https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers daily 0.75 2026-04-03 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/how-to-use-ai-to-create-a-art-file-worthy-logo monthly 0.5 2026-04-03 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/our-take-on-custom-headwearapparel-in-breweries monthly 0.5 2026-01-22 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/our-take-on-custom-headwear-in-sports-leagues-amp-groups monthly 0.5 2026-01-19 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/our-take-on-custom-headwear-for-online-retailers-amp-content-creators monthly 0.5 2026-01-22 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/our-take-on-custom-headwear-for-eventsoutings monthly 0.5 2026-01-22 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/custom-headwear-in-the-golf-industry-from-our-view monthly 0.5 2026-01-22 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-emerald-vale monthly 0.5 2025-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/2a24d140-8f8b-44a4-930d-fd3eb9935b12/EV%231.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The opening hole at Emerald Vale is a slight dogleg right, with trouble looming on both sides of the fairway. Off the tee, the left bunker—right where the tee box points you—is just 190 yards out, with hardwoods trailing behind it. This is not where you want to miss. On the right, a grouping of trees starts around 200 yards from the tee and continues to about 240. The ideal corridor off the tee is between the solo tree on the left (just right of the bunker) and that right-side tree line. Personally, I often find myself in the left rough—but that’s perfectly fine, as it still offers a good angle into a receptive green with no trouble short. The green complex slopes from the front-left corner to the back-right, but since it sits well below the fairway, don’t expect much rollout on a well-struck approach. If you're between clubs, I’d lean short—better to be chipping from the front than flirting with the pine trees behind the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/aed4db61-6b45-4819-b5a8-5a3a802e4cfe/EV%232.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out At 562 yards, the par-5 2nd at Emerald Vale demands three well-struck shots just to reach the green in regulation. It’s one of the toughest driving holes on the course because of all the trouble lurking in the landing zone. The fairway is at its widest—32 yards—between 190 and 230 yards off the tee. But from there, it tightens dramatically, pinching to just 14 yards between two bunkers at the 240-yard mark. These bunkers aren’t just eye candy, either; they’ve got big, steep lips that limit your ability to advance the ball if you end up in one. Go long and left, and you’ll find hardwoods that completely block your angle up the fairway unless you can shape a hard right to left shot. A miss right gives you a better angle—for a bit—until you're blocked by another stand of trees about 265 yards from the tee. All of this adds up to a clear choice: -Lay up short of 240 to the fat part of the fairway, or -Get aggressive and take on all the risk. Old, naive me? I used to blast driver and live with the consequences. More mature, 31-year-old me? I’ll hit 5-wood off the tee, then another fairway club to try and get close to the 100-yard marker. I can’t count how many times I’ve messed up this hole by getting greedy and found myself 2 or 3 over after 2 holes and needing to par out to shoot under 40 on the front. The hole slopes downhill and to the left almost the entire way—and it feels like it goes on forever. Trouble lines the entire left side, but things open up a bit on the right once you’re inside 200 yards. The green is massive—45 yards deep—and they’re not shy about using all of it. It slopes right to left, so make sure you've got your yardage dialed in for your approach. I’d argue this is one of the toughest holes at Emerald Vale. If you walk away with a par here, you’re definitely ahead of the curve. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/2418b13e-0e46-4326-b05f-40123ea7374c/EV%233.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out After the ass-kicking most golfers take on the 2nd hole, the short par-4 3rd is the perfect “get right” opportunity. This is another hole where I leave the driver in the bag—and I’d recommend the same for anyone who can reach the right-side bunker at 226 yards. The left side is tree-lined with large pines, so it’s smarter to aim up the right side. If you miss, miss right—not left. A smooth 200–220 yard tee shot will leave you with a wedge into an oval-shaped green. Just one major warning: you absolutely cannot miss long. The only other bit of trickery comes from a subtle spine on the green that runs from the middle-left down to the front-left. If the pin is placed on or near this ridge, putting can get dicey. If you have to putt over it, tread carefully—speed control is everything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/016f8a8b-2a38-4ec9-9661-ec8dae15d74f/EV%234.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The tee shot on the tough par-4 4th hole is what makes or breaks your success here. It’s a dogleg left, but the turn doesn’t start until around the 220-yard mark. Before that, you're aiming straight down a narrow chute between trees that line both sides of the fairway. A dead-straight shot runs out of room at 255 yards, so a right-to-left ball flight is definitely preferred. The key is simply to make it past the dogleg—do that, and you can survive from there. Big hitters can take aim over the left corner, but be warned: you’ll need to carry the ball at least 240 yards, and that shot has to clear an 80-foot tree. It’s high-risk, moderate-reward. The green is fairly large with a few distinct sections, but the center works well for just about any pin placement. And like most holes at Emerald Vale, short is a better miss than long. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1bf4dd00-5e82-45e1-9ee2-279cba21952f/EV%235.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out When mapping this hole out before writing this review, I had to triple-check to confirm it actually plays uphill—about 7 feet from tee to green. Based on my memory, I never would have guessed that. The green is large but visually deceptive, tucked behind a sizable bunker that dominates your view off the tee. From the back side of that bunker, the green slopes downhill before flattening out and then gradually rising again toward the back edge. Staying consistent with the theme at Emerald Vale, long is a bad miss here—four large pines guard the back of the green and make for a tough up-and-down. The hole also slopes somewhat severely from right to left. Take all that into account and your best play is to hit something safely to the middle of the green, two-putt, and walk off with your par. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/83adf47f-678a-4fda-a312-2d7a237e9581/EV%236.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The par-4 6th looks pretty friendly from the tee—and it is, as long as you find the fairway. Anywhere else, and you’re facing an uphill battle to score well. The left side is wide open until about 230 yards, where hardwoods come into play. These trees block your angle into the green unless you’re safely in the fairway. I’ve marked this area yellow to show where you're likely blocked out. I still remember a high school tournament where I missed left and had to chip the ball straight right—and slightly backward—just to get a clear shot at the green. This might tempt you to favor the right side, but there’s trouble there too. A creek at 255 yards keeps me from pulling driver, but I still need to clear the bunker at 200 yards. I almost always go with my 220 club to land in the fattest part of the fairway. The approach plays about 10 feet uphill, so be sure to tack on an extra 3–4 yards. I prefer missing right over left and usually take a pretty aggressive line into this green. It slopes steeply from back to front, and missing just left or right often kicks the ball toward the center. You can swing confidently here—you don’t need to be perfect. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0b0eb998-ba17-4cbf-b3ae-bfbb10d6f078/EV%237.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out As a lefty who prefers to hit a right-to-left shot off the tee... I hate this tee shot. The par-5 7th is a dogleg right that wraps around a set of bunkers—212 yards to reach, 245 to carry. I can carry that bunker, but the tee box is tucked so tightly next to trees on the right that I don’t have much room to hit the shot I’m comfortable with. I could aim farther left and play it safer, but that brings a set of pine trees through the fairway into play. This hole is my nemesis—it even finds a way to punish my well-struck shots. I have to believe most golfers should pull driver here, but for me, it’s usually not the right play. One thing we can all agree on: don’t miss right of the right bunkers. That’s where the long, gnarly heather lies in wait, ready to swallow golf balls whole. Past the bunkers, the fairway slowly narrows until it becomes very tight around the 80-yard mark. The smart layup zone is somewhere between 110 and 80 yards. This hole is lined with long heather so try to keep in down the middle. The green is large and slopes from back to front. The right half sits below a hillside, making it completely blind unless you're coming in from the far left side of the fairway. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/382deab1-05bd-4ccd-afe5-65e482b1944b/EV%238.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The 8th might be the best hole at Emerald Vale. It’s been interesting to watch this hole “grow up” over the years. What used to be an open field with saplings on the left has transformed into a dense stand of tall trees—completely blocking the once-clear view of the green from the tee. That change adds a layer of mystery, especially for first-time players. The tee shot gives you options, but the key is staying short of or away from the water. The pond begins about 240 yards out from the blue tees at its closest point. You can either lay back and hug the left side or take driver and aim down the right side of the fairway—away from the green on this dogleg left. There’s plenty of room out there, as the fairway doesn’t end until around 290 yards. Personally, I like to keep it short of the water. I came here to golf, not swim. The green complex is large and slopes left to right. There’s ample room to miss left or short, but long is sneakily the worst miss—the pond wraps behind the green and sits just a few paces beyond it. From the fairway, the water long is mostly hidden, which makes it even more dangerous. The right bunker isn’t ideal, but since you’ll be hitting into an upslope, you’ve got a good chance to get out unscathed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/267304e5-7eec-4e10-87bf-a2eac5dc9143/EV%239.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The 9th is a fitting end to the tougher of the two nines. This uphill par 3 doesn’t offer much to look at—just bunkers left and right, and not much room for error. The elevated terrain on the left side of the hole hides part of the green from view, but the good news is that it slopes dramatically down toward the putting surface. I’ve seen plenty of fortunate bounces from over there. The right bunker runs nearly the entire depth of the green, and honestly, I find it more often than the green itself. Miss even farther right, and you're in real trouble. Picture this: you're under overhanging branches with a long bunker between you and the green. Easy shot, right? The safe play is just left of center. Don’t be afraid to club up a bit to account for the elevation. This amphitheater-style green is pretty forgiving—especially if you’re long or left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d373c731-34f7-46eb-8767-c46514b6a546/EV%2310.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out When comparing the front nine and back nine, I find the back nine to be quite a bit easier overall. What’s odd about that, though, is the fact that the 10th hole is definitely the hardest hole on the entire course. It just goes to show—if you can survive the 10th, you're setting yourself up for a great back nine! The long par-4 10th starts with a fantastic elevated tee box, sitting about 30 feet above the fairway. While the view gives you a clear sense of what’s required for a successful shot, execution is always the tougher part of that equation. Trees line the entire left side of the hole, but they're hard to reach since the tee box sets you up from the far right side. The right side is more forgiving—until around the 230-yard mark, where dense vegetation takes over the rough. That’s the number one spot to avoid off the tee. Your ideal aim point is the left edge of the big red barn. The approach shot plays about 10 feet uphill, so it’s smart to add an extra 5 yards to your distance to compensate. My biggest concern here is missing long and right of the green. As a left-handed player, my misses to the right tend to carry a little further—and unfortunately, that quickly brings some tall grass into play. The bunkers might look intimidating, but they’re actually a much better miss than ending up long and right, which I (wrongly) tend to prefer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e99fa89f-e97f-4a21-95ab-096c195e85dd/EV%2311.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The 11th is a shorter par 4 that punishes golfers who mindlessly reach for the driver and don’t have a plan of attack. Off the tee, you’ll likely feel a bit claustrophobic—the overhanging hardwoods just right of the tee box intrude on your line of sight and eliminate any chance of hitting a comfortable right-to-left shot. The obvious solution might seem to be aiming at the left side of the fairway—but that’s where trouble starts for the average golfer. The pine trees on the left are well within reach, and even if you don’t hit them directly, they can block your angle to the green. The trick here is to tee up from the far left side of the box and take on the right half of the fairway. There’s plenty of room to work with—up until about the 280-yard mark. The green is quirky in a good way. It slopes from front to back on the first half, then from back to front on the second half—kind of like a “grandma-approved” halfpipe. The entire complex also tilts slightly left to right, following the natural fall of the hillside. Because of this, hitting the middle of the green is your safest bet—it’ll leave you with an uphill putt no matter where the pin is. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1f0fed51-9be1-4007-8853-070ce3dac6b8/EV%2312.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out As a kid, this was my favorite hole for the longest time. It was one of the few par 3s I could actually reach with my 16° kids driver. At 138 yards and playing over 30 feet downhill, I didn’t even need to make perfect contact and my ball would still roll somewhere close to the green. These days, driver is definitely too much club. Factoring in the downhill slope, the hole plays closer to 130 yards. The green itself is massive—about 40 yards deep—so getting an accurate number is key. Otherwise, you might find yourself facing a 100-foot putt off what felt like a solid swing. Visually, the right bunker looks like trouble, but I’d take that lie any day over missing left. The left side can be a real hazard depending on the season: sometimes it’s under water, and other times it’s covered in the thickest grass on the course. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/9068a28d-8e0e-4a32-8349-346261b7a2bc/EV%2313.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The 13th is one of my favorite holes at Emerald Vale. This short, dogleg-left par 5 is all about risk-reward decisions—and your ability to recover if things don’t go your way. The hole bends around a massive tree located about 220 yards from the tee box. To challenge it, you’ll need to carry the ball at least 250 yards. If you can pull it off, you’ll have less than 200 yards into a very reachable green. But be warned: trees line both sides of the fairway, and if you miss your line, you're basically playing plinko through the woods. I still remember a round where I thought I’d hit a perfect drive over that big tree. At the last second, it clipped one of the final branches and kicked hard left. I found my ball nestled right against a trunk—no swing possible. In a frustrated moment of genius (or madness), I attempted a bank shot off the tree to get back in play. It actually worked—but I didn’t move fast enough and the ball clipped me. Fun fact: that’s a penalty. Fortunately, it was match play. I just forfeited the hole... and had a bruise on my hip for a week. For most golfers, the smart play is to hit something around 200 yards to the right of the big tree. That’ll land you in the widest part of the fairway with about 250 yards to the pin. Since the fairway ends about 210 yards out from there, just hit something less than 200 on your second shot and you’ll be left with a comfortable wedge into the green. The green itself is friendly—sloping left to right off the backside of the left bunker and tilting gently back to front. It's very receptive to incoming shots, so don’t feel pressure to be perfect with your approach. I can’t stress this enough: keep it in play and this hole becomes very gettable. I once had such a rough go on this hole that I walked back and replayed it out of spite—8-iron off the tee, 8-iron for my second, and a 9-iron into the green. Simple as that. Stay out of the trees and good things will happen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/9c2722dd-d219-4086-aa0d-17bda6ae99eb/EV%2314.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out I think the next time I play this hole, I’m just going to close my eyes, reach into my bag, and pull out a random club to tee off with. Normally, when I do all the background work for these blog posts, the best strategy on each hole becomes pretty clear. But the 14th at Emerald Vale? It's here to test your patience—and your decision-making—for eternity. No matter how many times I play it, I still can’t settle on the “right” way to attack it. The smart play is straightforward: hit something around 200 yards and leave yourself a comfortable 100-yard wedge into a pretty receptive green. But where’s the fun in that? My subconscious screams at me to go for more... and yet, I know it’s probably not worth the risk. Okay, enough about my internal chaos—let’s break down the hole. The 14th is a short par 4, only 300 yards, but don’t let that fool you. It’s guarded by bunkers short of the green and framed by trouble on both sides. The tee box sits 44 feet above the green, and the fairway is at its widest about 180 yards out. From there, it narrows until it ends completely at 230 yards. Trees line both sides, and trust me—neither side offers much of a recovery option. So really, it boils down to a simple choice: do you go for the green and hope to thread the needle? Or do you take the “boring”—I mean, smart—approach and hit something under 200 down the pipe? The green itself is friendly enough, sloping back to front with no major tricks. It's gettable—as long as you give yourself a decent look. I’d love to hear what other golfers choose on this one and how it works out. Y’all know where I stand… or at least how conflicted I am about it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5eff4811-62bf-41c9-b553-06911bc73e36/EV%2315.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out After all the indecision on the 14th, the 15th feels like a breath of fresh air. From a strategy standpoint, it’s about as straightforward as it gets. This short-ish par 4 continues the familiar theme: stay out of the trees, and good things will follow. A slightly elevated tee gives you a clear view of the hole—an uphill climb to the green and a fairway bunker on the right at around 250 yards. That bunker marks the boundary. Stay short of it, and the landing zone opens up as wide as it gets. I usually go with my 230-yard club off the tee to take the trouble out of play. The green is elevated and slopes from the back-left corner to the front-right. If you're going to miss on your approach, miss left—you’ll have a downhill chip, but it’s much better than missing short or right. The front-right bunker is deep and, in my opinion, one of the toughest on the course to escape from cleanly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/6f672869-16e8-44f0-8553-f99009328a63/EV%2316.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out I love being able to see actual numbers behind how I remember a course’s topography. Usually, my memory holds up pretty well at Emerald Vale—but this hole kind of blew my mind. I had to triple-check my math when I saw that this hole ascends 48 feet from tee to green. I always knew it was uphill, but nearly 50 feet? That surprised me. It does explain a lot, though. Despite this being just over 500 yards—a distance I can cover with two well-struck shots—I honestly don’t remember ever reaching this green in two. The 16th is dead straight, flanked by long grass on both sides, and plays like an uphill death march. You can’t see the green from the tee thanks to a large hill that begins 225 yards out and climbs 18 feet, peaking around the 150-yard marker. Anything further back than 180 yards and your view of the green is completely blocked. If your view is obstructed, use the pine trees behind the green to help line up your shot. The left edge of the middle pine tree marks the center of the green. From both the 150- and 100-yard markers, the green rises another 15 feet, so make sure to add about 5 yards to your approach to compensate. The green slopes steeply from back to front—so you definitely don’t want to go long. But the front bunkers are no joke either; they’re deep and demanding. A good rule of thumb here: shoot for the back edge of the green and play to that number. Factoring in the uphill, this approach gives you the best odds of actually holding the putting surface. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/327ecda9-1b14-4571-bc3d-622d7e7c1940/EV%2317.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The downhill 17th is one of those par 3s that shouldn't be too tough—but at this distance, even solid ball-strikers can see some wide shot dispersions. The front edge of the green is about 175 yards from the blue tees, which is typically the number I try to carry. With nearly 30 feet of downhill elevation, that 175 shot will often carry closer to 185 yards. That puts your landing zone right on the front half of the green, with plenty of room for the ball to release forward. However, this hole often plays into a hurting wind from the right, which can completely neutralize the effect of the downhill. Club selection here gets tricky, fast. The green is one of the largest on the course and isn't overly dramatic—there are plenty of subtle breaks, but nothing consistently severe or intimidating. As for misses, the worst spot is definitely right of the right-side bunker. That area is often beat up from cart traffic, and the long grass slopes down toward the green, leaving you with a downhill lie and a carry over the bunker. It’s a tough spot to recover from—definitely a shot you want to avoid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/88299924-b4b5-4e4d-ba2f-3545c6925c29/EV%2318.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Emerald Vale - Make it stand out The finishing hole at Emerald Vale is a solid test to close out your round. It’s the second-longest par 4 on the course and plays uphill from tee to green, with plenty of visual trouble to get in your head off the tee. Water begins creeping into the fairway starting about 240 yards from the blue tees. Fortunately, the fairway is at its widest right here—about 70 yards across. But as you move further up, the water keeps pushing in. By the time you're 270 yards out, the fairway narrows to just 42 yards wide. This visual pressure might tempt you to bail out left, but that’s not a great option either. There are small pot bunkers on the left side of the fairway, sitting between 192 and 248 yards from the tee. A few steps left of those bunkers, and you’re technically out of bounds—but it isn’t a property line, just the driving range. I say “technically” because, well... let’s just say I’ve “found” my ball over there and played on, though the white stakes didn’t exactly approve. You’ll have a shot at the green—just maybe not a clean conscience. Personally, I hit driver and aim at the left edge of the water. It's the bold line, but with a confident swing, it sets you up well. The approach plays slightly uphill and, like 17, usually into a hurting wind. The safe miss here is long—so take plenty of club and commit to the shot. Coming up short can bring nasty bunkers into play. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-bahle-farms monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/164f9d35-7c3a-4c6b-af34-ce65f4189e87/BF%231.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #1 376 Up 19’ from 150, up 14’ from 100 Green 25 yards deep The opening hole at Bahle is a great introduction to what you’re going to deal with for the next four hours. Fun fact: 11 out of the 13 par 4s and 5s at Bahle feature a downhill tee shot followed by an uphill approach. That means there's usually a flat zone somewhere in the fairway where the downhill ends and the uphill begins—and I'm here to argue that finding that flat spot is a key to scoring well at Bahle Farms. Sure, we can all handle some awkward uphill/downhill/sidehill lies. But the more of them you face, the higher your odds of messing one up. Consistency loves a level stance. Go ahead and smash driver off the first tee, but favor a miss to the left. Not only does the left side give you a better angle in, but once you're past the trees at around 210 yards, the fairway opens up into a shared rough with the 10th hole—giving you more room to work with. The green complex is elevated by 10+ feet depending on your position in the fairway, so don’t forget to add a few extra yards to your approach. Anything just short finds a false front and rolls off the front. The green slopes back-right to front-left, and if you miss right, there's a chance the ball could kick back onto the putting surface. Be extra cautious with a back pin. Anything just off the green long tends to run away fast, and it can make for a tricky up-and-down. For those with a rangefinder, shoot the front edge and the pin. Subtract the pin and the front edge and you know how much room you have to work with. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/41eca880-436b-408c-b1d2-40d78e17dd68/BF%232.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #2 489 52’ down from tee to 250 marker Up 20’ from 100, up 24’ from 150, up 20’ from 200 Green 35 yards deep The view from the tee on the elevated par-5 2nd is easily one of the best on the entire property. The 50-foot drop to the fairway gives you a little extra carry, making this a reachable par 5 for many players. Much like the first hole, you’ll want to favor a miss to the left off the tee. As long as your ball travels 200+ yards, it’ll carry the trouble and be in good shape—even if it’s not perfect. If you're laying up, the smart play is to get past the left fairway bunker. The green slopes severely right to left, and approaches from the right side of the fairway can be really tough to hold—even if you hit a great shot. For those going for it in two, the same advice applies: miss left if you’re going to miss. The left side gives you an uphill lie with a friendly slope to help keep your ball under control. Be sure to add 5 yards to your number to account for the uphill approach. The green itself has two strong slopes—back to front and right to left. We had a fairly friendly front-right pin, but anything in the back half of the green brings a lot more danger into play. It’s a short par 5, but don’t sleep on it—get out of position, and it can bite back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d2e025ef-62da-4253-a6d5-273ebf6cf9b6/BF%233.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #3 335 284 end of fairway Down 32’ tee to 100 yards Up 30’ from 100, up 39’ from 150 Green 27 yards deep The 3rd hole gives you another elevated tee shot, dropping 30+ feet to the fairway. Despite the dramatic view, the total elevation change from tee to green is only 2 feet, which can be deceptive. Off the tee, the left side of the fairway is blocked by a hillside, so your target should be the middle of the right greenside bunker. This line gives you plenty of margin on either side, as long as you don’t get too aggressive with club selection. The end of the fairway is at 285 yards, and with the downhill, it plays even shorter. The widest and flattest landing zone is between 110 and 80 yards, so ideally you’re looking for a 200–200 yard shot off the tee. I hit a 5-wood (not well) and missed left. Looking back, I wish I’d hit 4-iron. A well-struck 5-wood would’ve left me with a nasty uphill lie and a ¾ wedge. When combining an uphill stance with a slower swing, you’re looking at taking a 1 way trip to Chunkville. From the fairway, you can’t see the green. We had a left pin, but I had no clue until I drove the cart up. The left side of the green slopes hard back to front, while the right side is more subtle. From 100 yards out, you’re hitting to a green that’s 30 feet uphill. That’s at least an extra 10 yards—and even more if you’re not a high ball hitter. I didn’t score well here, but it’s a fun, well-designed hole that rewards smart planning and quality execution. Big fan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/18a5ac4a-26c5-47bf-aa01-e4044e9d7d9a/BF%234.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #4 182 164/200 Down 13’ tee to green Green 36 yards deep The only water hazard on the course separates the 4th tee box from the green, and it’s very much in play. From the blue tees, you’re looking at about 180 yards to the pin, with a carry of 150–168 yards over the water. The hole plays about 5 yards shorter thanks to the downhill, but that visual of water stretching in front of you has a way of getting in your head. It got in mine. I should’ve hit 7-iron, but the little voice in my head said to play it safe and hit a soft 6—"No reason to flirt with the water,” it said. I slightly pulled it, and the ball bounded past the right bunker and down into a low area. Not a good spot. A 7-iron would’ve been perfect. Lesson learned. The green slopes left to right, and based on pin position, your ideal miss changes: Front pin? Miss left for an easier chip or putt. Back pin? Miss right, as left leaves a much tougher up-and-down. Easy up and down from the bunker. This is a straightforward but mentally tricky par 3. Trust your number, commit to the shot, and don’t let the water play tricks on your club choice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b55026e2-0e1e-4c2d-8e0e-02e66c394738/BF%235.