Gracewil Country Club, East Course

$31 (cart included), played on Thursday, May 2023 at 9:30 AM

Decided to spend a whole day and play three (3) courses on my way to Pentwater before working at our camp this weekend. In talking to the starter/owner Kathy Wilson (daughter of course designer/builder) she said I should play the West Course Front 9 @ 3,045yds / Par 36 first and then the East Course Back 9 @ 3,110yds / Par 36 to get the feel of both courses. For the $33 18/cart this worked out really nice. There's a couple of rolling ravines that meander throughout both layouts, with the treelined fairways, you are pretty much going back and forth, up and down. The fairway grass is very full and cut a little too short for me and doesn't stand the ball up about 50% of the time. The smooth, firm and slightly raised greens are mostly average size with golfers fixing their pinch marks as very few burn marks were noted. The East Back 9 #10 starts out with a Hcp 4 treelined 370yd Par 4 with a uphill 2nd shot to a small blind green. The #11 comes right back 375yds to a bowl shaped green on the side of a hill that offers some slippery putts. The #12 Par 4 at 430yds has your tee shot hitting into a hill that needs a 275yd drive to hit the top or its another blind 2nd shot, on this Hcp 1 hole. This seems to be a common theme here for shots to the greens, though you can see the flag. The #14 is a 440yd Par 5 that is heavy with trees on the RH side and more open on the left side. The #16 is 395yd slightly dogleg right Par 4 that protects it's Hcp 2 by leaving another uphill 2nd shot that you can't see the small green/flag if you're 140yds out. The #18 is a 475yd Par 4 that is uphill with a ravine 120yds out from the green to catch those going for the green in two. They have only two (2) tees clearly marked "White & Red" and the Par 4/5 boxes weren't too bad, but the Par 3's needed to have divot repair material available to use. Enjoyed playing here today and shooting 38 w/18putts as the West Front 9 warmed me up for those blind approach shots.

$21 (cart included), played on Sunday, October 2010 at 2pm

There were no tee boxes for the women on most holes, just red pegs in the ground. Some tee boxes butt up against other holes. It is distracting. Lots of clover in the fairways too. I would rate this a good "hacker" track.