Lynx GC, Otsego, MI

Bought this as a groupgolfer not realizing Otsego was near Kalamazoo, 2 1/2 hours away! But it was a lucky mistake.  This is an older course that was "remodeled" in 2014.  There's a lot of trees but it seems easy to find your ball. There's a lot of sand bunkers in front of greens but they're easy to avoid. There are six holes along the Kalamazoo river but it's easy to avoid the water. The course is not an easy course but it's very enjoyable, especially from the women's tees. The first hole has a large drop off to the green as does the tenth. The par 3s are challenging as are the par 5s, but par is certainly doable. There are some really nice elevations. The greens and tee boxes were in nice shape but they were in the process of aerating the fairways so that was kind of hard. It was mid October and had rained nonstop the day before but we still enjoyed the course. The clubhouse is located next to the 18th green with a really nice balcony. There was no cart girl or bathrooms (other than port-a-potties). We ate at the clubhouse later and had a great hamburger and a great view.  They have a lot of events at the clubhouse, weddings, class reunions, comedy shows, even fall color tour events every weekend! Everyone at the course, from the guy we made the tee time with to the groundskeepers, was very nice. We will definitely go again!

http://lynxgc.com/#home

Rush Lake Hills Golf Course, Pickney, MI

I had purchased a groupgolfer last winter for Rush Lake Hills and finally got there. The course is owned by Henry Ford Hospital and all profits go to cancer research which I think is pretty cool.  The course is older and the facilities reflect that, but the course itself is kept up very well.  The front nine is kind of wide open and the back nine is more scenic and rolling. Hills is the operative word in the title of this course. There were lots of them even on the greens! It was not a hard course but the greens were not easy by any means.  There were very few sand bunkers and water only came into play on a couple holes. There were some nice par 3s and the par 5s were very manageable. There were only three tee boxes and the women's were quite fair. There was no cart person or ranger and play was really slow. They don't pair you up so that might have been part of the problem (although as a general rule I don't like getting paired up).  We didn't get any food on the turn but it was available. No water available that I could see and the only bathrooms were port-a-potties that were quite clean. The employees were beyond nice and thanked us for coming.  It's an hour drive for us but I would play there again, for the cancer research connection alone!

www.rushlakehills.com

Greystone Golf Club, Washington, MI

What a pretty course! We got a groupgolfer.com cert for this course and drove just over an hour to get there. There were a couple outings before us so it was just a bit slow for us. And it had rained quite a bit right before so it was a bit wet. BUT those are my only "complaints". We started on hole 10 and, I think, saw the prettiest holes first. In fact, the say they have "The Best Finish in Michigan Golf" and I  think they might be correct! The last 3 holes go around a quarry, a pretty par 3 and 2 challenging par 4s. The course is quite friendly for women, very playable (5033 yards). Course was in good condition and we saw a lot of guys working on it. The greens were VERY fast which was a challenge. The score card has tips on it for each hole that were quite helpful. I think the course is very reasonably priced. There were two bathrooms on the course. No cart girl but a very nice grille with outdoor seating with a beautiful view of the course.  Would love to come back but it is quite a drive so we'll see.

http://www.golfgreystone.com/

Royal Tee Golf Course, Cape Coral, Fl

We first golf this course in 2016 and have been back a couple times. It's now called Cape Royal Golf Club. There are three 9 holes Queen, King and Prince. There was always a pretty effective starter there and we alternated which course we started on. Play was fairly quick for a Florida course.  The course was well-maintained with water on almost every hole. There are homes on the course and some of the holes can be pretty tight because of it.  We were able to book through golfnow so we got a little cheaper rate and we have golfed as a twosome here which is unusual for Florida.  There was a cart girl and bathrooms. We had a pretty good hamburger after we golfed.  There are 5 sets of tees so the course is good for all level of players. We enjoy the course and that's why we keep going back.

Cape Royal

Eagle Ridge Golf Club, Ft. Myer, FL

Florida courses are very expensive and as much as we golf, we have to try to get a deal. So we booked through golf now at 2:37, big mistake, got there early but right behind 16 guys, then another 4 some. We were told by the starter that we'd be lucky to get 12 holes in so the couple we were paired up with and ourselves decided to just do 9. Then we were told they "don't have 9s".  After a long back and forth with the manager, he gave us the twilight rate of $30 - said we should have known that by booking at 2:37 we were taking a chance. We said we had no idea it would be so crowded and so backed up. We got 11 holes in and have a rain check for $22.  The course was nice, the holes we saw anyway. Water, and narrow. We did see a big alligator near the green on one hole. No cart girl. Have to go back to do the raincheck. Well, we never went back because it was just too expensive. Maybe some day...

http://www.playeagleridge.com/

The Majestic at Lake Walden, Hartford, MI

This is a 27 hole course with tree lined fairways, marshland, and lots of bunkers. The 18th hole played around the lake but other than that there wasn't much water. There's no turn but the cart girl was very attentive. There's a bathroom after 9 and port-a-potties.  I lost lots of balls but the course is very pretty. The course was in good shape except for the greens which were really in rough shape, maybe because of the wet spring we had (?). The carts have a GPS system which was great. We were able to golf for free here because a friend won passes but rates aren't too bad. It's about an hour drive from us but I definitely plan to golf there again.

http://www.majesticgolf.com/

Rocky Gap, Cumberland, Maryland

I bought a stay deal for Rocky Gap Resort & Casino from Groupon. It was for 3 nights. It was a 6 hour drive from my home. I was very pleasantly surprised by what a good deal this turned out to be. The resort was in the middle of nowhere but easily accessible from I-68. It's in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains. It was very nice and had everything we needed. The room was great with a beautiful view of the lake. There was a golf course, kayaks, paddle boats, nice beach, beautiful indoor/outdoor pool and hot tub, 2 nice restaurants and a casino.  The course is the only Jack Nicklaus design golf course in Maryland. We golfed three days in a row and enjoyed it each time. It had an up north feel with some really nice elevations. There were some really nice par 3s, one of which offered up to $5000 in free play for a hole in one. The cart girls came around frequent. They used Zing Zang for their bloody marys, but had no olives or pickles, etc. There were several bathrooms on the course which was very well cared for with very nice greens. There were senior rates Tuesday and Wednesday, $65/with a casino card - $99 otherwise. (The course manager gave us senior rates on Thursday too!) We really enjoyed our stay here and would love to go back.

www.rockygapresort.com