Spruce Run Golf Course Review

Spruce Run Golf Course
Acme, Michigan
Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: A nice variety of holes in a pleasant parkland setting.

Spruce Run is one of three courses at the Grand Traverse Resort near Traverse City (the others are The Bear and The Wolverine). It is also the resort’s first, beginning life as a nine hole public course. In 1979, it was expanded to a 6, 741 yard par 72 renamed “The Resort Course.” That design was done by William Newcomb, the former University of Michigan golf coach who has designed many courses in the state, including Alpine and Monument at Boyne, Calderone and The Medalist.

In 1992, Spruce Run was shortened to a par 70 to accomodate The Wolverine. Its new name reflects the “numerous spruce and fir trees that line its fairways and greens,” according to the resort.

There is a lot of variety at Spruce Run. The parklands design is routed across moderately hilly terrain through meadows, past marshes and over water. I counted eight doglegs of varying degrees, and some two dozen fairway bunkers. Water comes into play on eleven holes, with five requiring carries. The carries are not overly long, but on occasion will bring a layup into the thought process.

I particularly enjoyed some of the holes with long, slow uphill climbs, such as three, five, fourteen, seventeen and eighteen. The rises were not so severe that they created awkward uphill lies; at the same time, they asked for some judgment about club selection.

For the most part, fairways at Spruce Run are wide, inviting a grip-it-and-rip-it style. Pay attention to the scorecard, though, as bunkers and hazards are often hidden.

Of note is that the routing at times is confusing. There is a juncture where the first green, second tee, eighth green, ninth tee and twelfth tee are all within a stone’s throw of each other. I got turned around after finishing the first and somehow ended up heading toward the eighth tee before realizing my mistake.

Spruce Run’s reputation is that of the easier course when compared to The Bear and The Wolverine, but I have not played the others and cannot say with any certainty.

I will note, however, that Spruce Run is objectively no pushover from the back tees. From the tips, this par 70 has a rating of 71.2 and a slope of 136. While the fairways are wide, the frequent water, fairway bunkers, cross slopes and elevation changes make Spruce Run a game of distances and angles.

My favorite hole was the par 4 fifth. Play dips down from an elevated tee, and then snakes its way upward to the green.

The right side is flanked by a small hillside, with fingers extending into the fairway at various points — most ominously on a direct line from the tee at just the right point to check up a drive.

An alternate route would be to play left of the hillside protusions. That makes the hole longer, though, and may even result in a poor line to the green.

The green is in a bit of a bowl, pinched front left and right by bunkers. The hillside on the right continues past the green and around the back.

I liked the decision off the tee: challenge the hill right for a slightly shorter and better path, or play more safely left for a longer, less advantageous line.

Spruce Run is a par 70. From the back tees, it comes in at a modest 6, 204 yards. Even so, it is on the more difficult side.

Conditions on the day I played were good, with a couple of exceptions. The fairway was bare in several spots I had the misfortune to roll out into. And, as it was the end of the season, the tee boxes on the par threes had taken quite a beating. Overall, it was well tended, if not at the “playing on a carpet” resort course level.

I enjoyed my play of Spruce Run, and wouldn’t mind going back. It gets extra points for being walkable, unlike a lot of Northern Michigan golf resorts.

The Spruce Run Golf Course Review was published on March 1, 2026 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the fall of 2025. For all of GolfBlogger’s Michigan golf course reviews, follow the link.

A photo tour of Spruce Run follows:

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