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

[knickerbocker]

41 minutes ago, Pepetito said:

Or any thoughts on option Option 3 (we've already done all the Treetops courses):

Day 1: Black Lake

Day 2: Michaywe Pines and the Loon

Day 3: Otsego Tribute

 

Sounds like most love Black Lake and Otsego Tribute.  Pines and Loon seem solid from what i've read.

 

Pines is a hidden gem.  Did a similar trip and many thought Pines was the best. 

[HappyGilmoresBoots]

5 hours ago, knickerbocker said:

Those with financial discipline and long-term planning will be fine. 

Hopefully some of them will remember lessons learned from 2008...

 

Anyway, I'm wondering about a new putter.  I'm taking a LOT of 3-putts because I (for some reason) only play blade putters and I struggle within 5 feet on the green. 

[timbo08]

3 hours ago, HappyGilmoresBoots said:

Hopefully some of them will remember lessons learned from 2008...

 

Anyway, I'm wondering about a new putter.  I'm taking a LOT of 3-putts because I (for some reason) only play blade putters and I struggle within 5 feet on the green. 

I'm not so sure they did....I 100% agree with @knickerbocker's assessment, and think it might be even worse with participation numbers potentially artificially propped up by Covid. 

 

What type of blade do you play? Insert or milled?  

 

I'd say if you're struggling and are an insert guy, go with one of the smaller "modern classics" like the Odyssey 7 or Spider in a Small Slant or Plumbers neck. 

 

If you like milled, try Something that fits your eye from the Scotty line or maybe a Betti if you're a righty since they have some great options as well. 

 

A small mallet should help with distance control to help with three putts.  Inside of 5 five feet, sometimes you can get a case of the pulls with a mallet so watch out for that.  They are a bit harder to square the face up BUT if you can find one with an alignment aid that fits your eye and sits square for your stroke they can also be automatic inside 5.  Just make sure your path is good on the putting green before a round and the lefts on the short ones shouldn't be an issue. 

[HappyGilmoresBoots]

10 minutes ago, timbo08 said:

What type of blade do you play? Insert or milled?

Insert, specifically an Odyssey White Hot 3.  I know you can't buy your way into talent, buuuuut this is one specific instance that I can consistently identify as a trouble spot for me, and I'm simply wondering if I could make my practice more effective with a better piece of equipment.

[B-Man]

...

Edited June 18, 2022 by B-Man
wrong thread

[countvelvet]

On 6/16/2022 at 2:35 PM, knickerbocker said:

 

Pines is a hidden gem.  Did a similar trip and many thought Pines was the best. 

I just got back from a weekend at The Loon, Lakes and Ridge.  We played Michaywe on Saturday morning.  It is and was amazing.  By far the best course we played.  Definitely a hidden gem!

[cassel191919]

On 6/16/2022 at 1:53 PM, Pepetito said:

Or any thoughts on option Option 3 (we've already done all the Treetops courses):

Day 1: Black Lake

Day 2: Michaywe Pines and the Loon

Day 3: Otsego Tribute

 

Sounds like most love Black Lake and Otsego Tribute.  Pines and Loon seem solid from what i've read.

You won't be disappointed, that is a very good 3 day trip.

[Pepetito]

4 hours ago, countvelvet said:

I just got back from a weekend at The Loon, Lakes and Ridge.  We played Michaywe on Saturday morning.  It is and was amazing.  By far the best course we played.  Definitely a hidden gem!

How was the Loon?

[countvelvet]

7 hours ago, Pepetito said:

How was the Loon?

The Loon, Lakes and Ridge were in good shape.  Their greens were quite a bit slower than Michaywe but our 5.5 hour rounds would have been longer if they were any faster.

[1puttTUT]

My buddy's family actually owns the Loon...but I still haven't played it.

[countvelvet]

9 hours ago, 1puttTUT said:

My buddy's family actually owns the Loon...but I still haven't played it.

It has a pretty good layout with some decent elevation changes.  My group of 24 have been going there since 2017.  We stay at The Ridge but the food is great and it is a good value compared to all the other stay and plays in the area.

