GCA Gathering - Greywalls @ Marquette GC (w/ pictures)

[Brad Swanson]

George (and Brad -- I've really been trying -- really -- to take you up on the Greywalls trip, but stuff keeps getting in the way...):

Great photos -- wonderful tour of what looks to be a really dramatic course.

Questions:

-- Some of the fairways (2, 4, 7, 18) look, to be honest, just over-the-top with their contouring.  Is it silly, or do the incredibly bold contours lend themselves to strategic choices? It looks to be a course that needs multiple plays to get a sense of really where to go (and here I'm channeling Mucci's thread on Pound Ridge, which does look over-the-top and one that I accept Patrick's view as being simply no fun to play). Yet most everyone here says this is a blast to play. I'm a lousy golfer, and my desire to play here gets checked by my desire not to be simply overwhelmed by a course that I couldn't handle.

The "contouring" on those holes is all natural IIRC, so if its over the top, one has to blame mother nature.  To be honest, its hard to capture the true scale of the movement in photos.  With the bold contouring comes some luck of the draw as far as your lies in the fairway on occasion, but the relative firmness and tightly mown fairwys help to let the balls settle in relatively flat spots in the fairways (not necessarily in the rough).  There are areas of the course where I wish Mike had a little more of a budget to do some granite blasting to soften things a bit (such as the slope right of 9 green).  As far as difficulty goes, I personally think the course may be a handful for the inconsistent ball-striker.  No doubt multiple plays and the skill to adapt to uneven lies make scoring at Greywalls much easier.  George's photos of #9 demonstrate that the player will benefit from some trial and error to develop a strategy for each hole that is tailored to their strengths.  That these options are available demonstrates the strategic nature of many of the holes.  Personally, I prefer to hit a hybrid right behind the fairway bunker for my tee shot on #9, leaving a blind 2nd shot, but with a level lie and maximal room to work a draw in with the short iron 2nd shot.  

-- Do the bunkers on 11 and 13 looks as jarring in person as they do in these pics?

Not in my opinion, especially 13, which may be my favorite hole on the course (it is a more subtle hole relative to the overall character of the course, but every shot counts on that hole, with errors off of the tee almost always requiring longer approaches to my favorite green complex on the course which really favors a pitch approach versus a longer iron approach.  11 is basically out of this world undulating and the bold bunkering matches the wild movement, although there are level spots to be found in the fairway if you look carefully.

Those two holes just stick out as radically different than the rest, given how the severe natural landforms provide plenty of challenge. Fair characterization, or am I missing something?

-- Anyone have pics of the Langford nine there?

There is no "Langford nine" per se, as the original 9 Langford holes are mixed into both 9s of the Heritage Course along with the new Gill holes.

Although I am a big fan of the course and enjoy promoting it, I know its not everyone's cup of tea which is fine by me (BWT).  At least I know I have one thing I agree with Matt Ward about.

Cheers,
Brad

[Keith Buntrock]

John

I shot 75 at Greywalls in the first round without a birdie. Round two was played on the Heritage course in the same day. I shot 76 on that course with a triple on the last hole which our group played in complete darkness as they really wanted to finish. It was a freshman mistake as I shanked my iron off the tee into the neighbor's yard there.

Round 1 on Greywalls was played with carts for pace of play purposes since it was a 36 holes in one day affair.

Final round (day 2) on Greywalls was without carts. We were shuttled to the first tee thankfully. I shot 74 finishing with birdie-birdie. Needless to say it had some exhausting walks with a bag on the back. The walk up to the back tee on 6 left a deep burn. Northern Michigan hosted the tournament and they will not be having it again this fall unfortunately. I play for WI-Parkside, a D2 school south of Milwaukee. The field had 65 players and I ended up T-32. We played every tee back except 15.

[Brad Fleischer]

I so have to get to this place and I keep getting curtailed. I'm in traverse for 5 and 7 days soon so I'm thinking of making the long drive and staying overnight  than leaving the next day . How long by car would it take to get there from traverse ?


Good pics !

[JC Jones]

Brad -

4.5 to 5 hours depending on your route.  Im in Charlevoix and it took me about 3:45 to make the trip.

[Tyler Kearns]

George (and Brad -- I've really been trying -- really -- to take you up on the Greywalls trip, but stuff keeps getting in the way...):

Great photos -- wonderful tour of what looks to be a really dramatic course.

