The second stop on our golf trip was at Grand Traverse Resort, which isn’t far from Traverse City. It was the further point north we went this week and it was tough for me to turn around and head south so soon into the trip! It seems there are many high-quality courses wherever you look in Michigan, including plenty of options around this area.

We picked Grand Traverse for a couple reasons. First, there are three courses to pick from and second, Traverse City wasn’t far from Arcadia. That meant we could stay in the same hotel for two nights. Something I value a lot on a whirlwind road trip. Plus, from what I read, one of the courses – the Bear – gets ranked among the top public courses in the state. More on the Bear in the next post though.

The other two courses at Grand Traverse are the Wolverine course and the Spruce Run course. Wolverine is a Gary Player Signature course, so it interested us more than Spruce Run. We went with Wolverine in the morning and Bear – a Nicklaus Signature course – in the afternoon.

We got started on Wolverine about 9 A.M. on Memorial Day. Surprisingly, we didn’t see many golfers during our round. A couple groups warming up on the range played the Bear, so I think that is the resort’s most popular course. We took our time and played in well under four hours, which left plenty of time for a tasty lunch on the clubhouse patio.

While the course’s name of “Wolverine” sounds intimidating and difficult I found it to be the most playable and relaxing course of the eight on our trip. From the blue tees the rating is 71.8 and the slope is 138 (par-72 at 6,498 yards). Normally my game will suffer with that high of a slope, but I didn’t find the layout as challenging as the slope indicates. I’ll admit a handful of holes can cause problems and the greens are tough to read, but the fairways are wide and there is plenty of space to find a foul ball.

Wolverine has a great look to it. The holes are a mix of parkland style and wetlands style. Overall, the setting here reminded me of the Pacific Northwest, just without the large Douglas fir trees. Many holes have some minor elevation change and from the 7th hole onward, the up and down to the holes was a positive aspect.

When it comes to scoring, the par-5’s are shorter and can be reached with a good tee shot. The par-3’s are more difficult, but picturesque. The 9th and the 14th are both 163 yards and play downhill about a club. The 9th is framed by woods while the 14th looks to have a newer orchard in the background. I thought the par-4 16th, at 439 yards, was the most difficult hole. The tee shot plays uphill before the hole doglegs to the right, around a large tree. The best tee shot will be just to the left of the tree before the fairway releases down towards the green. The green is elevated, making for a tough approach shot.

The conditions on Wolverine were great and for $80 it was a good value. As you’ll see in the pictures all the turf was lush and the course was receptive to shots. The greens rolled well and got faster as the day went along. The only concern was catching a shot fat if I ended up in an area that didn’t drain well. It appears the course is getting watered frequently since it is unusually dry so far this year.

I found Wolverine to be fair all around with some challenging and rewarding elements to it. The course has a friendly resort feel which usually helps for a vacation round. I do think the course is missing a short par-3 and a signature hole. I wouldn’t travel to Michigan specifically to golf here, but if you are going to add Grand Traverse Resort into a golf trip – like us – then I’d recommend it.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):