Crystal Mountain Resort, Betsie Valley

$41 (cart included), played on Sunday, May 2018 at 8:00 AM

Played "Betsie River" course about 15 years ago and decided to "Play & Stay" here with the Family on Memorial weekend. The course is carved out through the woods around the base of Crystal Mt and has alot of marsh area bordering the fairways. The four (4) tees range from Reds @ 5,096 yds / 69.2 / 121 to 6,578 yds / 72.0 / 132 on this Par 72 tree/marsh lined layout. Conditions from tee to green (8-9) were very good and having center 150yd sticks helped with distances/landing areas off the tee. Standard 200yd - 100yds blocks and having some sprinkler heads marked helps keeping the pace moving along. Greens were very typical in size and not having any real surprises when reading them from behind. Worth playing for the $42 18/cart during the summer months as the trees will offer shade and cool breezes. Now for what I didn't like. No hole layout on the scorecard OR tee box marker to give you an idea of where visual trouble could be. (Hidden marsh) No assistance to distances through the many dogleg fairways that will lead you to lost ball penalties when landing in the marsh areas. I paid the price on the Front 9 having five (5) lost balls until I started shooting landing areas on all shots. I shot 49/41 w/36 putts, Barry had 43/47 w/38 putts, Jeremy had 47/48 w/36putts and Kevin at 40/45 w/33putts was finding the short grass all day. We all struggled with narrow landing areas after playing the openness of Arcadia Bluffs yesterday. Worth playing but course knowledge will help if shooting low scores consistently is your game plan. (Bug spray is highly recommended)

$41 (cart included), played on Saturday, July 2008 at 8am

Great location in Northern Michigan resort. If it gets too cold...you can ski.