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #5 545 250 to right trees Left bunker 273 Lay up is 130 yards Up 8’ from 100, up 5’ from 150 Have to be left of left mow line off tee -15 from right tree on lay up Green 26 yards deep The long par-5 5th is a straightforward challenge for shorter hitters, but it leaves a tough decision for the big hitters. I absolutely smoked my drive on this hole—easily my best of the day—and was left with 260 yards to the pin. The problem? To reach the same tier as the green, I needed to carry it at least 240 yards in the air. Anything short kicks back into a low bowl of rough, sitting about 30 feet below the putting surface. I chickened out and laid up—supposedly the “safe” play. But here's the catch: the fairway ends at 100 yards from the green. But the downslope starts 130 yards from the hole. I flushed a pitching wedge, caught the downslope, and ended up on a 45° down/sidehill lie in the rough. Total disaster. Let’s break this down. Off the Tee: You want to aim more left than you'd expect. The right-side trees jump into play around 250 yards, so most golfers should aim at the left edge of the rough, or even just left of it, to give yourself a good angle and avoid trouble. Lay-Up Strategy: As mentioned, the fairway runs out at 100 yards, and that last 30 gets really dicey. A helpful tip: use your rangefinder to shoot the tree on the right edge of the fairway—that marks the end. Then subtract 30 yards to figure out a smart lay-up distance. Trust me—you don’t want to land on that slope. In hindsight? I should have just pulled 3-wood and tried to get it up near the green. It made me sick to hit a perfect drive and then have to finesse a less-than-pitching-wedge just to set up a playable approach. The Green: The putting surface slopes from back-right to front-left. Your safe miss is to the right, and there’s more room around the green than it appears from the fairway. It’s not as tight as it looks—just don’t overthink it. Moral of the story: Trust your swing, and if you go big off the tee, be ready to go big again. Don’t let a great drive go to waste. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c8991ba4-d485-4bf6-ad7c-d74799a53ed1/BH%236.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #6 171 Up 5’ tee to green 158/183 Not to throw shade at #6, but it’s probably the least memorable of Bahle Farms’ five standout par 3s. That said, don’t let the lack of flair fool you—this one is one of the more difficult on the course. This medium-length par 3 plays slightly uphill and is often into the wind, making it a real test. You’ve got to step up and make a committed, quality swing. The green has some serious tilt to it, sloping from back to front with a ridge in the back-middle. From that ridge, the green funnels both left and right, depending on where your ball ends up. The front bunker looks intimidating, but the real trouble is long and in the back bunker. Short is definitely better than long here, but make sure to take the elements into consideration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7004fb29-374b-4bbf-ae74-df329d80e957/BF%237.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #7 392 Left trees 272 230 to carry right bunkers Down 37’ to 150 and down 33’ to 100 Up 31’ from 150, up 28’ from 100 I can say without a doubt that #7 is my favorite hole at Bahle Farms. The overhead map doesn’t do it justice, so I’ve included a photo from my May round to help bring it to life. The right-side bunkers do a great job of messing with your head. They practically dare you to aim further left, which—paired with the prevailing right-to-left wind—can easily get you blocked out by the trees on the left. The best line? Aim at the lone pine tree just left of the fairway. The fairway pinches at 272 yards left and 240 yards right, so there’s an argument for leaving the driver in the bag. But standing on the tee, it definitely feels like a driver hole and our flat zone is between 140 and 100 yards. This is classic Bahle: a downhill tee shot followed by an uphill approach, and this might be the most intimidating one yet. The green sits 30 feet above the 100–150 yard approach zone, so club up by at least 10 yards. The green itself is two-tiered, divided by a 3.5-foot slope. We had a middle-left pin just onto the upper tier. I played a pitching wedge instead of a 9-iron—figuring I’d rather be short on the slope than risk going long left, which might be the worst miss on the course. I hit a solid shot that landed on the slope and trickled to the lower tier. Made the 5-footer to save par. No regrets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/3d7fb382-07c5-4d11-bd7e-cb97da5bcfed/BF%238.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #8 391 Down 56’ tee to green 230 to get past shoot Up 11’ from 100, up 3’ from 150 280 to barn I keep circling back to the round we just played—but hey, it’s fresh in my mind and helps bring these write-ups to life. The 8th hole almost earned the nickname “Barn Birdie”, but a missed 12-footer downgraded it to a less catchy “Barn Par.” This downhill par 4 drops at a consistent 8% grade for 270 yards, or 68’ for my non-math geeks. This much drop makes it a fun driving hole that starts in a chute of pines and opens up as you go. The left tree line ends at about 230 yards, so a miss left is much safer than flirting with OB right. Just one thing to watch out for: the old barn at 280 yards. Yep—that barn. Here’s the origin story of "Barn Par": Michael hit a pulled drive that was on a rocket towards the barn. Hit the barn on the one bounce and kicked 30 yards backwards. Measured with a rangefinder. He proclaimed that he’ll make birdie from there and then hi-fived me while proclaiming “barn birdie!” a quality 9 Iron from the rough and had a good look for the birdie… only to let us all down. The green is tucked behind the right bunker and pitches from back-right to front-left. The best miss is short and left, which gives you a straightforward up-and-down. This hole is awesome, just don’t get caught up in the right bushes that I was thankful to find my near OB tee shot but was humbled quickly when trying to escape said bushes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/01b4f50b-c334-44cc-a7d6-320ec6f3a110/BF%239.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #9 167 Down 20’ tee to green 156/176 For me, the 9th is the most memorable hole on the front side. Back in high school, I’m pretty sure we only played the front nine in tournaments, and this hole is burned into my memory. This downhill par 3 comes with one of the best visuals on the course: a steep hillside rising behind the green. It gives you the illusion that you could just nuke one 20 yards long and let it Plinko its way back down to the pin. It’s a great fantasy—but trust me, not a strategy to try in real life. That hillside? Closed for business. So we’ve got to avoid missing long, or we’ll be stuck with a nightmarish downhill chip that brings double bogey into play. The smart miss is short and right, which gives you a friendly upslope to work with. A miss left? Also bad news. Wind usually isn’t a huge factor here since the trees sit well above the green, but the downhill drop will take about 6–7 yards off your shot, so club accordingly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f568f983-9e29-4f11-a1e4-1272fa16dda3/BF%2310.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #10 388 300 end of fairway Down 4’ tee to green Up 33’ from 150, up 23’ from 100 We start the back nine in a familiar fashion—downhill tee shot, followed by an uphill approach. That’s the Bahle Farms special, after all. This hole runs parallel to Hole 1 and features a shared rough between the two holes. So, like #1, your miss off the tee should favor the shared side—which, in this case, means missing right instead of left, as long as you clear the trees that end at about 225 yards. The fairway runs out around 300 yards, so if you’ve got the juice, let the driver fly. Now for the approach: The flat spot in the fairway is way back—about 200 yards out. That means you’ll likely be dealing with an uphill lie, and uphill lies tend to launch the ball higher and pull it left(for righties). Make sure to adjust your aim accordingly. The green sits well above the fairway, so you’ll want to add 11 yards from 150 out, and 8 yards from 100. Club up based on the pin position, but the general rule here is: Short is better than long Right is better than left Play smart and stay below the hole when you can—there’s plenty of golf left, and this one can sneak up on you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/cb2be22d-9e07-4bac-8fc8-29063d7b69db/BF%2311.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #11 171 Down 57’ tee to green 153/185 The forecast for our Bahle Farms round was sketchy at best, but we had a delivery nearby and weren’t about to skip the chance to play. We lucked out on the front nine with decent weather, but by the time we made the turn, things got pretty miserable. Props to the pro shop, though—they handed us a 30% off voucher for our next round just because we gutted it out instead of bailing for a rain check. That said, our enthusiasm for the back nine was enough to push through, and #11 did not disappoint. From the tee, you’re staring at a massive 57-foot drop to the green. My rangefinder gave me 159 yards to the front pin, but with the downhill, it played more like 131. I hit a shot that carries 135, and it ended up 15 feet past—so shoutout to modern tech for nailing the adjustment. There was zero wind when we played it, but I’d imagine it often plays into a breeze. Here's a tip: downhill + hurting wind = tough calculation. If you’re playing in a 10mph headwind, your ball’s hang time will be long enough that the wind can almost cancel out the elevation drop. That same 159-yard shot might actually play close to its full number. It’s very much a case-by-case decision, but it's something to factor when choosing the correct club. The green itself slopes front-to-back and right-to-left, so if you miss, long and left gives you a better chance at an up-and-down than short and right. This hole is a beauty—definitely one you’ll want a photo of—but don’t get lulled to sleep by the view. There’s a lot to consider on this tee shot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/ce7b5bdc-df9c-457c-a4f8-3539eee9ad89/BF%2312.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #12 507 Up 64’ tee to green 291 to bunker 240 left trees Up 14’ from 100, up 24’ from 150, up 31’ from 200 and up 41’ from 250 Fairway slopes right to left Up 30’ to cut corner Looking at the scorecard, I saw that this hole is just over 500 yards, so I naturally thought it might be an easy par 5—potentially even reachable in two. What the scorecard doesn’t tell you is that the hole plays 64 feet uphill from tee to green. Even with a great tee shot, you'll be left with a tough lie—left to right and uphill—and needing one of the longest clubs in your bag. It's a very difficult second shot. Knowing this is most likely a three-shot hole, avoid getting overly aggressive off the tee by trying to cut the corner on this dogleg right. To pull that off, you'd need to carry the ball 250+ yards uphill and over trees—and good luck with that. Instead, tee up on the far-left side of the tee box and aim for the left edge of the far bunker. The best angle for your approach comes from the left side of the fairway, and it also avoids the worst possible miss: right, into the hardwoods. My goal was to leave myself inside 100 yards, as the fairway is at its narrowest between 120 and 100 yards out. The green slopes from back right to front left. While the left-side bunkers aren't ideal, they offer a much easier up-and-down than being long or in the right bunker. And don’t forget—add the proper yardage adjustment for the elevated green! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1b85f905-3131-4c10-a610-451d860b760e/BF%2313.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #13 419 Down 9’ tee to green Right bunker 212/240 & 264/274 Left trees 260-285 The longest par 4 on the course is one of the few holes at Bahle Farms that doesn’t follow the usual pattern of a downhill tee shot followed by an uphill approach. In fact, this is by far the flattest hole on the entire course. But don’t let the lack of elevation fool you—this is still one of the best-designed holes at Bahle Farms. It’s a slight dogleg right with two nasty bunkers guarding the right side of the fairway. There’s way more room to the left, but that extra space comes at a cost: a worse angle into the green. The green complex slopes left to right, with a hump guarding the front-left portion. That’s where your approach angle really matters. Coming in from the left side of the fairway, you’ll either hit the front hump and get swatted away like a shot by Dikembe Mutombo, or you’ll land on the backside of the slope and get kicked forward and right. But if you manage to find the right side of the fairway, you can actually use that slope as a sideboard to help hold the green. Avoid missing left—and definitely don’t go long and left—unless you enjoy straight downhill chip shots. A miss short/right gives you a great chance to get up and down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/204dcc99-7fa2-4c43-a2af-cb0768b00d62/BF%2314.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #14 406 233 end of fairway This was the point in the round where we had to ask ourselves: Do we power through four more holes in the rain, or head back to the clubhouse with our tails between our legs, hoping for a raincheck? We decided to tough it out—and I promptly had one of the worst club slips of my life, somehow ending up in the 16th fairway. Combine that with the fact that this hole is designed to punch you in the gut, and yeah… I didn’t have a good time. This uphill par 4 plays much longer than the listed yardage, thanks to a break in the fairway at 235 yards. Even with a solid 230-yard drive, you’re still looking at an uphill 175-yard approach. Not fun. Trying to smash a driver over the break isn’t the move either—you’d need a 300-yard carry to clear the ravine and reach the second fairway. Just like the previous hole, the right side of the fairway offers a better angle into the green, which slopes back-left to front-right. But aiming there is tough, thanks to a large maple tree that overhangs that side of the fairway. My advice? Remember: this is the hardest hole on the course. A bogey here won’t ruin your round. Play smart—and try to beat the double I made! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/92ae7a3b-cec1-4f5e-a1f4-b77a476bf127/BF%2315.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #15 186 168/202 Down 17’ tee to green I like all five par 3s at Bahle Farms, but the 15th is easily my favorite. From the tee, the green looks smaller than it really is, thanks to a front hump that hides the first half. The green slopes right to left, with the lowest point right in the middle. Miss right, and you’re left with a downhill chip or bunker shot. Miss left, and the shaved-down slope will trickle your ball even farther left. There’s really no safe bailout, so your best bet is to just commit and find the green. I love the aesthetics of the shaved edges, and they allow for a variety of creative recovery shots if you miss. It's one of those greens where par-saving becomes a fun challenge, not just damage control. The tee shot plays about 5 yards downhill, but don’t forget about the prevailing wind, which is usually in your face. The surrounding hardwoods might block you from feeling it, so be sure to check the treetops or nearby flags to get a read on what the wind is really doing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/084bef15-4e05-4381-b01f-b670a780441f/BF%2316.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #16 510 270 left trees Bunker 161/182 Up 18’ from 200, up 7’ from 150, Thank goodness I mapped out a plan of attack before coming out to Bahle—I would’ve been completely lost on this hole. From the tee, it looks like you should try to hit over the first bunker, but trust me: you run out of room fast on that line. Too far left and you’ll either end up stuck behind a group of trees or deep in the woods—neither option is good. If you can hit it over 230 yards, you need to aim right of the bunker, and even then, your miss needs to be further right. It’s a hole that rewards discipline, not aggression. Your second shot is crucial because there’s a lot of trouble to navigate. Just inside the 200-yard marker, the fairway rises quickly to a narrow point—only about 30 yards wide—framed by trees on the right and forest on the left. If you don’t have a clear look through that window, take a club that lets you carry over the right-side trees—it’s a much safer route. The fairway slopes pretty hard from right to left, so even a good shot can sneak left in a hurry if you're not careful. The green slopes from front-right to back-left, and the best miss is short. Long or left both fall off and can leave you in rough shape. Bottom line: don’t try to be a hero on this quirky par 5. One bad swing, and you’re headed straight down a path of darkness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0bc87026-ea27-4d95-9301-cdfc18c05aef/BF%2317.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #17 319 260 end of fairway Up 3’ tee to green The 17th is a fun, shorter par 4 that actually gives you more options than you'd think when you're standing on the tee box. I tried to play it smart by laying up short of the left fairway bunker at 260 yards, but I didn’t catch a solid tee shot and ended up getting creative from the right trees. Even if I had executed the layup, the angle from short left into this green complex isn’t great. Beyond the bunker, the fairway slopes steeply downhill toward the green, and anything landing on that downslope will scurry all the way to the back-left corner. You’ve got to carry your approach onto the green to have any chance of stopping it near the pin. After playing it, I realized just how much better the angle is from the right side, even if that means skipping the fairway entirely. If I’m hitting driver well, my new plan is to hammer one up the right side, toward the 5th tee. The last tree on that line is around 250 yards, but you can go right of it and still be in good shape. I'm pretty sure this isn't how the designer intended the hole to be played—but hey, let’s bomb and gouge! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/df9ec255-1abf-48ab-841c-f9b68cdf1349/BF%2318.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Bahle Farms - Make it stand out #18 360 243 to right bunker Up 25’ from 100, up 27’ from 150 The finishing hole at Bahle Farms may be short, but it’s packed with trouble. I got a little too aggressive off the tee—thought I striped one—until I couldn’t find it in the fairway. Turns out, the slope had dragged it straight into the trees on the left. My advice: don’t hit more than 220 yards off the tee. Anything more and the fairway slope pulls you left, into trouble. Aim for the right fairway bunker and live with a short iron into the elevated green. From the 150-yard marker, the green sits 27 feet above you. Add 10 yards for the elevation and aim for the left-center of the green. Anything short or right will kick away from the green, and it’s tough to recover. A miss left will leave you a quick chip or putt, but it’s manageable. Just avoid the big mistakes and finish strong—this hole is all about smart execution. Conclusion: One golfer to another—do yourself a favor and make the trip up to Suttons Bay to play this course. It’s a tough track, no doubt, but the shot value is off the charts. Every time I mishit a shot, I felt like I had to run it back just to see if my plan would work the next time. The course is locally owned and run by people who truly understand the spirit of golf. They even gave us 30% off our next round just because we were the only ones who didn’t quit when the rain came down. I’m not sure if that makes us tough or just plain dumb—but either way, I can’t wait to use that discount ASAP! -Your hat caddies https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-elmbrook monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/00dff6e0-0f3d-4ef0-a042-c2f090c30fba/ELM%231colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 1: 343 Yards This dogleg-left par 4 features a creek running along the left side, forcing players to decide whether to risk carrying the creek or play it safe and lay up short. Long hitters must be cautious not to overshoot the fairway. With the usual downwind, a perfect drive flies either just right of the creek or clears it at around 230 yards. The green is slightly elevated and is protected by a tightly mowed false front in the front and along the left side. With the green running slightly front to back, missing long or to the right is preferable for a better chance at saving par on your approach shot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/afc21717-79ad-4993-8243-b3e14c4303d0/ELM%232colored+.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 2: 161 yards This medium-length par 3 is protected by bunkers short left and right. The elevated green plays at least 5 yards uphill, which hides the fact that these front bunkers stretch all the way to the middle of the green. The green slopes from left to right and back to front. I’ve bogeyed this hole more than any other because I tend to miss left, leaving myself with a tough downhill chip to a green that slopes away from the hole. A miss right isn’t ideal either, as the right side is guarded by a couple of large trees that tend to knock any slightly off-target ball out of the air. A miss long leaves a clear shot, but, like the left, you’ll typically face a downhill chip shot. I always make sure to use enough club to clear the bunkers and trust my wedge if I miss the green. Long left is the worst miss, while long right is the best. Pro tip: Don’t let it throw you off if you hear someone honking from the road. It happens, and it’s up to you to stay focused. The best response is a great, unphased swing with a smile (and maybe a middle finger in your mind)! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f613141e-85e9-4196-971b-643f5469699c/ELM%233colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 3: 470 Yards The par 5 3rd hole is well under 500 yards, but it’s no walk in the park. The tee shot feels awkward, with trouble lurking in every direction. The entire left side of the hole is bordered by a property line defined by out-of-bounds. As you can see from the overhead view, it doesn’t take much to find that out-of-bounds area. The target line is along the right rough (yellow), where the OB starts 290 yards from the tee. On the right side, there’s a bunker complex shaped like the Great Lakes. It looks cool, but I wouldn't recommend visiting these "Great Lakes." It’s 220 yards to carry Lake Superior, but there are a couple of giant trees right behind it. The good news is that the ground beyond these bunkers is usually firm, which gives your ball a chance to roll past the trees, leaving an opening toward the green. To clear the two largest trees, your ball needs to travel about 260 yards. If you're like me and tend to spray your drives in every direction, hitting a 220-yard shot off the tee with the intent to play this as a 3-shot par 5 can really help avoid a big number. Assuming you survived the tee shot, now you need to worry about the left out-of-bounds area. The white stakes are uncomfortably close to the green, so you must be cautious not to miss left here. I vividly remember a high school tournament where I hit a great drive, followed by a long iron that landed on the gravel cart path and kicked straight left into someone's backyard. OUCH. This moment has haunted me ever since, but I must warn you that missing right isn’t much better. Two large trees create a tough obstacle, requiring a bump-and-run shot to keep the ball below the branches. Unless I have a 6-iron or less, I usually opt to lay up short of the green and hope to get up and down. The green complex slopes slightly from front to back but is one of the flattest on the course. Make sure to get past the small false front, but also be cautious not to go long into the narrow bunker behind the green. If you don’t have a comfortable shot into the green, make sure your miss stays short. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/a5d7a0fc-fbc8-485f-bbb3-9915ccc459a3/ELM%234colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 4: 330 Yards At just 330 yards, you might think the 4th hole at Elmbrook should be an easy one. But, oh boy, would you be wrong—this hole has teeth! The fairway moves dramatically left to right, and so does the terrain. There’s plenty of rough left of the fairway, which will leave you with an awkward left-to-right lie. The right side slopes back towards the fairway, but there are a dozen or so trees just off the edge. The biggest challenge, though, is the giant tree about 115 yards from the tee that will swat down any ball that starts too far right. The ideal line off the tee is between the gap of the left pine trees and just left of the giant tree. As a lefty who doesn’t hit a draw with my driver, this hole doesn’t set up well for me. It’s one of many holes at Elmbrook where I opt not to use driver. My play is a 5-wood, which gives me about 230 yards and leaves me with 80-100 yards for my next shot. For those who naturally hit a left-to-right shot, I think driver is a safe play, but you’ll need to decide what kind of shot you want to leave yourself for this diabolical green. Yes, I said diabolical! The green complex is elevated about 8 feet above the fairway, with tightly mowed grass creating a nasty false front. The green itself is only 23 yards deep and slopes sharply from front to back, and slightly right to left. Be wary of a back pin—there’s not much flat area, and shots that don’t quite reach the back will tend to roll back toward the front. DO NOT MISS LONG. The green plays about 5 yards uphill from the fairway, and it's usually into the wind, even if you don’t feel it. A miss to the left is your best bet for getting up and down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/630d456e-6a9c-441c-bd9c-436bc075a757/ELM%235colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 5: 340 Yards The #1 handicap at Elmbrook is a straightforward par 4 with out-of-bounds left, a runaway ridge on the right side, and a large dip in the fairway from 260 to 320 yards. This hole is actually really good from the black tees, and if you’re looking for a bit more challenge, give it a try. This hole is usually into the wind, so most golfers should be fine hitting driver. However, you don’t want to overshoot your tee shot past 260 yards to avoid the low area in the fairway. The dip drops about 15 feet, and you’ll either have a downhill lie to an elevated green or be left with a completely blind shot from the bottom of the hole, with just a wedge to the green. You have more room to miss on the right side, as you must avoid flirting with the OB on the left. The green is similar to the 3rd hole: a slight false front to protect the front and not much movement once you’re past it. This green is also notorious for being firmer than the others, so expect your ball to bounce when it lands. Missing long isn’t the worst option, but both left and right tend to fall away. A bad bounce on the right could send your ball all the way down to the next fairway. This hole shouldn’t pose too much trouble, but if you get off line, things can escalate quickly! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/288472c8-1752-4eed-89e1-4fa0ef1b88b8/Elm%236colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 6: 370 yards The most picturesque hole on the course offers stunning views of both East and West Bay of Grand Traverse Bay. The hole itself is just as captivating, with an elevated tee shot that gives you a great view of the equally elevated green, set in a ravine between two hillsides. The right hillside is steeper than the left and is also the preferred miss. I see no reason not to go for it with a driver here—swing away! The real challenge on this hole is playing to the uphill green. From the 100-yard marker, the green sits about 25 feet above the fairway. With this much elevation, the uphill shot plays about 10 yards longer than the actual distance. What can drive a golfer crazy is that the uphill shot is often mitigated by the lack of height the ball has when it arrives, causing it to release towards the back of the green. The dilemma is whether to be aggressive and not account for the uphill or to play it safe and accept being long. That decision always comes down to whether you'd rather miss long or short. Like many of the green complexes at Elmbrook, this one has a false front that denies any ball that doesn't clear it. The green slopes from the front left corner to the back left corner, which explains why golf balls often release forward on approach shots. The rough surrounding the back half of the green is elevated, stopping balls that roll through in a hurry. I’d recommend missing long rather than short, so I’d add at least 5 extra yards for the uphill approach. Aim for the left half of the green, as a slight miss left can kick right onto the green. The right side, however, elevates before falling off into some nasty grass—definitely avoid missing right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0754b5aa-cc31-43cb-bdb3-6a6f84f51340/ELM%237colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 7: 485 yards A good drive on the downhill, downwind 7th hole gives you an opportunity to reach the green in two. At just 485 yards, you might think this hole is easy, but much like the 6th hole, the fairway sits about 25 feet below the green, making it difficult to hit the target. Off the tee, the left side must be avoided. Finding your ball in the left tall grass is a challenge, and even if you do locate it, you’ll be blocked by trees along the entire left side. The right side is also tree-lined, but the grass is shorter and the ground is usually firmer, making it more likely for your ball to kick left, especially if you can carry the right bunkers (230 yards). As long as I hit a decent drive, I always try to go for the green in two. I take an extra club for the uphill shot and do my best to get up and down for a birdie. If I don’t have the chance to reach the green, I aim to leave myself at least 100 yards for my next shot. Given the steepness of the green, I try to hit the ball as high and soft as possible, which is easier with a full swing. There’s not much difference between missing left or right of the green, but you’ll always prefer to be long rather than short. The green slopes from front to back, so anything past the pin leaves you with an uphill chip shot. The hill leading up to the green is very steep and typically lush, so it’s best to avoid this area at all costs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0c4a5e58-4eeb-4da7-be0e-5d6b63d5c4ff/ELM%238colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 8: 285 yards The short par 4 8th hole is gently uphill to a green that falls off to the right and back. From the blue tees, this hole is only 285 yards and doesn’t pose much trouble. It’s probably the easiest hole on the course, but it can definitely cause problems if you get out of position. I typically hit less than driver, aiming to stay short of the green with my tee shot. In my opinion, the biggest risk is missing pin-high left or right. The left side features a handful of trees you definitely want to avoid. I can’t count the number of times I’ve hit a good shot just left of my target and ended up completely blocked for my next shot. Missing pin-high right leaves you about 5 feet below the green surface, in an area that doesn’t get as much water as the rest of the course, so the lies can be unpredictable. Another area to avoid are the Lake Michigan bunkers from the 3rd hole. These are just off the right side of the fairway, about 215 yards to reach and 230 yards to carry. My strategy is to either hit my 3-wood to carry over the bunkers and avoid this miss or hit a 5-iron 200 yards to stay short of them if I’m not feeling confident with my swing that day. The green slopes from front to back, and the ball tends to roll out a long way. Generally speaking, you want to land the ball just onto the green and let it release. This hole is one where you shouldn’t chase a birdie at the risk of making anything worse than par. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f73a6784-4a7d-4130-a0a2-8f7e46dc5841/ELM%239colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 9: 172 yards Man, the deeper I get into this breakdown, the more I realize how challenging the par 3’s at Elmbrook are. The 9th hole is the gold standard when it comes to tough par 3s. From the blue tees, it typically plays around 170 yards, usually into the wind, and always uphill by at least 5 yards. I’ll never forget my high school coach, Dr. Derr, who always urged the kids to use enough club to fly the ball over the green. He’d say this knowing they still wouldn’t take enough club and would end up short. I’m with you, Doc—missing long is always better than missing short! The elevated green has a false front on both the front and left side, with the severity of the false front increasing the further left you go. You definitely don’t want to be caught with a shot from here. The front half of the green slopes toward the tee box, while the back half slopes toward the back edge of the green. I aim for the right half of the green and select a club that gives me a better chance of missing long rather than short. On a windy day, I’ll use my 200-yard club or even more to ensure I hit it where I want. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/47538f2e-589a-46f4-bbb8-2a1cba97b4b3/ELM%2310colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 10: 300 yards There’s a trend at Elmbrook: most of the par 4s don’t require much more than a wedge for your second shot, but you’d better be darn good with that wedge because there’s trouble around most of these greens. The 10th hole is a perfect example of this. At only 300 yards, with minimal trouble off the tee, you might think it’s a birdie hole. But the incredibly sloped, elevated green will make you rethink that quickly. From the tee, a large hill blocks your view of the fairway. Be sure to use the elevated tree mirror to check if there are any golfers ahead that you can’t see. The ideal line off the tee is up the left edge of the cart path. The fairway rises to its peak before sloping forward and towards the right. This slope is dramatic, making it tough to keep the ball on the fairway. You’d prefer to miss right rather than left, as there’s long grass on the left and the 18th fairway on the right. As long as you miss right, using driver is perfectly fine. With that in mind, I aim for the right side of the fairway. If I end up in the rough, at least I’ll still have a good angle into the green. The green complex slopes steeply from the back left corner to the front left, with a false front on the front part of the green. The left half slopes so sharply that there are no pin positions there. I like to aim my approach shot just left of center and let the ball feed back to the right. Both long and right of the green drop off severely into rough, making for tough up-and-downs. Long is the absolute worst miss. When I play this hole, I either hit driver to try and get close to the green or I’ll hit my 5-wood if the hole is into the wind. This leaves me with nearly a full wedge shot, which I try to hit toward the left center of the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/24fc5329-8b6a-4ee7-8c04-088273148375/ELM%2311colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 11: 470 yards The 470-yard par 5 almost always plays into the wind and is gently uphill the entire way to the green. The hole is lined with trees on both sides of the fairway, and there are definitely areas you’ll want to avoid. I’m notorious for missing left on this hole, which often leaves me completely blocked out on my second shot. Even if I have a chance to work around the large tree on the left, a steep hillside rises quickly behind it, making it impossible to hit a punch shot under the branches. Take it from me: don’t miss left. Aim to miss right instead. Even if you hit a great drive, going for the green in two is a risky proposition. I recommend laying up somewhere between 85 and 50 yards out. This part of the fairway has the least trouble and still offers a great view of the green. From this position, the uphill plays an additional 5 yards and could be into the wind. Keep in mind that there’s a large tree and hillside behind the green that might block the wind, making it harder to judge how much the wind is affecting your shot. The green is elevated, with a false front on the front half. Both the left and right sides slope toward the center, and the back half of the green slopes sharply from back to front. There’s a flat spot just before the back fringe, which creates a tough back pin placement. Missing long is a big mistake here, as the tall grass behind the green is thick as oatmeal, and any shot that goes past the fringe will likely roll down into that thick rough. Personally, I’m a bit greedy and try to hit driver as far as I can up the right side. If I were trying to protect a good score, though, I might consider hitting a club that keeps me short of the 250-yard mark to avoid the left tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d06f3d65-6cdc-45bd-9624-1d182e15a48a/ELM%2312colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 12: 170 yards The 12th is the toughest of the challenging par 3s at Elmbrook. Playing around 170 yards, the green falls off sharply on the back left and the front right. A shot that lands behind the front bunker can “trampoline” another 20 yards into thick, long grass. Missing short right doesn’t result in as much roll, but it leaves a tough, uphill chip shot to a green that slopes away toward the left drop-off I mentioned earlier. I don’t want to point fingers at anyone in particular, but I play a lot with a guy named Greg who tends to bounce between those two trouble spots. The wind usually blows left to right, which, as a lefty, makes this hole a little less penalizing for me than it is for right-handed players. Here’s a little “next-level” insight on why: A shot that misses left for me typically travels shorter than it normally would. This happens because an open clubface causes a higher loft at impact, turning my 7-iron into something closer to an 8-iron. Conversely, when I pull a shot, it tends to travel further because a closed clubface relative to the target reduces loft. So, if I’m dead center of the green, I’ve either made a solid shot, pushed it short of the left trouble, or pulled it and flown past the short right trouble. For all the right-handed players out there, there are two places you absolutely cannot miss here. My advice? Consider hitting this tee shot left-handed, just to keep things interesting. On a serious note, though, left is definitely the worst miss here. So, be sure to choose a club that’s more likely to leave you short rather than long. The green slopes from right to left, and the back half tends to roll toward the back of the green. If you manage to make par or better here, you’ll be gaining significant ground on the field. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1627708f-881d-4ed7-8897-a00deb958fbb/ELM%2313colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 13: 465 yards Standing on the 13th tee box and looking out at the fairway is one of the scariest golf shots I can imagine in my career. This dogleg-right par 5 is short and downhill, but it’s target golf at its finest. OB lines the entire left side of the hole, and at its shortest point, you can reach OB with a shot that only travels 180 yards. The right side is more forgiving, not OB, but it’s lined with trees and waist-high long grass. I remember my high school coach, Dr. Derr, telling me and my teammates that if we hit a driver during tournament play on this hole, we’d be benched for the next event. For the tee shot, the safest club is one that goes about 190 yards. This shot gives you enough room to avoid the OB on the left and get past the big tree on the right side. If you manage to clear that tree, the ground slopes steeply from right to left, and you might even get a generous kick left back toward the fairway. Any further and you’ll be in a cluster of trees that will completely block your shot to advance up the fairway. The goal here is to make your landing zone as large as possible. I know it’s frustrating hitting a sub-200 yard shot off the tee on a par 5, but this hole is all about survival. Personally, I tend to be a little more aggressive off the tee, but that’s because I hit a natural left-to-right shot with my 5 wood. I’ll aim for the middle OB line (around 235 yards) and let the shot shape take over. After breaking down the hole, though, I’m thinking about clubbing down to ensure I keep the ball in play. As tough as the tee shot is, the second shot doesn’t get any easier. The OB continues all the way to the green, but to make matters worse, the trees on the left overhang and love to swat golf balls in all directions if your shot drifts that way. You might think bailing out to the right is the answer, but that leaves you with a poor angle into the green, with a front bunker and overhanging trees to navigate. My suggestion is to hit a 190-yard tee shot followed by a 170-yard lay-up. This leaves you around 80 yards for your approach, which is the most forgiving area into the green. Even if you miss a little right, you can still hit a shot over the bunker with a decent chance of stopping on the green. The green complex has a ridge running from the front to the back. The left side of the ridge slopes down toward the rough, while the rest of the green slopes left to right. Most pin placements are located to the right of this ridge. The best place to miss is short and left of the front bunker. Anywhere else around the green, and you’re in trouble. I’ve made eagle here, but I’ve also given up on the hole before even reaching the green. As I’ve said before, this hole is one of the toughest I play, and I respect it enough to play cautiously and accept par. I suggest you do the same. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/598ba019-e3e5-4541-b528-bfe2f06e843c/ELM%2314colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 14: 140 yards The shortest and arguably easiest par 3 at Elmbrook plays around 140 yards to a very steeply sloped green. This green is pitched from the back left corner to the front right corner and, surprisingly, is almost always into the wind. The main thing to keep in mind here is that it’s always better to miss short than long, as an uphill chip shot is far more manageable than a downhill one. I’d also recommend missing to the right rather than the left for the same reason. If you do find yourself with a downhill putt, just know that it’s likely to be faster than you expect! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/48bcd271-8449-4d22-afdd-dab4ae2dcd95/ELM%2315colorededited.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 15: 265 yards The 15th hole requires one of the straightest tee shots you’ll hit all day. At just 260 yards, this uphill hole usually plays into the wind, but don’t let the distance fool you — it’s not about distance here, it’s about accuracy. Many golfers might be tempted to try to hit the green off the tee, but that’s a risky move. To the left, the terrain slopes steeply to a ravine, and any shot in that direction is essentially gone for good. The right side is a little more forgiving, but with the fairway sloping left to right, any shot that ends up on the right side can run away into the rough or, if hit too hard, deeper into long grass. To play it safe, aim for a shot that travels no more than 205 yards. With the uphill and usual wind in your face, you might need a club that reaches around 220 yards, but it’s not worth pushing your luck. I recommend aiming just left of center to steer clear of the trouble on the right. For the approach shot, it’s about 5 yards uphill, so factor in the extra distance the wind and elevation will add. The green has a false front between the two front bunkers, and there’s usually more room long than short. Once you clear the false front, the green slopes from left to right and slightly front to back, so be cautious of your approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b7aaa0ec-caf5-4e2e-ae24-11ae6433e3f4/ELM%2316colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 16: 241 yards The shortest par 4 on the course is also the easiest hole on the course. Don’t get me wrong, this is by no means an instant birdie/par but if you can avoid trouble you should score reasonably well here. Playing 5 yards downhill, the 240 yard par 4 doesn’t require some golfers to even hit their driver to reach the green. The major defense on this hole is the green complex. The green slopes sharply from the front right corner to the back left corner. The left of the green is mowed tightly and slopes down to a low area of rough. This is actually the preferred miss but you have to make sure to hit your chip shot far enough where it doesn’t roll back to your feet. With how much uphill your lie will be from this position, the ball tends to hit high on the face and come out with much less power than you’re hoping for. The miss of short right leaves a very fast chip shot that if you don’t catch perfectly, will probably roll off the other side of the green. For some reason, this is my typical miss on this hole and I get more and more disappointed with myself each time I do it. Please don’t be like me. You can't get too aggressive and miss long. The back edge of the green is 253 yards and at 256 yards there is a large bush that will swallow your golf ball whole. I’d imagine hitting a 170 or so shot off the tee would play well but I’ve never done and nor will I. If your tendency is to miss right that day, it might be something worth thinking about at the very least. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1765e583-ce6e-4895-95fa-bf99ba317285/ELM%2317colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole 17: 360 yards The 17th at Elmbrook is one of my favorite holes, though it can certainly make you feel uneasy off the tee. From the tee box, you’ll see fairway to the left, but right ahead, there’s a large pine tree about 100 yards out. For most golfers, the ideal target line is just left of the tree or even straight over it. While the tree may block your view, there’s plenty of room to miss right, as it’s #10’s fairway. But if you do miss right, make sure to shout “FORE 10 FAIRWAY!” just in case, since you won’t have a clear view of anyone and it’s always good to give a heads-up. The key miss you need to avoid on this hole is left. The hole doglegs right at about 210 yards, and if you end up on the left hillside, you'll be in thick, tall grass, which is an especially tough place to be. The green slopes left to right and tends to release more than you might expect. Missing long isn't ideal, and the same goes for left of the green. Your best miss is short and right, where you’ll have a good chance to get up and down. This hole has a bit of a nervous energy, but when you play it smart and avoid the major trouble spots, it can be a rewarding challenge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b000d27a-d800-4a15-9eb3-fb6e450f1234/ELM%2318colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Elmbrook - Make it stand out Hole #18: 340 yards The par 4 18th is a fantastic finishing hole at Elmbrook, and it’s deceptively tricky. From the tee box, it may look manageable, but as we've seen throughout the course, there are plenty of places where your score can take a nosedive. The main trouble on 18 is on the left side of the fairway. For the first 220 yards, the left side is tree-lined, and missing into those trees is a recipe for disaster. Even if you manage to get past those trees, the steep left-to-right slope of the fairway makes for a very tough approach shot. Your target line should be just left of the right edge of the green. Missing right is generally better than left, mainly due to the green complex. The left-to-right slope of the fairway continues onto the green, and if you miss left, your ball could easily bounce right and roll through the green. The green itself has a significant left-to-right slope, which, combined with the elevated terrain behind it, gives the green an amphitheater-like feel. The best angle into this green comes from the right side of the fairway or even from the right rough. From here, if you overshoot or pull the shot a bit, you get a natural backstop that can help your ball stay in play. For my play, I usually hit driver, but if you feel more confident with a less risky club, there’s no harm in going that route. Either way, it’s a hole that will test your composure and shot-making ability as you close out your round. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-the-bear monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/52292692-98f5-4d0e-8152-ca0ecb73635b/Bear%231.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #1 The first hole is a well-mannered par 4 with plenty of room to ease you into your round. I prefer to challenge the left side of the fairway rather than the right because of the angle into the green complex. The greens at The Bear are fairly small, and working the right angles is key to scoring well. The left fairway bunker is 237 yards to carry and, in my opinion, worth the risk to gain that preferred approach angle. The right side of the fairway dips down a foot or two and tends to be lush and soft. Jack Nicklaus loves using mounding to create uneven lies and punish players who miss the fairway—and the right side here is full of them. If you’re into a little Russian Roulette with your lies, you’ll feel right at home. The green complex is narrow at the front and widens toward the back. It slopes from the back-right corner down to the front-left, so whatever you do, don’t go long. I'd much rather be short in the bunkers than long in the rough with no angle. If the pin is in the front section, don’t be afraid to just aim for the fat part of the green. I’ve seen decent golfers ping-pong back and forth between the bunkers that sandwich this front section—and I’d hate for that to happen to you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/51013a6b-9778-4464-8ed6-685d74397295/bear%232.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #2 The 2nd hole is one of the best out at The Bear. From the blue tees, it’s listed at 410 yards, but it plays significantly longer thanks to a steady 25-foot climb from tee to green. It’s a proper wake-up call and will definitely put some hair on your chest. The tee shot is blind, which always adds a little drama, but don’t worry—you’ve got more room than it looks. Aim between the two clusters of trees; there’s plenty of space until about 255 yards. With the uphill grade, I’d say unless you’re routinely hitting your driver 280+, you’re safe to swing away. The fairway essentially ends at that 255-yard mark, and from there the hole wraps around a low area of rough leading up to the green. The green itself is wide but narrow front-to-back, so distance control is the name of the game. Generally speaking, you never want to miss long on a Jack Nicklaus-designed course—but this hole is the exception. Long is better than short. The front-left bunker is deep—like, bring your sand wedge and a prayer deep—so steer clear. Putting back from long is a far better fate than trying to escape from below green level. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/631465a0-bf22-4a9f-8dae-2d69283ff46f/Bear%233.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #3 The 3rd is a beautiful downhill dogleg right and can definitely be one of the easier holes on the course. With the prevailing wind at your back and a wide fairway staring you down, this hole just begs you to let one rip. Stay left of the big maple on the right and pick a bunker to aim at—trust your line and swing confidently. With the downhill slope and helping wind, expect big things and don’t be afraid to take an aggressive line. The fairway begins to pinch inside the 200-yard marker as you enter a narrow chute of hardwood trees. If your drive is offline, you’ll be forced to shape your next shot to thread through that gap—so the reward for a well-placed tee ball is real. A solid drive gives you a legit chance to reach this green in two. If you’re going for it, your miss is short right. Just make sure you clear the creek—short is fine, long is not. If you have to lay up, I recommend leaving yourself at least a ¾ wedge—about 80 yards for me. A creek runs across the fairway roughly 50 yards short of the green, and if the pin is tucked behind the left bunker, you’ll want a shot that can land soft and hold. The green slopes from the back-left to the front-right, so you really don’t want to miss long. That’ll leave you with a downhill chip to a green that runs away from you. Touchy stuff. A couple of decent swings should set up a good look at birdie on this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1a5465ef-5bad-4cef-9681-771c9dc9bcdb/Bear%234.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #4 I remember a high school tournament on this hole where I made a very respectable 8. Now, that might not sound logical—until I tell you I failed to carry the hazard that butts right up against the green three times. I finally hit the green on my fourth attempt and drained the putt. See? Pretty respectable 8. There may not be water in the hazard short of the green, but it might as well be lava—because if your ball goes in there, it’s gone forever. You have to miss long on this 150-yard par 3. It’s not a long hole, but I respect the hell out of it, and I’ve promised myself I’ll never make 8 on it again. (Unless, of course, good ol' human error shows up.) This hole is especially tricky for right-handed players. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of the 12th at Augusta National. Take a look at the overhead: the front-left portion of the green is about 140 yards to carry, while the front-right is closer to 155. That angle mirrors Augusta’s 12th almost exactly. For a righty aiming for the middle, a slight pull will send the ball long and left, while a push lands short—right in the hazard. That’s a good way to end up with a 7. Just saying. My advice? Take your medicine and miss long on this dicey little par 3. You’ll thank yourself later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/69a3cf6b-453a-4524-a567-f445d5c5488f/Bear%235+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #5 I’m not sure if this is always a Jack Nicklaus thing, but there are a bunch of upcoming holes where the fairway just ends and forces you to lay back. This one’s fairway cuts off at around 255 yards—but with an 18-foot drop from the tee to the fairway, it plays even shorter than that. More often than not, you’ll have a helping wind, so you probably can’t hit more than your 230 club without flirting with the water hazard. And don’t even think about missing left—there’s a creek that runs along that side until it feeds into the main hazard. It’s pretty, sure—but it can ruin your round real quick. My kind of lady. A perfect tee shot leaves you just under 150 yards into a two-tiered green. The bottom tier is relatively tame, but the back tier? Much tighter, and surrounded by moguls. I think I called these “mounds” back on Hole 1—but hey, tomato-tomahto(?). Anyway, moguls, mounds—same deal. They're annoying. Unless you're feeling particularly frisky, it's best to play to the front half of the green and avoid going at the back pins. That upper tier is no joke. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f41f977e-93f7-4e29-8088-5766cf1d0edb/Bear%236.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #6 Long and uphill, the par 5 6th is a three-shot hole for most of us mere mortals. With that in mind, don’t be afraid to favor the right half of the fairway off the tee. The only real trouble is some thick rough up the right side, but it’s 280 yards out—so unless you’re a bomber, you’re probably safe. The hole slopes from right to left the whole way, so keep in mind that shots from this uneven lie might drift a little further left than you planned. Be smart with your setup and aim point. For the layup, I like to leave myself somewhere between 100 and 75 yards out. This is the fattest part of the fairway—nearly twice as wide as it is inside 50 yards. Staying in the fairway is absolutely crucial at The Bear, so I’d say that’s pretty damn good advice. The green complex is deceptively flat, but everything around it still slopes right to left. That means a miss left leaves you with an uphill chip, which is the better miss in most situations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0d381f39-997f-49be-8a34-5503a9ee00a8/Bear%237.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #7 The 7th hole at least gives you the option to take a shortcut, instead of forcing a layup—but unfortunately, for me, it’s still a layup hole. The good news? It’s a shorter par 4, so even with a conservative 220-yard tee shot, I’m still left with a short iron into the green. For the bombers out there, you can reach the left fairway if you can carry it 255 yards. I’m not sure it’s worth it, since that fairway is nearly half the size of the main one—but hey, it’s always good to have options. Now, the green complex here might be my favorite on the entire course. The left and back sections are elevated, while the bottom right corner sits about two feet lower, creating some really fun and challenging pin placements. That said—do not miss in the left greenside bunker. It's a brutal up-and-down to just about any pin location. If you’re playing for a left pin, I could see the argument for trying to hit that upper fairway. For any other pin, though, I’d lay back, play smart, and avoid the heroics. If you are visiting The Bear on a pin placement 1 day, you cannot miss long or left. You are better off short of the green than putting from beyond the hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c2f1e495-c4c1-4ccd-81b2-e6e29d92279a/Bear%238.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #8 The 8th is a solid par 4 that will definitely intimidate you into aiming further left than you really need to. I swear, whoever sets the tee boxes has purposely aimed them just slightly to the right, so you’re left staring at that massive lake off the right side of the fairway. But once you get past that initial intimidation, you’ll realize the hole actually offers a pretty wide fairway—at least until about 250 yards. After that, the water starts to creep in and the fairway narrows considerably. If you’re aiming left, you’ve got room until about 270 yards, but then the rough and mounds start to take over. With all that in mind, I usually hit my 250-yard club off the tee and aim for the left half of the fairway. The green complex slopes from left to right, and I can’t think of a single time I’ve played The Bear where the wind wasn’t hurting on the approach shot. Long is a miss, but trust me—it's still better than coming up short and splashing it into the water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7766f625-4a6b-4ac0-912c-c164cd42c7e1/Bear%239.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #9 Since we’re talking intimidation, let’s dive into Michigan’s version of an island green—or as we like to call it, a peninsula. That’s right, water surrounds this green on three out of four sides. The green itself is long and narrow, a little fatter in the front, and then squeezed by two bunkers. On the overhead, I marked the right bunker as the spot not to miss—but honestly, I should’ve marked both. You cannot miss it in the short-side bunker. I’ve seen way too many thinned wedges that end up in the water on this hole. This hole is usually downwind, so my strategy is simple: figure out how far I need to carry it and play to that number. I’m aiming for the front half of the green and would happily walk off with a two-putt par and get the hell out of there. If the pin is in the back half of the green, long is a decent miss. Once we get past this hole, I feel like the course eases up a bit. Don’t you feel better knowing there’s light at the end of this tunnel we call The Bear? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b1b25204-79ff-49c0-a57a-a31515a4a9b8/Bear%2310.