Harbor Shores.......

[jdhallissey]

Playing there today at 11am. Have a two some. Anybody in the area wan to come on out let me know.

[BG5]

Ha... Played there last night during the twighlight. Greens were very quick and I was pleasantly surprised that they were not as tricked up as I thought they would be.

I enjoyed the front 9 more than the back and it was wierd how your driving through Benton Harbor playing golf.

Make sure you play from the tips on hole 9..... It worth the view and its quite an elevated shot and you ball lands about the same as the grey tees.

Excellent practice facility and I will play $52 to golf HS all day. Enjoy and tell us what you thought about the course.

[jdhallissey]

I am tipping it out as always. I am 3 over thru 13. Wind is blowing and the greens are stupid slow

[jdhallissey]

Pared the back for 74 in the wind. I will take it.

[BG5]

Nice work... That course ate me alive. We got a lot of rain last night which prob slowed greens down

[jdhallissey]

SOOOO WINDY. I didnt play that well but hung in there. I was losing yards on my drive once they landed. On 9 i had 221 center of green from my drive.

[bearcatnut]

Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?

[BG5]

Drive up and check out the green before your approach shots. The greens are tricky and depending on pin location the greens will allow you to "funnel" the ball towards the pin.

[VNutz]

[quote name='bearcatnut' timestamp='1375237034' post='7573080']
Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?
[/quote]

Shield your face from the wind/sand on 7 and 8.

[John Kreese]

[quote name='bearcatnut' timestamp='1375237034' post='7573080']
Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?
[/quote]

The course plays longer than it looks on the card. If you don't have a solid single digit handicap that travels you'll have a lot more fun playing from the whites. 160 yard tee shot is all you need on #3. Play #7 as a par 5 if you hit a poor tee shot. Going for #15 in two is usually a bad idea.

Correction - going for #15 in two is a bad idea, not #14. #14 did, however, play as the toughest hole in the 2012 Senior PGA.

[mattsam]

[quote name='John Kreese' timestamp='1375293594' post='7577370']
[quote name='bearcatnut' timestamp='1375237034' post='7573080']
Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?
[/quote]

The course plays longer than it looks on the card. If you don't have a solid single digit handicap that travels you'll have a lot more fun playing from the whites. 160 yard tee shot is all you need on #3. Play #7 as a par 5 if you hit a poor tee shot. Going for #14 in two is usually a bad idea.
[/quote]

Better to be in the right bunkers off the tee on 7 than the left side of the FW, HUG the right. (7 is my favorite hole in Michigan)- there is a bit of room on the left side of 7 green you can't see and also over the right greenside bunker. I've yet not gone for it, and only one time had it roll down.
Agree with #3, I usually hit 5 iron from whites 4 iron from tips
14 in two is no problem, 15 is a 3 shot hole
Get your 4-6 irons warmed up on the range
6 is a cool hole. I prefer to hit at the lady's green with a 3 wood or even driver and not mess with a lay up near the junk. Its a dogleg right with a lady's green and an elevated 2nd shot down to the green.
10 is always dampish on your 3rd shot. Very easy to hit it fat.
If you want a good burger try the place going down the 13th hill.
Ross the Pro is an excellent guy

[knickerbocker]

[quote name='mattsam' timestamp='1375305864' post='7578568']
If you want a good burger try the place going down the 13th hill.
Ross the Pro is an excellent guy
[/quote]

That would be The North Shore Inn and it has the best Burger in SW Michigan. A favorite hangout of mine back when I lived in town. The Chatterbox in downtown BH is also a great burger place.

[stasek]

[quote name='bearcatnut' timestamp='1375237034' post='7573080']
Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?
[/quote]

Play at twilight - save some serious $$$ . Played there couple weeks ago. Didn't "tip it out", and had one of my typical rounds - 44/35 - I blame it on not knowing the course .