[3_Jack_Par]

Michaywe was my introduction to "up north" golf as a kid -- a couple of friends from my neighborhood had houses on the Pines, and I would go up with them once or twice a summer during my teen years. This was back when the Lakes and the Pines were both part of Michaywe. I played the Pines a lot, and it's a really solid wooded course layout, and it'll always be one of my favorites. They made a lot of changes several years ago that took some of the teeth out of the course, removing and shrinking some bunkers and shallowing a lot of the others out. I understand why they did it, because the old design required you to fly the ball to the green on several holes, and they needed to make it more playable for all abilities, but if they hadn't made those changes, it probably would still be in my top 5 in the state.

[Net_5]

Had our Petoskey trip this past weekend.  All went well except Saturday at Boyne.  We were booked for an early morning tee time on the Ross and afternoon on the Hills.  We were surprised to find out that No. 15 on the Ross was closed for the year for redesign.  One of our carts broke down and the guys had to carry their bags for four holes before it was replaced.  Unfortunate yes, but not a big deal we laughed about it and we all made par on 15.  The Round was finished in less than four hours and we had a two-hour break for lunch.

 

The Round on the Hills started two minutes early and after the eighth hole we were five minutes ahead of schedule at 4:25 PM. We  arrived on the ninth tee to find four carts with another foursome on the green.  This continued the entire back nine with a 15 minute wait on each tee.  We talked to a ranger and he told us “there’s nothing more I can do I’m out of bullets”.  The clubhouse phones were ringing off the hook.  We heard rumors from the group ahead of us that there was a drunk foursome a few holes ahead that was throwing beer cans all over the greens etc.

 

On hole #15 a young guy and a woman from security drove out and said that holes 17 and 18 were open and they couldn’t identify the problem.  
 

As we finished 18 at least two foursomes drove around us giving up on their round.  It was 8:15, the back nine took 3 hours and 45 minutes.

In my haste to get out of dodge and try to salvage our missed dinner reservation at Teddy’s I left a nice water bottle in the cart.  Went back the next morning to retrieve it and asked about the incident in the pro shop.  The guy mentioned the problem group by name and said they had been a problem on the Ross earlier.  They must have been behind us the first round but jumped ahead of us   the second round.

I asked why management had done nothing and didn’t receive an answer only a shrug.  Apparently Boyne would rather ruin 10 foursome’s collective experience than remove one problem group.  It’s probably too much to expect the young kids running the course to take control of the situation and there lies the problem.  Complete lack of management.  As for the water bottle?  Nowhere to be found.

[cassel191919]

10 hours ago, Net_5 said:

Had our Petoskey trip this past weekend.  All went well except Saturday at Boyne.  We were booked for an early morning tee time on the Ross and afternoon on the Hills.  We were surprised to find out that No. 15 on the Ross was closed for the year for redesign.  One of our carts broke down and the guys had to carry their bags for four holes before it was replaced.  Unfortunate yes, but not a big deal we laughed about it and we all made par on 15.  The Round was finished in less than four hours and we had a two-hour break for lunch.

 

The Round on the Hills started two minutes early and after the eighth hole we were five minutes ahead of schedule at 4:25 PM. We  arrived on the ninth tee to find four carts with another foursome on the green.  This continued the entire back nine with a 15 minute wait on each tee.  We talked to a ranger and he told us “there’s nothing more I can do I’m out of bullets”.  The clubhouse phones were ringing off the hook.  We heard rumors from the group ahead of us that there was a drunk foursome a few holes ahead that was throwing beer cans all over the greens etc.

 

On hole #15 a young guy and a woman from security drove out and said that holes 17 and 18 were open and they couldn’t identify the problem.  
 

As we finished 18 at least two foursomes drove around us giving up on their round.  It was 8:15, the back nine took 3 hours and 45 minutes.

In my haste to get out of dodge and try to salvage our missed dinner reservation at Teddy’s I left a nice water bottle in the cart.  Went back the next morning to retrieve it and asked about the incident in the pro shop.  The guy mentioned the problem group by name and said they had been a problem on the Ross earlier.  They must have been behind us the first round but jumped ahead of us   the second round.

I asked why management had done nothing and didn’t receive an answer only a shrug.  Apparently Boyne would rather ruin 10 foursome’s collective experience than remove one problem group.  It’s probably too much to expect the young kids running the course to take control of the situation and there lies the problem.  Complete lack of management.  As for the water bottle?  Nowhere to be found.