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #10 The 10th is a friendlier way to start the back nine at The Bear. At just over 500 yards and playing a whopping one foot uphill, a few decent swings should give you a look at birdie. The main defense of this hole is the Florida-shaped green. No, it isn’t a perfect representation—but if you squint just right, I’m hoping you see it too. Off the tee, you're looking at a good-sized fairway that tilts slightly left to right, with a bunker on the left coming into play at 250 yards. If you’re not worried about reaching this bunker, I’d say it should be your target. If the bunker is in play, you'll have to challenge the right side, which requires carrying rough that ranges from 220 to 250 yards, depending on your angle. You don’t want to miss right here—this is mogul city until the 250-yard mark, where it transitions into a hazard area. A creek runs across the fairway between 100 and 120 yards from the hole and forces you to make a decision. From the 300-yard mark, you’ll need to either hit a 170-yard shot (or less) to stay short of the creek, or a shot that carries 200+ yards to clear it. I’d like to think I’m going for it more often than not, but a bad drive can quickly change that plan. The Florida-shaped green is one of the smallest on the course and is squeezed between four bunkers. The pin location should heavily influence your strategy. A back or middle pin is more forgiving and allows you to come in from nearly any angle. But if the pin is in the front-right section (South Florida), you simply cannot be pin high or long. I’d try to leave myself a shot in the 50-yard range for that pin placement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b8506766-1842-42bf-be60-69cdf3291ede/Bear%2311.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #11 The 11th hole at The Bear continues the trend of a forced layup, making this ~360-yard hole play longer than it looks on the card. Here, the fairway cuts off at 245 yards and resumes again at 260 yards. Personally, my best drives can carry the hazard—but there's a 0% chance I’ll hit driver on this hole. I’ll hit my 230 club and be left with some sort of short iron. The left side of the fairway gives you a much better angle compared to the right, but this is one of the few holes where you’ve actually got a decent chance of getting up and down from around the green. That said, your preferred miss is short and left—if you can help it. The green complex tilts slightly left to right, and if the pin is in the back-right corner, play it safe and aim for the middle of the green. This section is the most dramatic, and leaving yourself short-sided here could be the dynamite that blows up your round. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5ee5d9fa-9e40-4a37-8fab-1f4ff5c5b1f4/Bear%2312.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #12 When someone mentions The Bear, this is one of the first holes that comes to mind. This downhill par 4 starts off wide open but begins to pinch in with hardwoods around the 200-yard mark. At that point, the fairway is still relatively wide at 37 yards, but it continues to narrow as you move forward, eventually reaching a water hazard at 270 yards—where the fairway tightens to just 20 yards wide. This hole screams risk-reward in the best way possible. Because the approach shot is entirely over water, golfers often get overly aggressive off the tee in hopes of setting up an easier second shot. You definitely don’t want to miss into the left hardwoods. From there, you're looking at a terrible angle, and hitting a single leaf could be enough to knock your shot down into the water. This hole is designed for a left-to-right tee shot, using the space behind the right trees that opens up a clean look at the green. Like so many other holes at The Bear, I’ll be hitting my 230 club and accepting a longer shot over water, even if it's not the ideal distance. On your approach, avoid missing left again. A downhill chip from the trees onto a green sloping away from you—and toward the water—is not a recipe for success. This hole may not be long, but trouble lurks around every corner. Tread lightly! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d0b33f15-6dd5-4f06-bec7-3ebfea96bc5b/Bear%2313.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #13 The 13th has got to be one of the coolest spots on the entire golf course. From the tee, you can do a full 360 and all you'll see are 100+ year-old hardwoods, with the green perched up about 150 yards ahead. If you're a shy urinator, this hole is your salvation. This triangle-shaped green starts off very skinny and gets wider and wider as you move toward the back. It slopes from the back-right corner to the front-left—and if you’ve been reading these breakdowns, you should know what that means. —pause for dramatic effect— That’s right: don’t miss right! Especially not long and right into the back bunker—yikes. One thing to note is that the prevailing wind tends to be into you. But because the hole is so enclosed, the wind shouldn’t affect the ball too much unless you’re hitting it above the tree line. Not an issue for most, but if you're reading this before playing in the Michigan AM, consider that your insider tip. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4937343b-c3b2-4c54-8d17-0d2a24a7389a/Bear%2314+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #14 The tee shot on the 14th is one of the most uncomfortable on the entire golf course. The giant hardwoods surrounding the prior par 3 enclose the right side of the hole, while out of bounds (OB) quickly comes into play on the left. With overhanging branches to the right, this tee shot simply gives me the heebie-jeebies. One strategy to combat this is to tee your ball up from the far left side of the teeing area. For my righties out there: only your ball needs to be within the teeing area—you can stand outside of it to position yourself as far left as possible. If you feel confident hitting a left-to-right shot, I think driver is fine. But if that’s not your preference, use a club that stays short of the 250-yard bunker on the left. On your approach shot, remember to add yardage for the uphill slope and prevailing headwind. From 100 yards out, add 4 yards; from 150 yards, add 6. Be especially careful of the left greenside tree—it loves to swat balls that land just left of the green, often leaving you in a horrendous position to get up and down. The right side is the smart miss on this approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/30dfe602-b29e-4715-9b11-87befb49b072/Bear%2315.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #15 The downhill par-5 15th is big, bold, and I love it. A 60-yard-wide fairway starts generously but begins to tighten as you progress, really pinching past the 280-yard mark. By 300 yards, it narrows to just 12 yards. From what I’ve seen, most tee shots that carry beyond 280 yards don’t stay in the fairway, adding serious adversity for those attempting to reach the green in two. Factor in the forced carry over the water hazard separating the fairway and green, and this becomes a make-or-break shot in your round. There’s a huge section of fairway to the left that doglegs around the lake, but the farther left you go, the worse your angle into most pin positions becomes. The best place to lay up is the green-marked area on the right side of the fairway. This spot offers an ideal angle into the green complex—especially true when the pin is in position 1. To play devil’s advocate: while the angle from the left side isn’t great, it does eliminate the need to carry the water. This is where you need to assess your own abilities and decide what’s more important—having the perfect angle to go pin-seeking, or avoiding the risk of a splash and the dreaded walk of shame back to your bag for another ball. Missing the green on this hole is extremely punishing. Anything long leaves you a dreaded downhill chip off a downhill lie. This is a better miss than short in the water but know you have to be careful. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4306db88-3e9f-4fb2-b67f-ec03ddb0adde/Bear%2316.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #16 The 390-yard par 4 doesn’t look too intimidating on the scorecard, but the 30-foot climb from tee box to green adds some serious hidden length. Off the tee, your only real obstacle is a bunker on the left, which is 205 yards to carry—but plays closer to 220 with the uphill elevation, so keep that in mind when picking your aim point. On your approach, add about 5 yards to account for the continued uphill. The green is perched and guarded by a deep bunker short-left. At first glance, that might seem like the worst miss—but I’d argue the right bunker is even more penal. From the left, you’re at least playing into an upslope. From the right, the green runs away from you and slopes down toward that same left bunker, making it easy to watch your next shot trickle away. I know you don’t want to hear “just hit the green,” but in this case, I really mean it. It’s a tough hole, so if you’re between clubs, aim for the front-right section—it gives you the best chance to walk away with par. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/25dbe5e5-2913-4950-b14f-658af0509950/Bear%2317.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #17 After the gauntlet of the past three holes, the par-3 17th feels somewhat underwhelming. Honestly, it’s the one hole I remember the least on the entire course. At around 190 yards, it’s on the longer side, but it just doesn’t carry the same level of daunting challenge that the rest of the course seems to demand. The main defense here is a pair of bunkers short and right of the green. Fortunately, long and left is a smart miss—it leaves you with an uphill chip to most pin positions, making recovery relatively manageable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4d1c48ab-5624-4a3a-90c7-124c47c19bf7/Bear%2318+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Bear - Make it stand out #18 If I have the audacity to call the 17th “underwhelming,” you know I’m about to do a full 180—because The Bear’s finishing hole is downright overwhelming. There’s a lot going on here—so much that I had to add multiple 200- and 150-yard markers to the overhead image just to make sense of both sides of this split fairway. The fairway is divided by a strip of rough covered in moguls and anchored by a large maple tree, forcing most golfers to choose between the safer left side or the more aggressive right. The left side offers tons of room until about 260 yards, where it begins to tighten up. The right side starts narrow but widens until about 260 yards, where water starts to pinch in. The center rough extends to about 250 yards before merging back into fairway. That’s a lot of detail, so here’s the skinny: if you’re not worried about your ball traveling 260+ yards, aim for the right fairway. While it may look smaller, it leaves a much shorter approach. A 220-yard drive down the left leaves you another 220 yards—all over water. A 220-yard drive down the right? You’ve only got 170 yards in—also over water, but from a much more manageable distance. So ask yourself: which do you prefer? For those with the firepower to carry it 250+, aim directly over the maple tree. There’s wiggle room in both directions, and even if you don’t quite clear the rough at 250 yards, you’re still in decent shape. The green is the largest on the course and slopes from the back-left corner toward the front edge. It’s full of humps and bumps, but your best chance at getting up and down is from short-left of the green. Conclusion: My conclusion on The Bear is pretty simple: this is a badass golf course. And honestly, I kind of regret something I said in my introduction—I claimed I’d rather play The Bear’s sister course, The Wolverine, 9 times out of 10. But just like your taste buds change over time, I think your preferences in golf courses can too. It had been at least three years since I last played The Bear before heading back out there this spring. I played poorly—snap-hooked my driver all day (UGH). It was brutal. I got my ass kicked... and I appreciated every minute of it. The Bear is incredibly difficult, but I also believe it’s a fair test. Would I want to play this course exclusively? Definitely not. But it’s a damn good golf course, and if you go in with tempered expectations, you’ll find something to admire—maybe even enjoy. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t win a fight against a bear in real life... and you’re not going to win this one either. My advice? Appreciate the ass beating. Thanks for reading—and good luck out there! https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-the-crown monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/23b0d929-6131-431b-8512-2eb6d0ce4205/Crown%231.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 1: A Friendly Start The first is a relatively easy par 5 to get you warmed up—definitely Greg-approved. There's a bunker on the right that's 205 yards to reach and 230 to carry. On the left, a power line marks the boundary between in play and long, thick heather grass. You’d rather flirt with the bunker than mess with the left side. With this hole playing just under 500 yards, a solid drive gives you a chance to reach the green in two. Shout out to Michael, who’s only played here once but went driver–4 hybrid to 8 feet and drained the putt for eagle. If you’re going for the green, it's better to miss right than left. You really don’t want to end up in the cluster of bunkers short and left of the green. If you're laying up, I’d suggest staying short of the right fairway bunker and leaving yourself a shot from 75–110 yards. From the 250-yard marker, that bunker is 186 yards to reach. The green is guarded by two bunkers that pinch the left and right sides, effectively separating the front and back halves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c4fcc287-a0ba-4001-8827-3b6ae82e2aef/Crown%232.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 2: Dogleg Drama You go from the dead-straight 1st hole to one of the most dramatic dogleg-right holes I’ve ever played. I’ve played holes that turn sharper, but this one forces you to shape your shot to fit the design, rather than just flying the ball over the dogleg. A few pine trees next to the tee box block your ability to take a more direct route. Pro tip: Tee up on the far left side of the box to get the best possible angle. Because of those pine trees, you have to make a decision on how to attack this hole. If you naturally hit a left-to-right shot, you can be more aggressive and try to cut the corner. But if that shape isn’t in your bag, your best bet is to hit a shorter club and avoid running through the fairway into the trees. A 230-yard shot just left of the bunker will leave you with ~150 yards or less. On your approach shot, the worst place to miss is long. The terrain feeds away from the green and into the trees. Fortunately, the green is pretty flat, so any miss other than long gives you a solid chance to get up and down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/cb410673-5d0d-4ce2-9915-2560c5b0f5ff/Crown%233.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 3: Short and Sweet The 3rd is a great little par 3 that gives you a wedge or short iron into a pretty inviting green. The left side kicks down toward the green, but if you leave your approach up on that slope, you might be facing a testy downhill chip. Still, that’s a much better outcome than ending up in the right bunker—or worse, missing even further right. The only tricky part of this tee shot is the wind. It's usually downwind, but you might not feel it with the tee box tucked away among the trees. The green slopes gently from left to right and isn’t too tricky overall. This is probably the easiest hole on the course—so don’t screw it up! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/357002f8-2cfd-4db5-9aae-7e100a8d53da/Crown%234.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 4: Risky Business The second par 5 on the front is even shorter than the first, but a trench cuts through the fairway between 250 and 267 yards from the tee. I don’t feel confident carrying it every time, so I lay up short and live with the fact that I’m never going for this green in two. My go-to strategy is hitting 5-wood off the tee, then again for the second shot, which leaves me with less than 50 yards into the green. Even that might be a bit aggressive for most players. If you check the overhead view, you’ll see the fairway widens and narrows in certain spots. The tightest area is between 115 and 75 yards from the green—and it’s definitely not where you want to lay up. If you need to lay back, aim for around 125 yards. But if you’re confident you can clear that narrow stretch, go ahead and let it rip. The green complex sits about 10 feet above the fairway, so you won’t be able to see your ball land. The green slopes from left to right, with a ridge dividing the higher left tier from the lower right side. Be careful—missing left can lead to runaway chip shots you do not want to deal with. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7e995f3a-273d-465b-9767-0cdeb0f16f47/Crown%235.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 5: Shape It or Play It Smart Like the 2nd hole, the tee box on the 5th limits your ability to access part of the fairway unless you shape your shot. This time, pine trees lining the left side force you to aim up the right half of the fairway. Luckily, there’s plenty of room to work with—up until about 280 yards, when the rough starts creeping in and the water hazard comes into play around 300 yards. I typically go with my 250-yard club off the tee to stay safe. The green complex slopes from left to right and gives you more room to miss left than right. That said, missing left will leave you with a downhill chip—but that’s still better than ending up right of the green, which is trouble. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4a707c34-e9ce-4dc8-a761-c90ce86d8137/Crown%236.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 6: Where the Hell Do I Aim? Easily the toughest hole on the front nine, the 6th is a dogleg right packed with trouble. One of the biggest challenges here is just figuring out where the hell you’re supposed to aim. The trees on the left close in fast and can totally block you from having any shot at the green. What you can’t see is the pond lurking to the right of the fairway—it’s only 195 yards to reach. You can carry it, but it's 235 yards at the shortest point and up to 260 yards if you're aiming out toward the right. Next time I play here, I’m aiming over the middle of the first bunker and hitting driver. That seems to offer the best angle while staying out of the worst trouble. Once the hole starts turning right, the elevation drops about 10 feet from the 200-yard marker down to the green. The green itself is slightly elevated and slopes left to right and back to front. The right-side bunker also has some influence, causing a few putts to break right-to-left off of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c26eb62a-852d-4743-bbe6-abd917cad6a7/Crown%237.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 7: Uphill Grind I think this is my favorite hole on the front nine. At just 336 yards, you’d think it would be an easy one—but like my grandpa’s walk to school (both ways), it’s all uphill. From the tee to the green, you’re climbing 47 feet. This dogleg left has bunkers between you and the green at about 235 yards. The smart play is to aim left and stay short of the trees, which are also about 235 out. Either way—stay short of that number. With the elevation, you could play it up to 250 yards, but don’t get cute. From 100 yards out, the uphill adds the equivalent of 7 more yards, and you’re usually dealing with a hurting wind coming from the left. The false front isn’t too aggressive, but if you pair a spinny wedge with that wind, the ball is going to zip back more than usual. If you’re going to miss, miss right—not left. The green slopes back to front, but only about 3 feet total. I always feel like I’m not quite aggressive enough with the downhill putts here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7bf9d03a-b79a-4ee6-b10b-cab74695730a/Crown%238.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 8: Right.. is wrong Out of all the green complexes, I think this one is my favorite. But on your way to that favorite green, make sure not to miss right. After the carry, the right-side bunkers are about 225 yards out, and from there you’ve only got 17 yards of rough before your ball might fall off the face of the planet. An absolute no-no. Because of that, you need to favor the left side. Over there, you’ve got some trees way left and a bunker just off the fairway at 252 yards. Since this hole is only 350 yards, I usually hit my 230-yard club to give myself plenty of room to miss left. Even if I push one way out there, I should be far enough back to have a clear shot over the trees. The green complex is shaped like a triangle—narrow in the front and widening toward the back tier. If the pin is in the back, make sure not to miss long. I’m not a fan of the right bunkers either... so I guess that means I prefer to miss left here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/35fe0239-d1f6-4958-bfd8-ccac8a48c1bb/Crown%239.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 9: Tough but Fair The tougher of the two par 3s on the front, the 9th faces the opposite direction of the 3rd hole and typically plays into the wind, which only makes it more challenging. At 165 yards, this hole forces you to hit a quality shot; anything less and you’ll be facing a tough up-and-down from almost any miss. The green sits a few feet above most of the rough, and the worst miss is in the front bunker or long left in the trees. Your best miss is short—at least you’ll have a chance to save par. The green slopes from the back-right corner to the front-left corner and can get pretty quick in places, so watch out for those downhill putts! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/eaaa276d-f446-44e7-8cad-618bd3f67420/Crown%2310.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 10: Bottleneck After fueling up at the turn, you’re greeted by a shorter par 4 that might have some players thinking about hitting less than driver. The hole plays slightly uphill and usually into a hurting wind, but there’s no need to try to rip a drive longer than 250 yards. The widest part of the fairway is between 150 and 110 yards out, and it’s about 50 yards wide. Once you’re inside 100 yards, the fairway narrows by half. With long grass creeping into play on the left and a fairway bunker on the right, trying to hit into that bottleneck is simply not worth the risk. After an ideal ~240-yard drive, you’ll be left with a wedge into a back-to-front sloping green. The most memorable feature of this green is the spine running through the middle, which divides it in half. Aside from that, the green primarily slopes from right to left, but there are some areas that don’t follow the rules. A miss long here leads to a very delicate chip shot, so keep that in mind if you’re between clubs on your approach! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c4bb25d4-68c8-44ee-92a1-a22941b3387b/Crown%2311+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 11: A Tough Test The 11th is one of the more memorable holes at The Crown, and mostly because of how tough it is. This dogleg-left par 4 may angle left, but everything else about this hole screams left to right. To put it into perspective, the left side of the fairway sits 10 feet higher than the right, and keeping your ball from rolling into the right rough is tricky without a left-to-right shot shape. I think driver is fine, but your line should be where the left rough meets the fairway. If you push it a little too far right, you’ll run into some tree trouble—but not until about 280 yards. Not only will you face an awkward left-to-right lie on your approach, but the green sits 25 feet above the fairway, making club selection tricky. The general wind tends to help, so I add about 8 yards for the uphill shot, but unless the wind is really strong, I don't usually reduce my target distance. With this much uphill, the wind doesn’t play as much of a factor. The green complex slopes consistently from left to right and back to front. Be sure not to miss left around the cart path, though—I’ve seen some gnarly bounces off that path, and from there, you’re left with a nasty downhill chip shot. That said, right isn’t exactly a safe miss either. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/19639b00-3c68-419b-aae2-76111b8ebbdb/Crown%2312.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 12: Positive Thoughts The 12th is a pretty visually intimidating hole. Between you and the green is a deep ravine that shouldn’t come into play, but as we all know, human error can be a fickle thing. The proper bailout on this hole is left—anything right or long of the green is just asking for trouble. The green complex is relatively flat, with only a single foot of elevation change. Even though this is a shorter par 3, don’t lose focus—one bad swing here can quickly derail your entire round. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/35f84d7a-fefd-4415-ad61-8527e0b565dc/Crown%2313.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 13: The crown of The Crown I can easily say that this is my favorite hole at The Crown, and it’s all because of the topography. From tee to green, the hole drops a little over 40 feet, and the green is hidden from the teeing area. The tee box starts high and drops dramatically before you reach the fairway. From there, it climbs back up about 10 feet until the fairway flattens around the 150-yard marker. If you're outside of 170 yards, the green is still hidden behind the elevated fairway. The fairway starts to slope toward the green around 135 yards out, so if you’re not a fan of a downhill lie, stay short of that distance. I typically hit my 230-yard club off the tee to keep things in check. To the right of the fairway is a steep hillside that drops more than 20 feet and starts encroaching onto the 17th hole. Finding the fairway here is critical. From the 135-yard mark, the green sits about 15 feet below the fairway. The green slopes from left to right and back to front, so expect your shot to release a little right when it lands. Make sure not to miss left, though—the bunkers are waiting there. A miss short and right gives you the best chance of getting up and down if you don’t hit the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4a93911b-2b77-4f3c-ad06-e3b0432250b5/Crown%2314.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 14: The Domino Effect The next three holes at The Crown are definitely the most interesting, and I’ve been trying to think of a single phrase to describe this stretch. I think I’ve landed on “the domino effect.” The shots required to do well here aren’t impossible, but if you start to stray just a little, things can snowball quickly. One bad shot can set off a chain reaction of poor decisions as you try to make up for it. Fingers crossed you're playing match play, or else you’ll need to take your medicine and aim for no worse than bogey. The 14th is a true 3-shot par 5, and I never even think about hitting driver. The fairway ends at 260 yards, but I don't want to be anywhere near that distance. The fairway is at its widest between 200 and 230 yards off the tee, so I aim for that range. Don’t forget to add an extra 10 yards for the uphill when planning your club selection—my 230-yard club is typically the right choice for me. You can’t afford to miss left or right, so hitting into the fattest part of the fairway is an absolute must. Once the fairway ends, the hole turns sharply to the right and starts to widen as you approach the green. The hardest shot on this hole is the layup. The giant ravine that the 14th doglegs around is incredibly intimidating, especially with massive trees growing out of it and blocking your view of the rest of the hole. Since golfers tend to get intimidated by the ravine, they often subconsciously aim too far left and end up in the left trees, which are far more in play than most realize. From the 300-yard marker, it's only 175 yards to carry the last bunker—this should be the goal for anyone trying to reach the green in 3. The fairway continues to widen, but only after you’ve reached the 100-yard marker. The green complex has three distinct tiers, with each tier becoming more difficult as you move toward the back. Missing short is far better than missing long, so keep that in mind when choosing your club. Good luck! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f3807eae-2f9d-4eb9-8978-e6a8ff2e3201/Crown%2315.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 15: Risk-Yes, Reward-Ehhh The 15th is one of the few reachable par 4s in Michigan where I’ve never attempted to hit my driver. To me, it just isn’t worth the risk. The hole offers two options off the tee: you can either lay up to the elevated fairway or go for the green, which is about 260 yards to the front edge. As I’ve mentioned, the goal here is just to hit the fairway. A marshy area protects the front of the green, and the elevated green falls off on three of its four sides. The only side that doesn’t have a drop-off has a couple of bunkers, which set you up for an almost guaranteed downhill shot to a sloping green. Honestly, it’s just not worth it. The fairway is level with the tee box but requires a carry of at least 185 yards on the left side and 200 yards on the right side. If you hit your tee shot beyond 240 yards, you'll bring trees into play. I prefer to hit my 210-yard club toward the left half of the fairway. From here, you’re left with a downhill shot of less than 100 yards. It’s not an easy shot, though, so aim for the right half of the green, as it’s much wider than the left. Just like the last hole... Good luck! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1944b46c-eb2f-4a98-85d1-043ac141e1ba/Crown%2316.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 16: Downhill & Dastardly The final hole in the "Domino Effect" is a short, downhill par 3 that doesn’t leave much room for error. Playing almost 50 feet downhill, this hole fits the narrative that downhill par 3s are often tougher than flat or uphill ones. The longer the ball is in the air, the more time it has to float off-line or be affected by the wind. With a 50-foot drop, play about 10 yards less than the distance on the scorecard. Be mindful of the wind, as the prevailing wind usually has a bit of a hurt to it. The green slopes from right to left, with a bunker on the left side. Like many holes at The Crown, it’s better to miss in the left bunker than to face a tricky downhill chip shot. The front portion of the green is wider than the back, so if you're between clubs, opt for the shorter of the two. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5f839058-fdb2-41ad-8529-d132c2cb6dbb/Crown%2317.