Playing Belvedere, Black River and The Chief

In recent days, I’ve played two new courses and returned to a classic.

The classic is Belvedere (pictured above), which I think is in the conversation for the best publicly accessible golf course in Michigan. The Willie Watson-designed course dates to 1925, and has all the hallmarks of a course of that vintage. It has hosted the Michigan Amateur forty times, and was the summer home course of golf Hall-of-Famer Tom Watson during his youth.

Watson has named it as his third favorite course behind Augusta National and Pebble Beach. If you’re lucky, you might see him on one of his trips to the club.

The club did a restoration of the course in recent years, based on Willie Watson’s original drawings, which were found during the demolishment of an old building in nearby Charlevoix. You can read more, and a review of Belvedere at the link.

Pictured above is the diabolical short par four sixteenth, with its green perched above the fairway. You have to be either very good, or very lucky to come away from there with a birdie or par.

I think Belvedere is wonderful, and would play more often if it was closer to GolfBlogger Summer Headquarters and a little bit cheaper.

Black River Country Club is another classic course, dating to 1926. According to the Golf Club Atlas, the original nine were designed by Fred Riggin, with Wilfrid Reid and William Connellan contributing the second nine. Later revisions were done by William Diddel.

I enjoyed the layout quite a bit. While many of fairways are just straight shots, there are some deliciously quirky holes that make it worth playing.

Wilfrid Reid designs are becoming favorites of mine. The original nine at Indian River, my Up North home course, are Reid’s original work. I have also enjoyed his designs at Indianwood, Brae Burn, Flushing Valley and Bald Mountain (even if the course conditions sometimes let Reid down).

Unfortunately, Black River is one of those. A crew needs to go through with a chainsaw and cut some of the branches back. I think that would also help some of the fairway growth issues. Much of Black River was not grass, but mowed weeds. I’d compare it not to a country club, but to a low- to mid-level muni in that respect.

Still, I had fun and am glad I added it to my “collection” of courses.

The Chief, hole 10

I did not, however, particuarly enjoy The Chief. Located in Bellaire, The Chief is a longtime fixture in Northern Michigan golf.

My issues with the course are that it is 1) disjointed 2) tricked up and 3) just plain mean. Miss the fairway by a yard or so, and your ball bounds off down a hillside never to be seen again. Uphill tee shots require long high carries to avoid slamming into the face of a canyon wall. Awkward approach angles, unpredictably interrupted fairways and blind shots add to the chaos.

The tone was set by what I think just might be the worst opening hole I’ve played in recent years: a short par four that asks for an iron or hybrid to a small landing zone on a hill, then turning 90 degrees right and asking for an iron over a steep, downhill precipice. It is like opening a round with two par threes.

The random guy I was paired with was a decent ball striker, but he was having no fun at all. Perhaps on a second play, with some more course knowlege, it would be better.

I’ll have a full review later, but I can’t recommend it.