The Chief Golf Course Review

The Chief Golf Course
Bellaire, Michigan
Grade: C+
Teachers’ Comments: Not a fan of the design; too many forced carries, tight shots and unpleasant lies.

The Chief is a woodlands course that is routed over rugged terrain near Bellaire, Michigan. It was built in 1996 from a design by John Robinson, whose work is perhaps better known in Canada.

My lasting impression of The Chief is of an unending series of forced carries. If the forced carry wasn’t on the tee shot, it was on the approach. Add to that some tight lanes and it plays even harder than its 145 (from the back tees) slope suggests.

Mind you, that’s a 145 on a par 71 that tops out at 6, 482 yards.

It’s hard. And not in a good way.

The first two holes set the tone. The Chief opens with a tee shot to a landing zone that probably requires no more than a hybrid for most players. From there, the fairway makes a right hand turn for a few yards, and then disappears down a steep slope festooned with wild grasses before rising up again to the green. All carry on that second shot.

The second requires a long tee shot over a marsh, and then — to double down — a long carry on the approach over a ravine. My partner lost three balls on this hole: one on the tee shot; the second when he pulled his ball left on the second shot, and the third into the ravine on the approach. When I saw him lose a ball on the approach, I took three extra clubs and slammed my ball into the hill behind the green just to make sure I didn’t fall short.

The next three holes were a bit of a respite, but then The Chief doubled down with a vengeance.

I just didn’t find it fun.

From a design point of view, I think any hole with a forced carry should have a spot to bail out, with a theoretical half- or full-shot penalty. Let a player decide whether to “go for it” or lay up to a less advantageous, but still safe position.

My favorite holes at The Chief were the third and fourth, which were open, graceful designs, with threatening bunkers and interesting elevation changes. Ditto the ninth.

Those were, however, uncharacteristic of the course. The eighteenth for me offered the best of the rest.

The tee shot on eighteen is downhill, with just a small bit of depression to cover. It is relatively open and the landing zone is generous. From there, the hole turns left and uphill.

From the top of the hill, it’s a straight shot into a relatively flat green.

On this hole, a weak or offline tee shot could add an additional stroke to the scorecard. Ditto a poor second. But there are not any forced carries, or encroaching areas that would result in a lost ball.

The Chief is a par 71 that plays a seemingly reachable 6, 482 yards from the back tees. Don’t be deceived by the yardage, though. As noted before, the slope is 145 from those tees. Even the gold tees, which come in at 5, 363 play with some difficulty at a 129 slope.

Play The Chief forward.

Conditions on the day I played were good. From tee to green, it was about what I would expect from a resort course. But as with many courses I have played in recent years, it could use a healthy dose of chain saw. Too many of the forced carries were unnecessarily complicated by overhanging branches.

Although I love Northern Michigan golf in general, I don’t think I would return to The Chief. There are too many more enjoyable courses with the same hilly, wooded landscapes.

The Chief Golf Course review was first published on GolfBlogger.Com on December 6, 2025 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2025. For a list of all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan Golf Course Reviews, follow the link.

A photo tour of The Chief follows.

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