Rackham Golf Course

It has been a few years since My last round at Racham. Dissappointed in the course condition and time management of the course. 3.5 hours for 9 holes.

Hopefully Rackham can recover...

It was crazy muddy all over and overly crowded to the point didn’t even finish the last two holes because of how long it was taking. Was not worth the money

It is in rough shape from standing water. One hole was shortened by 140 yards due to the poor conditions.

Severe water across the course from the rain making 1 foot ponds on the fairways that you lose your balls

Lot of rangers but rangers not watching players who are randomly driving across other fairways to hit their balls

From the tee box, it was near impossible to distinguish the fairway from the rough. Also, the drainage of course is terrible. There were heavy rains 72 hours before we played and still couldn’t find a dry spot in fairway.

Used to really enjoy golfing this course, now it is completely unplayable. No structure at all to twilight golf. This is the hipster golf capital of Michigan... Most golfers on the course struggle to hit the ball 25 yards, course lets walkers out during twilight..Why is this? Make them pay the extra 5 bucks and get a cart. Had a single golfer in front of me walking, and in front of him was 3 walkers. I'm in cart and basically had to wait 15 minutes at every box to tee off. Avoid this place at all costs, maybe when covid ends the disgraceful rude disrespectful golfers that flock to this course will go to the driving range where they belong or back to the bars.

I grew up in southeast Michigan but never played Rackham. It's always had a reputation of being very busy and not always in the best shape. Drainage has been an issue and there has been some improvement in maintenance in recent years, I'm told. The course is on a flat, square piece of land next to I-696 which creates a consistent hum during the round.

This is a very popular course among locals and it has Donald Ross roots. I"m always glad to see munis being supported. That said, I am approaching this review as a visitor with a lot of choices in a deep market for affordable public golf. I didn't see enough Ross here to really feel it warrants a visit over a lot of the better public (and mostly modern) experiences in the metro area. Facilities are pretty modest too. There is cool clubhouse architecture but inside there is a very basic grill and pro shop. Perhaps one reason to play it is that it is right next to the Detroit Zoo, so you could drop kids off for the day and go play some golf.

Course lost about 7 holes to 696 expansion in the 80s, Mathews did new holes and greens do not fit in. Back nine and several holes on front are still Ross and have a lot of character.

Conditions are what I would expect for a Detroit public course. Layout is on mostly flat terrain, several holes on back nine close to zoo have some movement. Clubhouse is amazing and on national historic register and if you go in had a copy of Donald Ross’ plans.

I started playing golf again after a 20+ Years hiatus. When I use to play regularly we played Rackham quite often, mostly twilight because the price was right. The course was nice and seemed better kept than now. With the condition of the course I won’t be going back. The course is a shell of its former self.

Showed up 15 minutes before tee time, group of 18 was let in front of 2, big group was not there 40 minutes after that. Ranger was disrespectful and not helpful at all. Just a waste of time that place

packed way to tight and bring a helmet for all the balls raining from the sky

I have played this course a few times, it’s fun and not to crowded in the mornings. I had 18 holes reserved on GolfNow and paid beforehand but They only allowed me to play nine and they said they credited my card but they have not. No real complaints other than that. The greens were a bit sandy and slow but fairways and tee boxes in good conditions.

Front 9, no holes designed to use driver aside #1 par 5. Back 9, more direct, some fairway pot bunkers. Played on a Sunday and it was PACKED and delayed. Only complaint is that those greens are pretty hard and yield not many birdie tries unless you stick it within 7 feet.