Good to see their 30 to 40% price increases are adding to the experience. Happy to take them off my list for awhile.

[1puttTUT]

One nice thing I can say about Boyne is that I left my wingman on the cart three days in a row and they had it waiting for me at the pro shop the following morning each time.

[Pepetito]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:36 PM, Net_5 said:

Had our Petoskey trip this past weekend.  All went well except Saturday at Boyne.  We were booked for an early morning tee time on the Ross and afternoon on the Hills.  We were surprised to find out that No. 15 on the Ross was closed for the year for redesign.  One of our carts broke down and the guys had to carry their bags for four holes before it was replaced.  Unfortunate yes, but not a big deal we laughed about it and we all made par on 15.  The Round was finished in less than four hours and we had a two-hour break for lunch.

 

The Round on the Hills started two minutes early and after the eighth hole we were five minutes ahead of schedule at 4:25 PM. We  arrived on the ninth tee to find four carts with another foursome on the green.  This continued the entire back nine with a 15 minute wait on each tee.  We talked to a ranger and he told us “there’s nothing more I can do I’m out of bullets”.  The clubhouse phones were ringing off the hook.  We heard rumors from the group ahead of us that there was a drunk foursome a few holes ahead that was throwing beer cans all over the greens etc.

 

On hole #15 a young guy and a woman from security drove out and said that holes 17 and 18 were open and they couldn’t identify the problem.  
 

As we finished 18 at least two foursomes drove around us giving up on their round.  It was 8:15, the back nine took 3 hours and 45 minutes.

In my haste to get out of dodge and try to salvage our missed dinner reservation at Teddy’s I left a nice water bottle in the cart.  Went back the next morning to retrieve it and asked about the incident in the pro shop.  The guy mentioned the problem group by name and said they had been a problem on the Ross earlier.  They must have been behind us the first round but jumped ahead of us   the second round.

I asked why management had done nothing and didn’t receive an answer only a shrug.  Apparently Boyne would rather ruin 10 foursome’s collective experience than remove one problem group.  It’s probably too much to expect the young kids running the course to take control of the situation and there lies the problem.  Complete lack of management.  As for the water bottle?  Nowhere to be found.

Did you stay in Trout Creek again?

What was your course itinerary again?

[Net_5]

Arrival round at Bay Harbor

Day 2 Hidden River/Indian River

Day 3 Ross/Hills

Departure Round at Belvedere

 

Trout Creek was fine, no complaints

 

[knickerbocker]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:36 PM, Net_5 said:

is continued the entire back nine with a 15 minute wait on each tee.  We talked to a ranger and he told us “there’s nothing more I can do I’m out of bullets”.  The clubhouse phones were ringing

 

Had this happen at Arcadia once and rangers made group slowing course down skip two holes. 

[Pepetito]

One more option for anyone who has played them or stayed at A ga Ming:

 

Day 1: Grand Traverse - Bear

Day 2: Aga Ming Sundance and Aga Ming Torch

Day 3: Grand Traverse - Wolverine.

 

Lodging is in 8 person townhouses at A ga ming.

 

Heard Bear is great but hard.  Sundance is great. Wolverine is great.

Price-wise its similar to the Crooked Tree/Hidden River/Arthur Hills/Belvedere/Trout Creek option.

Love to hear thoughts on this.

[odshot68]

Last weekend we played 36 at Arcadia for Father’s Day (the bluffs course). The greens were in rough shape. The worst I’ve seen it. Definitely not worth the $360 they charged for it under those conditions. 

[1puttTUT]

4 hours ago, odshot68 said:

Last weekend we played 36 at Arcadia for Father’s Day (the bluffs course). The greens were in rough shape. The worst I’ve seen it. Definitely not worth the $360 they charged for it under those conditions. 

 

Not good to hear. Playing Arcadia Tuesday and Champion Hill Thursday 

[odshot68]

15 hours ago, 1puttTUT said:

 

Not good to hear. Playing Arcadia Tuesday and Champion Hill Thursday 

 

The greens have bare patches on them with grass in between the multiple bare patches.  One of the guys in our group said putting was like Planko on the Price is Right.  I'm not sure it will get better any time soon.  I'd save the money and play elsewhere for what they are asking for.

