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By House
As the name describes, this is very much an old farmland course. The giant mural of Bobby Jones on the barn beautifully marries the two entities. It is open for the most part with nicely placed (left when designed) trees and water to maneuver. The ground was hard from the lack of rain, but because we had a fair amount of rain the night before, the greens were very nice.
They have made a fun and fair course that is playable for all levels. I could envision a small- to mid-sized outing having a great time here. The red golf carts are just unique enough to make them notable. The staff was friendly and courteous as exemplified by the men cutting the tee boxes. Not only did they stop mowing when we arrived, they moved the mower out of sight and cut the engine. I expected them to move off to the side of the box with an idle engine, but to actually disappear and leave us with the birds chirping was pretty remarkable.
I birdied the first par five on a long putt from off the green. I had two chances to birdie both the par 3s on the back nine but read mysterious breaks that really only wanted to go straight. Jimbo had a shot at eagle on 16 but had to settle on a birdie. We had a great time giving each other updates about our families and former colleagues when we worked together. It was one of those great Michigan fall days. The temperature was pleasant, with the exception of the men cutting the greens (late on this particular day due to the aforementioned rain the night before).
This is one of those courses that I often forget about, because it is on the other side of town for me. Although I could have sworn that I have played it more, my archives state that I only played it one other time over twelve years ago. After today, I plan on making it at least a yearly trip.
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| 1) |
Fee Factor
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18
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| Reasonable for the area and this type of course. |
| 2) |
Friendliness Factor
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18
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| The gentleman working in the pro shop was a little inflexible about a coupon Jimbo had. I guess there was some fine print printed in invisible ink or something. Other than that minor incident, they were very professional as stated above. |
| 3) |
Fringe Factor
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17
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| The inside of the pro shop reminds me of an old general store. Not much to it, a bit crammed- but serves its purpose. The clubhouse and bar are very nice. This would be a great course to have a golf league. |
| 4) |
From 1st Tee to Handshake Factor
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18
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| The grounds crew worked hard to keep ahead of us and allow us to have the best experience possible. There are holes that will get you some weeks and you will shoot low on others. |
| 5) |
Fun Factor
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18
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| We had a blast. The rain scared people away, so we played at our pace and really enjoyed the course. |
Website: http://reddemanfarms.com/
Check out the Where to section: for places to eat, drink, and stay around southeast Michigan.
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