Betsie Valley Golf Course Review

Betsie Valley Golf Course
Thompsonville, Michigan
Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: A pleasant resort course that gets extra points for allowing walkers.

Betsie Valley is one of two courses at Crystal Mountain resort in Thompsonville, Michigan. A parklands layout ,it originally was designed by Bob Meyer in 1977. A major renovation was conducted in 2021 – 2022, led by architect A. John Harvey.

The front nine is flat, routed around large areas of marsh. There are two carries to navigate, but for the most part, the marsh is off to the side.

The back nine is hillier, beginning with a steep uphill tee shot on ten. Fourteen and fifteen also have steep slopes. The remainder are more gentle, only occasionally requiring a club up or down. Marsh appears on the edges of two holes, but should be out of play for all but the worst shots.

Betsie Valley is in many ways the prototypical “B” side resort course, with relatively wide fairways and unfussy greens. A couple of the holes will get a player thinking, but if you’re playing the proper tees, it is all straightforward. It’s a course that, I think, was meant to be fun and relaxing, and it achieves that.

For what it’s worth, the “A” course at Crystal Mountain is Mountain Ridge, which is significantly longer with a higher slope and rating down the line. That course was built in 1995 from a Bill Newcomb design and has hosted the Michigan PGA Women’s Open for decades.

I have not played Mountain Ridge, but to say that Betsie Valley is the “B” side is not intended as a slight. I will point out that Rod Stewart’s Maggie May was the B side of Reason To Believe. Bill Wither’s Ain’t No Sunshine was the B side to Harlem. Strawberry Fields was the B side to Penny Lane.

Hopefully, I’ll get to Mountain Ridge sooner rather than later.

Betsie Valley gets bonus points for being walkable. There are just two spots — on the tenth and fifteenth — that might be challenging. If you’re doing just nine the front side is an easy stroll in the park.

From the back tees, Betsie Valley is not notably long at 6, 527 yards. From the more reasonable middle tees, it is just under 6,000 and plays to a reasonable slope of 124.

My favorite hole at Betsie Valley was the 339-yard par 4 fifth. The hole has a short carry over a marshy pond off the tee, and that same body of water runs the entire right side of the hole.

The landing area is much more generous than it appears off the tee. I found rough to the right, but it was not particularly penal. The left side of the fairway is guarded by a long, snaking bunker.

The approach shot is to an elevated green over another sliver of the pond that runs down the right side. I am not usually a fan of forced carries because it stifles options and creativity, but in this case, a decent tee shot leaves a short approach. Short approaches mean that a player can concentrate on which side of the green to attack.

Conditions on the day I played were middling. I found large sections of damaged fairways and greens. Frankly, I expected more from a resort course.

I had fun at Betsie Valley and because I was able to use my First Tee of Northern Michgan card to play for $39, thought it was a great bargain. I played through a couple of groups of senior and women golfers on that day, and they all seemed to be having fun.

The Betsie Valley Golf Course review was first published on GolfBlogger.Com on January 15, 2026 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the 2025 season. For all of GolfBlogger’s golf course reviews, follow the link.

A photo tour of Betsie Valley follows:

Related