Grand Traverse Resort & Spa

Golf course was in excellent shape. Greens were perfect . We had a beautiful day in mid September with 70 degrees. Was a joy to play

well laid out, fun course. Well maintained. Starter was excellent, not so much for the staff in the clubhouse or the cart guys. Greens were zip fast. Would definitely play again.

This is one of the best courses I have played in MI. Everybody tells you it is very difficult. It is not. It just asks you to think before you hit. A gasoline cart in such a beautiful environment led to one star less in my overall rating. Its OK to pay the green fee they ask, but 7$ for a small bucket of range balls is too much, especially when the range is not in good condition. A little bit of touch up here and there and it is a real 5 star.

This course is very nice. 12 of 18 holes can almost hold up to the bear. There is gasoline carts out there, which I think is out of time. Considering the very acceptable green fee, this is a course totally on level with the bear.

The conditions of this course for the price paid (even with discount booked via golfnow) were not in alignment. Not as well maintained as would be expected for a resort course that touts itself as a premeire layout in the area. Sand traps were filled with water and rocks with no sand. weeds prevalent in the rough and in the fairway. alot better courses in the area for better price

Well, I woke up Friday morning, September 8, and said wow look at 29 bucks to play the bear! Well, yeah, it was like 4:50 in the afternoon starting time which was late and I did not think we would probably get done but we did get done but the reason it was so cheap was it was behind a group of outings that started at 4:30. Can’t believe they started that late from some floor covering company. But anyway, the wife and I enjoyed it overall she was a little Upset that it was so tough I mean come on look at some of those holes over the lakes for women 350 yard par for for a senior lady. Give me a break anyway yeah I enjoyed it the guy in the Alden group in front of us was a cool dude he gave us some free beer put because we put up with , such slow play. Anyway, the homeowner on the 11th holes, a real jack butt hole because his property goes right up to the car path and my ball was just on his property and I could not out of his property because I did not pay to play out of his property. What a jerk anyway I think the course is a little overrated it there’s no way I would pay 150 bucks or whatever the heck they charge here but for 29 bucks year was a blast to play. I’m glad I did we just got done before dark if I ever came across a deal like that again I would play it for sure but the wife has played wants to know that’s it for her.

Anyway, the motels are outrageously expensive $400 for the Cambria motel. Give me a break it’s a comfort suites deluxe. It should be about 100 150 max but with my free points it was good all all good time I did play the wolverine five years ago in October for $25 and that was noisier along the highways of 31 and 72 of the bears a little quieter But yeah, bring her and get a game if you think you’re gonna break par from the tips at a 150 slope rating because it’s a beast

Well, I woke up this morning saw that the bear was on T off for 29 bucks and for that price I thought well I’ll wait till 445 almost 5 o’clock at night. Hopefully we can get done in three hours 3 1/2 or so, and we just about that we were behind some stupid outing which was slower than molasses But anyway we got done this course is a beast sand traps, cooler mounds, some boys shots, water everywhere swamps everywhere geese geese everywhere carries long carries just a total tricked up one and done for us. It’s just too much but the price was right for us were we would never pay over $100 like most people pay here Ridiculous . Anyway we had a good time I got done and we played the bear finally after living in Michigan 32 years so and we got a nice free motel too so it’s all good up in the ritzy traverse area where people are paying $300 a night for a motel. I don’t know what this world is coming too. It’s crazy.

The Bear is a great course, and was in great condition. It is a difficult course, but fair, with lots of heavy rough, bunkers, and fast greens. A pleasure to play!

Our group of 7 showed up about 45 minutes before our tee times and everyone was exceptionally nice before we started our round. The starter asked if we had ever played there, which we hadn't, and explained the course very well and made us even more excited. He mentioned that we had a group of 2 in front of us and a mentioned that after hole 1 we would have a wide open course in front of us. We had a great first 8 holes, but as we came up on the tee box of hole 9 the ranger came up and so we started some small talk as we were putting on sun screen. He seemed nice at first but soon he changed his attitude and said that we need to start playing up to the group in front of us. I explained that there was a 2 some in front of us but he didn't care and said we needed to close the gap to keep the pace of play. And then he drove away really loudly around us and went towards the front of the tee box as soon as one of the guys in our group was in his back swing. Extremely unnecessary. Our pace of play was on track for 9 holes in 2 hours. We were annoyed but didn't think much of it. We started to play faster and we were halfway through hole 15 and he came up us us again. I asked how he was doing and he stated that himself and everyone behind us on the golf course would be doing a lot better if we just picked up the pace of play. At this point we were really confused and I said that no one was even on the tee box behind us. Again he just said we needed to hurry up. We started to get stressed and rushed for the last 4 holes of the course and finished the round in less then 4 hours. We waited for the group behind us which was our friends. We told them about the ranger and they said he told them to hurry up as well and there was NO ONE EVEN BEHIND THEM waiting for them at all. This was one of the rudest rangers I have ever met. We are not the best players but we always keep up our pace of play and respect every course we play and we do not really plan on coming back to a course with a ranger this uptight when we finished our round in under 4 hours.

The Wolverine and The Bear are worth playing. Spruce Run is not. The layout is not player friendly with many tight tee shots and forced layups, as well as instances where a player is blocked out to a green from the fairway. Some of the greens are too severely sloped for the modern game, making many pin positions unusable. This course is soft/soggy and plays very, very long. The entire course needs attention to be firmer and take care of the sand traps, which are inconsistent, and the greens, which have a serious ant problem with ant hills budding up even in the late mornings. This course could stand to lose at least 200 trees, too. Just not a fun experience.

What a great course! Greens perfect. Layout interesting but tough. Add at least 5 shots to your normal score. Probably more. I’ll be back to try and tame the Bear! But not this time.

If you do not have a deal it’s not worth it, very underwhelming.

They have three courses at GT resort. I went in to the clubhouse which is very nice and well stocked with great apparel. I told the guy my time and course and he directed me to the appropriate course. I went to the starter hut and the guy asked me if I checked in. I said yes and he asked me for my receipt. I showed him my golfnow receipt and he said, “that doesnt tell me if you paid, you need to check in. I said yes it does, and I thought I did check in. I also told him that He did not have to take a tone with me as he acted like I was trying to sneak on or something. Im almost. Senior citizen and he talked to me like I was a kid. After I got through all that bs, I teed off and all was good.
The course is wide open but if you hit out of the fairway, they are lined with weeds that are thick and pickery and thorny. You can’t look for an errant ball. The fairways were awesome bentgrass. Greens were nice. It is an up north course but you do hear and see traffic, lots of maintenance going on, people coming and going and out if the resort so not exactly a peaceful setting like most up north courses.
I did speak to a 80 year old gentleman cutting grass and he was very nice.
I will be back and make sure I “check in” formally so I don’t get chastised by the spruce run starter.