Trip Report June 16-21

Great trip, really enjoyed every layout.  

• Sunday June 16
  • TPC - Fairways were gone in spots, just burnt mud in a lot of large areas, we only paid 49, so we were not that disappointed, would have been it we had to pay more.  Greens were in good shape, one of my favorite layouts.
• Monday June 17
  • Heritage Club - Great shape, greens were still recovering from getting punched, but rolled great.  A lot of sand on the front and none on the back, so it was a little inconsistent, back nine greens were flawless.  Loved the layout and the old trees.
  • Pawleys Plantation - Few bad spots in the fairways, but overall good shape.  Greens were OK.
• Tuesday June 18
  • Legends Heathland - All of the Legends courses were in great shape, we were amazed that they can keep them that nice with how much play they get.  Pace of play was great.
  • Legends Moorland 2:12 - Pace of play was great.  Was Probably my favorite legends layout, I thought it was very fair, was expecting it to be very hard based off some reviews.  
• Wednesday June 19
  • Barefoot Love - Fairways were in great shape - greens were spoty, they had some issues with coverage, maybe a little disease?  They had spots you could see some black dirt, and they rolled a little slower, other spots were perfect and very fast so it was very difficult to get the speed down.  
  • Barefoot Norman - Same conditions, Pace of play was great on both courses.  
• Thursday June 20
  • Legends Parkland - Tough course great shape.  Starter let us know we were playing a little fast and would have to wait at the turn, so we slowed it down and had no issues at all, really appreciated the heads up.  
  • Legends Heathland - Only complaint on the whole trip, we teed off on time, and it took us an hour to play the first 2 holes.  I think we were on hole 7 in about 3.5 hours. Water jug was empty and we called the clubhouse about the pace of play and water.  They filled the water in mins after the phone call, but by then we had already passed it and they did not stop and say anything to us about how slow it was playing.  5 hours into our round we were only on hole 11 and a bad storm came in. We parked at a shelter and waited it out. Was very impressed with how the course handled the rain.  Course played great once the rain stopped, still shocked we didn’t see any standing water. Best part was everyone but couple groups in front of us left and the pace was great, I think we finished the last 7 holes in under an hour.  When we had about 2 more holes to play we saw our first starter of the 18 holes. He was very rude, yelled at us to finish up fast because they closed the course when the storm hit. Then when we drove up to the bag drop we got yelled at again that they wanted the cart in a different spot.  Overall we loved the legends and its staff outside of this one round they were excellent, so this for sure would not stop me from coming back hopefully this is an isolated issue, a couple of guys having a bad day.
• Friday June 21
  • Resort Club at Grande Dunes  - Fairways were just ok, greens were recovering from getting punched June 10-12.  They looked like they were coming along nice, we knew we were taking a risk here and so we were not too disappointed.  
  • Dunes golf and Beach Club - Fairways were rough in a few spots but good overall, First track we played all week that they really seemed to run out.  Not sure when they punched greens, you could see it was not that long ago, but man did they have those dialed in. They were fast and rolled very true, when I looked at them I thought they might be a little bumpy, but that was not the case at all, they were amazing.  Worth every penny to play here.

Overall trip was amazing, it is hard to drive 16 hours when we have so much good golf in northern Michigan.  But we really loved this trip, it was great to have a nice mix of different styles of courses. Northern Michigan is amazing golf, but the styles are all pretty similar.  It was a little hard to adjust to the weather, going from 50s in Michigan to 90 and humid took its toll by the end of the week, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. We were really impressed with how legends staff has it down to a science, it was a little odd waiting till the last second to get a golf cart, having to walk to the range, but I totally understand why.  They keep everything rolling and you have to with a packed tee sheet and double teeing. Rooms were nice and cleaning staff was excellent. To play 11 rounds in 6 days and only have one small issues with a couple of employees is pretty darn good in my book, can’t wait to come back.

Last tip is, if you are going to drink a little too much in the Pub and think it was a good idea to leave the windows down, don’t do it the last night when you are going to have to sit on soaking wet seats for a 16 hour car ride home, downpoured in the night and we woke up with standing water in the cup holders, the heathland drains a lot better then our rental.  

Thanks again for all the previous posts like, I said it really helped me plan this.