[John Kreese]

[quote name='mattsam' timestamp='1375305864' post='7578568']
[quote name='John Kreese' timestamp='1375293594' post='7577370']
[quote name='bearcatnut' timestamp='1375237034' post='7573080']
Playing there a week from tomorrow. Driving up from Central Illinois. Any advice that you wish you had before you played the course that you know now?
[/quote]

The course plays longer than it looks on the card. If you don't have a solid single digit handicap that travels you'll have a lot more fun playing from the whites. 160 yard tee shot is all you need on #3. Play #7 as a par 5 if you hit a poor tee shot. Going for #14 in two is usually a bad idea.
[/quote]

Better to be in the right bunkers off the tee on 7 than the left side of the FW, HUG the right. (7 is my favorite hole in Michigan)- there is a bit of room on the left side of 7 green you can't see and also over the right greenside bunker. I've yet not gone for it, and only one time had it roll down.
Agree with #3, I usually hit 5 iron from whites 4 iron from tips
14 in two is no problem, 15 is a 3 shot hole
Get your 4-6 irons warmed up on the range
6 is a cool hole. I prefer to hit at the lady's green with a 3 wood or even driver and not mess with a lay up near the junk. Its a dogleg right with a lady's green and an elevated 2nd shot down to the green.
10 is always dampish on your 3rd shot. Very easy to hit it fat.
If you want a good burger try the place going down the 13th hill.
Ross the Pro is an excellent guy
[/quote]

North Shore Inn burgers are amazing. Unfortunately the GPS in the carts prevents you from running over there at the turn.

Got to disagree on 7 - right bunkers is about the worst place to be plus you've now brought the water into play. Senior PGA players were up the left middle all day long.

[mattsam]

Hug the right, with the right bunkers being better than left side of the Fairway. You can't get up the hill on the left side. The right is almost the only angle to hit the green. I would 100% rather have a 160 yard shot from those bunkers than a 190 yard shot from the left.
I had a video of me hitting the green on Youtube but can't find it

[VNutz]

Wish I knew about the burger joint a week ago as I was in St. Joseph last weekend.

I was just over 7 in two after a flushed drive and a hybrid into a crazy wind. Had sand hitting my face 200 yards out in the fairway, crazy. Chip nearly got wind blown off the green and then down the slope. Have never been so glad to finish a hole.

[stasek]

That hole is why one of my friends I played with HATES the course .

[HackerDave]

Well, after reading about Harbor Shores here and elsewhere, I decided to make the trek over there to give it a go last week. I had an extra day before the family joined me for the long holiday weekend so I made the hour and a half drive to see what everybody was talking about. Lets say the day started off a little rough as map quest sends you to a maintenance building rather than the clubhouse. Apparently this happens a LOT so consider yourself warned. So after driving around for awhile I finally found the clubhouse. Needless to say a little rushed to get ready.

Inside the pro shop staff immediately tells you to spend some time on the practice green because our greens are a little undulating. Perhaps the understatement of the year, if not decade. I was hooked up with a couple of really nice guys from Chicago and a member of the club. We had a great time but 5 days out, I have to say I didn't really care for the course. What a weird layout. The weather was perfect. Nothing but sunny skies. Course conditions were pretty good. They had a lot of rain the day before so there was almost no roll in the fairways but it wasn't a huge issue as the course isn't super long, or at least it didn't seem to play long. The greens on the other had still aren't completely ready as the windmills and clowns mouth have still not been installed. Perhaps on back order?? WTF!! Silliest greens EVER! How can you be on the proper level and STILL not have a line to the hole???

The member who was with us actually hit a lob shot on one green as there was simply no way to putt the ball near the hole location. The lob didn't work out either and off the green he went. On the same hole, I was on the correct level yet there was a strange hump that prevented me from stopping my putt within 25 ft of the hole.

I read the description here of the 7th hole and followed the advise here and ended up in the bunker off the tee. Hit it just left of the green in the open area that you can't see. Happy I did that as the guys who went left had a horrible time finding the green. This is certainly the kind of course you need to play a couple of times if you want to go low. Low scores are possible, but not very likely on your first visit as there are some blind shots and you may often be on the wrong side of the fairway depending on where the pin is located. I played with a young guy who was a member and he was incredibly helpful throughout the round.

I went out there to check out the course as a possible option for our guys trip next year. I can't imagine the amount of whining I would here if I added this course to the rotation. Sorry Harbor Shores. Maybe if it wasn't an hour and a half away from where we are staying, we would give it a shot if for nothing else than to torment a few of the guys ;-) Factor in the drive time and it makes no sense. I can see how it cost so much money. I can't imagine being a course architect and being told this is the property available - make a course. Maybe they did the best with what was given them, but it just didn't work for me.

[kmbean]

Have to agree with the assessment above. Played it once, got it out of the way, will never play it again. Stupid course.