Questions:

-- Some of the fairways (2, 4, 7, 18) look, to be honest, just over-the-top with their contouring. Is it silly, or do the incredibly bold contours lend themselves to strategic choices? It looks to be a course that needs multiple plays to get a sense of really where to go (and here I'm channeling Mucci's thread on Pound Ridge, which does look over-the-top and one that I accept Patrick's view as being simply no fun to play). Yet most everyone here says this is a blast to play. I'm a lousy golfer, and my desire to play here gets checked by my desire not to be simply overwhelmed by a course that I couldn't handle.

-- Do the bunkers on 11 and 13 looks as jarring in person as they do in these pics? Those two holes just stick out as radically different than the rest, given how the severe natural landforms provide plenty of challenge. Fair characterization, or am I missing something?

-- Anyone have pics of the Langford nine there?

Phil,

Mike is pretty consistent in keeping with the tenet, "take what the land offers", hence the natural, but extremely wild fairway contours. Further, holes 11-14 have a sandy soil and are much flatter than the rest of the course, and it was more natural to have bunkers feature prominently on these holes, plus they had to be easier to excavate. Like John, I have a few pictures of the Langford greens, perhaps this should be the first time I try to post pictures.

[Jon Spaulding]

Great photos. Much different and more interesting looks than the course profile and some others I have seen.

It's too bad that the "new" GCA forces all images down to a certain size. In fact, it sucks, because some of these photos would be nice to see in full size.

This place is moving up my list of things to do at some point in life; while at the same time Mayhugh's ass is moving down.

[Joe Hancock]

This place is moving up my list of things to do at some point in life; while at the same time Mayhugh's ass is moving down.

Interesting that Mayhugh's ass is on your list though.........

 

[Peter Pallotta]

Joe,

Never again post a picture of your ass.  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Oh man, that was funny!

Thanks, JC - you've just restored my faith in this website.

And, may I add - don't both Joe and John finish real pretty-like there? Almost ballerina-like...

Peter

[JC Jones]

Joe,

Never again post a picture of your ass.  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Oh man, that was funny!

Thanks, JC - you've just restored my faith in this website.

And, may I add - don't both Joe and John finish real pretty-like there? Almost ballerina-like...

Peter

Interestingly, they both are so "light on their feet" that neither of them wear spikes (when they play golf).

[George Freeman]

Questions:

-- Some of the fairways (2, 4, 7, 18) look, to be honest, just over-the-top with their contouring. Is it silly, or do the incredibly bold contours lend themselves to strategic choices? It looks to be a course that needs multiple plays to get a sense of really where to go (and here I'm channeling Mucci's thread on Pound Ridge, which does look over-the-top and one that I accept Patrick's view as being simply no fun to play). Yet most everyone here says this is a blast to play. I'm a lousy golfer, and my desire to play here gets checked by my desire not to be simply overwhelmed by a course that I couldn't handle.

The fairway contours lead to a lot of strategy and a lot of luck/randomness; the later two keep the game interesting IMO!  I wouldn't imagine the fairway contours would be the biggest issue for high handicappers (at least it means they found the fairway!).  Yes, you can have some interesting lies, but that's all part of the game and fun as well.  The big issue for the high handicapper IMO would be if they are spraying the ball 40+ yards offline from the tee, especially if they are playing too far back.  But, this is the case on MANY golf courses, definitely not something unique to Greywalls.  The thing with GW is that if you do miss the mowed turf by 10-20 yards, you're more often than not looking at a lost ball or unplayable.  That said, the playing corridors at GW are very generous, and I believe from the correct set of tees, the course is very playable for all skill levels.

-- Do the bunkers on 11 and 13 looks as jarring in person as they do in these pics? Those two holes just stick out as radically different than the rest, given how the severe natural landforms provide plenty of challenge. Fair characterization, or am I missing something?

Well 12-14 don't have the super dramatic natural landforms that the holes on the higher side of the property do, so the bunkering works well w/ 13 in that aspect.  11 is just awesome.  It's got a super undulating fairway (and wide!), and then you stick the bunkers in.  The hole is just dripping w/ strategic options.

[JC Jones]

bump for the Mayhugh ass shot.  I promise another this weekend.

bump also for how awesome Greywalls is.  You can see the smokestacks in the distance in the Mayhugh shot (though it is the 12th tee and not the 1st tee).  These were what I was referring to in the "vertical elements" thread.

[Scott Warren]

Thanks for bumping, JC. I missed this the first time around. Some awesome pics!

[JC Jones]

Hard to believe its been 3 years.  I'm hoping for a return visit this summer!