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The East at Forest Akers Golf Course
Rating Snapshot
About
Forest Akers' East and West Courses are the home courses for the Michigan State University's men's and women's golf teams. The West Course is the longer and tougher of the two, but the East Course has plenty of challenges in store as well. Forest Akers East was redesigned in 1997, which converted it from a par 71 to a par-72 layout. New trees were planted and several bunkers were also added. The generous fairways are wide open and the golf course offers a few opportunities for birdies. If you're looking for a formidable round, the West Course is more what you're looking for, but Forest Akers East is a great option for a quick and fun round. Both golf courses are not only two of Michigan's top public plays, but they are also one of the best golf values in the state.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 72 | 6452 yards | 70.5 | 127 |
| Black (W) | 72 | 6452 yards | 77.2 | 134 |
| Green | 72 | 6189 yards | 69.4 | 124 |
| Green (W) | 72 | 6189 yards | 75.2 | 126 |
| White | 72 | 5511 yards | 66.3 | 112 |
| White (W) | 72 | 5511 yards | 71.7 | 122 |
| Silver | 70 | 4634 yards | 62.6 | 103 |
| Silver (W) | 70 | 4634 yards | 66.4 | 109 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black M: 70.5/127 W: 77.2/134 | 354 | 378 | 512 | 152 | 402 | 551 | 357 | 174 | 365 | 3245 | 297 | 205 | 528 | 200 | 398 | 487 | 521 | 360 | 191 | 3187 | 6432 |
| Green M: 69.4/124 W: 75.2/126 | 334 | 363 | 494 | 141 | 389 | 540 | 337 | 164 | 356 | 3118 | 277 | 183 | 512 | 190 | 382 | 473 | 507 | 349 | 162 | 3035 | 6153 |
| White M: 66.3/112 W: 71.7/122 | 319 | 329 | 486 | 129 | 332 | 424 | 317 | 154 | 347 | 2837 | 258 | 174 | 459 | 184 | 329 | 433 | 424 | 338 | 152 | 2751 | 5588 |
| Fossum M: 64.0/105 W: 68.6/116 | 319 | 264 | 374 | 129 | 332 | 424 | 283 | 112 | 347 | 2584 | 258 | 115 | 416 | 133 | 329 | 433 | 424 | 252 | 108 | 2468 | 5052 |
| Gold M: 62.6/103 W: 66.4/109 | 254 | 264 | 374 | 119 | 322 | 414 | 283 | 112 | 302 | 2444 | 192 | 115 | 416 | 133 | 292 | 363 | 416 | 252 | 108 | 2287 | 4731 |
| Handicap | 17 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 10 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 13 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 12 |
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Golf Advisor: Top 25 College Courses in the U.S. (2020 #18)
Reviews
Course was great. Allowed to book as a single just to get paired with three other golfers and round took 5.5 hours.
Disappointed
Was expecting much more, something akin to the MSU West course which was immaculate the last time I played it a couple of years ago. Greens were good but tee markers need to be moved more often and cleaned from broken/ discarded tees. It was often difficult to tell where fairways and rough began and ended. It was a Sunday so wait times probably should have been expected but slow play due to drinking and smoking ruled the day as well. Last, a number of holes were very close together and on three occasions balls came within striking distance from different tee boxes or fairways. No player assistant/ ranger in sight.
East is the best value in the greater Lansing area. The condition are top notch and the price is lower then most other coures in the area. Hard to go wrong.
Nice, affordable course
My 3rd time playing in the last couple of years. Fairways were great, rough was ROUGH - as in difficult to find your errant balls. Other than the greens' divot marks, they were pretty quick and easy to read. Love playing here and will be back!
The pace of play
Seriously , it is an issue. Marshall’s do not enforce the pace of play, it is really an issue. Multiple Players grouped not letting singles play through, (seniors in groups of 4, walkers, Groups of 4 , pace of play) who wants to wait over 20+ min. A hole?! Please place a Marshall on each 9, please enforce the play speed. Everyone loves the game, the pace awful.
I booked a round at 11:08 I arrived at 10:15 to warm up on the range only to get to the first tee to the starter finding out I can’t even start.
The reason is is because there is a women’s league on the back nine they still hadn’t come off, which of course there’s no mention of any of this when booking through GolfNow. Also it took me over two hours to get through the first nine because of the slow play, usually it takes me 2 1/2 hours to get through 18, I was told that it is hard to enforce the pace because there are no morning Marshall’s.
The starters are awesome, Fred is awesome, all of the course accommodations are great, everyone is there for a nice time, please Accommodate the pace of play, please fix this.
