Playing Bello Woods, Riverside, Apple Mountain and Cheboygan C&CC

Playing Bello Woods, Riverside, Apple Mountain and Cheboygan C&CC

In recent weeks, I have added three new courses to my “collection” of 343 courses played and reviewed as well as revisiting another: Bello Woods, Riverside, Apple Mountain (pictured above) and Cheboygan Golf and Country Club.

Freeland’s Apple Mountain has long been on my need-to-play list, mostly because of the course’s ubiquitous presence at Michigan golf shows I’ve attended over the years.

Apple Mountain is a mostly flat residential course with homes in sight on nearly every hole. Water lurks everywhere. Bring extra balls on a first play.

The “Mountain” is a hill with a single ski lift. Two of the tee boxes are located on the hill; it otherwise is not in play. To be fair, it’s a pretty small hill, so there weren’t a lot of opportunities to use it.

Riverside, in Battle Creek, is a former country club that dates to 1926. It has quite a bit of old school charm and I had a good time playing it. The back nine is more interesting than the front, but that’s not to say the front is unworthy. I wouldn’t mind playing this one again.

Bello Woods

Bello Woods is at best forgettable. With its reasonable prices and three nines to play, I understand why locals might like it. For my part, however, I found it unkempt and overgrown. Fairways ranged from hard and bare to foot drenching soggy.

A full review is forthcoming, but — spoiler alert — I can’t recommend it.

The seventh at Cheboygan Golf and Country Club

My return visit was to Cheboygan Golf and Country Club. We had famimily up up at the cottage who wanted to play golf; Cheboygan was close, had open tee times and reasonable rates.

For some reason, I had somewhat negative memories of the course. I should have read my own review. In my Cheboygan Golf and Country Club review from 2019, I gave it a grade of a C+, which is a solid grade. On this subsequent play, I found it more open than I remembered on the back nine, with good course conditions throughout. The greens in particular were very smooth, although I never found the proper speed on them.

One regular at the course told me that the apocalyptic ice storm from the prevous winter brought down significant numbers of trees and branches. As with every course I’ve played in Northern Michigan this season, there were warnings about going into the woods after wayward balls; months later, there still are branches in the trees that could fall and cause an injury.

The loss of trees and branches may have been a blessing in disguise. Clearing trees can let more light onto the fairways, encouraging healthy growth. Tree removal also can open lines of play, offering players more strategic options.

Whether a figment of my imagination, or actual fact, Cheboygan seemed more open.

That said, I still identified numerous trees that — if I were the owners — I would remove to improve lines of play. The twelfth, in particular could be widened through the tee corridor.

All that said, had a good time on my return to Cheboygan. I won’t wait years until I make another visit.

I’ll have full reviews of the others in due course.