I haven’t played much up there aside from Kingsley, Arcadia, and the Loop. Belvedere may be more than hour, but I hear it’s really good. Also hear good things about Lochenheath. Not too sure about the Shanty Creek courses, and of course there’s Grand Traverse. I drive by El Dorado in Cadillac on the way up, and it doesn’t look terrible, but I really couldn’t tell you any more about it.
As a Chicago guy, I’m pretty much Kingsley only when I’m up there. I used to stay in the cottages on almost every visit, and when the choice was drive an hour and pay a greens fee somewhere, or walk out the door and play a course that’s likely better than anything else I could play in the area, the choice was pretty easy.
Belvedere is just over an hour an an absolute treat. It’s my favorite course and it’s really fun. I would avoid the Grand Traverse Resort courses. I personally don’t think they are worth it for the price.
Also had some buddies play Champion Hill and they said it was great and it’s not too far from there either.
The South and The Loop are neck and neck for best public courses between Mt. Pleasant and the Bridge. Both are unique tracks that compliment the resorts they are part of. The Bluffs and Forest Dunes both fit in the same category: Great resort courses to relax on in the cart, have a few beers, play a few games with your buds, then have a great dinner. The grill room in the Club House at Forest Dunes might be my favorite 19th hole.
If you’re in the Charlevoix/Boyne City area and don’t mind an hour drive, head over to Black Lake. The UAW course is an approachable Rees Jones design. It’s a lot of fun.
@dnquiggs@EarthMover@theclv24
Any interest in giving us a quick rundown of The Stalemate? What the Fried Egg events are like, what did you think of Meadowbrook, etc?
I know you didn’t call me out, but I was there. It was amazing. It’s tough to pay that fee when you sign up, but I think it was well worth it. Some friends told us guest fees are $200+ per round. They served breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the course. We had full access to the locker room which was nice to hit up between rounds in the heat. There was drinks around the course and beers at the turn. The halfway house was carte blanche too. With the gift bags and having full MCC access I think it was a steal.
Course was amazing. One of the most unique courses I’ve played. It’s just so fun. There really weren’t any “boring” holes and the greens were crazy. It was fun to play it twice and between rounds they switched the pins and we played from different tees in the afternoon and it did feel like a different course. I’ve always wanted to play it and I can’t wait to get back.
The event was well run and the staff at MCC was on top of their game. It exceeded my expectations for sure.
The Stalemate was an amazing event and I would recommend it to anyone who has interest in MCC or is a fan of the fried egg. Andy, Will, and Garrett were awesome hosts. They made it a point to remember everyone’s name and it was a blast to talk golf with them. They really put in a ton of effort to make it a fun experience. The food was great, the staff was friendly and you could tell how proud they were to show off their course- no complaints anywhere.
The course is top notch. Some of the green complexes (2, 3, 9, 13, 17 just to name a few) are all world, you could spend hours chipping and putting on those holes. If they have that event again I will sign up in a heartbeat.
Co-sign on pretty much everything here. The course was a ton of fun, I would definitely love to play every pin location on every green a whole bunch of times. The front 9 in particular was really good. I heard from several people there that some of the membership thinks the course is too easy now, apparently it used to be much harder, and their handicaps don’t travel well now. That seems like a dumb, antiquated view to me, as you have this ridiculously fun course in front of you to play everyday.
I also agree that the event was top notch. Everything was pretty much on schedule and completely organized. The drinks and food available were great and just a really nice touch, as well as the gift bags. I had lunch with Will Knights on Tuesday, and he said the staff at the club and how serious they take the event really makes or breaks an event, and that the MCC staff was fully bought in. I can’t commend them enough for the job they did.
The only thing that wasn’t super smooth to me was the alt-shot round in the afternoon. That was my first alt-shot experience, so I’m lumping myself in here, but it seems like people don’t really know how to play it well. We played an 8-some, and Andy had recommended that we slingshot, with folks who are hitting the 2nd shot jumping ahead and waiting in the fairway. Not only did no one do that, but everyone was marking 1-footers and grinding over every shot. Granted the overall winners of the horse race got in from their alt-shot performance, I still think that should just be a fun experience. It shouldn’t take as long as it did, and folks shouldn’t be grinding. I guess we’ll (hopefully) all learn from more experience with the format.
The Sundance course at Agaming is a fun course and probably the best Mathews design I’ve played. Lochenheath has 14 great holes and 4 holes built mainly for housing but is probably better in aggregate than Bay Harbor. The 9 hole Donald Ross course in Elk Rapids is a treat. As for Shanty Creek, they have a good lineup of resort-style golf (ie- 5.5 hour round on a cart), Cedar River, the Legend, Schuss, and the new addition of Hawk’s Eye all are decent to play.
