Where would you play 1 round near Gaylord, Mi?

[ThunderBuzzworth]

Golf trip coming up and I am looking for 1 course to play on a Thursday. We are already playing 36 Friday, 18 Saturday and 18 Sunday.

 

What course do you recommend for 1 round besides the Tribute, Black Lake, Elk Ridge or Black Forest? I am kind of going between Michawaye Pines, Garland, maybe a treetops course but not really the best value at treetops. What do you guys think? We like tough, nice true greens and scenic courses.

[duffer987]

Forest Dunes. Fantastic course. We played Erin Hills, Kohler, Arcadia, and here in May. Top 3 courses on the trip: Straits Course, River Course, Forest Dunes.

Fantastic Layout. Great routing through the trees. Greens were excellent.

http://www.forestdunesgolf.com/

 

[Openwater22]

+1 million

[HackerDave]

[quote name='NukeSauce_9i' timestamp='1378180589' post='7789041']
Golf trip coming up and I am looking for 1 course to play on a Thursday. We are already playing 36 Friday, 18 Saturday and 18 Sunday.

What course do you recommend for 1 round besides the Tribute, Black Lake, Elk Ridge or Black Forest? I am kind of going between Michawaye Pines, Garland, maybe a treetops course but not really the best value at treetops. What do you guys think? We like tough, nice true greens and scenic courses.
[/quote]

1. Forest Dunes
2. Forest Dunes
3. Black Lake
4. Tribute
5. Masterpiece @ Treetops

Tribute and Black Lake are a coin toss. I'd let price and drive dictate which one you select. These are all better than the Pines or Black Forest.

[Tallen01]

Forest Dunes. Have not played Black Lake, but heard from a pro who has played all in that area that it was awesome. Will be on my list next time.

[ThunderBuzzworth]

Decided to go ahead and play Black Lake Thursday. My cabin is only 5 minutes from Elk Ridge on Rush Lake and we know that we like Black Lake's facility and greens so we are going there. We are already playing the Tribute, Elk Ridge, Thunder Bay and the Smith (maybe threetops). The only courses I havent played in the area of "the mecca" are the pines, masterpiece, signature, garland fountains, and Forest Dunes. I may think about playing Forest Dunes on the way home... just too far of a drive from my cabin to Forest Dunes and we are going up Wednesday night after work so playing it on the way up isnt possible. I know some of the goofballs that are going up with me would strangle me if we were to play FD for $150 because they are cheap and arent good enough to enjoy spending a little extra.

[BG5]

Play the signature or premier at treetops....awesome

[BG5]

Also ....elk ridge is terrible in my opinion

[ThunderBuzzworth]

[quote name='BG5' timestamp='1378260095' post='7793923']
Also ....elk ridge is terrible in my opinion
[/quote]
What don't you like about it?

[Openwater22]

[quote name='NukeSauce_9i' timestamp='1381293257' post='7974121']
[quote name='BG5' timestamp='1378260095' post='7793923']
Also ....elk ridge is terrible in my opinion
[/quote]
What don't you like about it?
[/quote]

Everything

[BG5]

Elk Ridge to me was just really a "plain jane" course for Northern Michigan. I go to Northern Michigan to play the best courses in the world and it was a huge letdown for our entire group. The conditioning was awful when we played it last year and the course for the most part was pretty boring. With the exception of the holes 1-5 and 10 I felt that the course did not feel like a northern michigan course. They have a bunker shaped like a pig....enough said

[Tallen01]

Nuke, how did you like Black Lake?

[ThunderBuzzworth]

I have played black lake plenty of times... The greens the most recent round were brutal compared to what I expect th to be. I am shocked that nobody here likes Elk Ridge. The only issues they have at ER are the conditions around the greens being hard and bare sometimes. Everything else is almost always pristine when I play it (my cabin is 5 mins from there) so I play it about 20x a year. Maybe you all play it at poor time of the year? I don't think anything about it is Plain jane at all. Plane jane is Thunder Bay... At elk ridge You have to play strategic shots throughout the round and can't pull out driver and just smash away all day long like every other course I have played in Northern Mi. My fave so far is Otsego Tribute but still that course is even driver all day long.

[HackerDave]

I have never had an issue with Elk Ridge.....so long as I'm driving it straight. Otherwise the sound of a ball bouncing off trees gives me a headache! ;-) It's a beautiful and challenging course usually in really good shape.