Traverse City Golf Trip

[bjmdo]

Help please

So we are planning a golf trip to Traverse City, MI in July. We are thinking about staying at the Grand Traverse Resort. We will probably be there for 5 days. We plan on playing all 3 courses there as I have read some good reviews. We are are also planning on hitting Arcadia Bluffs on our final day. Any suggestions of other courses not too far from there? Also, any recommendations for restaurants or other places not related to golf we may need to hit up? Thanks in advance.

[knickerbocker]

In the general area of GTR - but all are a decent drive:

All of these courses are decent tracks, not ones that will blow you away, but fun.

A Ga Ming
Hawks Eye
The Chief
Mistwood

[3_Jack_Par]

At Grand Traverse, you'll probably want to keep it to one round on Spruce Run, as that's the least well-regarded of the three.

From what I hear, Lochenheath is a must play in the area. It's a very short trip from Grand Traverse Resort, just up US-31. I'm hoping to get up there for the first time at some point this year.

I'd suggest a trip to Bellaire one day to play Cedar River and Hawk's Eye (or alternatively, The Legend, or Cedar River twice), followed by dinner at the Short's Brewery. It's about a 45 minute drive to Bellaire from GTR. Personally, Cedar River and Hawk's Eye are my two favorites in that area, but you might get a better rate playing CR twice or CR and the Legend, since they're both part of the Shanty Creek Resort. Stay away from the Chief, unless you like 90 degree doglegs that require irons off the tee. Short's has good food, and some of the best (and most unique) beers you will ever taste.

A-Ga-Ming is pretty short drive (20 minutes or so north on US-31) from GTR, as well. I've never played the Torch course, but the Sundance is a nice track, though as knickerbocker says, it won't blow you away.

My final suggestion is to contact Kingsley Club to ask about playing a round there. It's private, but they allow limited play for non-members. If anyone in your group is a member of a club, having the club pro contact Kingsley is the easiest way to do that. If not, you can still contact David Plassman at the club, and he'll likely accommodate you. It's not cheap (I'm not sure if it's less expensive if you arrange it through a pro), but it's a great course, and worth the splurge, especially if you have some good players in your group.

[Openwater22]

[quote name='knickerbocker' timestamp='1307451693' post='3289631']
In the general area of GTR - but all are a decent drive:

All of these courses are decent tracks, not ones that will blow you away, but fun.

A Ga Ming
Hawks Eye
The Chief
Mistwood
[/quote]


These plus Kingsley Club if you can get on. Played there yesterday and was reminded how awesome this place is. Have your Pro call, you should be accomadated. If you play out of a course without a true Head pro, call yourself. The staff at Kingsley Club are more than friendly and professional. We spent the entire round arguing about which is better, Kingsley or Forest Dunes. In the end we decided.....both! No winner here. Kingsley is more dramatic and tougher, but FD is better conditioned and more enjoyable on a daily basis

[bppry]

If you guys are looking for something to do one day other than golf rent a pontoon boat on torch lake and hit the sand bar. Our group kicks off our golf trip with it every year and its a great time. We go at the end of july or first week of Aug every year.

As for other courses there are two nice tracks closer to Arcadia that are fun, pinecroft and champions hill I think. One is in Buelah the other in Honor. I haven't played them in years but they were very well priced and in good shape. Nothing special but a nice warm up possibility on the way to Arcadia.

[getwclose]

Depending on what side of the state you guys are coming from.... Play forest dunes one the way up or way home!

[OneBowTie]

Just got back from Traverse City..... We played all the Grand Traverse Resort courses..... We played Lochenheath and we played Forest Dunes (thanks Openwater)

We played Lochenheath first....... I was told that this course had been closed for two years prior to reopening under new ownership recently...... For this being the case, the course is in amazingly great shape...... knowing that the course was closed, you can see evidence of former growth that the greenskeeper has had to battle..... but all in all, the whole course was in pretty darn good shape..... the course has a slope rating of 148 from the tips.... I don't dispute it....I've played The Ocean Course, Blackwolf Run, and Whistling Straits, as they courses have very high slope ratings..... and Lochenheath isn't a course I want to play from the tips.

The Grand Traverse Resort....... the best part of the resort to me...... was/is the food. Not that the courses aren't deserving of praise..... but I just can't give props to a place that on a Saturday...... that puts 6somes and 5 somes out in front of a full tee sheet. All of the courses are in great shape....... they are all challenging with the Bear being the most.......

We played Kingsley Club last year...... we just didn't have enough time in our short trip to hit all the courses......a few of the golfers in our trip hadn't played The Resort courses, and because of reading about The Bear in various publications, they wanted to do The Resort...... after we played, they said that they wished we would have played Kingsley again.

From Traverse City we traveled over to Forest Dunes for our next rounds....... it is about 1 1/2 drive (at the most ) We played 36 holes at Forest Dunes on Sunday...... we had a 11 am tee time and a 410 tee time...... we played from the number 2 tee box from the recommendation we got from the starter..... I'd say that he pretty much nailed it for our group.