Edited July 2, 2022 by odshot68

[3_Jack_Par]

On 7/1/2022 at 11:29 AM, Pepetito said:

One more option for anyone who has played them or stayed at A ga Ming:

 

Day 1: Grand Traverse - Bear

Day 2: Aga Ming Sundance and Aga Ming Torch

Day 3: Grand Traverse - Wolverine.

 

Lodging is in 8 person townhouses at A ga ming.

 

Heard Bear is great but hard.  Sundance is great. Wolverine is great.

Price-wise its similar to the Crooked Tree/Hidden River/Arthur Hills/Belvedere/Trout Creek option.

Love to hear thoughts on this.

I wouldn’t call any of them “great”, but they’re pretty decent courses. I have always thought GTR is overpriced in general, but I don’t know what they’ve done with pricing compared to other resorts up there. The Bear isn’t as tough as its reputation, but if you miss greens in the the wrong place, it can be a problem. Wolverine/Sundance are pretty friendly resort courses. I’ve never played the Torch.

[AzSuperHack76]

On 7/2/2022 at 8:46 AM, odshot68 said:

 

The greens have bare patches on them with grass in between the multiple bare patches.  One of the guys in our group said putting was like Planko on the Price is Right.  I'm not sure it will get better any time soon.  I'd save the money and play elsewhere for what they are asking for.

Wonder how the south course is? 

[postfold]

9 hours ago, AzSuperHack76 said:

Wonder how the south course is? 

 

There's a Michigan trip report thread in the main travel forum, poster played 36 this weekend and said the greens were great (unlike the bluffs)

[Amarsuperstar]

On 7/28/2021 at 3:10 PM, SpartyG0lf said:

Anyone here with experience getting fitted at Leading Edge Golf in Okemos?  Thinking about scheduling a fitting and wondering if anyone has any thoughts/feedback on their experience.  

Did you every get fit at Leading Edge? Anyone else? I'm in GR and want to get fit and try Paderson and LA shafts, but I really am not excited by the options around here. I'll be in EL a few times this summer and they look like a good spot. Like most on GolfWRX I'm fairly particular about my gear - so hoping one of you club junkies has checked them out. 

[stick chick]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:23 AM, Amarsuperstar said:

Did you every get fit at Leading Edge? Anyone else? I'm in GR and want to get fit and try Paderson and LA shafts, but I really am not excited by the options around here. I'll be in EL a few times this summer and they look like a good spot. Like most on GolfWRX I'm fairly particular about my gear - so hoping one of you club junkies has checked them out. 

My husband and I went there (back before they changed their name to Leading Edge).  The fitter they were using at that time (over 5 years ago to be honest) apparently took off with my husband's driver shaft and the owner only replaced with an inferior product AFTER I threatened legal action - big mess all around.  We decided to give the business another chance after that, realizing that the owner was probably taken advantage of by the former fitter, so scheduled a putting fitting with them on a Saturday - we live in Grosse Pointe, so not around the corner or in the area by any stretch of the imagination.  We arrive at the store, thinking that the owner was going to do the fitting, only to find some high-school kid the only one in the store AND unable to get the putting machine to work/boot up.  Not a call in advance to let us know.  When we spoke with the owner the following week, he tells us that he has to spend time with his family - that he can't work all the time, etc.  I countered with - then why didn't you tell us that you wouldn't be doing the fitting?  Why didn't anyone call to tell us that the machine was broken?  We basically drove all the way out there for nothing.  Didn't seem to want our business and made a big deal of how he was the fitter/affiliated with the local high school golf team.  OK - fine by me.

 

We did not reschedule the fitting, have not used them since and can honestly say I would never recommend them.  Same owner, new name, but same lack of customer service.  That was our experience shortly before the name change.  Hopefully, someone on here will have a different experience more recently.  I hope it changed.  However, I use Club Champion for my club needs.  

[timbo08]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:36 PM, Net_5 said:

Had our Petoskey trip this past weekend.  All went well except Saturday at Boyne.  We were booked for an early morning tee time on the Ross and afternoon on the Hills.  We were surprised to find out that No. 15 on the Ross was closed for the year for redesign.  One of our carts broke down and the guys had to carry their bags for four holes before it was replaced.  Unfortunate yes, but not a big deal we laughed about it and we all made par on 15.  The Round was finished in less than four hours and we had a two-hour break for lunch.