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 17: Real Straight-shooter After the challenging stretch of holes 14-16, it’s a relief to face a straightforward par 5 where you can hopefully make up for that almost assured drop shot or 7. On your tee shot, you’d prefer to miss right rather than left, especially if you can get past the last pine trees at 240 yards. This hole usually plays into the wind, so it’s probably not reachable in two for most golfers. Let’s talk about where to lay up. The green complex slopes pretty drastically from right to left, and missing anywhere short or left of the green is a bad spot to be. Because of this, I tend to leave myself a full club for my approach shot. The fairway tightens quite a bit inside 125 yards. It’s 41 yards wide at 125 yards but only 23 yards wide at 100 yards. If you’re laying up, I’d suggest staying in the 125-yard range to give yourself a better chance. If you have an opportunity to go for the green in two, be cautious about missing too far left. Left is the better angle into the green, but there’s not much room to work with. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit a solid drive and then missed left into the tall grass. I usually manage to save par, but it’s tough to hit a good approach shot from the weeds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b19ff74e-7ab9-4253-a6f8-86b8153fdec4/Crown%2318.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: The Crown - Make it stand out Hole 18: Finish like Royalty The finishing hole at The Crown is one of my favorites. Unlike El Dorado or Champion Hill, it’s not the most difficult hole on the course, but it requires you to hit a quality wedge shot over a well-defined water hazard. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. The tee shot is downhill with plenty of fairway to work with until it ends at 270 yards. On the left side of the fairway is a long, narrow bunker, which is 230 yards to carry. Beyond that is the driving range. I can’t remember if it’s marked OB, but aiming your tee shot in that direction isn’t the best play. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played from the driving range before, but the ground is uneven, and your view of the green is likely blocked by a hill. The smart play is to hit something around 250 yards straight ahead. From there, you’ll have around 120-140 yards left, depending on whether you’re on the left or right side of the fairway. The green slopes from back to front and left to right. With water short of the green, missing long is a safer option, though it may bring the back bunkers into play. Again, missing long is better than coming up short and finding the water. Just be cautious when hitting a sand shot back towards the water – I’ve seen people opt to putt out of these bunkers to avoid the dreaded forehead bunker shot, but that’s not always necessary. Conclusion: All in all, The Crown is a good time for players of all ages and skill levels. There’s a nice variety of golf holes, and I wouldn’t say any two feel too similar. I think they used the terrain pretty well, and like most courses built within a development, the best views are reserved for the real estate—not the golf course itself. I totally understand how they can justify charging 33% more than their closest competition, Elmbrook. That said, I can promise you I’ll still play Elmbrook way more than The Crown this summer. Also, I have to say—the removal of the stuffed burgers from the restaurant was a major disappointment the last time I visited. I know it has nothing to do with the golf course, but man, I used to love that bacon, feta, and BBQ sauce stuffed burger. Thanks for reading—now I’ve gotta go figure out where else I can find a stuffed burger in Traverse City! https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-el-dorado-holes monthly 0.5 2025-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/a5a93a8c-a16d-4b35-8e13-10dece5a6447/ED%231colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #1 The opening hole at El Dorado does a pretty good job of foreshadowing what’s to come in the next 4 hours. Trees line the left side of the narrowing fairway, with a single bunker on the right side. To fly over this bunker is 225 yards, but that leads straight into trouble. There's a large tree at 265 yards off the tee that blocks your view of the green. It's crucial to hit the fairway on this hole. I almost never hit my driver because of how much the fairway tightens. From 150 yards out, the fairway is 43 yards wide. But from 100 yards out, the fairway shrinks to 30 yards wide. I'd say the ideal distance to hit off the tee on this hole is 240-250 yards. The approach shot requires you to carry over a hazard area that runs right up to the green. Don’t let this get in your head—the green is massive, and there's plenty of room long. You’ll have a downhill putt/chip, but that’s much better than coming up short into the water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/bbb2d4ef-5675-4f68-b1c6-2720dd40da72/ED%232colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #2 The uphill par-4 second hole is arguably the easiest on the course. As you can see from the overhead, the fairway is a bit unusual. The tee box sets you up to aim at the right bunkers, but there’s plenty of room left. Left gives you a better angle into the right-to-left sloping green. Since this is a shorter hole, you don’t necessarily have to hit your driver. The fattest part of the fairway is between 210 and 240 yards, leaving you around 100 yards in. That being said, I usually hit driver. Don’t be afraid to play your approach shot a few extra yards for the uphill, and I believe the prevailing wind is into your face. The worst miss is short and left, so keep this in mind when choosing your club. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0a32a54c-71a3-4172-aeb5-43258c48b7c0/ED%233colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #3 Oh no, more water to hit over! Even though I get my ball airborne 98%+ of the time, there's just something uncomfortable about carrying a shot over water. Fortunately, from 175 yards, you only need to carry 135 yards to avoid the water. This green is massive and slopes from the back middle to the edges. You don’t want to miss long or right for this reason. When I was first starting to golf, I remember aiming into the 9th fairway to avoid hitting over the water. It seems silly now, but I really didn’t want to lose my Nike Mojo ball. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/bf1b32d2-e478-44c5-9843-39fcb249bd13/ED%234colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #4 The 4th is a beautiful golf hole. It subtly tightens as you near the tucked-away green, and the fairway slopes downhill the entire length. Like the 1st hole, you don’t need to hit driver, and the fattest part of the fairway is between 200 and 250 yards off the tee. I usually hit my 230-yard club off the tee, hoping to find that fat spot. Even hitting it past 230 can create more trouble due to overhanging trees short and right of the green. You can be in the fairway and not have an angle into the green because of these trees. On the approach, avoid missing left. Just off the green, the terrain slopes away towards dense trees and bushes. The best miss is short, but even the right bunker isn’t a bad place to be. This green has a few random slopes but shouldn’t give you too much trouble. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/51bc2092-ea0f-4c76-be02-db4d8bdf5fdd/ED%235colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #5 The 5th hole is one of the toughest on the entire course. It’s not long at 330 yards, but it makes you feel uncomfortable. Trees line both sides of the uphill fairway until about 210 yards. The left side opens up to the range, and the right side slopes toward a hazard area. To reach this area is 245 yards. If there’s one tip you need to remember from this course breakdown, it’s this: When checking into El Dorado, take note of what color balls they use for their range. Don’t use a yellow ball on the 5th hole if they use yellow range balls. Bad news. My strategy has been to blast driver to get past the left trees and essentially aim into the driving range. This isn’t a great plan, though, because there are moguls that separate the range and 5th fairway. You'll either have a blind approach or a very awkward lie. Next time I play here, I’m going to hit my 3- or 5-wood, depending on the wind. My goal is to get past the cart path and stay short of the water on the right. The green has a slight false front with a tightly mowed fringe. The general slope goes from the back-left corner to the front-right corner of the green. There’s no bad spot to miss, just avoid short-siding yourself depending on the pin location. Add a few extra yards for the uphill and watch out for some tough wind! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/51390802-d475-4c85-94b8-43e35a7409c5/ED%236colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #6 I don’t know about you, but when I see a par 5 listed at 460 yards, I get a little pep in my step. As I’ve become wiser, I know that a par 5 this short must have plenty of trouble, and that’s certainly the case on #6. The tee shot has you hit through a shoot of trees that starts 120 yards from the tee box. At this point, the shoot is 32 yards wide. This tee shot can be intimidating, and it forces you to hit a straight shot to get through the shoot. As long as you make it past the shoot, the fairway widens to about 45 yards. There’s more room left than it looks, but from the left side of the fairway, your angle to the green is blocked by a giant tree. The fairway ends at 290 yards. When you add the 35 feet downhill and the prevailing wind behind you, I usually hit less than driver—typically my 230-yard club. There’s some junk right at 265 yards that I try to stay short of to make my landing area as wide as possible. The further right you are, the better your angle for the next shot. With a decent drive, you have an opportunity to hit this green in two. The green is only 18 yards deep, and missing long is bad news. Short isn’t a great miss either, but I’d rather have an awkward chip shot than be searching for my ball in the woods beyond the green. If you’re forced to lay up, make sure to get over the creek but stay short when the fairway narrows. Try to lay up between 95 and 130 yards. Purposely hitting a shot that leaves you inside 100 yards with no chance of reaching the green is doing yourself a disservice. You’ll either have tree troubles on the left or be stuck on the grassy hillside on the right. The green slopes slightly back to front and right to left. It’s one of the flatter greens on the course. Long and left are the bad misses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/3bb684f6-74fe-4368-9c55-73ab8f9d1bb0/ED%237colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #7 The par 3 7th is another hole that requires a straight, if not left-to-right, shot to access the entirety of this green. Depending on where the ground crew places the tee markers that day, you could have a semi-blocked angle to reach the right side of the green. I’m not a fan of this, and a little T.L.C. could clean it up, but we are up for the challenge! Usually playing around 150 yards, this hole demands a quality iron shot into this oddly flat green. I say "oddly flat" because I don’t remember it being that flat, but according to Google Earth, the elevation of this green is between 1300–1301 feet. With the way the tee box is set up, you’re more likely to miss left. I know this because I do it almost every time I play this hole. There are usually two different outcomes I’ve encountered. The first is that you avoid the trees and cart path, and you’ve got to hit a low chip shot under the trees and onto the green. The less ideal situation is when your ball hits the cart path and launches left toward the skinny 8th tee box and the hazard area a few paces beyond it. A left-to-right shaping golf shot is ideal for this hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/67be749c-8a87-4a83-9be1-31f1f8b02e57/ED%238colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #8 When I do these breakdowns, I like to figure out what single hole represents the entirety of the golf course the best. I think #8 is my winner. The short par 5 is riddled with trouble but is completely fair as long as you don’t test your luck, which is how I feel about the entire course. From the tee, you get a great view of the hazard that engulfs the entire left side of the hole. A few trees up the right side keep you from hitting your tee shot too far right, but they do give a bit of a claustrophobic vibe. The widest part of the fairway is between 200 and 240 yards (48 yards wide). The fairway then narrows to 275 yards (24 yards wide) before it widens again for your lay-up shot. Now that you’ve got the info, I’m sure you’re not surprised when I tell you that I usually don’t hit driver here. A good 5-wood puts me at the fattest part of the fairway, and I don’t tempt myself to try and go for the green in two. From here, your safest play is to lay up to the fattest part of the fairway, around 150 yards out. I like to get a little more aggressive because, more often than not, I’ll only need a 130-yard lay-up shot to get to my desired lay-up area, about 120 yards out. This part of the fairway is a little narrower, but I still feel confident I can keep it in play. The green complex might be the most difficult part of this hole. It slopes dramatically from back to front. If you’re above the hole, chances are the best option is to just putt the ball completely sideways and pray it stops near the hole. I can recall a week when I played this course twice: one time, I hit a shot that landed pin-high, then spun off the front of the green into the rough. I managed to get up and down for par. Woo! The next day, I purposely played a little longer to account for the pin, and when the ball landed, it plugged in the fringe just beyond the green. I had to place my ball and, from there, had to putt straight downhill to the hole and ended up three-putting for bogey. Moral of the story: don’t get greedy and miss long! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d6dec3f6-ac62-4879-8bd9-4b865f813f3a/ED%239colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #9 The course opens back up for the front nine’s finishing hole. This dogleg left par 4 is a good opportunity to end your front nine on a positive note. The tee shot is semi-blind, but you can see so much room to the right. I think the target line is the right edge of the left tree, which is essentially the middle of the fairway. The fairway ends at 275 yards on that line, but I’d say most can hit driver without hesitation. I personally hit my 3-wood here to stay short of where the fairway narrows around 260 yards. A tree can obstruct your view of the green if you’re on the right side of the fairway, but it shouldn’t be in play as long as you get the ball airborne. The green complex is very similar to the previous hole in that the green is really pitched from back to front. The green can drop as much as 8 feet from the back edge to the front edge. Don’t you dare miss above the back edge, but anything landing in the back half of the green should scoot right back toward the center. An uphill putt really helps your odds of leaving yourself a gimme on your next shot. Stop by the club house and load up on snacks/drinks! El Dorado gets a +1 for keeping Reeses and Snickers in the fridge. One of the best snacks on a hot summer day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/3b9dc24a-96da-48c3-95e2-05ca690b42e0/ED%2310colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #10 The back nine starts with a straightforward par 5. There’s no trouble off the tee as long as you keep it on the planet. The lay-up shot doesn’t require much thought either, but you do have some bunkers on the right that come into play starting at 110 yards from the hole. If you’re going to lay up, I’d suggest staying short of this distance because the entire fairway slopes from left to right, and a slight miss to the right could lead you straight into bunkerville. If you're considering going after the green in two, be aware of the severity of the green’s slope from left to right. Expect a bounce to the right, but any shots that land left of the hole need to be carefully maneuvered to avoid hitting through the green. Sadly, it’s easy to do—especially if the pin is in the front-right position. A miss to the right is a better angle, but the terrain is so steep right of the green that it makes for a tough chip shot. The green complex is certainly this holes major defense. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/563c3142-e8bc-4f26-b62d-46bbc7436bbd/ED%2311colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #11 This is one of the coolest tee shots on the course. The hole offers the most elevation change on the course, with a 33-foot drop from tee to green. The fairway is at its widest between 235 and 260 yards from the tee, but I usually hit my driver here. There’s a tree about 270 yards from the tee box, and if you don’t get past it, it will impede your angle toward the green on the left side of the fairway. In my eyes, this is a tough tee shot with any club, so I want to try and get as close to the green as possible. You’ll have a downhill lie for any shot inside 120 yards. With your worst miss being long, don’t be afraid to aim for a distance closer to the front half of the green—especially with a back flag. The green slopes from back to front and doesn’t offer too many pin locations. I usually see it on the back flat spot or in the front corner. If it’s in the front, be cautious of the false front. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4465a104-1278-4cb4-9039-fd87d171adaf/ED%2312colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #12 The 12th is a tough son of a gun. From the Power tees, this hole plays just under 200 yards and requires golfers to carry the ball at least 180 yards to clear the hazard area. Not only does your shot need to carry 180 yards, but it also needs to fly pretty straight to avoid the trees on both sides. I really struggled with this hole as a kid, mostly because I thought I hit the ball further than I actually did. I can recall my dad telling me to aim for the back bunker. Once I did this, my issue of missing short seemed to go away. I’d vouch that as solid advice for everyone. Can’t argue with the idea of missing long if the trouble is short! Like most of the greens at El Dorado, it slopes from back to front. I wish I had more tips and tricks for this hole, but it’s one where you just have to execute. And if you don’t, take your drop and fight for that bogey. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d5dabbb2-c404-415b-b8f3-aee8ee8578ef/ED%2313colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #13 Going into this breakdown, I was the most clueless about what the best strategy for success on this hole is. I’ve hit anything between a 5-iron and a driver here and haven’t had much success with any of them. The uphill tee shot leaves you somewhat blind, but you can certainly see the trouble. The right trees continuously cut into the fairway until they end 245 yards from the tee box. There’s a pond behind these trees at 270 yards. Trees line the left side until 170 yards, where it opens up into the next hole/teeing area. The issue is that beyond these trees, the terrain is very undulated with moguls. I’ve hit over here and been completely fine, but I’ve also had situations where I could barely make contact with the ball. Russian Roulette is not a good game to play on the golf course. Not to mention, the angle from the left to the green complex is not ideal for success. It’s really easy to say, but I think the play is to hit a shot 210–220 yards and aim for the left-center of the fairway. This leaves a wedge into the most steeply sloped green on the course. Plus, the left side doesn’t get too severe until you’re past the 220-yard mark. Since we’re talking about the green, it’s crazy. It’s 28 yards in depth, and within that 28 yards, it drops 8 feet from the back edge to the front. This creates an average slope of about 7%. Make sure not to miss long or left on your approach. Don’t worry about the pond short-right; there’s plenty of rough to keep your ball from rolling into it if you come up just short of the green. That’s a much better option than flirting with missing long. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7720ff19-de19-466a-a87f-aedf33f224b7/ED%2314colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #14 Man, I’m just talking about the 13th green, and I’m a little sweaty. Luckily, the 14th hole is a bit more tame. This downhill tee shot narrows the fairway more and more until it ends at 260 yards. The widest part of the fairway is between 200 and 220 yards. This hole plays downhill and usually downwind. I plan on hitting a 210-yard club in hopes of leaving myself around 130 yards or so. The green is much wider than it is deep, so it puts a premium on distance control. The back-to-front sloping green means you’ll prefer a miss short versus long. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/3d7fc748-e9d6-4e33-90e4-10154b391fea/ED%2315colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #15 I’m starting to realize there’s a relationship between how much labeling/coloring/etc. I have to do on the overhead and how much I enjoy a golf hole. At some point, it’s like, “Whoa, there’s a lot going on here.” This quirky hole fits the mold pretty well, but we’re here to strategize, not critique! Most golfers should not be removing a headcover when selecting a club for their tee shot. I’ll be hitting my 190-yard club next time, and I’m really confident in that. This keeps me short of any trouble through the fairway, and as long as I hit it solid, I’ll have a mid-iron into the green—and you can’t really do any better than that. Ideally, I’d hit a left-to-right shot that starts at the middle of the fairway and bleeds toward the cart path. The green slopes from back to front and is the steepest in the center. There’s almost a ridge right in the middle that pushes balls toward the outer edges of the green. Any putt from one side of the ridge to the other will break extremely hard off that steep center slope. Anytime I walk away with a par on this hole, I’m extremely happy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b5ab06eb-1a67-4430-895d-63b0333a5123/ED%2316colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #16 There was a summer—maybe 2019—when every time I played here, I quit this hole before I had a chance to finish. It’s long, tight, and just requires really good swings. Apparently, I was lacking the good swing part that year. The tee shot gives you plenty to look at, but we’re aiming for the left-center of the fairway. I tend not to hit driver here because the widest part of the fairway is shy of 245 yards. I have enough trauma from previous rounds that I don’t press my luck and just try to make par. With a shot of less than 245 yards, you need to make sure not to get stuck behind the right tree at 260 yards. I swear, this tree is batting .1000 every time I’ve tried to hit a curveball around it. The fairway is cut in half by thick rough and moguls, and the right side drops about 5 feet in elevation. The right side is technically a better angle, but the left side is level with the green complex. The worst-case scenario is getting stuck in one of these grass moguls. Yes, you’re reading that correctly—the worst thing you can do is hit a shot perfectly down the middle. The vision I have for this hole is a 230-yard drive that leaves me around 300 yards out. From there, I’ll hit a 200-yard shot, trying to stay left but short of the trees coming into play. After that, I’ll have roughly 100 yards remaining. A hell of a plan, but fingers crossed I execute! The green complex slopes from back to front and right to left. You’d rather miss left than right on your approach. Too far right, and you can kiss your ball goodbye. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/2ea69cde-71d8-4581-a8d5-aad09e98147b/ED%2317colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #17 The 17th hole gives you a breather between the last two tough holes and the 18th, which is arguably the hardest hole on the course. Usually, a good 8-iron for me—there isn’t much to talk about here. You can see that there is waste area surrounding the green complex, but it’s a pretty large target. The green complex slopes from back to front and right to left. There are some interesting little pockets on this green, so make sure to take a good look for multiple angles. There are plenty of putts that don’t follow the general slope of the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/85473a25-1255-465a-a12d-b540331fdf17/ED%2318colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: El Dorado - Make it stand out #18 Saddle up; this hole is usually a rough ride. The floating teeing area had seen better days the last time I played at El Dorado, so prepare for an uneven lie on your tee shot. The fairway is wider than it looks, and most can hit their driver without much concern about going through the fairway. If you stay short of 233 yards, the fairway is an additional 10 yards wider, but it nearly assures you’ll have a shot of 200 yards or more remaining. Like the par 3 12th, take enough club to fly over the green, and you won’t have to worry about whether or not your shot will carry the water. Even a slight mis-hit has a chance of carrying the water. If you aren’t up for the challenge of going for the green, there’s nothing wrong with bailing out short-left. The green complex slopes from left to right and back to front. This is one of the few greens where the left-right tilt is more prominent than the back-front tilt. If you need to settle any side bets, I suggest a closest-to-the-pin challenge from the left side of the 18th green all the way to the 9th pin. This is all one green and requires a shoulder turn and a grunt to get the ball to roll that far. Just make sure no one is coming up to the 9th green—we aren’t here to take away from others! Conclusion: El Dorado is a classic tree-lined, swampy golf course that utilizes these features to offer golfers plenty of risk/reward decisions, which can lead to the highest of highs and some really low lows. I haven’t played here in a year or two, but I’m going to make a point to drive down to Cadillac as soon as it opens (writing this in March). I truly believe that if you’re striking the ball well and playing the percentages, you can hit a lot of greens here. Looking back at my previous rounds recorded on my Garmin watch, I had one round where I hit 14 out of 18 greens. Sadly, I had four three-putts and barely broke 80, but this is definitely a ball-striker’s course. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. And I appreciate you taking the time to read this! -Your hat caddies https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-champion-hill monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/80bcaea3-74df-4bcd-94f6-0a3c179621ef/CH%231colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #1 The 1st hole at Champion Hill is a near-perfect starting hole according to the philosophy of Greg Lueck. “A starting hole should be the easiest hole on the course. You want the 1st to be a warm-up hole and allow groups to move along quickly to maintain proper spacing,” he preaches. Whether or not you agree with the philosophy, this hole is the easiest on the course at only 320 yards from the blue tees. The fattest part of the fairway is between 215 and 255 yards. For those just trying to find the fairway, lay up short of the left bunker at 255 yards. For those feeling a little frisky, favor the right side of the fairway, and you’ve got room until a bunker at 285 yards. It isn’t necessary, but sometimes you just have to smash the driver. The green complex slopes from right to left and drops off beyond the green. Long of the green is where you definitely don’t want to miss! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/a7db8a31-a720-4ef3-a624-bc0c6364ca08/CH%232colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #2 The second hole might be my favorite on the entire property. While it doesn’t have the stunning views of some of the other best holes, the design itself is excellent. This dogleg left tries to entice golfers into making a poor decision off the tee. Usually downwind, the thought of trying to carry the left bunkers to hit a tee shot greenside can creep into your mind. This, however, simply isn’t the percentage play. Even if you manage to carry the left bunkers (280 yards), the green complex isn’t very welcoming from this angle and will require another REALLY good shot to execute. The smart play is to aim your drive at the right tree (280 yards). With the total hole being only 350 yards, you don’t need to hit driver, but I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with using it as long as you stay right, due to the angle of the green. The right side is simply so much more inviting for approach shots. The miss to this green complex is short and right. You don’t want to be in either bunker, and if you happen to miss long, the terrain runs steeply down into a ravine—not where you want to be! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/3be8fa7c-043e-4c22-ad16-cd4dbf77bbfa/CH%233colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #3 Up until the last few years, I always played the white tees when I played here because that’s what the rest of my group preferred. Now, I prefer to play the farther tees, and this hole was eye-opening. I didn’t even know where the blue tees were or how to get to them, and when I finally found them, I had to race back toward the fairway to figure out where I was going because I was completely lost. Luckily for you, you’re reading this, and I’m going to tell you exactly what to do! The tee box sits 60 feet below the level of the fairway, and you're completely blind to an angled fairway. All you can see are some bushes on the hillside. If you split the right and left bushes, there’s a bunker through the fairway at 245 yards. With the uphill, this plays closer to 270 yards. You can aim left of this line and try to get past the bunker, but you're bringing the risk of missing left into play. From the overhead view, you’ll see this area is marked red—for good reason, because you don’t want to be there at all! A good aggressive line is just left of the left bush, but on this line, you’ll need to carry the ball at least 230 yards to clear this red-marked area. Risk/reward! My plan is to hit a 250-yard shot over the left bush, hoping to leave myself around 125 yards remaining. This eliminates the bunker miss without bringing the left miss too much into play. The entire hole climbs up to the green, with a 150-yard shot playing 24 feet uphill (add 8 yards), and from 100 yards, it’s 12 feet uphill (add 4 yards). The green complex slopes from left to right, and you can see some pretty crazy bounces from left to right, so don’t be afraid to favor this side of the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c9dc69e2-e2e7-4ee9-b8c4-69f75004c20a/CH%234colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #4 One of my favorite tee shots on the entire course, this hole just sets you up to try and wail on one! This longer par 4 doesn’t have much trouble other than the fescue grass, so this breakdown will be short and sweet. For the bombers out there, the fairway begins to tighten up around the 275-yard mark. Even if I’m bringing this into play, it isn’t worth hitting a shorter club off the tee. Personally, my misses get tighter with a shorter club when hitting approach shots, so on the risk/reward spectrum, this is worth the risk to me. The last third of the hole slopes pretty hard from left to right as it creeps toward a hillside. A miss to the right is probably better than left, just to avoid getting an awkward lie and to be able to chip into the upslope instead of the downslope. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/66592ed4-6377-4b00-a125-ce6216d6f298/CH%235colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out We go from one of my favorite tee shots to my absolute favorite tee shot with the par-5 5th. From tee to green, this hole drops 78 feet. Combined with how short the hole is to start (445 yards as the crow flies), this is a birdie hole with hopes of getting a big birdie (eagle, sorry I’m a nerd). The tee shot is sneaky tough. As mentioned, it plays way downhill, and the most direct route to the green has a giant hill and fescue area starting at 255 yards. Any shot going further than 255 needs to be aimed more left, because you really don’t want to be on this hillside. Interestingly, from the 255-yard mark, you’re only 190 yards from the green, though you wouldn’t be able to see it. The further you hit the ball down the fairway, the more the fairway slopes off to the left and away from the green. You essentially aren’t getting any closer to the hole, but your angle and vision improve the further you hit the ball down the fairway. If you’re forced to lay up, you want to try to hit your shot up the left side of the fairway. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the green complex is the hole’s major defense, and the left side of the fairway gives you the best angle of approach to this green. On your approach, expect your ball to land and kick left. Because this hole is shaped around a giant hillside, it’s hard to see or feel how severe the green complex is, as it appears flat compared to the rest of the landscape. Using Google Earth, I calculated that the entire green complex sits on a 6% right-to-left slope. It doesn’t sound like much, but the general rule of thumb for pin locations is that they shouldn’t sit on any slope above 3%. There isn’t a spot on this green that is less than 3%. The real decision when hitting your approach is how aggressive you want to be aiming up the right-hand side, knowing this information. If you aim too far right and stay above the slope, you’re looking at an impossible recovery shot. Or you could aim at the middle of the green and live with the potential of missing left, but leaving yourself in a position for an easy up-and-down. These decisions are what make or break a round of golf. It goes without saying that this green breaks a lot. When I read a putt on this hole, I basically double how far I think it’s going to break. If it looks like 3 feet, I’ll play it 6. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/ec557430-5054-4ef3-a5ff-a480862b54b3/CH%236colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #6 If you’re crazy like me and prefer to walk rather than take a cart, the walk from the 5th green to the 6th tee will certainly get your heart rate up. Hard to believe this is one of the shorter par 3s at about 200 yards, but welcome to Champion Hill! The front part of the green is protected by a false front. Once you get past the slope, the green complex runs from right to left. I’ve seen some good bounces off the right slope, but more often than not, the ball will settle before reaching the green, leaving you with an awkward downhill chip shot. Don’t be afraid to take a little extra club on this hole. I’ve noticed that you can’t feel it from the tee, but once you reach the green, the wind is usually into your face. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/4596e73e-efd9-4be9-9fe4-2b474efe7575/CH%237colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #7 The par 5s at Champion Hill are some of my favorite holes. This downhill tee shot gives you a lot to look at, but the important thing is to not miss left. Left will continue to go left, and that’s no bueno on this hole. As long as your shot ends up left of the cart path, you shouldn’t have an issue hitting through the fairway on the right. Reaching the green in 2 is a tough feat. From the 200-yard marker, this shot plays uphill 34 feet (about 11 yards) and is typically into the wind. With a miss long being better than short, a 200-yard shot could easily play more like 225 yards. When trying to locate the green, use the big house as your landmark. From the 250-yard marker, the middle of the green is at the left corner of the house. For those laying up, be sure to stay short of the left bunker. This bunker is 30 yards short of the middle of the green. Like on hole #5, the further left you are on your layup shot, the better angle you’ll have into this green. The green complex is designed like a horseshoe. The back corners steeply slope from back to front, and the front left portion is like a catcher’s mitt. Just know that any uphill putt will be slower than you think. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b2c2baae-46a3-4c06-bed8-8f7976daa79a/CH%238colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #8 I know I shouldn’t start every hole breakdown by saying “great hole,” but man, this hole is great! From the elevated tee box, you can see Lake Michigan, which is about 6 miles away, and even the Sleeping Bear Dunes, which are about 20 miles away. Once you’re done checking out the view, it’s time to lock in because you have to hit a good shot here—otherwise, you’ve got an uphill battle to save par. I typically see the blue tees at the 180-yard tee box, but there is another box back around 200 yards. The green is about 20 feet below the tee box, so that’ll instantly take off about 6 yards of distance you need to account for. The long and narrow green is perched on a hillside, with the left side falling off dramatically. You have some relief to the right, but the up-and-down from that side is very, very touchy. A mis-hit chip could end up off the green to the left if you’re not careful, and I'd say most players should be using their putter from here. As you can imagine, the green rolls from right to left, and there can be some really hard-breaking putts. Make sure to look at your putts from behind the ball towards the hole, from behind the hole towards your ball, and give it a look from the slow side. This method should show you all the information you need to know. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/27105c89-80b2-4337-8068-c9a8cdea7cd7/CH%239colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #9 This short par 4 is a friendly way to end the front nine. I usually see the blue tees one box up from the back tee, so that’s where I’m measuring from. This hole requires you to make a decision off the tee. As the crow flies, this hole is just over 300 yards. To go for the green, you aim over the left bunkers, and it needs to carry at least 230 yards. The risk here is a miss left, which could be problematic, or you might get lucky in the fescue. You also run out of room on the right and risk going into that fescue as well (280 yards). Alternatively, you could choose to aim right of the bunkers and use the fat part of the fairway. The decision is whether to get aggressive and hit driver over the bunkers, or hit a ~240-yard shot down the middle and live with less than a full wedge remaining. Years prior, I would pull out my 5-wood and just try to find the fairway. This year, I’m hopeful that my ball striking has improved, and I’d love to rip driver here. It’ll be a game-time decision depending on my tendencies that day. The green complex is pretty small and generally slopes left to right. You’d rather miss right than left for your par save. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/04670a77-257a-420c-857b-a5eed3ea1eeb/CH%2310colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #10 This might not be the highest handicap hole, but I’d cast my vote for it as the hardest hole on the golf course. From the blue tees, the tee box aims you way left and blocks the right side of the fairway with trees encroaching into your sight line. I’ve really struggled to hit this fairway in recent memory, and trust me when I say this hole is tough enough from the fairway. This hole plays about 40 feet uphill from tee to green, so we’ll need to play our approach shot longer than the rangefinder reads. From the 150-yard marker, add an additional 9 yards and from 100 yards, add 6 yards for the uphill. The area to avoid on your approach shot is the left bunker. This bunker is deep and sits well below the green surface. Take note that it extends 10 yards into the green. With this in mind, aim well right, and if there’s a front or center pin location, make sure your miss is long to eliminate the risk of this bunker. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e307b3f6-6d25-4ff8-a4c8-339c97752c9b/CH%2311colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #11 This long par 3 will usually play shorter than the scorecard distance. I’ve played it all the way back, and it really isn’t much fun. Typically, the distance is around 185 yards. The hole plays slightly downhill, but I don’t think I’ve ever missed long. I’d attribute this to the general wind direction, which is usually hurting from the left. You really want to avoid missing short or left. The green slopes from left to right, and it’s a difficult up-and-down. If you end up short, there’s just a lot of trouble that can make life tougher than it needs to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5353814b-2de8-4261-80ea-3ae1859971a6/CH%2312colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #12 I can’t lie, this might be my least favorite hole on the entire course. I can 100% confidently say that it’s a me issue and not the hole’s fault. I had a traumatic event here in the summer of 2022 and still haven’t recovered. After a mediocre drive, I had 150 yards from the middle of the fairway. I intended on hitting a smooth 8-iron and then proceeded to hozzle-shank six straight shots in a Tin Cup-esque manner. It was just me and Michael playing, and after shank #3, he could be found rolling around on the ground, laughing at me. I managed to find my first ball in the left fescue and can’t remember if I saved bogey or not, but I can tell you every now and then I wake up sweaty in the middle of the night with flashbacks to this moment. The hole itself is pretty solid! It’s not the toughest driving hole, but the approach shot has changed a bit in recent years. The green used to be much larger. The overhead image I’ve been using is actually from 2015, when the green was full-sized. They’ve turned the front edge into fringe to make the false front a little less severe. The dotted line shows how the green looks now. When hitting your approach shot, make sure to add an additional 8 yards for the 24 feet of elevation from the fairway to the green. This applies to both the 100- and 150-yard ranges. With the aforementioned false front, you’re better off long than short, so don’t be afraid to play your shot even longer. Be careful when missing left of the green. The cart path isn’t far, and anything left of the green kicks further left.d https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/6d76bce4-df66-4b2d-a01d-9a682067330d/CH%2313colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #13 The final par 3 at Champion Hill follows the trend of being long and difficult. The blue tees can stretch back to 230 yards, but generally speaking, I see them use the ~190-yard tee box more often than not. Even from here, this hole usually plays into the wind and requires you to hit a quality golf shot. The front left and right bunkers are golf ball magnets but aren’t the worst places to miss. You’ll want to avoid missing right, though. As you can see in the overhead, once you get right of the second cut, the fescue area slopes down and away from the green complex. The fescue in this area is lush, and finding your ball can be a struggle. Even if you do find it, your ball will land on a downslope. The green itself is pretty straightforward. The front half is relatively flat, while the back half slopes steeply from back to front and offers a decent backstop. I’ve never seen the pin on top of this backstop, but I think it’s possible. If they do put the pin back there, it would be VERY difficult. I’m all for it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/dba77843-85c6-4a94-8412-4849128afd90/CH%2314colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #14 One of my favorite things about Champion Hill is how they weren’t afraid to get creative with the topography. This hole is a perfect example. From the tee to the 100-yard marker, the land drops 45 feet, creating a semi-blind tee shot. Once you get to the bottom of the fairway, you’ve got 10 feet of elevation back up the hill to a perched green complex. It’s just fun. The dogleg-right fairway forces you to think about your club choice off the tee. You can run out of room in the fairway at about 255 yards on the left side. To utilize the right side of the fairway, you need to carry a shot of 245 yards to fly the fescue rough. With the downhill in mind, I usually hit my ~240 shot off the tee. This likely keeps me short of the left rough while giving me a chance to clear the right fescue. With the elevated green, I prefer to have a full swing into it, and the best angle is from the left side of the fairway. Play an extra 5 yards or so into this green, because the worst miss is short in the front bunker. There’s a 5-foot lip on this bunker, and getting out of it can be a real challenge. If you take my advice a little too far and end up in the back bunker, consider using your putter to roll the ball out—there’s no lip! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/ae48b9cb-1ae4-4564-b6c4-6e5046ff65b1/CH%2315colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #15 I can’t remember if I’ve said this already, but I think this is my favorite hole. The downhill par 4 (75 feet from tee to green) does everything it can to tempt you into blasting driver as far as you can. The most interesting aspect of this hole is a greenside apple tree that blocks about 20% of the left corner of the green. It’s more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Generally speaking, I hate trees in the field of play on golf holes, but for some reason, it works on this hole. I believe it’s because it isn’t in play every day, but if the pin is tucked behind it, you can see it from the tee and adjust your strategy accordingly. When the pin is tucked left, I’m more inclined to hit less than driver to ensure I can get enough height on my shot to clear the tree if I miss further left than intended. The fairway bottlenecks at 280 yards, so with that left pin, I will hit a 230-yard shot to stay short of the tightening fairway. The green complex has an elevated shelf on the right and a lower left shelf that’s protected by the apple tree. No matter where the pin is, you don’t want to get too close to the front left bunker or the apple tree. So, if you plan to smoke driver, a miss to the right is better than left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/592e15f9-ec89-4bd7-88d3-f45558801e71/CH%2316colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #16 Probably the most straightforward hole on the course. This is the #1 handicap, and I’m not sure I agree, but it is a tough par 4. For the first time in this breakdown, this hole is completely flat! From the blue tees, the left rough creeps into the fairway starting at 275 yards, so just be careful there. This rough area drops a few feet from the fairway and is usually the thickest rough on the course. The green complex slopes from right to left and slightly back to front. If the pin is in the back, just know that the putt from the middle of the green tends to be slower than I’d expect it to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/020f4709-8b1b-42b1-a588-2d83adc85152/CH%2317colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #17 Unlike any golf course I can think of, Champion Hill finishes with back-to-back beasts of par 5s that can make or break your round. I can recall days where I finished strong and saved my round, and others where I completely blew it on these two holes and ruined my entire day. The card lists this hole at 585 yards, but I usually see it from the ~560 box. What makes this hole so interesting is that the first ~350 yards are dead straight, and then the hole curls around an apple orchard with a dozen or so trees. I have to imagine that average to below-average golfers really struggle on this hole. With a good drive up the right-hand side, I usually have an opportunity to reach the green in two. On a straight line, the hole is only ~520 yards. Most golfers aren’t able to do this and must hit a layup shot while navigating the apple orchard. From 150–120 yards from the green, a golfer can get blocked out by the orchard if they’re just a little too far right. So, your options are to either stay short of 150 yards or try to hit past the orchard, which is a pretty tight window. For example, if you’re at the 250-yard marker, you’d need to hit a layup shot at least 185 yards to bypass the orchard, but you must stay short of 225 yards to avoid hitting through the fairway. The green complex is probably the flattest on the course, sloping from the front-left corner to the back-right corner. Avoid the bunkers, and anywhere else is a decent place to get up and down from if you miss the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/2390e251-7274-4493-8a8d-64af848960c6/CH%2318colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Champion Hill - Make it stand out CH #18 The final hole is a long par 5 that gives players an opportunity to do something they haven’t been able to for the first 17 holes... hit their ball into water! I can promise you, a large number of players make good use of this opportunity. The tee shot is fairly wide open. You’d rather miss right than left. In the battle of pine trees versus fescue, fescue should always be your preference. This hole really gets interesting once you’re inside 150 yards. At the very shortest point, the left water is 135 yards from the hole. Keep this in mind, because I think most golfers should purposefully lay up short of that 135-yard mark to eliminate the water as a potential miss. Normally, I’m not this cautious with water, but the fairway leading up to the water slopes toward it, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen shots that looked safe, only to trickle through the fairway and end up in about 2 feet of crystal clear water. I always tend to be more annoyed when I can find my ball in the water vs it being gone forever. I can’t imagine ever going for this green in two. Even if I were playing up a tee box and hit a great drive, I’d probably still lay up. Your only bailout is to the right. Right means fescue, where you’re essentially playing Russian Roulette with your lie, and the angle from the right side isn’t ideal either. The green complex slopes from the front-right corner to the back-left corner. Because of the angle of the green, your ball will land and kick forward and left. One bad bounce, and you could be in the water. From the left side of the fairway, the green is like a perfect catcher’s mitt for approach shots. Conclusion: I think I’ve gushed over this course enough throughout this breakdown for you to get the picture of how much I love it. Champion Hill isn’t a course that I’d deem as difficult, but it has a way of sneaking up and biting you in the butt. There aren’t many courses where the level of “fun” can even come close to rivaling what you’ll find here. I don’t know the name of the person responsible, but I’ve heard that this place was shaped by one guy with nothing more than an excavator. If he ever gets to read this, all I have to say is, “thank you.” -Your hat caddies https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-grandview monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/702e802e-28d2-40e1-a00b-79a92bed05de/GV%231.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #1 Looking at Grandview's website, the scorecard they have posted shows the front and back nines reversed from the routing they had us follow last year. I’m going to write this based on the route guests played last year, with the first hole being the one right next to the entrance driveway. This dogleg-right par 4 should be a gentle introduction to Grandview, but it certainly has areas you need to avoid. The hole doglegs around a bunker that is 210 yards to reach and 230 yards to carry. Anything right of the bunker that doesn’t carry 250 yards will end up in a low area with pine trees and long grass — definitely not where you want to be. Be cautious if you’re aiming left and can hit a drive over 250 yards, as the left trees will completely block your view of the green. Off the tee, I usually ease my way onto the course with a 220-yard shot well left of the bunker. If all goes according to plan, I’ll have about 130 yards into the green. The green has a slight false front, and the general slope is from left to right. A miss left has a chance of kicking your ball onto the green, so favor just left of center. If you miss right, you’ll be left with an uphill chip shot, but you’ll have a decent chance of getting up and down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5603420e-8226-4d22-8c52-55be16b83ed6/GV%232.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #2 I look forward to playing this hole every round, yet I feel disappointed after I walk off the green more often than not. From the tee to the green, this hole drops about 80 feet and has a very cool backdrop of an endless forest. At 510 yards, a good drive gives you a chance to reach the green in two, but this hole has trouble lurking all over the place. The tee shot is blind, but the course has two different staircases that give you a view of the fairway to ensure groups are out of the way. The key here is that a miss right is better than left. The entire left side is tree-lined, with out-of-bounds (OB) coming into play shortly after. The fairway also slopes towards the trees/OB, so be extra careful. Once you get inside 170 yards of the green, the fairway begins to tilt slightly to the left, with the terrain moving more dramatically from right to left. Just like the tee shot, your lay-up shot needs to be aimed at the right half of the fairway to protect against the trouble left. What makes this hole particularly difficult is that the green tilts back to the right with a hard right-to-left slope. The best angle to attack this green is from the left side of the fairway, but that adds risk to your lay-up shot. I can’t tell you how many times I or my playing partners have laid up safely in the right rough, only to be left with an impossible approach. The ball may land on the green, but the combination of the right-to-left green slope and lack of spin from the rough leads to the ball releasing into the left bunkers. As mentioned, the green slopes dramatically from right to left. The first couple of times I played here, I underestimated how much break there actually is. Now, I nearly double the amount of break I intend to play based on what I see. I’d suggest you do the same! With a good drive on this hole, I prefer going for the green in two, with an emphasis on missing right instead of left. I’ve seen some crazy bounces off the right hillside, and I can live with trying to get up and down from around the green. If I’m forced to lay up, I try to hit a shot that doesn’t fly too high so it can land and roll towards the left side of the fairway. I try to avoid the 110- to 70-yard range because of how steep the downhill is from this yardage. I’m fine with longer or shorter shots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/ecb2826b-1b0f-4c31-b202-f50e70f1327a/GV%233.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #3 The 3rd at Grandview is a pretty straightforward dogleg-left par 4. For most golfers, you should aim well right of the left fairway bunkers. These bunkers are 235 yards to carry and play slightly uphill. After the bunkers, there is a decent amount of rough, and you’ll have a downhill lie to an elevated green. This isn’t the easiest shot but might be worth the risk, with the front edge of the green only being 300 yards away. It’s 250 yards to stay right of these bunkers and keep the ball in the fairway. I’ll either hit driver and try to carry the bunkers, or I’ll hit my 5-wood well right of them. As long as your drive goes over 200 yards, you should have less than 140 yards left to the green. The green complex has a tightly mowed low area in front of the green and a tough false front. The general slope is from front to back and right to left. Be careful not to miss long, as it falls off dramatically behind the green. A miss short/left is the best place to get up and down from. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d932ba7b-22b6-49eb-b57e-37ddd442959a/GV%234.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #4 The shortest par 4 at Grandview also has the most trouble. Like the 2nd hole, this one has an elevated staircase to help you see what’s happening down the descending fairway. Even from the staircase, you can’t see the green because the fairway rises for the first 175 yards and then drops 23 feet over the remaining ~90 yards. The key to this hole is to not miss left. Once you reach the downhill section, the fairway slopes from right to left, with the left side dropping into a heavily wooded area. It’s crazy how similar this 270-yard par 4 is to the last 270 yards of the par 5 2nd. The safe miss is right, but going right gives you a terrible angle to the steeply sloping right-to-left green. The saving grace here is that the green itself doesn’t slope as dramatically, and you can land the ball in the middle of the green, where it should stay. I’ve changed my strategy on this hole many times over the years. Currently, my plan depends on my swing at the time. If I’m worried about missing left, I won’t hit a shot over 200 yards. The further you hit the ball, the steeper the left side feeds into the trees. If I know I’m going to hit a shot with a left-to-right flight, I’ll hit my 230-yard club and hope to land on the downslope for a decent kick toward the green. On your approach, aim just right of center and make sure you don’t miss long. There are only a few feet beyond the green before the terrain drops off into the abyss. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/106f8c87-c6b6-4713-8775-acf6e88e78c8/GV%235.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #5 The par 3 5th is the most memorable hole at Grandview and one of the prettiest holes in Northern Michigan. The green sits about 90 feet below the tee boxes, offering a view of deep forest as far as the eye can see. As beautiful as this hole is, it’s really, really difficult, in my opinion. You’d think that a hole playing downhill would be easier, but from the blue tees, it measures around 220 yards. It does play about 20 yards downhill, but with the ball being in the air for so long, you must hit a very straight shot. Otherwise, it has more time to move left or right before it hits the ground. I don’t have the actual data, but I feel like this is my worst scoring hole on the entire course. The green runs from the front left corner toward the back right corner. With this in mind, you don’t want to miss short left, as a shot from here will roll out much further than you want. Once you reach the green, trees come into play pretty quickly on the right. In short, your misses are either long left or short right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/459c8f98-c537-4bea-820a-93a66dd3b8fc/GV%236.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #6 Grandview doesn’t give you any relief once you finish the tough par 3 5th. The par 5 6th is the beast of the course at just under 600 yards. I’ve never seen anyone reach this green in two, and even reaching it in three requires three really good shots. The tee shot starts off fairly wide but gets tighter the further you hit the ball down the fairway. You’re slightly better off missing right than left, but neither miss is ideal. The entire hole is tree-lined on the left side. Miss too far left, and you’ll have a terrible angle to advance the ball up the fairway, as the trees begin to intrude into play. Miss too far right, and you’ll be blocked by a large grouping of trees on that side. At least with a miss right, you have a chance to hit the ball over the trees, whereas missing left offers no chance. Finding the fairway is step one in succeeding on this hole. The fairway ends at 315 yards, with a grassy/waste area extending an additional 55 yards or so until the next section of fairway. Once you reach this point, the hole begins slanting left at about a 35% angle, with trees lining the left side, but the right side is completely wide open. This leads to the fact that a straight shot from the left side of the fairway could be completely blocked out from the green. Check out the overhead photo to see exactly where you are blocked, but you must favor a miss right instead of left on your lay-up shot. Even if you miss way right, you’ll at least have an angle to hit toward the green. I can’t recall another golf hole where the tee box and the green complex sit at a 90° angle from one another. Looking at the green from the fairway, the complex slopes from the front right corner toward the back left corner. You don’t want to miss long or right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/53146855-66a5-4206-882f-68cae5399464/GV%237.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #7 The 7th is a medium-length par 3 without too much trouble. This hole plays about 20 feet downhill, so I usually play about half a club less than the distance. The sneakiest part of this par 3 is that the short-right bunker is actually positioned halfway into the green. The front edge of the green is 145 yards, but the bunker is 155 yards to carry at its furthest point. The green is a perfect circle, but there are two mounds in the back left and back right corners. With these mounds, the complex kind of looks like Mickey Mouse’s head, with the mounds representing his ears. You don’t want to miss long on this hole because your chip shot will land on the downslope of the Mickey Mouse ears and will be difficult to stop. Short and left is the preferred miss. