Gull Lake is the one to skip from reviews I've read

Edited September 17, 2021 by garyt

3_Jack_Par · September 17, 2021

Of the GLV courses, the only ones I'd bother with are the two Stonehedge courses. The South is the nicer of the two, but the North is fun with the layout with 6 each of par 3s/4s/5s. I only played Bedford Valley once, and I wasn't a fan. I know it's pretty well regarded, but it didn't seem like it was in great shape (this was several years ago), and it was in desperate need of some tree pruning and/or removal around some of the greens. The East/West GLV courses are extremely forgettable.

knickerbocker · September 17, 2021

Stonehedge South is best of the bunch. Bedford is solid layout, but not as good as condition.

HappyGilmoresBoots · September 19, 2021

Over the past 3 weeks, I've played Wallinwood Springs, Gleneagle, and Kaufman. On each course, I saw many putts from everyone in our group get about 6" from the cup then either abruptly stop or bank away from the cup. I'll be honest, all of our putting needs work, but it feels like there's a rash of improper greenskeeping in the West Michigan area.

timbo08 · September 20, 2021

Quick update on the weekend trip with some buddies!

Ended up at Bedford Valley on Saturday afternoon. Was in decent shape, some spots were a little burned out/firm off the fairway but other than that the fairways were fine, greens were rolling true, and bunkers were solid. I want to say we paid like $35 or something, was well worth it. Just a solid little warm up round, enjoyed the routing, some kind of goofy holes but nothing too out there. Trees lining most fairways but they weren't jam packed so you weren't totally in jail if you found them.

Stoatin Brae was Sunday morning and I really enjoyed it. We ended up only paying $75 since the greens had been punched. Not sure when they were punched but I'd guess it was about a week ago since they had started to heal already. I liked the course a lot. It was cool being sort of in a "raised" pasture feel? I will say, it didn't really feel like links golf to me though. Granted I haven't had a ton of experience with that "style" of golf but this didn't really seem like it was it. I could imagine if it was baked out, middle of July, I'd probably have a different opinion but the ball wasn't really rolling out a ton in the fairway, and definitely wasn't "jumping" on the greens.

We played at 8AM and it was a bit dewy out so that probably softened everything up. One example though on the front 9, I forget the hole, but the pin was just stuck in the front left, probably 3-4 paces off a false front. I hit a pretty high 7 iron that left a deep ball mark just at the top of the false front and stuck probably 6 feet from the pin. Really wouldn't have expected that to "stop" on a links green. All of that being said, I still really enjoyed the golf course. Super ample fairways, hard to lose a ball, in really good shape despite the punched greens and you could get pretty darn creative around the greens which was fun. I also noticed that in front of the greens the rough was grown up pretty high which would make it difficult to play the ball on the ground.

I can see why folks might have a different opinion since it doesn't seem to be the "links" golf they advertise. BUT that being said, if you want to play a well kept, fun golf course, that has some cool views and isn't going to beat you up too bad, it 100% checks all of those boxes and then some.

Overall it was a solid last minute weekend trip with the guys, toss in Firekeepers and I definitely won't hesitate to do it again to get a quick fix instead of driving 4+ hours up to the TC/Petoskey/Boyne/Gaylord area.

knickerbocker · September 20, 2021

4 hours ago, timbo08 said:

Quick update on the weekend trip with some buddies!

Ended up at Bedford Valley on Saturday afternoon. Was in decent shape, some spots were a little burned out/firm off the fairway but other than that the fairways were fine, greens were rolling true, and bunkers were solid. I want to say we paid like $35 or something, was well worth it. Just a solid little warm up round, enjoyed the routing, some kind of goofy holes but nothing too out there. Trees lining most fairways but they weren't jam packed so you weren't totally in jail if you found them.