 

The Round on the Hills started two minutes early and after the eighth hole we were five minutes ahead of schedule at 4:25 PM. We  arrived on the ninth tee to find four carts with another foursome on the green.  This continued the entire back nine with a 15 minute wait on each tee.  We talked to a ranger and he told us “there’s nothing more I can do I’m out of bullets”.  The clubhouse phones were ringing off the hook.  We heard rumors from the group ahead of us that there was a drunk foursome a few holes ahead that was throwing beer cans all over the greens etc.

 

On hole #15 a young guy and a woman from security drove out and said that holes 17 and 18 were open and they couldn’t identify the problem.  
 

As we finished 18 at least two foursomes drove around us giving up on their round.  It was 8:15, the back nine took 3 hours and 45 minutes.

In my haste to get out of dodge and try to salvage our missed dinner reservation at Teddy’s I left a nice water bottle in the cart.  Went back the next morning to retrieve it and asked about the incident in the pro shop.  The guy mentioned the problem group by name and said they had been a problem on the Ross earlier.  They must have been behind us the first round but jumped ahead of us   the second round.

I asked why management had done nothing and didn’t receive an answer only a shrug.  Apparently Boyne would rather ruin 10 foursome’s collective experience than remove one problem group.  It’s probably too much to expect the young kids running the course to take control of the situation and there lies the problem.  Complete lack of management.  As for the water bottle?  Nowhere to be found.

Sorry to hear that about BOYNE.  I actually had a less than stellar experience myself this year.  I decided to chalk it up to a one off since we've been going there for 12 years in a row now with zero issues like the above.  That being said, I haven't even heard from the person I book my trip with to see how it was (they normally send an email the week after) and based on your experience it doesnt' sound like a one off unfortunately so I can chime in as well. 

 

Very long story short, we do arrival round TH, unlimited at Bay Harbor Friday, Saturday the Hills, Sunday something like Crooked Tree or the Heather then hit the road.  8-12 guys in 1 to 2 townhouses, this year it was $675 each.  Friday before the 2nd round at Bay Harbor, we knew the weather was going to be dicey and were lucky to get the first round in.  We asked the pro-shop what's the rain check policy and were told and this is verbatim "With the unlimited golf package only your morning round is guaranteed and the rest is treated as gravy."  Okay kind of defeats the purpose of unlimited golf but looked it up in the paperwork and yep that's their policy.  Alright, well sure enough it rained like crazy, it was actually the storm system that produced the Gaylord tornado in May.  

 

So we try to switch our plans, we ask if we can UPGRADE Saturday to unlimited golf and add a round on the Moor.  We were told nope, it's already paid with your Hills round, so you can't add anything, you'd have to pay full rack rate for the Moor.  So basically if I called on Saturday the week before, I could have upgraded to unlimited golf for an extra $29 over our original round on the Hills course, but since weather messed up the day before and we still wanted all of our rounds, we'd suddenly have to pay rack rate which was over $100.  The BEST they were willing to do was give us a "rain check" credit of $35 for the missed round the day before.  

 

I haven't even called to get the $35 vouchers for our group.  In all fairness when we did check in at the pro shop at the Hills, the head pro there knew we were fairly steamed about the issue.  Once I explained everything to him, he was incredibly apologetic and understanding, and offered to let us swing out on the Moor for 9 after our round if we wanted, and gave me a handful of free passes for the Trackman range there.  A super nice gesture and 100% how the situation should have been handled but the fact that I talked to 3 other people and had to basically be seeing red before that happened is absurd. 

 

Direct quotes from my email chain, sorry about the formatting copied over weird and I removed names so not to throw anyone under the bus. 

"

Hey Tim,

 I’m sorry we’ve had some not so good weather today, I know you had asked for a promise for good weather and I feel bad that it took such a negative turn.

 Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do. You played 18 before 10am this morning so technically there is no rain check for the second round when you’re on an unlimited golf package.

 Pro shop attendant did call me to let me know that he was offering a $35 credit to be used towards a second round tomorrow even though Bay Harbor was not able to offer a rain check. If you’d like to play two rounds tomorrow, this is your best option.