League play
League play Course was littered with league’s. Paid for 18 only got 11 holes this is being schedule on your Website as 18 holes should be able to play 18 holes people who play On Golf leagues don’t care It’s all about alcohol was going to address issue but clubhouse was closed.
Hello. Thank you for reviewing the course. We would like to apologize for your recent experience.
We're sorry to hear you were less than satisfied during your round. We pride ourselves on our providing great service and the high-quality standards we maintain.
We would like to make things right. Please reach out to our management team at the pro shop.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you for reviewing us. We see you rated the course 3-stars and are interested in learning what we can do to improve before your next round. Feel free to comment on this review or reach out to the team in the golf shop. We always appreciate the feedback. Thank you for playing The East at Forest Akers Golf Course, and we hope to see you again soon.
A beautiful, amateur friendly course.
The rough was difficult to get out of today after yesterday’s rain, but that’s what happens if you miss the fairway on any course.
This course is moderately challenging, with some wide open fairways, and slopey uphill greens, yet friendly enough to most beginner amateur golfers capable of handling a few par 5s.
OK at best
Course had extensive flood damage in all low lying areas. Greens were in fairly good shape. Had to wait for people in my fairway almost every hole (people spraying their tee shots onto other holes). Pace of play was good considering. Decent course for $30, wouldn't pay any more.
Hello. We appreciate you taking the time to review the course and rate us. We strive for a 5-star experience, so we welcome your feedback. We work hard to maintain the course for everyone's benefit, which means aerifying the greens as part of our regular maintenance schedule. The greens will be healed soon and in pristine condition. Please come back soon for the 5-star experience you expect at The East at Forest Akers Golf Course.
What happened to the conditioning of MSU FA East?
Went to MSU and have played both sides several times. Played Forest Akers East and the course was in pretty rough shape. There were multiple holes that had dead spots up and down the fairway. Not just small spots, but it looked like Billy Idol had put bleach all over the course with plenty of dead white spots up and down several fairways. The greens were unshaved and were extremely slow. Look, I love coming to MSU and the deal was right. Saying that, while all of the greens were slow, the holes (about five of them) need to be resodded. It looks like the MSU golf course turn management program needs to come back from a Covid break fast. I will come back, but would call ahead to find out if this was corrected.
Hello. Thank you for leaving us a review. We are sorry to hear your experience was anything short of 5 stars, but we hope you will give us another try in the future. Thank you for choosing The East at Forest Akers Golf Course.
Paid $25 and it was still too high
I have played this course several times as it is close to my home. Today's tee time was a Hot Deal, and I regret my decision to play at half price. No starter. No ranger. Stacked 4-somes on every single tee. Half of the holes were flooded and are made up of dead grass, and there were so many times we had to take relief to hit our balls from actual grass. I will not be bringing my business back to this course, and urge anyone to stay far away with as many other options as we have in the Lansing area. The fact they have the audacity to charge $50-70 a round is absolutely absurd.
East never charges $50-$70, so to say that is just dishonest.
Thank you for reviewing the course. Let us first start by apologizing for the poor experience you had during your visit. Your feedback about the course is important to us. We are working to get everything up to par. The current condition is by no means the standard we strive to achieve. We are going to escalate your feedback to our team so we can make improvements before your next game, and we will continue to work towards an excellent experience by using your comment for guidance. Thank you for playing The East at Forest Akers Golf Course. We hope to see you again soon.
Slow play
Older groups hitting off tee’s that they used to hit off of 30 years ago it’s no shame hitting off the Red tee’s it will speed up your play
Hi, thank you so much for leaving us with your feedback. We value our customer experience, so your review is important to us. We will make note and we hope to see you back at The East at Forest Akers Golf Course!
Unfortunate Timing
I've played this course before and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I think this trip had reminders of all the rain we've had fairly recently. Some holes has fairly large wet/pooled/muddy areas while others had (oddly) some dried out, brown-ish colored areas that crunched when you walked on them and smelled like wet dog. The cart I was in died on the 14th hole and we had to wait a fair amount of time for another to be brought to us. I kept checking the date to be sure that it wasn't Friday the 13th. :-)
Thank you so much for leaving us with your feedback. We value our customer experience, so your review is important to us. Please know the current conditions are by no means the standard we strive to achieve. We will continue to work towards a 5-star experience and we hope to see you back!
Shanty Creek Stay & Play Package
Destination Kohler - Champions' Trail Golf Package
We appreciate the review. You rated us 3-stars which means there is room to improve on your recent experience at The East at Forest Akers Golf Course. Let us know, in the comments, how and where you would like to see changes from the course. Thanks for the feedback!