Forest Dunes was the best conditioned course and had the fastest greens by far of any of the above mentioned courses that we played on this trip......They had a pretty full tee sheet on Sunday, so the pace of play was good, because we still had time to sit and eat lunch before our second tee time......everyone in our group really enjoyed Forest Dunes and will make a return trip in the future......If our group had any complaint about Forest Dunes, I would say that it may have a slight design flaw if the course is going to operate with public play.....I say this because if it were private I doubt that what we encountered and found would be the case..... Forest Dunes has lots of sand dune waste bunkers......and while I understand you don't have too rake waste areas...... they have a couple waste bunkers that run right up to a green....IE on number 18...... and on 18 they even place a rake near the steep entry/exit point-which happens to be right next to the green...we had two guys in our group hit just short of the green on the left side on 18....both were in huge footprints.... matter fact after going over to look at it after hearing them complain....there were so many huge sunken foot prints because other golfers were using this as the entry/exit point of that waste bunker, the whole area was covered in foot prints......

Don't get me wrong.... our group loved Forest Dunes......thought it was one of the best courses in all of Michigan.....but being open to the public is probably a double edged sword for the place....I can see why they would need outside play to survive (as the place is in the middle of nowhere) but I also think the course was definitely designed to be a private place..... and I can't imagine it getting much better then having that course all to yourself.....The architecture design of the course and clubhouse are super...... the infrastructure is already in place.....with todays economy, I just don't know if they will ever sell enough lots to turn the place totally private.....


If it were me and I was doing another trip to Traverse area.....and I were staying at the Resort.....here is how I would plan my trip

one day..... play The Bear and Wolverine

another day......play Lochenheath- 36- it will help you score better.....also, look for the bald eagle that hangs out on hole number 6

another day.....play 36 at Kingsley club

and final day...... I get in car and drive to Forest Dunes and finish off a great trip with 36

there are many other options for golf within hours drive.... all of them would be great options.....so I don't think anything you decide would be a bad option by any means.....what I find is that with a group of 4/6/8 golfers....whenever we play Michigan golf courses.....they all like one course better then another..... but they all like them all....its not like they are disappointed with anything that Michigan golf offers

[tonyt3524]

I went up to Traverse Bay last year and loved it! We drove the 1hr 15min drive over to Arcadia Bluffs. Overall a good place to go.

[itw419]

Besides the GTR courses you are planning on playing I would make sure you play Arcadia and if possible Kingsley Club or Forest Dunes even though Forest Dunes is outta the way. I have heard a lot of good things about Lochenheath. You have to make it to Bellaire and go to Shorts Brewery. There are plenty of things to do in Traverse City if you are looking for other non golf options.

[mags300]

I've played quite a few of the courses in that area and I can't believe nobody hasn't mentioned Leelanau club at bahle farms, [url="http://www.leelanauclub.com/"]http://www.leelanauclub.com/[/url] Check out these pics. I played it two years ago and thought it was absolutely wonderful. and at most a 1/2 hours drive up into leelanau penninsula from Traverse city. Mags300

[drbrjb01]

I would drive up and play True North...I have not played it but I have heard it is awesome...and there is probably a limited time window before it is private.

[Mike_C]

If you want something old school, try my old home course, Belvedere in Charlevoix, about 45 minutes north up us 31 from the GTR....

http://www.belvederegolfclub.com/

[knickerbocker]

[quote name='Mike_C' timestamp='1308079489' post='3307018']
If you want something old school, try my old home course, Belvedere in Charlevoix, about 45 minutes north up us 31 from the GTR....

[url="http://www.belvederegolfclub.com/"]http://www.belvederegolfclub.com/[/url]
[/quote]

That is one of the courses that I really love, but always tend to forget about it. It is always in terrific shape and is a solid test of golf.

[mags300]

[quote name='drbrjb01' timestamp='1308078919' post='3306992']
I would drive up and play True North...I have not played it but I have heard it is awesome...and there is probably a limited time window before it is private.
[/quote]

True North is a decent course, It's got a few goofy holes, I just don't feel it's worth the price they usually get to play it.

[OneBowTie]

[quote name='mags300' timestamp='1308150624' post='3309211']
[quote name='drbrjb01' timestamp='1308078919' post='3306992']
I would drive up and play True North...I have not played it but I have heard it is awesome...and there is probably a limited time window before it is private.
[/quote]

True North is a decent course, It's got a few goofy holes, I just don't feel it's worth the price they usually get to play it.
[/quote]

I don't know what holes are goofy at True North..... I guess if you were playing it for the first time....... you might call hole no.2 goofy when you hit it through the fairway......or you may call hole 10 goofy for having to hit a shot..... or even you could call hole 18 goofy because you get to choose between 2 fairways.......

I think True North is a great course and worth what they charge in comparisons to any other course in Northern Michigan.... and I have never been to True North where the conditions of the course are second to none......

[TCNorthstars]

I suggest not playing Mistwood. It isn't that great. The greens are terrible. Check out Manitou Passage. A GA Ming is nice. I prefer the Sundance course over the Torch Course. Treetops in Gaylord isn't that far away and has nice tracks.As for food, there are far too many good places! A must eat is Apache Trout Grill. The ribs are the bomb!

[Cruisers]

A lot of great comments in here.

My two cents:
- Highly recommend trying to fit Kingsley Club in the rotation
- I suppose the Bear is worth playing, but once you've played it once I don't think there's a need to play again. It's just silly difficult. Be prepared for uneven stances.
- Feel free to skip Spruce Run