The Cedar River at Shanty Creek

This is a very nice course. The tee boxes, fairways and greens were in very good shape. The second cut grass was a little on the high side ( being cut as we played ). Play this course once a year and if the cost was a little less, would play it more. But as far a courses go, this course is just about as nice as you'll find in Norther Michigan.

Absolutely beautiful it’s very long and very tough

The Good: The Cedar River course at Shanty Creek Resorts is another solid Tom Weiskopf Midwest design that has as tremendous “Up North” feel as it is carved beautifully through Michigan Northwoods near Traverse City. A design that is every bit as pretty and interesting as the Treetops courses in Gaylord, it has spectacular Par-5’s (particularly to close each nine) and very nice Par-3’s, but I was most impressed with the design variety and shot value of the Par-4’s. Nicely conditioned as you’d expect for a $100+ resort course, with greens putting true. Nice on-course amenities including a halfway half that is accessible after the 1st and 9th holes. The breakfast sandwiches they make there are incredible! Decent value, particularly if you can get a discounted GolfNow tee-time like I did.

The Bad: As we were playing as a twosome and one of the first tee-times out on a Sunday morning, we can had to contend with the maintenance continuously mowing the greens while were playing. The course shouldn’t be sending twosomes out that early if their maintenance crew can’t keep up. It really ruined the experience of an otherwise fantastic golf course. The clubhouse and practice areas are a little outdated and oddly placed within the resort. No GPS on carts.

The Verdict: The Cedar River course is another Weiskopf Michigan gem that shouldn’t be overlooked amongst the slew of great courses in the greater Traverse area! Despite the lack of service, I’d definitely go back in the future. Just might book a tee-time later in the day.

Best Hole: There are many standout Par-5’s and the 8th hole is a pretty Par-3, but there is something about the look of the “cape-esque” 7th hole. A short Par-4 that requires a drive to carry a small pond with a right fairway bunker that forces you to bite of more than you’d like to chew. The approach is to a peninsula green that is one of the most demanding on the course.

I've played this course five times now...I think I like it more each time I play it. The course is always in great shape and it just has a lot of fun, beautiful holes. I particularly love the stream running near the 12th and 13th holes.

The only downside with any of the Shanty Creek courses is pace-of-play. We teed off at 9:00 a.m. every day and waited nearly every shot.

Played this second in our rotation of the 4 Shanty Courses. I would say it is in the best shape of the 4, with the second best setup. For $50ish it's certainly a good price to play. We had 4 straight tee times starting at 4:30pm. No one was behind us yet the starter was hounding us on pace of play (even though we finished in about 4:30-4:40, which is a little slow but nothing crazy). Then, at the clubhouse, the pro shop lady was telling us we played too slow, and that we'd need to "play faster" the next day. I think she just wanted to go home. Other than the staff issues, the course itself was awesome. Would've been 5 star had not been for the staff. Like all the courses on the resort, they had COVID cups, so you couldn't take the pin out - but that should't be a huge deal for most players.

The course itself has some big greens, and I've heard they run really fast usually, but unfortunately the rain slowed them down some. Lots of undulation in the greens, and lots of elevation changes throughout the course. 13 and 14 are two awesome holes. 13 is a risk reward par 4 (can drive the green if you hit it well, otherwise it's a layup), and 14 you hit from an elevated tee to a small, undulated green. Some other good holes are 5, 7, and 15. For the most part you need to drive it well, but there are some holes that you can miss it off the tee and still score.

Most in our group said this was their favorite of the 4 Shanty Courses. I liked the Legend a little better, because it required lots of creativity, but Cedar is in the best shape, and while it requires good course management, is a course you can score on. Definitely recommend playing this one at the resort.

Love this course. One of my Up North favorites. Fun layout. Lots of variety with the holes. Mostly generous fairways and large greens. I try to play it a handful of times very summer.

A great course for the money but the holes prepped for Covid 19 did not meet good exceptions. For the money the ball was not allowed to drop at all in the hole. Made for tough putting.

Great course that is very challenging but playable. The scenery was breathtaking.

This course was in great shape, with interesting layout and greens that rolled true. Excellent!

The layout of the course I really enjoyed typical resort northern Michigan golf course. Elevation changes, big greens and larger fairways. We played in late August and the course appears to have too many rounds as it is beat up a bit. My biggest compliant PACE OF PLAY. 5.5 hours. We were advised at the beginning of the round we should take 4.5 hours. Apparently not everyone agreed and the Ranger was on a hole making sure you kept up with the group in front of you. There are some holes that require you to wait until you can see the group in front of you has moved to the green. So perhaps a bell to let someone know you cleared (we were hit into 2 times and as clearing the Par 3's group behind would start firing away). If you haven't played need to play at least once. I would advise going during the week and not on the weekend. We are advised by ranger that typical time to play both Cedar and the Legend is 5 to 6 hours. Note tee times are 10 minutes apart so it's not like they throw too many people on the course at the same time.

I was looking forward to playing this course today but was extremely disappointed in the pace of play. Ranger did not do much to improve the pace until I called and spoke with the pro in the pro shop. Finally the foursome backing up the entire course started picking up the pace after that. This should have happened much sooner and not toward the end of our round. Ranger seemed quoted annoyed with our complaints and not the foursome backing up the course. I do not plan on playing this course anytime in the near future.

Course was a little wet from the rain but greens were excellent condition. Rolled extremely true. Very good value for the price.

Please read my previous reviews. Cedar is in great shape and they've taken out a couple of trees on the 18th to make the tee shot and hole more playable. One of my favorite courses....this course never gets old. Wonderful Weiskopf design and if you play this course a few times you really get to know the rolls bounces and speed slots. Highly recommend.