Introduction
Sitting on the South shore of Lake Superior, 3 hours straight north of Green Bay, Wisconsin sits Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is home to the Northern Michigan University and identified as number seven of the 20 Best Places to Live by Outdoor Life Magazine. It is just a couple of miles west of Sugar Loaf mountain and about an hour east of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The population is fairly small, just over 20,000 but that makes it the largest city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
I drove up here from Escanaba, MI, which sits on the southern side of the U.P. on Lake Michigan. It is just over an hours drive up to Marquette.
The reason for this drive is to play at the Greywalls course; part of a two course layout at the Marquette Golf Club. Marquette GC is a semi-private club and Upper Michigan's only 36 hole course.
Driving up to the course you can see the Heritage course as you turn into the property. The Heritage course is the original 18 holes and it looks like a very typical old-school parkland style course. This course was originally designed as a 9 hole course in 1926 by William Langford and Theodore Moreau, with the second nine constructed in 1969 across the street to the north of the original nine.
Driving up the lane to clubhouse and parking area you pass between the 10th hole on your right and the 13th to your left.
Further up, you'll pass the clubhouse and then directly ahead see a very small pro-shop and attached cart storage. I did not check out the clubhouse but the proshop is one of the smallest I have seen in a long time. Immediately adjacent to the proshop is a small parking lot with another lot up a short drive into the hills behind
Driving onto the course I was a bit trepidatious. While the Heritage course looked like it was in fine shape, it did not look like a "destination" course. I could not image how the Greywalls course earned such a great reputation. But then I could not have imagined what a different world I would find once I headed to the Greywalls course.
Before moving on to Greywalls, first I wanted to show quickly the limited practice area. For a 36 hole course the range is very small. We were here at the same time as a college girls team was practicing, and trying to accommodate our 16 guys and the college team was challenging. The range can handle about 10 people on it. With the hitting stations all the way back it is still only 290 yards to the end of the range and the street beyond. When we were there it was irons only. I am not sure if this is a permanent restriction but it seems likely to be the case. Right behind the range is a 60 foot round putting green. There are no practice bunkers but the green does have a small chipping fringe around it.
There is not much signage telling you how to get from the pro shop to Greywalls but is is a bit of a hike. Walking Greywalls would not be recommended. While it is possible the elevation changes and the hike to get to the first tee are enough to discourage almost anyone.
Greywalls is located to the south of the Heritage course. To get there hop on your cart and take the path at the top of the upper parking area. It is a drive to the first tee, which sits in the center of the course. Along the way you will catch glimpses of some of the holes you will face. Very quickly you will see what a completely different course Greywalls is to the Heritage course. I don't know that I have ever been on a property that features such night and day different courses.
Greywalls
Designed by Mike DeVries and opened in 2005, Greywalls is one of the most unique and exciting courses that I have ever played. It is currently ranked as the #10 course you can play in Michigan. At its peak it was #2 and debuted as one of the top 10 new courses in the country.
When I look back at my experience the best way I can think to summarize it is: Imagine playing one of the great northern Minnesota courses like Fortune Bay or Giants Ridge but then dropping the course onto a mountain.
What you will find here is rugged beauty. Set amidst crazy elevation changes, featuring some insane rolling fairways, in play rock outcroppings, and all-in-all wonderful conditions. This is the personification of the phrase "Pure Michigan" to me.
Like I said before, this is truly one of the more remarkable rounds of golf I have played in a long, long time.
The course offers 4 sets of tees. The Championship tees do not crack the 7,000 yard milestone but don't be fooled. The rating of 144 gives an indication that troubles abound here- sometimes even right in the middle of a fairway.
| Tees | Yardage | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | 6,828 | 144 | 73 |
| Back | 6,537 | 138 | 70.7 |
| Middle | 5,908 | 130 | 68.2 |
| Forward (M) | 5,258 | 118 | 67 |
| Forward (W) | 5,258 | 137 | 70.8 |
Here is a Google Maps image of the course with hole numbers defined. This image is tiled with North off to the right and East at the top. You can see a couple of the holes of the Heritage course to the far left.