Thanks for the responses. I’ve been fortunate enough to play MCC quite a few times - personally, I love the redesign. Fun factor is through the roof when compared to the previous layout, IMO. Definitely a place I would belong to if it was closer to me.
I’m glad to hear Andy & team put on a great event. I’ve considered signing up for a few but had a conflict with The Stalemate this year. Will definitely consider attending a TFE event.
I can double check on this, but their guest fee structure is kind of unique. It’s something along the lines of $120ish week day, $175ish weekend but they jack you $200+ for Fridays 10AM- 3PM. I’m pretty sure it is to capitalize on Friday afternoon business guests that are probably being expensed anyways.
That is funny because I know a bunch of members who pre-renovation that claimed their handicaps didn’t travel well. There are a lot of holes that are easier because of tree removal but virtually all of them are more penal if you miss the green.
9 is a great example of that. If plays about the same distance as it did pre renovation where you could drive it potentially but had to contend with a ton of trees. Post renovation, it’s much more wide open but the green complex as a whole is bananas and you could easily stymie yourself.
I really think the course has the same difficulty that it did pre renovation. Just when you have a narrow hole and tee one into the trees and make bogey or worse that hole feels hard. But if you put yourself in an awkward lie around the green or on the wrong side of the hole and make bogey or worse, it feels like you hit a bad chip.
Thanks for the feedback on the TFE event as well. I was curious how well it was run. Obviously that course looked like a blast! I am considering signing up for the Lancaster CC event later in the year and was a bit sticker shock at the price, but it seems like the event was worth it from what you guys mentioned.
From what I gathered the price point is due to the courses being played and what they are charging. Meadowbrook was something like $125 per player. And they’ve had some courses that were interested in hosting but wanted to charge over $200 per player. Then you add on all of the food, beverage, and staff, and I think their breakeven point is somewhere in the $250-300 range.
I’m not trying to sell it for them. I just found it interesting to hear the breakdown, and I guess it makes sense to me considering the clubs you are dealing with and the level of organization of the event.
@SpartanButters This sounds like stories I’ve heard from other clubs too (I don’t have any personal experience). In general, removing trees, widening fairways, or expanding greens automatically makes some members feel the course is easier, even though it’s often not the case. Either way, one word I never heard on Monday to describe the previous version of MCC was fun.
I also really enjoyed the Stalemate. I agree that there was a bit of sticker shock to the entry fee, but given that I live two miles from there it made it easier to pull the trigger and I’m glad I did.
I thought the course was amazing. Terrific conditioning and the most creative greens I’ve ever seen. I could see some people I normally play with complaining about something being too “tricked up” or “gimicky”, but I can only think that it would be a lot of fun to play that course regularly given how much variety is available based on tee choices and pin placements.
I was randomly paired up @dnquiggs who strikes the ball really well and can talk intelligently about Michigan courses and design in general. He was a great partner and I appreciate his willingness to continue talking to me considering my quality of play in the morning and the fact that I kept mistakenly calling him “Craig” for the first 17 holes.
I was concerned about the alt-shot format as it’s not something I’ve done before, but after getting some refreshments in me at lunch I was actually able to make the ball behave somewhat closer to what I was expecting it to which made it a lot of fun.
As others have said the MCC staff was terrific, and the Andy, Will, and Garret from TFE were welcoming and gracious with their time. Food and drink was plentiful and of good quality. I could take or leave the “tee gifts”, but I still think the value fit the entry fee.
I think there could been some better communication about the event formats. I never clearly heard what criteria was going to be used for getting into the horserace at the end. And multiple people in our afternoon group didn’t hear that we were going to be playing in 8-somes.
Overall I thought it was great and hope it returns next year or there’s another TFE event in SE Michigan. I would encourage anyone to attend another Fried Egg (or NLU for that matter) if they can swing it. I can get socially anxious and was worried how it would turn out but everyone I ran into was great and everyone seemed to be having fun.
oh damn! @4PuttAvoidance and @dnquiggs. great to see you guys here. didn’t realize you guys were on here when we did the afternoon alt-shot. although the NLU Mega Bucket probably hinted I was on here. It was great playing with you guys and chatting during the “weather” delay.
Yea when it gets broken it down it makes sense. Plus when I originally look at an outing type of event I am used to it only being 18 holes. The format does give me a bit of anxiety, as I would be nervous of getting a partner that would be trying to be super competitive and I would just be there for a good time. As a 14 handicap at the moment I would hate to ruin someone’s experience just because of my poor play lol.
Glad you guis were able to have a great experience!
It was a lot of fun. My play was bad enough in the morning that I preferred to go by the “Craig” alias. Craig didn’t bring much to the table in the AM round but at least we kept it respectable in alt-shot!
