I played the Heather Course in June of 2006. While on this trip, we also played the Arthur Hills Golf Course (also at Boyne Highlands), Bay Harbor Golf Club, and traveling south, Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course.
We played the Heather Golf Course a couple of days after the 95th Annual Michigan Amateur Championships. This was good and bad.
The good: The golf course was in pristine condition, and the sand in the bunkers was “tour sand”, which actually had a crisper feel on contact, and allowed for better backspin. The bad: The rough hadn’t been cut, so anything out of the fairway was painful, to say the least. In the end, Kate wasn’t a particular fan of this course, but she did spend a lot of time in the rough, so it’s understandable.
There’s a reason why this course was selected to host a Michigan Amateur: It’s tough. The first few holes provide a good start to what’s going to be a challenging round. The first par 3 (4th hole) is all carry over water, and when we played, the pin was in the front. No need to ask; yes, I did get wet.
The 5th hole is a dogleg left, with a great view from the tee of Boyne Mountain. The green has a big bunker in front of it, making the approach very important.
The 9th hole is one of those that starts out easy enough, but finishes strong. Maybe it’s the raised green, or maybe it’s the multiple bunkers surrounding the green. Either way, it made for a great approach. (I actually parred this, but the glee was short-lived).
The 11th is a long, fairly straight hole (with lots of greenside bunkers, of course), but it provides a great view from the green looking back to the tee; you can see the mountain again!
The back starts out simple enough… except for the bunkers. I have to say that I had plenty of opportunity to test the “tour sand” on the Heather course; I was on the beach A LOT. Robert Trent Jones is famous for his greenside bunkering, and it’s obvious that this is one of his courses. If your sand game isn’t on, RUN AWAY!!
Other than the bunkers, the next few holes kind of flew by, until the 14th. We happened to see one of those things that you see in Northern Michigan from time to time; a fox casually following a cart path across the fairway. Kate isn’t accustomed to this, so she was really excited about it. That’s another benefit of golf: Seeing the wildlife in its natural environment.
The Heather course finishes with an approach over water, to a very thin green, and large bunkers behind it. Hitting back to the green from these bunkers is quite the gut shot; the water is very close, and definitely in play.
All in all it was a great round of golf, but the uncut rough made for a very difficult round. I’m sure that if the rough were normal, it would’ve been a much better experience.
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Nice Blog! You should consider posting google maps links to the course. You made me consider testing this course out and was wondering how far it was from Chicago
Hello Dan,
Please post your experience / ranking of Heather Golf Course and any others you would like on http://www.golfcourseranking.com. Thank you and Merry Christmas.
Google Maps, good idea. Thanks for that.
It’s probably 6-7 hours North from Chicago. Like I said, it’s a long way, but worth the trip. If you ever go, plan on playing multiple courses, and if you want some advice, drop me an email!
Hey!
Heres my opinion of the course,
It is a very solid course, but does not compare to Aurthur Hills and Donald Ross, and heres why:
Middle of the summer and course matinence was very rough to say the least. for example: not only was the rough extremly sponge-like (which i actually enjoyed) the greens were pitiful with pebbles all over them (which screwed up my birdie putt! haha!) And for most of the holes, i couldnt tell the diffrence between the rough and the fairway! Not what I like to see in Boyne Highlands “premium” course. Now the course did provide a beautiful layout but all in all i was dissapointed. The course seemed very trampled too, probobly because the starter told us to keep the carts on the fairway which still baffles me. And i can already hear some of these people saying, “oh he didnt like the course becasue he didnt shoot well!” This is untrue. I felt i shot the ball very solid and and putted fairly well for a 15 year old. This is a fairly lenghy review but i think its fair and it gives people a good idea of what the course is like.