Sunrise happiness - broke 100, didn't lose a ball, at an unfamiliar course with rented clubs - Huron Hills GC, Ann Arbor, MI
Posted Jul 30, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC
2010
You should check out Skyline in Ann Arbour. I won a high school tournament there last year in April or May.
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It wasn't all great - I had a four-putt where two of them were from outside thirty feet. (At least the second one was uphill.). That was a very dubious box to check. But the good boxes fell in spades. My rented clubs were a Wilson starter set and I bought a dozen Bridgestone e6’s. I actually liked them better than my usual Superhot 55’s. I have eleven fresh ones to take home and try on my usual courses! (I did have a "combined" no-loss round a few weeks ago where I used a Truvis next to the range to make sure I could find it amidst all the whites. But this one feels better.)
Having never played the courses around this part of Michigan, I was pretty happy with the high-handicap friendly par of 67. Sandy behind the desk was great with giving me a head start on the unusual course map, too. One of the par 3’s was 230+ and two more were 196, so those were testy. I felt like I worked hard enough to be proud of the 98 despite the lower than usual par.
The first 7 holes were pretty flat without too many shenanigans to deal with. The final 11 across the street have elevation changes, bunkers tight around a couple greens, overhanging trees… Lots of opportunities to get creative. Overall I loved the course.
I'm thinking about Woodlands at Van Buren tomorrow morning - anyone have two cents to share about it?
Wow, I wish I got the nice ones at Huron Hills! The course officer and the shop attendant both have such an unbelievably bad attitude every time I go there. I’ve actually stopped going there and take Eagle Crest instead. If you’re still in the area, I cannot possibly suggest Eagle Crest more. Twilights for $30 too, but it’s worth every penny of the full price.
I agree with you about the Huron Hills course, the back 2/3 of it are about as good as it gets for under $30, and the front gives you an easy couple opening holes to help with the jitters. Still manage to lose about 3-5 balls a round there.
Eagle Crest is great if you take away 1. The sea goose shit covering the holes around the lake 2. The slow ass people that take 3+ hours to play the front nine 3. Hole #16
Also agreed. #2 and the two parallel to the lake are terrible with the geese. I tend to walk so I don’t mind the slower pace of play, but it doesn’t make you wrong about the general pace of play!
Maybe I lucked out - I was the very first one on the course this morning, and I engaged in a bit of conversation with whomever I saw. I had plenty of chances as there was hole-cutting and mowing and watering everywhere.
I got a few lucky bounces. Had two tree-shots bounce into the fairway and my only bad snap-hook was on the front where there was plenty of room.
I fly back home tomorrow afternoon, so I'll try to be first out at sunrise wherever I end up. As an Eagle (class of '04) I'll give that course a call and see how reasonable their club rental is.
She's an ugly gal, but open year round (when there's not full snow coverage). A perfect little crappy muni that's good for taking your kid out or old guys walking 9. I can't believe they even had rental clubs available.
Admittedly there were some brownouts in the fairways, and the fellow behind me had hair as blue as his shirt. But for an out-of-towner with time to kill, it did the job. I can't blame the Wilson clubs - they performed almost as well as my own set and let me drill a couple of those par3's despite being off the rack and a few years out of date. Surprised the hell out of me.
I wish you had made it over to Leslie Park on the north side of town! It's the "nice" Ann Arbor municipal course they keep in pretty killer shape. It's a little dry in some of the rough areas right now due to the drought, but pretty close to a perfect affordable muni.
There's always next time. I come back here to visit family once or twice a year. I moved away after college and only picked the game up last summer.