My lil bro lives in Marquette, MI, so I went up there for a weekend. A WEEKEND OF GOLF! British Open in the AM, tee time in the afternoon. There's a little course up there in the UP, at the Marquette Golf Club. Its called Greywalls, a Mike DeVries design from 2005. This is a WORLD-CLASS golf course. If you havent heard of it yet, you will. Marquette Golf Club

The course was built in a mining area, many holes are bordered by 70+ foot rock walls, and also many holes feature views of Lake Superior. It plays 6828 yds, 73.0 and 144. And that is modest. It has several elevated tees, leading you to winding, sloping fairways. Its like golfing on a roller coaster. My pics DO NOT do it justice. Another great thing about this course, since its designer grew up on a Mackenzie course called CRYSTAL DOWNS (you may have heard of this one!), that there is endless options for golfing your ball. There's a hole like #8- you'll see that even though its rather short, youre better off hitting a 6 iron than a driver! Best of all, it is a very fair course. Though it is a HARD COURSE that demands precise shots, you CAN miss shots, as long as its not the wrong place. For all the movement in the fairways, it might be a relief to get to the greens for some, as they seemed a little more modest. Just leave yourself in the right spot!

Greywalls is an amazing place, better than Arcadia Bluffs IMO. But I do have several small comments/criticisms, that some may have. Actually, I hate saying criticism here... TRUE- It is a LONG drive. About 7.5 hours from Detroit. TRUE- the amenities are a little lacking presently, BUT they are building a new clubhouse, which I hear will just be amazing. In time! TRUE- the conditions weren't 100% pristine. Well, there was a major hail storm in the Marquette area 3 weeks ago that the course is recovering from (think 1,000s of hail marks on every green...), also it was a little browned out due to a recent lack of rain in the UP, so they'd been letting the rough/fringe areas grow out a bit. (on some holes, the best play is to roll it up the side hill/fringe area and trickle down to the hole, some balls were getting hung up in the fringe when I played). Either way, this is the second best course I've ever played, behind only Pinehurst No. 2. I LOVE GREYWALLS!


OPENING TEE SHOT
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#1, GREEN LOOKING BACK TO TEE
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TEE SHOT FROM #5, 317 YDS, MUST CARRY ABOUT 190 TO GET UP HILL
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BEHIND GREEN #5
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PAR 3 #6
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#7 490 YDS, BEAUTIFUL SPLIT FWY
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#8 GREEN
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BEST VIEW ON THE COURSE, APPROACH TO #9
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#11 TEE, THOSE BUNKERS ARE GINORMOUS!
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LONG PAR 5 #13
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240 YARD PAR 3 #15, SOOO LOVED THIS HOLE
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OVERLOOKING THE GREEN AT 17
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HOLE 18, 555 YARD PAR 5. DOWNHILL INTO THE FAIRWAY, IT SEVERELY BOTTLENECKS AT ABOUT 280, THE HILLS KICK THE BALL TO THE CENTER, LEAVING ABOUT 230-240 TO THE GREEN. NOTICE THAT AFTER ABOUT 170 OUT FROM THE GREEN, THERE'S NOOOOOTHING THERE! ATTACK THE GREEN! VERY INTERESTING FINISHING HOLE.
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well, some of the pics are jumbled up after the 13th hole :/

Jon,

Looks awesome! Great pics too! Playing Black Lake tomorrow afternoon...

rich

The course looks great. A slope of 144 is pretty high, isnt it?

Whoa, that opening tee shot it breathtaking! I can imagine you'd be excited about your upcoming round if it starts off so stunningly!

I also like the pic from behind the #5 green. If you're a little long, you can doink your ball off the cliff wall, right?

cakewalk!

nice course... lovely pictures.

nice pics!

I've heard nothing but good things about that course.. and, was really close to getting up there this spring for an annual golf outting (which didn't happen). I've vowed to make it there, it's just a matter of time. And, of course, the pictures aren't helping. Might need to take a detour up that way this fall..

#5, is somewhat doinkable, but mainly the tee shot up the hill. Get it there and youve got at most a PW to the green. But there are at least 10 holes where the rocks come into play.



Bend, Ive heard some great, great, reviews about Black Lake, and obviously its ranked high, but Ive also heard its a bit overrated. Anyway, I cant wait to see the pics and the review. Actually, was going to play it on the way up, but they were booked, so I played Elk Ridge, just about 20 minutes down the road on 32. FAN-FREAKIN TASTIC, even, in the downpour I played in!

I played the course this past week and woah it is a monster. A lot of the locals prefer Timberstone that is in a nearby town a much better course than this. I agree with them as it is much more playable and enjoyable. My USGA Handicap is a 10 point something and I was happy with 94 LOL. Before the round I asked the member I was playing with (I am not a member) if anybody ever walked the course and he said we are today and away we went. A little gimicky but a great challenge and a great course.

I'm hoping to get a chance to play it this summer on my way to visit the in-laws in Munising. I'm sure Pictured Rocks Golf Club will be outstanding prep! I'll be hitting up the golf course at Great Lakes NTC and Erin Hills on my way up as well. Can't wait!

Interestingly, I just got back from the MQT. I still love this course. Its my #2 of all time fave behind... well THE #2.

Here's some updated pics, played in extremely different conditions as I did last year. Also played Timberstone. An extremely nice, more traditional and less severe course. I'll add a couple pics too.

There is also a new course in I believe Escanaba called Sweetgrass that is supposed to be just as good as these two. Opening this fall... it will make the UP even more of a golf destination.

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I know, lame, I had to delete the pics from this thread so I had room to post in newer ones. They were monstrously big and dont know how to resize so many quickly so....

I'll try and repost one of these days.

Upload them to photobucket. Then use the [img] code to post them here.

Image resizer along the left hand side http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloa...ppowertoys.mspx

Once installed you can highlight all your pics and choose resize. I usually choose large and it knocks 2 MB pics down to 150 KB in some cases.