Grand Beach Golf Course

Great place to golf. A nice nine hole course in Harbor country. A real value including a golf cart plus green fee for under $45.

Fun for all ages.

In your golf Delorean get up to 80mph and set it to 1912. Tucked into the extreme corner of SW Michigan is a virtually untouched Bendelow gem of 9 holes. Excellent historic golden age value play. Get a few swings in with modern gear but imagine playing this course with hickory sticks! Driving range and practice putting green. Some smaller greens that have lost a little of the size over the years but smooth putting surfaces. Thoughtfully maintained for the course age. Old school 40/50's era building serves as pro/snack shop and Grand Beach Village Hall. Blind tee shot over a ridge on the 1st and finishes with two blind par 3's over ridges - the kind of holes you just don't see or even get built any more. A tad "tight" in a few places since it's so wooded but fair. The 6th is a quirky 271 dogleg left protected by a couple of huge trees in the middle and left of the fairway 100 yards from the green. If you love golf you'll absolutely finish with a smile. Lots of kids out on the range/course with dad/mom/grandpa/grandma and a few canine friends to make as well. Tuck a couple of biscuits in the bag. I will gladly return to Grand Beach again next time I'm in that area.

It's all too rare that public golfers can play a quaint, relatively unchanged, century-old golf course. These sorts of places are usually gated off from all but their handfuls of well-heeled members.

Grand Beach does have a gate, but it's open, and if you can make it through the winding roads and woods to the ice cream shop/pro shop to pay your green fee, you're just as welcome to the place as its residents. The course is just under 3,000 yards, with tiny greens and plenty of quirky blind shots; the 8th and 9th are both blind par 3s. It's a bit overtreed, but any benign neglect just adds to the low-key, old-school charm. Residents zip around the course in their vintage golf carts, but it's a lovely walk and a peaceful place to spend a couple hours.