Post by theclv24 on Apr 28, 2020 13:27:48 GMT -5
I have a scheduled trip in June upcoming, which may or may not happen, to northern Michigan for an annual golf trip. With that on my mind, and looking for a change of pace to the more open style of courses I've been doing, I started toying around with an idea for a northern Michigan course. How about some backstory?
I like heading up to the Gaylord, MI area for golf, due to the topography with some extreme elevation changes and occasional great views across the landscape. One of my favorites in the area is the Tribute Club at Otsego Resort. For the older heads, that name might sound familiar, as it as one of the add-on courses you could buy on CD for Links. In particular, two holes stick out: the major downhill 3rd, and the 4th which plays along a ridge and has a killer approach shot view:
The 3rd. Looks like a par 3 doesn't it? It's a massively downhill par 4.
The approach to the par 5 4th hole.
Another thing I like about the course is that every once in awhile the routing emerges from these secluded forest holes, into some open gently rolling land:
Like nearby Treetops Resort, though, it suffers from a number of boring, predictable resort course type of holes. Why can't this topography feature the type of exciting golf holes present at my favorite northern MI course, Kingsley Club?
I've routed a course through a plot that features some softer, flatter areas with few trees, and some huge forested ravines like the 3rd hole and 4th holes at Otsego, similar to many of the courses in the Gaylord area. I then built an 18th hole that plays uphill to a clubhouse area, with the hole inspired by the first hole at Kingsley Club:
I have to say, after one hole, I feel better about this project than any other fictional course I've done to date. This Otsego-Kingsley Club concoction will be a good one, I think, with a ton of fun holes. Maybe the bouncy turf conditions at Kingsley, which make it so fun, couldn't exist in the wooded hills of Gaylord, but thankfully I don't have to worry about that!
Now that I know how to take PS4 screenshots, I'll get them up soon once I'm back home and in front of the system.