Black River Country Club Golf Course Review

Black River CC
Port Huron, MI
Grade: C
Teacher’s Comments: A classic course that just needs a little more TLC.

Black River Country Club, in Port Huron, is a classic parklands design dating to 1926. 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.

The course is like a lot of Michigan courses of that era, with a routing that goes from heights overlooking a small river valley, down to the lower flood plains. Western is routed like that. So is Rouge Park. And Atlas Valley. And Blythefield. And Flushing Valley. And more.

Threats of flooding aside, such land forms serve well as golf courses. The valley — however shallow — presents elevation changes; bends carved by the river on both high and low plains can be used for interesting lines of play; and on occasions (though not at Black River) the river offers interesting crossings.

Black River is on the right side of the river. Part of the adjacent Elks Lodge course can be seen in the lower left.

I enjoyed the layout at Black River quite a bit. While many of fairways are just straight shots, there are some deliciously quirky holes that make it worth playing. A couple follow the bend of the river. Others either start in the plain to climb to the ridge, or vice versa. A couple more traverse the ridge laterally.

One of those quirky holes is the tenth, which features a tee shot over a service road, before bending left to the hole. Another is the downhill par 3 eleventh, which has a series of grass berms and bunkers protecting the approach. I can’t recall anything quite like it.

A view from the fairway on Black River’s par three eleventh.

From a design point of view, I could play Black River quite a lot and not get bored. There were several holes there that I’d like another crack at.

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).

Eighteen at Black River is a 537-yard par 5.

My favorite hole was the par five eighteenth. It starts off with a straight tee shot through a tight line of trees. I didn’t love that — the trees really need to be trimmed back. But from the second shot, it opens up, and the fun begins.

A view from the fairway on Black River’s eighteenth

The first two thirds of the hole are on the lower level of the river valley, with a crossing over a small creek area. It then takes a sidestep to the right, and finishes atop the ridge.

It is unexpected, and fun.

From the back tees, Black River comes in at 6, 501 yards. All told, there are three tees.

Tee	Yardage	Slope	Rating
Black	6, 501	129	71.6
White	6, 254	127	70.5
Green	5, 510	127	72.7

Conditions on the day I played were just adequate. The fairways were mostly covered with green stuff, much of which was not grass. There were bare spots, too. I lost a ball in a swamp in the middle of a fairway with what I assume was a broken irrigation pipe. I saw the ball in the middle, but when I put my foot near the edge of the wet area, it sunk up to the edges of my shoes. It also smelled abominable. I didn’t have a ball retriever, so I left it, three quarters embedded.

As with a lot of courses I have played recently, I think much could be done with the judicious use of a chainsaw. Branches and trees that have encroached need to be removed, not only for play, but also to let some light onto the areas of the course that are struggling to grow grass.

During my round, several otherwise brilliant shots were rejected by rude branches that had no business being where they were.

I am not a particular fan of the treeless plain look — especially in areas where woodlands are the predominant biome (as in most of Michigan). That said, Black River Country Club could use some lumber work.

Still, I quite enjoyed my round at Black River Country Club. I would have loved to play it when it was in its glory days, but it was still worth the visit.

The Black River Country Club Golf Course Review was first published December 4, 2025 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2025.

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