[Tom Bacsanyi]

Some friends and I will be in the area for a bachelor party and we are trying to select a venue for a small golf outing.  Who's got some recommendations?  We have no private connections, so we will be going public and decently cheap.  What say you Treehouse?

[BCowan]

Visiting breweries should be top priority when you are in GR.  Also the breweries within an hour are world class!  Golf plays 2nd fiddle.  
 Pilgrims Run is 30 mins to the north (DeVries)  great piece of land, could have been better, but still good public.  The mines is another DeVries (Closed on Sundays).  Leave clubs at home and go brew pub crawling.  

[Joe Hancock]

I'll wait to recommend based on understanding what kind of bachelor party. There's a lot of friends in the business around here who I'd rather not alienate.

If it's golf-centric and the beer flows later(a great idea), you have the aforementioned Mines, and I would also recommend L.E. Kaufman GC., an older Bruce Matthews(Jerry's dad, Bruce III's uncle) design. Thornapple Pointe is conditioned well and can be fun for cartballers.

Joe

[Matthew Lloyd]

It would be a little bit of a drive, but I'd recommend Tullymore/St. Ives for a 36 hole day.

[Bart Bradley]

I don't recommend Tullymore or St Ives.  Stick with the Devries options. Better golf. Better value. More fun.  Pilgrims Run or the Mines are your best bets.

Bart

[Ben Kodadek]

Visiting breweries should be top priority when you are in GR.  Also the breweries within an hour are world class!  Golf plays 2nd fiddle.  
 Pilgrims Run is 30 mins to the north (DeVries)  great piece of land, could have been better, but still good public.  The mines is another DeVries (Closed on Sundays).  Leave clubs at home and go brew pub crawling.  

I've got a hunch I know the answer but why in the world would a golf course be closed on a Sunday?

[Anthony_Nysse]

If you grew up in GR, you'd know it wasn't uncommonly for businesses to be closed on Sunday. Pilgrims Run  was also closed on ask days for sometime. A very christian, faith based area, very conservative. Even though my dad was a Superintendnet, we never played golf on Sundays until,after I got out of college.

[Howard Riefs]

Play the DeVries courses already mentioned.

Visiting breweries should be top priority when you are in GR.  Also the breweries within an hour are world class!  Golf plays 2nd fiddle.  
 Pilgrims Run is 30 mins to the north (DeVries)  great piece of land, could have been better, but still good public.  The mines is another DeVries (Closed on Sundays).  Leave clubs at home and go brew pub crawling.  

This isn't Brew Pub Atlas.

[BCowan]

Play the DeVries courses already mentioned.

Visiting breweries should be top priority when you are in GR.  Also the breweries within an hour are world class!  Golf plays 2nd fiddle.  
 Pilgrims Run is 30 mins to the north (DeVries)  great piece of land, could have been better, but still good public.  The mines is another DeVries (Closed on Sundays).  Leave clubs at home and go brew pub crawling.  

This isn't Brew Pub Atlas.

Tom, Founders is a must.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Thanks for all the great recommendations golf and otherwise.  Apparently, some of my idiot friends already selected Grand Haven Golf Club which looks EXTRAORDINARILY BAD.   I am trying to incite a revolution...

[Neil Johnston]

I will be touring through Grand Rapids with my father next Monday 6/23 and Tuesday 6/24 on the way north. If any local GCAers want to play the Mines on Monday AM or Tullymore Tuesday AM (we received quite a favorable rate here), send me a PM.

[Ryan Bass]

Thanks for all the great recommendations golf and otherwise.  Apparently, some of my idiot friends already selected Grand Haven Golf Club which looks EXTRAORDINARILY BAD.   I am trying to incite a revolution...

I grew up near that club.  I've played it 200 times but not in the last 10 years.  Trees frame most holes, which is generally frowned upon on GCA.  While my tastes have also changed over the years, the elevation changes and natural areas make the course visually challenging and interesting. I remember the greens being fun with many several greens built into sandy hillsides and having tilt, internal contour and good speed.  Of course, a lot can change in 10 years.

[Matt Glore]

It's an hour and 15 min to Harbor Shores.  Easy drive.  Fun course with tricky greens.  If you never played it course conditions are always top notch.  Practice facility is very nice.  You will enjoy it, but it takes a few rounds to figure out how to score on it.  

-added just saw you guy didn't want to spend too much, it will run you around $100.  Look on their website for discounted tee times or twilight rates.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I have played this course twice and enjoyed it each time: http://www.hawksheadlinks.com/

It's exactly 55 miles from GR, en route to Chicago. You can see a hole or 2 from the highway.
Plays as a quasi-links course done by Art Hills. Delighful restaurant and you can actually stay there. Very quaint.

Also very reasonable and in great shape.

[Anthony_Nysse]

I'll wait to recommend based on understanding what kind of bachelor party. There's a lot of friends in the business around here who I'd rather not alienate.

If it's golf-centric and the beer flows later(a great idea), you have the aforementioned Mines, and I would also recommend L.E. Kaufman GC., an older Bruce Matthews(Jerry's dad, Bruce III's uncle) design. Thornapple Pointe is conditioned well and can be fun for cartballers.

Joe

Agree with LE Kaufman. One of the best Muni in the state and maintained like a private club. GREAT Poa greens!

[Chris DeToro]

That's a bummer...some decent golf in the GR/Holland area, most of which has been covered.  Pilgrim's Run is probably the best, but the Mines is really good, Thornapple Pointe is decent, and I'll throw out Scott Lake (a 27 hole Matthews course) as well as the Highlands (a Ross which has seen better days but it's cheap and has some great holes)

[Mike Hendren]

Second the Mines, though some idiot must have designed/built the 18th green!

Bogey

[Mike Schott]

Grand Haven is a pretty nice course. Low key and unassuming. It's been many years since I've played it but I remember it being a good course and value. If you can get them to change their minds, I second the Hawkshead recommendation. Another good course in the area is Rees Jones' Thousand Oaks. Terrific greens complexes.

[Jason Thurman]

If you grew up in GR, you'd know it wasn't uncommonly for businesses to be closed on Sunday. Pilgrims Run  was also closed on ask days for sometime. A very christian, faith based area, very conservative. Even though my dad was a Superintendnet, we never played golf on Sundays until,after I got out of college.

Sounds like an awesome town for a bachelor party!

[BCowan]

If you grew up in GR, you'd know it wasn't uncommonly for businesses to be closed on Sunday. Pilgrims Run  was also closed on ask days for sometime. A very christian, faith based area, very conservative. Even though my dad was a Superintendnet, we never played golf on Sundays until,after I got out of college.

Sounds like an awesome town for a bachelor party!

Grand Rapids won Beer City USA poll 2013!  I'd say that ranks very high for my liking for a Bachelor Party!  Charlie Papazian (is he related to Gib?) conducts the poll. 

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2013/05/grand_rapids_wins_beer_city_us.html

[Jason Thurman]

Bachelor parties aren't about enjoying local microbreweries. They're about hard liquor, clubs that stay open late, strippers, and White Castle at 5 AM. I originally thought the guys suggesting Tom's group drive at least an hour away were all being golf snobs. After some quick Googling though, it appears they're only trying to send him to "land fit for purpose" (shout-out to MHM).

On the bright side, Grand Rapids sounds like a great place to repent afterwards. And I'm also willing to bet the police officers uphold the law with dignity and the jail cells are clean, which could be important.

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