The Chief

Took a 5 year hiatus from the Chief and have played it more than 30 times since it opened in 1996. They've taken out some of the traps, filled in a lot of the frog pond that entirely fronted the 5th green (former 8th - now all land fronting the middle of the green) and significantly rerouted the course so it returns to the clubhouse after the 9th hole (was the 18th hole originally) and the course now finishes on what was the 3rd hole. The Chief is overly challenging and any ball that is just a skosh marginally off line usually results in a penalty or dropped shot. Several holes that you have to play multiple times to even know how to score well on them let alone know where you're going.....In general the course is in very decent shape....better shape than when I played it 5 years ago. Scads of trouble/several longer forced carries......but a beautiful if not spectacular Northern Michigan routing. On a hot Tuesday summer afternoon we likely were the only group on the course. I recommend the course however I also highly recommend you play with someone who has some local knowledge. If not you'll probably get lost making some wrong turns a few times and hit a few shots you'll want back or just remember for next time you play it. Several challenging shots this course demands you pull off. 3.75 to 4 stars.

Awesome, beautiful, challenging course with breathtaking views!!

The Chief is a challenging, unforgiving golf course. Almost every tee has a forced carry and in some cases the hole required an almost perfect tee shot to reach the fairway.

We also a sixsome two groups ahead of us that severely affected the pace of play on the back 9.

Overall excellent day. Course was a little soggy on certain holes, but all in all in good condition. Need new range balls as many were old and torn. Staff interacted with was friendly and helpful. Nice to see female grounds keepers. Excellent layout with lots of doglegs. EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT OVERALL EXPERIENCE.

Excellent golf course; women’s tees provide for a good round for women - not too difficult, yet challenging. Our son enjoyed his first time playing the course, shooting three under par from the tips.

I enjoy playing here but this time although the greens were in nice shape , they were not fast. There is a lot of cart driving to get to many holes. All holes are unique but some are a bit tricky and have blind shots. It definitely helps to have played it several times.

Wife and I played and she ;iked the courtse even tho iit was alittle hard for her. I have played other courses in the the aera and found this to be the cest Ive seen so far...

The Chief is a decent course but could be better. It is a little gimmicky at times with a few too many blind shots and no information on the tee boxes or scorecard to let you know what kind of tee shot you need to hit at times. Would be easy to add some small signs to inform players of layup distance, etc. They have also rearranged the holes since I played there last and the course doesn’t always flow great now and the signage between holes is definitely lacking.

All that being said... it is a fun course! There are some really good holes with some great downhill approaches to greens. We had a good time and will play again if price is below $50. The course also was not super busy so pace of play was good... especially after we got past a 6some. :)

The bar and patio area looked nice but they were not open before or after our round.

Nice layout in Northern Michigan woods. Course was very wet in places due to several days of rain last week.

Greens painfully slow.

It is a challenging but beautiful golf course. Great views and in good condition.

Lots of elevation changes. The layout was a bit weird but the course was marked well. It felt like desert target golf set in northern Michigan. We had a fun round and the price was right. The course was in pretty good condition.

Course maintenance is slacking off...,the holes have been re-arranged and the various gps apps don’t work.....still a lot of fun...several carry holes. Must be an accurate golfer.