Freeways and Fairways: Lake Michigan Hills
This course review is part of an occasional series that looks at golf courses found along Michigan freeways – those you drive by frequently, or on that annual vacation, but never seem to have time to stop and explore. Perhaps next time you should:
By Tom Lang
Anytime I’ve been near Benton Harbor, on my way to Harbor Shores or the private Pointe O’ Woods, I have noticed along I-196 northbound just above the I-96 interchange an attractive opening in the trees that is Lake Michigan Hills Golf Club.
The 1st and 10th tees are located at some of the highest elevations on the property, so the first shot on either nine you get to try bombing a long drive even longer – but be cautious because both holes have water near the landing areas.
And if you like trees, you will enjoy Lake Michigan Hills the rest of the tour.
The front nine holes are all pretty straight, with the only slight turns in the fairway on holes 1, 2 and 9 – and I do mean slight. There’s a good mix of elevation changes all the way around but, on the front, they are in the form of elevated tees. On the back nine there are significant elevation climbs on the 12th and 17th holes. In fact, the latter is such a long par three that goes so much uphill I would lobby that it be changed to a short par 4, even if they did not move the tees back a little. Those were the two toughest holes on the course for me, a 17-handicap.
Unlike the front nine, the back has three consecutive hard dogleg turning holes, Nos. 14-16 that bend and wrap alongside each other in parallel formation – like three boomerangs side-by-side. The first and last of the trio are par fours, while the No. 15 is a longer par 5 creating the outside border.
You feel like you’re playing a parkland course until reaching holes 5, 7 and 8 – where it seems obvious it’s where the most recent updates to the course have occurred. No. 5 is a par 4 with a valley dipping in the fairway, and a green complex that used to be surrounded by trees. But those have been cleared out for the most part and replaced with sand dunes and tall native grasses. It’s one of the areas that comes in closest contact with the freeway.
The 7th hole green was made a double shared green with the 10th hole, and when playing the 7th that doesn’t seem to come into play. But when you play the latter hole the visuals of that double green should make you double check which flag you are hitting to.
No. 8 is a par three that underwent the same transformation as No. 5 – I almost felt transported to Arizona for a hole, until coming back to reality of a Michigan tree-lined course on No. 9.
In 2023, Lake Michigan Hills is scheduled to have an all-new fleet of GPR carts, but GPS probably won’t tell you that when in doubt, all putts break slightly toward Lake Michigan, about 10 miles away.
More info found here.