Stoatin Brae was Sunday morning and I really enjoyed it. We ended up only paying $75 since the greens had been punched. Not sure when they were punched but I'd guess it was about a week ago since they had started to heal already. I liked the course a lot. It was cool being sort of in a "raised" pasture feel? I will say, it didn't really feel like links golf to me though. Granted I haven't had a ton of experience with that "style" of golf but this didn't really seem like it was it. I could imagine if it was baked out, middle of July, I'd probably have a different opinion but the ball wasn't really rolling out a ton in the fairway, and definitely wasn't "jumping" on the greens.

We played at 8AM and it was a bit dewy out so that probably softened everything up. One example though on the front 9, I forget the hole, but the pin was just stuck in the front left, probably 3-4 paces off a false front. I hit a pretty high 7 iron that left a deep ball mark just at the top of the false front and stuck probably 6 feet from the pin. Really wouldn't have expected that to "stop" on a links green. All of that being said, I still really enjoyed the golf course. Super ample fairways, hard to lose a ball, in really good shape despite the punched greens and you could get pretty darn creative around the greens which was fun. I also noticed that in front of the greens the rough was grown up pretty high which would make it difficult to play the ball on the ground.

I can see why folks might have a different opinion since it doesn't seem to be the "links" golf they advertise. BUT that being said, if you want to play a well kept, fun golf course, that has some cool views and isn't going to beat you up too bad, it 100% checks all of those boxes and then some.

Overall it was a solid last minute weekend trip with the guys, toss in Firekeepers and I definitely won't hesitate to do it again to get a quick fix instead of driving 4+ hours up to the TC/Petoskey/Boyne/Gaylord area.

I am glad you enjoyed the area. Stoatin Brae is definitely improved over the past few years, but it is not links golf. It is Faux-Links golf like Arcadia Bluffs and many other courses that offer that style/appearance.

I have only played one course in Michigan that plays like Links golf and that is The Loop.

timbo08 · September 20, 2021

2 hours ago, knickerbocker said:

I am glad you enjoyed the area. Stoatin Brae is definitely improved over the past few years, but it is not links golf. It is Faux-Links golf like Arcadia Bluffs and many other courses that offer that style/appearance.

I have only played one course in Michigan that plays like Links golf and that is The Loop.

Agreed! Although, just with 1/2 of that statement as I haven't had a chance to play the Loop yet.

Perfect way to describe SB though, "faux links" and to be fair I don't think that's a bad move on their part. If they went full links style, I am not sure how much of a "resort" course it would be in terms of pace of play and enjoyment. I think that might be a bit out there for what some groups that do the Gull Lake package might expect and as a result they put together something with a Links feel.

Regardless though, I really enjoyed the area and the course. Definitely will be back again next Summer for some buddies trips as I want to try Stonehedge and Medalist plus play SB again as I had fun there.

3_Jack_Par · September 20, 2021

Is it just me, or has pace of play on the weekends been getting worse? I had a 2:45 front nine last weekend (followed by a "speedy" 2:15 on the back), and yesterday at Kensington Metropark, the group in front of us was still waiting to tee off when we got to about two thirds of the holes. It's getting to the point where I don't even want to bother playing on the weekends, but then I'd basically be left playing at the crack of dawn by myself for most of my rounds.

knickerbocker · September 21, 2021

17 hours ago, 3_Jack_Par said:

Is it just me, or has pace of play on the weekends been getting worse? I had a 2:45 front nine last weekend (followed by a "speedy" 2:15 on the back), and yesterday at Kensington Metropark, the group in front of us was still waiting to tee off when we got to about two thirds of the holes. It's getting to the point where I don't even want to bother playing on the weekends, but then I'd basically be left playing at the crack of dawn by myself for most of my rounds.

Golf demand is crazy right now. Even at private courses in Detroit area, I have heard hard to get a tee time and longer rounds.

postfold · September 21, 2021

Weekend pace has been all over the map here on the west side -- have had a couple Saturday rounds just under four hours on one extreme and a 5:20+ slog around Pilgrim's Run on the other. Demand is definitely crazy but there are times when you can get lucky and it's not completely packed.