 My office is closed and I will not be in this weekend but Pro shop attendant should be calling you soon to see if you’d like that option or to move Arthur Hills back to your original time slot.

 I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help!!! Let me know if you have any other questions."

My reply: 

 

Hey So and So,

Thanks for the email back!! I guess we were just confused why we couldn’t just change tomorrow to unlimited golf and ignore today?? We’ve done that in the years before and it’s been no problem. So it is just really confusing why we can’t just switch tomorrow to unlimited golf regardless of any credits from today.  Changing tomorrow to unlimited golf has always been $30-$50 when we’ve done it in the past which is why it doesn’t make a ton of sense to us. 

 

Response again:

"The technicality of it is that you played 18 before 10am and the replay rate is only $35. To play 18 before 10am you must be on the unlimited package whether a second round is played or not.

I can't answer to what someone allowed you to do in the past. This has been our policy as long as I've worked at Boyne. I understand that it's frustrating and I am so sorry there's nothing more we can do."

My response that was never responded to and haven't heard anything since, which again, I'd expect to with how much BOYNE and Bay Harbor talk up their amazing service and world class resort....but I guess that's only what happens when your trip goes smoothly? 

"Oh no I totally understand the policy about today. 

We just don’t understand why we can’t change tomorrow to unlimited golf without paying an additional $100 fee and just paying the difference of whatever unlimited golf is. "

 

So basically in years past, they had zero problem taking our money for extra golf but this year no dice unless it's full rack rate?  Again, I totally understand they can't control the weather, but I think it's a bit silly to pay for unlimited golf and only receive a $35 voucher for the second round, then not be able to change any additional days to include more golf without being charged an absorbent amount?  Like I said earlier, the fact that I didn't receive a "how was your trip" email or a response to my last email even or asking again if I'd like to book for next year speaks volumes.  

 

Who knows, maybe I am just being ridiculous? FYI the difference between 1 round stay and play at BOYNE and "Unlimited" golf is about $20-$50 and the ability to book tee times before 10am.  Unless someone wanted to play 9 holes, I think most folks would assume that "unlimited" golf means more than one round of 18 holes....and again, wasn't really asking for anything free, just wanted to change our Saturday round from 1 one round stay and play to unlimited golf stay and play, which they had tee times for but would only let us do at full rate....when we were already staying on property....in one of their townhouses for the 12th year in a row (figure average $450 per guy x 8 x 12 years and you'll have an idea of roughly what we've spent there). I'd really prefer to take our business elsewhere but not sure what other options are out there that offer a Stay and Play without a ton of windshield time and housing for 8.  I asked Turtle Creek and they quoted me close to $1000 for a similar trip which probably prices more than a few guys out. 

 

Anyways, that's my $.02 on BOYNE which became very long winded. Still not sure if we are going back next year or not, I book the trip and from convenience I don't know how much chasing down of tee times and lodging I feel like doing. 

 

On a significantly more positive note, played Pilgrims Run this weekend for the first time ever and absolutely loved it. Great great course and am kicking myself for not checking it out years ago.  Tons of fun tee shots and I loved the giant greens which were rolling great.

[1puttTUT]

Played Champion Hill yesterday and really enjoyed it. My only complaints were the greens are a little slow and spongy, and the par 3's on the back 9 are a bit ridiculous (248 yards and 218 yards); still probably the best $45 I've spent on golf in awhile.

 

On the way home we stopped at Arcadia for smoked old fashioned's and cigars. Overall a great day 👌

[GirlDadGolfer0204]

Well I’m just back from my little vacation aka layoff and I played a few course. But the ones I was looking forward to most had to be Canceled because my vacation aka layoff ended earlier than expected which is good and bad those were treetop premier and threetop the par 3 course. But I did play the Grayling country club, Timberwolf on of 72 going into Kalaska from Grayling. Twin Birch, Grandview and Grand Traverse SpurceRun which was my favorite. Definitely playing The Bear and Wolverine next. Along with a course at treetops

pics1-7 are spurce run

next 6 are a mix of Timberwolf, And Twin Birch.

last few are Grayling CC I didn’t have my phone for Grandview. But all courses were between Grayling and Traverse City.

Edited July 8, 2022 by GirlDadGolfer0204
Wrong course name