The climb up to the first tee is a pretty amazing journey. Once you get to the top you will find another small putting green and a starter shack that also offers refreshments. The day we played, there were no beverage carts on the course and you will not come upon the shack until the tenth tee, so keep that in mind.
Standing on the practice green it is pretty hard to focus on putting with the panoramic views that are afforded to you. You can see for miles out onto Lake Superior. On a clear day you can even see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore some 50 miles away.
Hole 1
Par 5
579 | 545 | 509 | 477 yards
Perched adjacent to the practice green is the first tee at Greywalls. There is no easing in period here, as the day starts with a tough driving hole and a par 5. It is hard to depict the elevation difference between the elevated back tees and the fairway.
The fairway is canted diagonally from the tees, effectively making this a dogleg right, however the dogleg occurs before the fairway comes into play. A carry of 200 yards is required to reach the fairway from the back tees. There is a fairly sizable landing area initially. It is framed by three bunkers lining the far left side. This fairway slopes left to right and down the right side, the hole drops off- in some places more severely than others.
The fairway is choked down by a gully coming in from the right side. This gully is about 300 yards from the back tees.
From the main fairway landing zone, looking towards the green, the hole drops sharlpy before rising again towards the green.
This hole showcases what you will find throughout the round- massively undulating fairways. In a lot of pictures it is hard to capture the elevation changes but this shot does a pretty good job of showing the maybe 30 foot drop in the middle of the fairway. It is pretty amazing from an agronomy standpoint that they can keep some of these areas in such good shape. It is actually important that you pay attention when driving carts on this course. Be mindful of what lays ahead, even when in the middle of the fairway!
Around 200 yards out the fairway is squeezed down by a ridge of rocks divide the hole into the upper left section and the lower right rough that runs off into the woods.
Once you carry those rocks, the fairway opens up again to a relatively generous landing zone. There are still some pretty good undulations though, including a trough at about 120 yards that you want to avoid.
The green is not guarded by any bunkers. It is about 35 yards deep, though not as wide.
The green is slightly mounded so shots hit to the edges will fall off into the chipping collection areas that surround all sides.
Seen here from behind the green, you can see some of the crazy elevation changes on just this first hole alone. It is going to be a fun day!
Hole 2
Par 4
425 | 397 | 364 | 322 yards
The second hole is a shorter par 4 with a blind hazard off the tee. The fairway landing area runs out about 100 yards from the green.
Beyond the fairway landing zone, the hole falls over a rocky cliff as it turns slightly to the right before reaching the green. The best play here is a driver down the left side of the fairway. If you play down the right side you can find your second shot partially blocked by the trees hugging that side closer to the green.
A shot here of the typical rough you will find once you leave the primary cut of rough. Keeping the ball in play is paramount here. Trying to advance a ball from this thick grass is nearly impossible.
From the 150 yard steak you still can't see the cliff that sits just ahead of you. The green is quite a bit below you from this distance so judge your approach to account for that.
The green is tucked into a cove of trees on the right but it offers a friendly slope off to the left. You can play your ball a long ways to the left of the green and still have it kick down onto the putting surface. There isn't much room to miss elsewhere though, so make sure your distance control is good to avoid losing a ball into the trees.
Hole 3
Par 3
174 | 164 | 146 | 115 yards
The first par 3 of the day is a medium length hole that is guarded by a pair of bunkers, one sitting back left and the other off to the right of the green.
There is room to miss short on this green, with about 30 yards of fairway in front. Before reaching this area it is a forced carry over native grasses. This green is pretty severely sloped back to front. A back left pin is the probably the hardest spot to get to.
Shown from the left side of the green, this hole has plenty of danger if you miss the green. You'd likely prefer finding the bunkers on a miss rather than the gnarly rough that is the alternative.
Looking back at the green from the next tee, you can see the green is a fairly large oval about 30 yards wide and 20 deep.
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