Lake Doster Golf Club
About
Lake Doster Golf Club in Plainwell is ranked as one of the top 25 golf courses in Michigan. The layout has undulating greens and watered fairways that will test even the most experienced golfers. The course is home to the affectionately nicknamed "Little Monster," its third hole, which boasts a reputation as the toughest par 3 in the state. This infamous hole features a tee that sits high above a treacherous green that is surrounded on three sides by water and even further protected with three sand traps. The hole is also completely isolated thanks to the surrounding mature trees. There is another par 3 on the golf course that is almost as equally tough, the 15th. There is a pond to the right that is seemingly out of play but it's still intimidating enough to push you too far left, risking a landing in the sand trap.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 72 | 6540 yards | 72.7 | 134 |
| White | 72 | 6112 yards | 70.7 | 127 |
| Gold | 73 | 5530 yards | 67.7 | 120 |
| Gold (W) | 73 | 5530 yards | 72.8 | 126 |
| Red (W) | 72 | 4828 yards | 68.5 | 117 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue M: 72.0/129 | 338 | 426 | 100 | 300 | 393 | 474 | 394 | 154 | 535 | 3114 | 340 | 515 | 136 | 523 | 431 | 190 | 400 | 427 | 405 | 3367 | 6481 |
| White M: 70.1/124 W: 76.2/136 | 325 | 392 | 96 | 283 | 353 | 462 | 377 | 135 | 515 | 2938 | 327 | 476 | 125 | 510 | 413 | 182 | 382 | 414 | 365 | 3194 | 6132 |
| Gold M: 66.7/118 W: 71.6/126 | 313 | 269 | 88 | 267 | 262 | 422 | 294 | 115 | 448 | 2478 | 316 | 448 | 118 | 450 | 384 | 172 | 373 | 276 | 292 | 2829 | 5307 |
| Red M: 63.7/111 W: 67.7/118 | 301 | 265 | 75 | 190 | 253 | 388 | 287 | 84 | 381 | 2224 | 237 | 418 | 105 | 421 | 255 | 162 | 268 | 274 | 292 | 2432 | 4656 |
| Handicap | 13 | 1 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 6 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 11 | 5 | 17 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, SnacksAvailable Facilities
Clubhouse, Lounge, Conference Facilities, Banquet FacilitiesReviews
Reviewer Photos
Nice course.
My issue is with the refund/modify policy.
I pre-paid for the tee times (all four) but was not able to change any part of my reservation. the night before our tee time one of the foursome tested positive for Covid so decided not to play. I had to eat the green fee for the guy that didn't play. not happy.
Great design
Fairways are a bit rough but it is early in the spring. Great place to play and will challenge your abilities for sure
Golfing at Lake Doster
We had always wanted to play Lake Doster, but we were very disappointed. The carts were gas carts that took forever to go. Some tee boxes were muddy and some were so hard I wasn't sure I could get my tee in the ground. If the forward tees were between the regular tee box and the fairway, it was hardpan. The course needed some much needed water in the rough. The bunkers were rock hard to hit out of.
Challenge
Very good course to play for the money very hilly and greens are really tough. Have to hit irons on well and have to drive the ball well. Love the course and I will play it again.
Need to control members who jump tee times
Course is a good lay-out. Greens need to be rolled and trees along sides of fiarways need to be trimmed back, but it's OK.
Primary problem is members showing up to play without tee times, singles in carts and then pushing foursomes with tee times. This needs to stop. Has happened 2 of 3 times I played this course this year. May not come back.
Greens surpass fairways and Tee Boxes
Crabgrass haven.. Surprisingly, the greens were well maintain and plush. Maybe they are going organic on the grass care in Teeboxes, and fairways. Plenty of golfers, but don't know ready golf techingues. Sorry, there are better courses around.
We really enjoyed this course. Friendly staff was very helpful. Tee boxes and sand traps were not in good shape. Otherwise everything was great.
Was in much better shape in June 2021
Conditions down quite a bit from June. Greens were the best condition of the course over all. sand traps awful.
Fairways spotty, and rough very difficult. hard to find the ball in rough.
Tougher than i remembered, last time was over 20 years ago. General condition was good, greens fast and interesting, the hills wear you down, even riding
Makes you think
The course was fun and diverse. There was a par 5 you could go for in 2, but also some par 4's that were hard to get to in 2. 3 of the par 3's were pretty much the same distance. Can't figure out why #3 is anything special. We had a group in front of us that could barely drive the ball 220yds, but would wait for people to get off the green when they were 260yds away. They need to work on their mowing. The fairways had 2 different cuts on almost every hole. Maybe invest in some type of blower to get all the clipping clumps off the fairways too.
Slow and shaggy
Love the course for the price. But this time around the pace was awful. No notification of a members outing we were stuck behind. Requested to go off the back nine in front of them, but the members in front refused. Colossal douchebags. Greens were awful on front nine too. A ton of rain lately, but it was like putting on shag carpet.
Lake Doster
Great course. No Ranger to keep play moving. No beer cart. Tired, dirty clubhouse.
But great golf, we’ll kept course., greens, nice scenery.
Subtle approaches slower greens
Staff was very flexible. Course was in generally good shape except for occasional bare spots in just a couple of greens. Greens were slower than I expected which was exasperated when took the staff up on their offer to let us go off early. You definitely NEED TO MAKE FEW PRACTICE PUTS TO GET A FEEL FOR THEM BEFORE YOUR ROUND.
We also misjudged a few approach shot adjustments early on do to subtle elevation changes. This is a killer since several greens have very small buffers behind them before you are out of bounds...
Still this was an overall enjoyable round of golf.