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/dc51a53c-82c5-4cf2-b740-2b42e06899cd/GV%238.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #8 Either the first or second hardest par 4 at Grandview, this hole is a beast from the blue tees at 445 yards. Truthfully, I’ve had rounds where I step up to the tee box and say, “Screw it,” and play this hole from the next tee box up at 400 yards. The blue tees are placed in a position where you absolutely have to hit a dead straight drive, or you might clip some overhanging tree branches. Do as you please. The big thing on the tee shot is that left is a no-go. Depending on how much rain they’ve had in Kalkaska, Michigan, there is a waste area all along the left side that may or may not have any water in it. Regardless, there is much more room on the right compared to the left, and this helps give a better angle to this dogleg-left hole. The aim is just left of the right edge of the fairway. The green complex is elevated a few feet and has two separate tiers on this shallow green. Like the tee shot, you do not want to miss left. It would take more than one hand to count the number of times I’ve landed near the left cart path and received a horrid bounce into the left trees. If the pin is in the front left tier, there is a nice backboard you can use to get a chip shot close without taking on the false front. If the pin is in the back tier, make sure your miss is short left instead of long. I made the artwork before the write-up and now remember how awful it is to miss long to the back tier. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/332dcc93-1cb5-45d0-835f-bccd2bad92a8/GV%239.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #9 One of my favorite holes at Grandview, the par 4 9th is a great dogleg-left hole that deceives you into aiming too far left off the tee. The hillside to the right of the cart path hides the right half of the fairway from golfers. Your aim off the tee should be right over the last part of the cart path. I love talking about my screw-ups, and this hole is no different. I tend to miss left here, and it is so, so bad. You’ll see a very large red area marked “dead” on the overhead, and this is an understatement. Two-hundred-year-old trees intrude into the landing area at 250 yards, and if you manage to get blocked, your only option is a chip straight sideways back into the fairway. There’s no reason to miss left here with how much room there is on the right. The green slopes from back to front and right to left. You cannot miss long on this hole; the chip shot from here is extremely fast. I’ll also say that this green tends to break more than you’d expect. Congrats! You’ve finished the front 9. Go grab yourself one of my favorite golf course bratwursts and your drink of choice and prepare for the harder of the two nines! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/8cb7f7ef-c6e1-41a0-82a8-c63f6b1fa52e/GV%2310.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #10 Whether this is the starting hole or the 10th, it’s one of the coolest holes at Grandview. The tee box is elevated about 50 feet above the fairway, and the cart ride to the bottom can get scary if you aren’t paying attention. This hole is a slight dogleg left, tree-lined up the left side, with a bunker to the right of the fairway. There are two water hazards beyond the fairway, starting at 280 yards. I hit less than driver on this hole to avoid the bad miss of long and right. You can see from the overhead that if you drive your ball over the right bunker, you quickly get blocked by the trees. I usually hit my 5 wood, which typically leaves me around 130 yards into the green. The green complex slopes from left to right and doesn’t have too bad of a miss. I will say that I’d rather miss right than left. I’ve been short-sided to a left pin and had no chance of hitting a chip shot close. Stay out of the trees and hazards, and you’ll do just fine on this hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/48ff114b-879c-43a2-bede-98a5150639ed/GV%2311.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #11 The 11th is a very scorable par 5, as long as you stay out of trouble. Sense a trend yet? Off the tee, you’ve got trees left and right, but a water hazard intrudes into the left half of the fairway at 275 yards from the tee box. I hit less than driver here and usually go with a 5 wood instead of a 3 wood to avoid the temptation of trying to reach the green in two. Up around the green, there is another water hazard that starts 60 yards from the green and butts up against the front right part of the green. I remember attempting to reach this green in two once. I thought I hit a great shot, only to see my ball splash into the water. I ended up walking away with a 7 when I should have made no worse than a 5 if I had laid up. The green is relatively flat and quite a bit larger than it looks from the fairway. My strategy on this hole is to hit something 230 yards off the tee, followed by a 170-yard layup. This gets me to a perfect lob wedge from around 100 yards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/afd902e4-cf87-4750-8553-e40179f73e82/GV%2312+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #12 I can recall my entire outfit, down to even my underwear: gray polo, gray shoes, gray hat (sheesh), black shorts, and navy blue boxer briefs. (Clashes, I know.) This is what I was wearing for my first hole-in-one, which took place on this hole! That day, it was an 8 iron from 157 yards that did the trick, but you need to remember that long is better than short on this hole. The front edge is protected by a false front on the right and a deep bunker on the left. Until the back edge at 169 yards, the green slopes severely from the back right corner to the front left corner. My shot actually used this back right backboard and came back toward the middle of the green before it found the bottom of the cup. So, take my advice as a hole-in-one maker: long is better than short! If you take this advice too seriously and end up missing long into the bunker, don’t be afraid to pull the putter out of the bag and just putt through the bunker instead of trying to wedge it out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/621c021c-49c6-49f9-ade4-0fb842ece771/GV%2313.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #13 Since I had the audacity to talk about my hole-in-one, here’s the truth: I didn’t think after the 12th and strutted up to the 13th tee box feeling awfully confident. I then pumped my hole-in-one ball into the left trees and never found it. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a sentimental person. The 13th is one of the tougher par 4s on the course, and this is especially true if you miss just a little too far left off the tee. The ground on the left side of the hole tilts toward the left trees, and you don’t want to be there. Driver is fine—just make sure to aim up the right half of the fairway. The green is split in half by a ridge that creates a lower and upper part of the green complex. If the pin is in the lower part, it’s better to miss short. If the pin is in the back portion, I generally err on the side of missing long vs. short, but either is manageable. Like the tee shot, right is a better miss than left for the same reason: the ground slopes toward the left trees. Good luck on this tough hole, and if you find a yellow Titleist Pro V1x #2 with the LEIST blacked out in TITLEIST, that’s my ball!! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/465754f3-86b3-4132-b025-43b8642708d7/GV%2314.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #14 The easiest tee shot on the entire golf course is followed by the most severe green on the entire course. The 350-yard 14th is one of my favorite holes, but it doesn’t always treat me with the same admiration. The left fairway bunker is 247 yards, and there’s no reason to hit a club that might bring this bunker into play. I always hit my 230-yard club off this tee box. I should have marked this on the overhead, but you do need to be careful up the right side of the fairway/rough. Balls tend to kick toward the right trees if you get unlucky. The green slopes incredibly sharply from the back edge to the front edge. This is one of those greens where good golfers try to avoid spinning a wedge shot because a ball that lands in the middle of the green can spin off the front edge if your RPMs get above 10K. Keep this in mind, and if you do find yourself on the back part of the green, putting toward the front, the putt is faster than you think and will break from your right to left. From the fairway, the green slopes left to right. Just making sure I give that visual correctly. A good 5 wood, followed by a ¾ swing with my pitching wedge, is the goal on this hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/99f8e551-0e79-4df8-ad29-a51ba848cfbe/GV%2315.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #15 My goal with these write-ups is to only provide information and my plan of attack. I don’t like to get into course architecture because, whether I like a hole or not, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ll have to play it and try to score the best I can while doing so. That said, I'm not a fan of this hole. It would really improve with some tree removal, but as of the last time I played this hole, you have to hit a shot with a left-to-right flight or you can only hit at a sliver of the fairway. A straight shot can’t go more than 235 yards, or you’ll be in the left bunkers. With the fairway dropping ~65 feet, that translates to hitting no more than a 220-yard shot off the tee. It is possible to hit a big left-to-right shot and find the fairway, but take note that in the last year or two, a creek was installed 265 yards from the tee, running right across the fairway. So, make sure to hit something less than 250 yards, even if you are going to cut the corner. The green slopes right to left and has a bunker short left. Despite the bunker, you’d rather miss short than long. Long slopes away, and a bad bounce can send you into the bush-lined hardwoods. Your ideal miss is short and right. If I were in charge, I’d remove enough rows of trees on the right so a golfer can see the collection area of the creek off the tee. It’d certainly make this hole a bit easier, but as it currently stands, this is the weakest hole at Grandview. As of now, I try to hit a hard left-to-right shot with my 4-iron. A perfect drive would leave me 140–120 yards and well short of the creek. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/294fce3d-6371-465e-a9c8-29a30adaf3f7/GV%2316.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #16 Holy cow, back-to-back holes that absolutely kick you in the teeth. This is the second-longest par 5 at Grandview but might play even longer than the nearly 600-yard 6th. There are a few reasons for that. Like the 6th, this hole is a giant dogleg left. The difference is that this hole starts turning after 200 yards instead of 350 yards. This creates a tougher hole because the bunkers through the fairway are only 210 yards from the tee box, with a forest behind them. For those who hit their drive over 240 yards, you must either hit a shot around the corner or go over the corner of the trees. I’ve accomplished this a few times but have tried many more. I’ve learned to just hit a layup shot off the tee. Last time I played, I hit 4-iron just to stay short of the bunkers. From here, you’ve got an uphill, kind of blind shot. Just remember the hole continues to dogleg left, and your aim should be just right of the left hillside. I try to blast a 3-wood as far as I can since my tee shot usually leaves me 350+ yards remaining. The green slopes from left to right and back to front. It is fair to assume that your ball will land softly, so don’t be afraid to fly a ball all the way to the hole on your approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/910515ea-5810-4314-b0a4-c1cd55eda628/GV%2317.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #17 My typical rounds at Grandview involve me playing 15 holes well and the rest being complete disasters. The 17th has been one of those disaster holes far too many times. It's another really tough hole. The tee box and green are nearly at the same altitude, but everything in between sits about 15 feet below. To find the green, a ball must carry the front edge at 184 yards. Anything landing short will land in the upslope and tumble back towards the low area. The left side always features a false front, but there is a little more excitement with a bunker anxiously waiting to gobble up anything just left of perfect. Sadly, the right tree line hugs your target line, so you’ll subconsciously aim more left than you probably intend. Once you finally reach the green, it slopes from the back left corner to the front edge. From the middle of the green to the front edge is an extremely fast putt, requiring you to putt to the ridge and letting gravity do the rest of the work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/596c0702-3535-4cf5-a3d1-cd219bd5a7ee/GV%2318.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Grandview - Make it stand out GV #18 The finishing hole is a sharp dogleg right that maneuvers around a low area to the right of the fairway. After the last three holes, I always feel the urge to smash my driver as far as I can. This is perfectly fine on this hole since the pine trees through the fairway are nearly 300 yards away. Just take dead aim at the left cluster. The green is pretty straightforward, with the general slope being left to right. The green gets slightly larger the deeper into it you go, so I tend to err on the side of going long rather than short. One thing I’ve always appreciated about Grandview is that the first and last holes are arguably the easiest on the course. I think this is great design because it eases you into the round and, hopefully, ends your round on a high note. If I ever owned a golf course, I’d make sure this was the case, as I believe it helps golfers mentally want to return to the game. Nothing makes me want to sell my golf clubs more than making a double bogey on the 18th hole. CONCLUSION: Grandview is always worth the trip out to Kalkaska for me. It’s a challenging course that doesn’t always suit my game, but that doesn’t change the fact that I thoroughly enjoy playing it. If you go through and count the clubs I hit off the tee on par 4s and 5s, it adds up to: 7 Drivers 4 5 Woods 3 Long Irons I only hit the driver on half of the holes where I could potentially use it. Sure, I’m longer than average, but this is from their back tees at 6600 yards. The next set of tees is 400 yards shorter and would put the driver in my hands even less. I mention this to highlight a key point: just because you’re on a par 4 or 5, it doesn’t automatically mean driver is the correct club to hit. Golf is hard enough—making poor decisions only makes it more difficult. Stay classy, Your Hat Caddies https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-18 monthly 0.5 2025-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/8809576c-d864-4264-8bbe-bebfaf4c36a7/Kingsley18fairwaycolored+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #18 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/caf58c54-11b0-4d0e-8e6a-12f0ba761c9d/Kingsley18greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #18 - Location 1 The front pin is the smallest target and is well defended by the short-right bunker and the front-left hillside. The left hillside, like the right hillside, is tightly mowed and can give golfers a much larger bounce than desired, sending the ball toward the middle of the green. When considering the best angle into this location, it’s certainly from the furthest right part of the fairway. From the left side of the fairway or rough, we’re left with an uphill shot where the only way to hit the ball close is to land it perfectly next to the pin to keep it there (which is hard to do). Too short, and it lands on the downslope of the left hillside; too far, and it releases toward the back of the green. To get the desired right-side angle, we have two potential options. Option one is to bomb a driver up the right side and challenge the right bunkers, avoiding the ridges to the left. To do this, one must carry the ball 250+ yards to keep it from bouncing left. From here, the golfer has an uphill shot out of the fairway, with a slight backboard from the front-left hillside instead of dealing with the backside of it. The front bunker isn’t a terrible place to be, as you can use the left hillside as a backboard to make your sand shot easier. The other option is to stay short of the second ridge on the top-right side. A ~230-yard shot shouldn’t release too far and gives you a level shot to the green instead of an uphill one. We can still use the front-left shoulder as a backstop. I usually try to hit driver, but if I need to make par, the 230-yard shot is safer and leaves 130-150 yards in. Location 2 Because this green tends to feed the ball toward this spot, the angle of attack doesn’t matter as much, but I still have a preference. Since the right bunker and hillside are the worst places to miss to this pin, I try to use the angle from the bottom-left side of the fairway. I always make sure to take enough club to carry the right bunker, and I can live with the result from there. A golf shot that lands in the exact same spot on the right hillside will have a different result depending on the angle from which the shot came. The left (desired) angle will probably land softer because it’s landing into the hill, while the right (undesired) angle will cause the ball to kick harder due to the hill. When I’m in my desired spot, I don’t take extra club for the uphill and just hope to land the ball on the front part of the green, letting it gently release toward the center. If you end up in the back-left bunker, don’t be afraid to play your sand shot long off the right hillside. It makes for a very exciting shot! Location 3 As you probably guessed, the back pin is much more accessible from the left side of the fairway. The right hillside makes the right side of the fairway almost an impossible angle to access this back pin location without a wedge in hand. The hillside kicks the ball either left or forward. I’ve seen some pretty fun shots where players try to use the front-left hillside to send their ball toward the back of the green instead of challenging the hillside directly. Just make sure not to leave your ball short. Even from location 1, the right hillside is so severe from right to left that a putt can’t be aimed far enough right to account for the slope. If I’m out of position for this back flag, I make sure I have enough club and live with being on the back edge or somewhere left. The up-and-down is much easier than the alternatives. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-17 monthly 0.5 2025-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7c48e9ab-58e3-4fcb-8a7e-d0a2655aa24a/Kingsley17fairwaycolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #17 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/45ba2fc1-1417-4379-a280-d01a96ea19f8/Kingsley17greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #17 The green is round and is protected by a massive false front short, with a handful of bunkers short and right. A ball that catches the false front will roll backward about 30 yards, coming to rest between the left fairway bunker and the shortest of the right-side bunkers. The green itself has two tiers separated by a steep ridge, creating three distinct areas. I’m going to break down each of these pin locations. The green sits 20 feet higher than the fairway, so shots from 100 yards should factor in an additional 15 yards for the uphill. Location 1 A short par 5 usually has some tricks hidden up its sleeve, and the front pin on 17 is its pride and joy. This area is an incredibly small ridge on the green that places a huge emphasis on distance control. Too short, and your ball catches the false front and rolls back 30 yards. Too far, and you’re on the green, but the ridge you have to putt down is incredibly fast. Depending on course conditions, you might not even be able to stop the putt when aiming at the hole. This can come down to which direction the wind is blowing and the green speeds. When I know the pin is in this location, I choose my club with the idea that I’d rather be short than long. It really pains me to see a good shot come up just short and roll backward, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I missed long and then putted off the green—especially to a position I should have favored from the start. The more right your angle of approach, the more green you have to work with. The front right bunkers are not a bad spot to be. Location 2 This pin location is arguably the easiest on the hole. Much like the front pin, you have a better angle if you’re coming in from the right. The middle ridge can act as a backstop, allowing some creativity to get the ball close. A miss right is preferred over left because you always want to be chipping into the hill instead of down it. When the pin is in this location, I try to leave myself about 80 yards from the right side of the fairway. It forces you to carry the bunkers but gives you the best angle to hit one close. Location 3 The back left pin location has the least amount of danger surrounding it but is the toughest to get close to. Because of the uphill approach, balls tend to land and take a big kick forward due to the altered angle of descent. You must hit the ball far enough to get over the ridge, but a few yards too far, and you’ll end up on the back fringe with a quick downhill putt or chip. Unlike the first two locations, a miss left is better than right. When the pin is in this spot, I prefer to take a full swing to generate as much spin and height as I can. My favorite wedge for this shot is my 54*, which has a 110-yard carry. I try to leave myself 95 yards so I can hit the 54* full and be perfectly adjusted for the uphill. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-16 monthly 0.5 2025-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/d33d09ab-bc43-4a5a-bdfa-632c0e51fdab/kingsley16greencolored+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #16 The worst miss on this hole is to the right of the right slope. If you find yourself in this area, you’ll be faced with a tight fairway lie and very few options to keep the ball on the green, let alone get it close. Most times of the year, any ball that rolls over the yellow-highlighted slope (shown in the overhead photo) will gain too much speed and end up in the left bunker. To avoid this, your best option is to simply putt the ball to the blue star on the photo. From here, the ball will snake its way down the slope towards the front sprinkler heads. The slope around the sprinkler heads then pushes the ball back to the right and onto the front part of the green, where it will roll out another 10 feet. It isn’t glamorous, but you’ll have a putt for par instead of having to go back to the cart to grab a wedge. When the pin is in front, I usually play 5 yards less than the distance and aim about 10 feet right of the green. The right slope is very friendly to this pin, and anything a little too short gets a kick forward and left. When the pin is in the middle, I play about the same distance as I would for a front pin but aim directly at the right edge of the green. As mentioned, the green slopes from front to back, so as long as you carry the front slope, the ball should release forward. A back flag on this hole is tough to get close to. Again, the right slope gets too severe and tends to push the ball too far left. I aim just right of center and try to land the ball about 10 yards onto the green and let it release forward. If I’m between clubs, I’d rather be short than long when the flag is in the back. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-15 monthly 0.5 2025-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/bb8462a8-676d-4b11-a15c-647beb1543c8/Kingsley15fairwaycolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #15 - Make it stand out Now that I’ve got your attention, the key to this hole is your third shot. If you're like 97.4% of other golfers, you're not hitting the green in two on this beast. The real question is: where’s the best place to hit your third shot from? The answer is short left, no matter where the pin is located. You’re still dealing with a false front right in front of you, but from here, you can easily putt or chip. I truly believe most golfers should just pretend this hole is a par 5, so they don’t try to hit a miracle shot and end up with an 8+. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/6d33e404-9a2a-477e-9db1-fdf3b2f1e6d6/kingsley15colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #15 - As mentioned, the green sits about 4 feet above the fairway and slopes off to the lower areas if you’re short, left or right. This makes chipping around the green tough because you have to get the ball to stop on top of this plateau. There is a ridge that distinguishes the lower tier and upper tier on this two tier green. The front tier consists of the front 2/3rds of the green and the general slope is back to front and right to left. This is why the miss left is so much better than right because you will be chipping/putting into a bit of an upslope as opposed to a downhill chip. The back tier is a much smaller target but offers some relief with a backstop in the back right corner. This backstop is incredibly useful if you manage to miss in our “good” short/left position. When the pin is back here, an intention of missing short is safer than pin hunting. A shot that misses left with the distance of getting all the way back to the back plateau will leave an impossible bunker shot from beyond the green. I keep going back to this point but when you come across a golf hole with this level of difficulty, know your limits and make your course management decisions knowing that a bogey is a perfectly acceptable score. I’ve seen a trend that some members are beginning to hit a 220 yard shot off the tee to just try and find the fat part of the fairway and play for bogey. Quick Tips: Generally speaking, you cannot feel the hurting wind because of blocking trees. If #10 was downwind, #15 has to be into the wind. A putt from the top tier to the bottom tier is extremely fast. If a ball just creeps over the ridge, it will trundle another 15 feet. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-14 monthly 0.5 2025-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e3284a0c-3ab8-43a6-83a5-e167f1d1438b/14+fairway+colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #14 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/6b95b57c-ea75-4fc1-8426-47086127a715/Kinglsey14greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #14 Location 1: This is the easiest pin location on the hole and offers plenty of options for those who are trying to use some creativity to get the ball close. There is a good sized backboard slope you can utilize if from short or left of the green. You cannot miss right and if you end up beyond the backboard, you’ve got a putt that needs to be aimed well left and just creeps over the ridge. As long as the pin isn’t tucked into the backstop, a 2 putt is feasible. When laying up to this location I try to get as close as possible to the green but there is nothing wrong with staying short of the cross bunkers and having a ~100 yard shot in. Location 2: The left position makes things a bit tougher on golfers because of how small of a landing zone it is to get close to this pin. You have to be short of this pin. Just beyond this area is a mound in the middle of the green that sits a few feet higher than the rest of the green. A putt from above this mound has to be perfect just to stay on the green when putting to this section. Anything from short or a little right has to be aimed well right of the flag because of how dramatic the right to left slope is short of this pin location. If you are left of this pin, you either have to putt up the false front or hit a chip shot into the uphill. Whatever you decide, make sure to remember that a little too long and you’ve got a back stop and anything short comes back to your feet. For my lay up shot, I’m more likely to lay up short of the cross bunkers. I don’t see this as a “birdie” pin and am fine with trying to hit a wedge on the front half of the green somewhere. Location 3: The middle right pin is a tough one to get close unless you’ve got the perfect angle. The landing area is really small and anything that isn’t perfect kicks pretty hard left. From the right half of the fairway, getting a ball to stop in this location is nearly impossible because of those slopes. It really pays off to hit your approach shot pin high and left to this pin. You’ll see that it offers an amazing back stop between the two bunkers. A miss long is manageable, just leaves a sneaky straight putt that breaks left off the middle mound and then banks back right once it slopes down to this section. Location 4: The back section plays quite a bit differently than the rest of the hole because long is a better miss than short. This is a relative statement because we both have eyeballs and can see that there is a giant bunker long. As long as you don’t carry it all the way to the bunker, there is a nice backstop. Coming in from the right part of the fairway is a better angle than the rest of the pin locations but left isn’t quite as easy. I really like to have a full swing into the green when playing to this pin location. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-13-5gjcw monthly 0.5 2025-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/0beed913-2cdb-4ebd-ac64-171af9f7e23e/kingsley13colored+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #13 Location 1: This is the most straightforward pin location. The major thing you must do is keep the ball short of the hole. Long left is the low area mentioned above. From here, you're 8 feet below the green surface, and if your shot doesn’t reach the green, it rolls right back to your feet. A perfect shot should keep you on the correct tier, but anything other than perfect has a chance of rolling down the ridge to a bunker. Long left is in the back bowl or off the green. A putt that requires a grunt or shoulder turn can get you back on the correct tier, but it's far from an easy two-putt. This location gives you 20 yards from the back lip of the bunker to the fall-off ridge. The ideal position to this pin is highlighted in its matching color, but as mentioned, anything short of pin-high is doable. I usually hit my 240-yard club in hopes of being short and left of the green. Location 2: The front-right location is the smallest landing zone but offers some relief depending on where your tee shot lands. Like the first location, you do not want to be long for this pin placement. A putt from long is difficult and usually leads to needing a wedge on your next shot. Following our general logic: since the pin is on the right side of the green, we want the angle of approach from the right. This means we’re aiming for the highlighted green area on the overhead, which gives us a backboard to use and a chance to get the ball close. The front bunker is also a decent spot. The rest of the highlighted light blue area leaves a very fast chip or putt. If you find yourself in this area, your mission is to barely sneak a ball onto the green and let it roll down toward the hole. A two-putt par is a great score here if you don’t find yourself in the perfect position after your tee shot. I usually hit my 220-yard club when the pin is in this location. Location 3: This middle-right pin is one of the toughest on the entire course. If you’re out of position, the hole shows no mercy. You must be at or right of the middle bunker. Anything left of this bunker is an impossible angle, and even the best shots aimed toward the flag will probably roll off into the greenside bunker or native grass. The best spot is the right greenside bunker (highlighted in dark blue). From here, you’ve got a 4-foot backboard to use behind the hole. Really, any place with a decent lie right of that center bunker can work for this pin. The 13th is such a clever short par 4 because it forces you to take a risk with either your first or second shot. To this pin, you must take the risk on the tee shot to try and find a decent position. If you don’t want to take the risk on the tee shot, I suggest laying up into the pink-highlighted area. You'll have less than a full-swing wedge, but this play is best for those who don’t trust their short game as much as a full swing. Personally, I trust my short game, so I take the risk on the tee shot and try to get pin-high right with my 240-yard club. Location 4: The "bowl," as we call it, should be the easiest pin, but it certainly has its challenges. The "bowl" isn’t the most accurate name, as it has a massive leak out the back-right corner. My strategy here keeps changing with every bogey I make, but I’ll leave that decision up to you. The ridge is very steep in this part of the green, and anything that doesn’t land on the flat part of this section will roll down the slope and off the green. This means that anything short/left of the green is a bad angle because you can’t keep the ball from rolling off once you reach the ridge. From the tee box, most people think they should hit their ball here. If you do manage to find this spot, the worst thing you can do is not hit your shot hard enough, as the ball will stay on top of location 1, wasting a shot. In actuality, your choices are to either try to drive the green (240-yard carry) or lay up to the fat part of the fairway and wedge one close. If laying up sounds like the best move, hit a club that stays short of the first right bunker. This might be a 160-yard shot, but if we’re laying up, we might as well eliminate as much trouble as possible. From there, you need to hit a club that carries to the back bowl or slightly past/left to avoid landing on the downslope. If I have 100 yards, I’ll add another 5 yards for the uphill, then another 5 yards for the backboard, as long as I’m slightly left. Before even factoring the wind, I add an additional 10 yards to my distance. The bigger hitters can take a bomb-and-gouge option, hitting driver with a miss of right or long. You can see from the overhead that this is a fantastic angle to the back bowl. The risk is that you might not find your ball in the native grass, but if you do, you’ve got a relatively easy chip shot. The 12th fairway provides a sneaky good angle to this pin location. You have to hammer the ball way right, but it leaves a ~70-yard shot that plays ~90 yards uphill to the green, to a perfect catcher’s mitt. Location 5: This is a novelty pin and isn’t used for everyday play. However, it is used in tournaments and is hilariously hard. One year, I was caddying in the Member/Member tournament, and one of our competitors hit a great tee shot onto the green in position 1. He then putted it off the green into a bunker, played ping pong by himself between the bad area and the back bunkers a few times, and finally managed to get one to stay on the green. He gingerly three-putted for a 10. It was hard to watch because his partner had hit a terrible tee shot and abandoned the search, since his partner was sitting on the green with a putt for an eagle. When the pin is here, you either need to hit driver into the “bad spot” and rely on your short game or lay up short of the front bunker. This leaves a 70-yard shot, with long being your best miss. This is arguably my favorite hole on the course because of how brutal it can be. Tread lightly, and make sure your strategy aligns with each distinct pin! https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-12 monthly 0.5 2025-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/ca89dad9-94f5-4072-82ad-0ce1ad6e3c5c/12teeshotcolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #12 The 12th hole at Kingsley is certainly my favorite tee box view and sets the precedent for the awesome finishing stretch. The holes begin to wander through Northern Michigan hardwoods. The fairway lies in a ravine that moves right to left, with a giant hillside sloping hard right to left up the right side. This hillside separates the lower 12th fairway from the raised 13th fairway. One might think that this hillside is forgiving, but those who have had to hike up and down it to find their golf ball would set you straight real quick. I’ve lost more golf balls on this hillside than anywhere else on the property, and I hate losing golf balls. Since over 90% of golfers are right-handed, they will typically hit a slice into the hill. As the ball lands with left-to-right spin, it tends to stay right where it lands instead of bouncing down toward the fairway. The major disguise on this hole is how forgiving the left side of the fairway actually is. Props to Mike Devries on this one, because most golfers will look from the tee and instantly think they should favor the right side, given the dramatic right-to-left slope. Your brain will automatically say, "aim right." There’s a bush up the right side that would make a perfect target line, giving your intuition confirmation bias. That bush, however, is actually 270 yards out from the tee box, and most golfers can only dream of reaching it. The proper target line for most golfers is well left of the bush, and this still provides room to miss left. While there are obviously trees left that look intimidating, a golf ball landing in the first row of trees has a decent chance of rolling back onto the fairway, because the ground slopes hard right back toward the fairway and is incredibly firm. Many golfers will miss left, get disappointed, and act out—only for me to regain attention and watch a little white ball emerge from the trees back into the fairway. Knowing what the ball will do before it happens is one of the most satisfying parts of mastering a golf course.r it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/14d55687-c742-44e7-905f-b70cf57eb577/kingsley12colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #12 As you approach the green, the right hillside continues, but another hillside jets up the left side of the green. This hillside influences the left-to-right movement on the front two-thirds of the green. With a low spot right of the green, most off-target shots will end up here. From this location, you have a decent chance of getting up and down to any flag placement on the front two-thirds of the green. However, you need to avoid missing left when the pin is in this section. The ball will either get stuck in the second cut of rough up top, leaving you with an impossible downhill chip to a green running away from you, or it will kick hard right and race across the green to the low area. I usually aim just slightly left of center when playing this portion of the green, and if I’m between clubs, I prefer to miss short rather than long. The back third of the green is influenced by the right hillside and offers a bit of a backboard long and right. When playing to a back pin, a miss long is slightly better than short. The low spot short-right of the green leaves a very tricky chip or putt. Fun facts/quick tips: This is the only hole at Kingsley without a bunker. Pretty neat! The wind tends to not be as much of a factor because of how low it sits in the ravine. Your second shot, sneakily, plays a few yards uphill instead of downhill, as you might expect. If you end up blasting one way right (it happens more often than you'd expect), make sure to bring options with you. A shot from the 13th fairway will play about 20 yards downhill. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-11 monthly 0.5 2025-01-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b349cfbb-5a92-4291-9cd3-8aa9ad2e6f28/11kinglseycolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #11 From the tee, this hole looks as simple as the last. The designer, Mike Devries, does a great job of disguising what is really happening around the green for newcomers. The hole plays slightly downhill (about 5 yards) and the prevailing wind is right to left. Full transparency, the wind on this hole confuses me more often than any other hole on the course. I rely on my weather/wind app to see what the wind is doing that day and commit to that, rather than trying to determine what the wind is doing in every little moment. I was taught that you can’t trust a gust. The percentages say to trust the general direction and stick with it, rather than evaluating the wind on every single shot. Sadly, it took me 10 years to flip that rule on its head for the 11th at Kingsley. The hole faces southeast, while the general wind direction is from the southwest. My brain always wants the wind to be slightly hurting from the right, but year after year, I noticed more people missing long rather than short. Eventually, you have to accept you’re wrong and change your perspective! The green is oval in shape, but as mentioned, the right side of the green is a mirage. Because the front-right bunker sits slightly higher than the front of the green, most players can’t see that there is a giant false front along the right side. The left side of the hole tends to kick everything hard left to right toward the green. Last year, I had a player smooth a hook onto the hillside short left of the green. The ball landed and kicked dead right toward the hole. It’s a good thing the pin was in the way because I could hear the ball clang into the flagstick from the tee box, and it ended up about 5 feet away for birdie after an awful swing. The point is, miss left! The back tier of the green makes this hole at least half a stroke harder than the lower tier. With the right side of the green being a mirage and a terrible place to miss, you have to play very defensively when the pin is back here. Check out the picture in the yardage book to better understand what I mean. The miss is left, but you cannot be left and pin high. That will leave you with an impossible chip shot, with a high chance of rolling off the backside of the green to the area you were trying to avoid in the first place. You have to play to be short and left of the pin. Let’s say I’m playing the hole. From the gold tees, this hole is about 175 yards to the middle, with a back pin at about 185 yards. Without factoring in the wind, I’m playing my shot around 165-170 yards and aiming slightly left of center. This gives me a great chance to find the front-left part of the green and have an uphill look at two-putting for par. One last pointer for this back pin: the back tier is incredibly flat. Generally speaking, a putt on this back tier will never be more than a ball outside the hole. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-10 monthly 0.5 2025-01-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/7306157d-9cce-422d-94cb-c88a4deae4ce/kingsley10colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #10 The 10th hole at Kingsley is probably the most straightforward hole on this course and if I was in charge, I’d flip the 9’s because this is a perfect starting hole. The fairway is pretty large with fescue grass up both sides. The fairway sits in a valley and anything off line has a chance of kicking back into the fairway. There are bunkers up both sides of the fairway but the bunker on the right side of the fairway, roughly 250 yards from the blue tees, loves to gobble up balls. Generally speaking, you can always aim further left than you think to avoid that bunker and bank on a friendly bounce if you hit it too far left. The left bunker(295 yards) is not reachable for most golfers even if it doesn’t look that far away. Even when I’m playing a hole that is seemingly wide open, I still try to pick a specific line to aim at. I had a golf coach that would always say “aim small, miss small”. On this hole, that line is the bush above the left greenside bunker. The green slopes back to front for the first 3/4s of the green with the front left part of the green defended by a bunker and a nob that will projectile golf balls if they land on the backside of it. The back ¼ of the green slopes away towards the stone wall. With the prevailing wind generally helping you with an uphill approach shot, shots tend to roll out more than you’d expect. If you’re between clubs, go with the shorter of the two. This is one of the few holes where there really isn’t a horrible spot to be when you’re greenside. Left, long, short, and right are usually all reasonable when it comes to getting up and down but there is one pin location where you need to make sure not to miss long. This pin location is the front right portion of the green. There is a ridge right behind this pin location and if you get past this ridge, you have to hit a perfect putt just to keep the ball on the green. Depending where you are on the green, there is a secret route where you use the front left mound on the green to slingshot a putt up and around the front slope. It really depends on where you are putting from and where exactly the pin is, but this route has made me look a lot smarter than I actually am. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-9 monthly 0.5 2025-01-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/233f1498-6572-4d71-80c0-e0544b927828/Kingsley9colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #9 Probably the most “controversial” hole at Kingsley Club due to its feast-or-famine results. Most people hit one close and have a decent look at birdie, or they miss the green and embarrass themselves in front of the onlookers from the clubhouse deck. The hole is dramatic, but with proper course management, you’ll survive while others mumble obscenities under their breath. This hole is unique because there are two sets of tee boxes that are roughly 150 yards apart. One set of tees is south of the hole, and the other is west, behind the 8th green. The west tees play shorter (around 125 yards) and emphasize distance control, while the south tees play a little longer (around 150 yards) and really test your ability to hit an accurate shot. The green boomerangs around the front-left bunkers and has three distinct landing areas. The front-left corner has a landing zone that is about 15’ x 15’ wide. With bunkers to the right of this pin location, players naturally aim left and try to use the slope as a sideboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/52cc7b85-ccf6-4aa5-a553-a2c9e11f88b3/9greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #9 However, if you miss too far left, you’ll land on a steep left-to-right slope that tends to kick balls straight across the green into the front bunkers. From the west tees, play a few yards less than the number and take direct aim. Whether you miss a little left or right, you’ll end up in the right bunkers, but this is a manageable up-and-down. From the south tees, you can get aggressive with club selection thanks to the backboard behind the hole. If you hit too far up the backboard, the ball may come screaming back toward the bunkers—but this is fine, too. Just make sure not to miss right, as this will leave you with a difficult chip shot off the green or an impossible two-putt from the middle tier. The middle section is nicknamed "the elbow" and is arguably the smallest landing zone on the entire course. I’ve seen too many good shots just not cooperate, and we watch helplessly as the ball sneaks off the green from the tee box. I try to be sympathetic, but I’ve come to expect unfriendly results at this point. From the west tees, you need to aim directly at the pin to keep the ball on this tier, but a miss short or right still gives you a chance at par. Like the front-left pin, if you are left of the pin at all, there’s a chance you’ll get a bad kick right off the slope, and where the ball ends up is anyone’s guess. If you miss long, the green falls off by about 4 feet into some rough. From there, you’ll have to hit a flop shot that lands on a downslope and runs away into the front bunkers. I’ve seen more people quit from this spot than finish the hole with a bogey or better. From the south tees, your best miss is either short or a little left. If the flag is 160 yards, that means you only need to carry the ball 140 yards to reach the front-right portion of the green. You can’t miss long or right from this tee box to this pin location. The right section is the largest landing zone on the green, but it requires a shot that lands softly. From the west blue tees, the yardage is around 130 yards. The front bunker is 125 yards to carry, and the back edge is around 140. If you land the ball between these yardages, you’re good to go! If you’re between clubs, choose the shorter one because missing long to this section is a near auto bogey or worse. The long-right area is a definite no-no and must be avoided at all costs. From the south tees, the worst miss is still to the right. A little left is okay, and a touch long is a backstop. Be aggressive and aim at a spot that eliminates the right. A tough par 3 can make or break your round. With this knowledge going into the hole, let's make sure we are doing everything we can to avoid the bad misses and live with a bogey if we aren’t able to execute. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-club-8 monthly 0.5 2025-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/5131366b-0afd-404e-a18d-55c640686a5a/Kingsley8colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley Club #8 Kingsley #8 This is one of my favorite golf holes because there’s no “faking it” — you have to hit a good approach shot. Most of the holes at Kingsley offer plenty of relief if you know where to miss, but this hole doesn’t follow that pattern. The tee shot is the easiest on the course. The fairway is over 40 yards wide, and the hole is only about 350 yards long. There’s a bunker about 250 yards from the tee that covers more than 50% of the fairway until it ends at 280 yards. The best strategy is to hit a shot of about 220 yards to ensure your ball doesn’t reach the middle of the fairway, avoiding the bunker. From there, you’ll have a 100-120 yard shot to a perched-up green that plays about 5 yards uphill. This is where the fun begins, because the green slopes off left, right, and short. With a bunker short-left and a tightly mowed false front protecting the front and right portions of the green, you need to focus and execute a good shot. There is some relief long. The green is cut into a hillside, which creates a natural backboard behind the green. However, because the area is so tightly mowed, a ball can gain too much speed and race towards the front of the green or, worse, into the left-front bunker. When I play this hole, my main goal is simply to find the green — I can live with whatever putt I have left. Not factoring in any wind, my philosophy for yardage on this hole is to aim for the back edge of the green, with a miss left being better than right. This strategy eliminates the bad miss of short/right and allows golfers to use the only relief on the hole, which is a little long. This hole is a great example of finding the “good” miss and ensuring your club selection is based on that information. By targeting the area with the largest margin of error, you can exploit the relief and improve your chances of success. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-club-7 monthly 0.5 2025-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/80674db0-d437-442f-a5b3-120eaccbca92/Kingsley%237fairwayedited+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley Club #7 - Kingsley #7 This challenging par 5 requires you to make an important decision right from the start. Depending on the tee box you're playing from, hitting a driver may not be the most strategic choice. You would realize this by doing your due diligence and noting that the bushes on the right are only about 240 yards away, while the trees on the left are at about 270 yards. I almost always hit my 220-yard club when playing from the blue tees, and the wind determines whether I hit driver from the gold tees (280-yard bushes / 310-yard trees). If you're trying to stay short of the bushes and trees, there is far more room on the left than it looks like, which provides the best angle to advance the ball up the fairway. The right side might look inviting from the tee, but even a slight miss can leave you with a difficult lie on a shot that requires a blind carry over the right hillside. I typically aim at the left bunker. The blind shot, however, offers plenty of landmarks for aiming. Please use the Google Earth image to visualize the sight lines when you're behind the hillside. If you can see the large trees to the right of the green, remember that the green is actually left of these trees, with the smaller, stand alone tree marking the right side of the green. Here is a breakdown of where you should aim based on your location. Right Fescue: Right of the right bush Edge of Right Fairway: Between the bushes Middle Fairway: Up the right fairway mow line Edge of Left Fairway: Hug the left trees as much as possible. If blocked, hit a low runner to use the ground to move left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/f836e0a5-1dac-42f6-9f58-ea4e576f1106/kclub7greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley Club #7 This is another green where the pin position greatly influences your lay-up strategy. You can easily see the pin location from the 6th tee box or through a rangefinder from your tee shot. The green slopes from back to front and right to left, with a swale that cuts the green in half. The lower-left half has a swale that acts as a backboard, shaped like a horseshoe with the left side open. That open left side forms a false front, dropping 4 feet into rough. The back half of the green is shaped like a boomerang around the horseshoe, with a bunker long and right. Due to the design of the green, a miss to the right is much more penalizing than a miss to the left when approaching this green. When the pin is in the front-left section, I prefer to be in the green-highlighted area of the fairway, about 110 yards from the hole. To lay up to this position, look at the nearest fairway yardage marker and subtract 120 yards. This gives you the correct distance to stay on this platform and allows for a slightly better angle from the left, which makes it easier to use the horseshoe-shaped backboard. The yellow-highlighted area provides a worse angle and leaves you with a ¾ swing from about 70 yards. It’s not my favorite shot, but it’s still an option. You must stay a little right of the flag and can be aggressive with the backstop. The orange lay-up zone is impossible to stop on the left section of the green, so it must be avoided. The right/back pin location changes my plan a bit because I want to eliminate the "bad" miss to the right. From the green-highlighted area, even a slight miss right could result in a poor outcome. However, if I decide to lay up closer to the green in the yellow zone, the angle improves, making the approach shot easier. The only time I’d aim for the orange lay-up zone is when the pin is in the back-middle or back left position. In that case, I would need to hit driver off the tee to try and get past the trees on the left for a clear window into this part of the fairway. This doesn’t happen often, but if it does, it’s part of my strategy in hopes of making a birdie. On a par 5 like this, you need to be thinking two steps ahead when determining your strategy. Failing to have a proper plan can put you at a disadvantage. As many who have played this hole know, it can turn into a blow-up hole before you even realize what happened. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-6 monthly 0.5 2025-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/15f22e76-bc1d-4ca3-8e31-588c08076f08/KClub%236colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #6 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-5-7y2j5 monthly 0.5 2025-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/17cdf6de-594d-4605-859c-80d103c89aa4/kclub%235edited+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #5 There are three distinct pin locations on the green. The front pin requires a shot to come in from the left. A miss right is terrible because you’ll either end up in the short bunkers or land on the down slope that nearly guarantees the need for your sand wedge behind the green. A miss short either gets a kick forward onto the green or may stick, leaving you with a very touchy chip shot or fairway putt onto the green, which slopes away from you. Any shot that goes past the pin leaves a 60-foot putt that is always more uphill than you think. There is a flat spot on the top left portion of the green that the grounds crew can use when they want to humble golfers that day. Remember, the green runs dramatically left to right. To keep one close to this pin, you’ll need to land the ball within a 5-foot circle with right-to-left spin. I’m dead serious. If the ball lands left of the pin, it’ll get a kick right, and then there’s no stopping it from catching a 5-foot slope and rolling another 40 feet away. A player whose shot stays left of the pin has no chance of getting their chip shot close and needs to two-putt from 40 feet to save their bogey. Whenever a golfer has a putt from the back right bowl to the much-elevated left section, I emphatically let them know that most golfers don’t hit their putt hard enough the first time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “You’re right,” when the ball comes rolling back to their feet. From this position, I absolutely smoke my putt because you can use the back slope as a backboard in case you hit your putt a little too hard. The back right bowl is certainly the easiest pin location, but you can screw yourself pretty easily if you don’t pay attention to exactly where the pin is located within the bowl. Take a look at the picture of this hole. The pin is located right in the middle of the green, but you absolutely must end up behind the pin to have a chance at an easy par. The grounds crew can tuck the pin up into one of the severe slopes, and if you’re short of that slope, you’re more than likely going to end up with a bogey because the ball cannot stop near the hole. Even if you’re long in the back bunker, you are better off than being short. You might even be able to putt a ball out of this bunker. Pay attention to little details like this, and you’ll hopefully stop kicking yourself for a good shot that leads to a bad miss. Pro tip is to take a look at the green complex when you are walking off the first green. You’ll see everything you’ll need to make an informed decision! -Your hat caddies https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-4 monthly 0.5 2025-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e81b312a-2782-4032-aa6d-29b3e7b51bfc/Kclub%234greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #4 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/c59095b5-8e1f-483e-bd35-bfaa3f74233a/Kingsley%234colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #4 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-3 monthly 0.5 2025-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/b524a59c-38fb-473a-bb68-b1a188df15f0/Kingsley%233colored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course Breakdown: Kingsley #3 - Make it stand out Header image is from https://www.kingsleyclub.com/media-accolades Thanks for the photo! https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-2 monthly 0.5 2025-01-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/eb3e4fa5-df3f-4ed7-ba80-b22b9a58f638/KClub%232+colored+%281%29.jpg Lessons with Loopers - Course breakdown: Kingsley #2 https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/course-breakdown-kingsley-club-hole-1 monthly 0.5 2025-01-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/25237188-d4f1-44a3-aef8-3c5ed512cd08/Kclub1teeshotcolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - course breakdown: Kingsley #1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/1c73956d-5014-4770-84ab-a8f944efe464/KClub%231greencolored.jpg Lessons with Loopers - course breakdown: Kingsley #1 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.looperlids.com/lessons-with-loopers/intro-lessons-with-the-loopers monthly 0.5 2025-01-01 https://www.looperlids.com/whytapcap daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/94526bb3-b563-4054-84df-01d00d2ceb9c/Looper+Lids+Watermark+Hat+Only.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e1a613ef-c8ff-4c92-affd-caeb4430dd19/checkmark-png-25980.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/76f8dc4f-af6f-4420-a782-59fd6e8e7f3b/Looper+Lids+Watermark+%281%29.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e1a613ef-c8ff-4c92-affd-caeb4430dd19/checkmark-png-25980.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e1a613ef-c8ff-4c92-affd-caeb4430dd19/checkmark-png-25980.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/670c1b68e4edaf0d57995891/e1a613ef-c8ff-4c92-affd-caeb4430dd19/checkmark-png-25980.png 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