The Mines

[ramylson]

Grand Rapids, MI

Located a mere five minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, you'll find a golf property that will make you feel like you're miles outside of the city. More along the lines of typical rural Michigan, versus on the edge of the urbran areas found in cities across the United States.

Located on a 192 acre site, Mike DeVries designed the Mines Golf Course to offer a 18 hole course, full practice facility, and eventually an additional par 3 course. Built over a portion of a 100+ year old underground gypsum mine, the holes weave over tunnels from the past and through numbers ridges, dunes, and mature forest to give the golfer a fairly stern test from the championship tees. While there are only 31 bunkers on the course (along with 2 dunes), there's adequate room from the tee to find the fairways. But, the true test comes hitting into and on the greens complexes. Depending on your position, location becomes key along with hitting the correct shot for the situation.

Opened in 2005, it received the award for "Best New Public Course under $75" by Golf Digest in 2006. While the routing of the course is better than average, there still are a number of holes that are similar in nature and almost become boring. Even so, there are still some holes that are true gems, as well as a unique set-up on #11 with a split tee box which can play anywhere from 228 yards (west tee-box), to 165 yards (south tee-box) for the championship tees. The greens ran true and smooth, although were very tricked up with different features throughout. It was best described as waves crashing on a beach of an inland lake by one of my playing partners. They could have done better with the design to blend the greens features in with the more subtle lay of the land. The whole more with less attitude, when considering the conditioning of the greens.

This is still a young layout, that can really become a quality course. The pieces are there with the layout, practice facility, and orientation to the city. Coming from the designer of Pilgram's Run, the newer Greywalls, and Kingsley Club, I just ended up expecting a bit more. It's hard to beat the price though, and I'd still find myself there on a regular basis for the practice facility and/or a quick round if I lived in the city. Not to mention, playing the course a few times would help would positioning on the greens. Unfortunately, for the traveling golfer I believe there are better options close-by.

**I need to appologize, my camera completely nuked going into the back nine. So, I only have limited pictures. Also, I wish I would have better picture of the approach shots/green complexes. But, being that it was my first time really out this year, I was a bit rusty with my photo/review game..**

Front: 3282/2943/2587/2324 (par 35)
Back: 3419w(3356s)/3192(3145)/2851(2815)/2493(2478) (par 35)
Total: 6701w(6638s)/6135(6088)/5438(5402)/4817(4802) (par 70)

#1 - 408/371/313/272 (par 4; hcp 7)


#2 - 453/410/383/338 (par 4; hcp 5)


#3 - 439/398/350/330 (par 4; hcp 3)


#4 - 304/275/227/198 (par 4; hcp 15)


#5 - 607/556/516/477 (par 5; hcp 1)


#6 - 356/298/272/209 (par 4; hcp 11)


#7 - 155/131/105/91 (par 3; hcp 17)


#8 - 156/140/117/110 (par 3; hcp 13)


#9 - 404/364/304/299 (par 4; hcp 9)


#10 - 367/333/309/286 (par 4; hcp 16)


**camera pukes at this point**

#11 -228(165)/204(157)/172(136)/97(82) (par 3; hcp 12)
#12 - 341/321/289/261 (par 4; hcp 14)
#13 - 468/434/394/315 (par 4; hcp 4)
#14 - 398/385/362/324 (par 4; hcp 8)
#15 - 141/122/100/88 (par 3; hcp 18)
#16 - 475/456/388/370 (par 4; hcp 2)
#17 - 533/506/457/417 (par 5; hcp 10)
#18 - 468/431/380/335 (par 4; hcp 6)

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

Great pics of a tough looking course. Did it play as tough as it looks?

[ramylson]

Even though it might necessarily look like it, I feel that it's pretty liberal from the tees. The real defense the course has is the greens, which have a lot of slopes due to ridges, swales, mounds, etc. Putting can be a real adventure, as the greens were quick and true when we played, but it only would amplify any mistakes or poor lines/speed. If you're more than 10 ft from the pin, plan on really having to put through "terrain" to get it to the hole.

 

I still think they could have done a lot better to making the features on the greens "larger" over a given area to make each feature more subtle. Right now, it seems very "rough" to me, to the point of being over done..

[todd_i]

I played The Mines last week during a trip to the area. I really liked this course. Even though it is just outside the city of Grand Rapids, it feels like one of the many nice Michigan courses in more remote areas.

This is definitely a course I would play again. The location is convenient and the price is reasonable.

[ksavy17]

thats an amazing looking golf course

[In2Bate]

Great design. Shorter par 4's require thought off the tee and rarely leave an approach from a flat lie (Crystal Downs style). Par 3's aren't overly long. Green complexes are the true defense as noted above. Very Donald Ross'ish. False fronts and closely mown areas the ball likes to run off of. Definitely a great value too!

[odshot68]

Was a member here 3 years ago. The real defense is the length of the par 4s. From the tips its a great challenge. There are 4 par 4s over 460 yards. 2 of these have green complexes that are very small and fall off on both sides. The 2 par 5s are reachable in 2 with solid drives. The par 3s are short except for hole 11 when you play the west tees and its 230 yards with a small 2 tier green. The best part about this are the pros. The head pro Todd is a great guy. He's soft spoken and a genuine nice guy. The only gripe is they are not open on Sunday due to religious obligations. I rate it a 8/10 ..they are slated to open a par 3 course this next summer which would be great practice. A must play and a great rate. Lastly, you can't walk this track; its built on old gypsum mines.