The Arthur Hills course at the Boyne Highlands Resort is an extremely pretty and tough track where you will be grateful for your birdies and drown your bogeys looking at the scenic holes that dot this layout. With the Boyne family of courses having nearly a dozen places to play golf, and designs from Robert Trent Jones, Hills and replicated holes from Donald Ross' best, you will really be in for a treat.
Three of the four courses at Boyne Highlands operate out of one starters clubhouse and Hills starts out letting you air it out for a hole or two before letting you know you are playing full throttle golf. With five sets of tees measuring from 263 to 406 yards, longer hitters will play this par four hitting over an ocean of sand that frames the hole short side with mogul bunkers catching shots that go through the fairway. It is possible to put it out to 250 yards from the back tees or down the fairway and leave yourself with a mid-iron shot. Hitting it into the sand is a bad way to start the day. Playing this hole gives you that Northern Michigan feel right off the bat. As is a signature of Mr. Hills, the approaches get narrow and he places a sand bunker to the right on the front side of the green. A par is certainly a good start here.
For pure beauty, the multi-tiered box at number four is a hole that can intimidate you the first time you play it. With tee boxes spread left to right over a marsh, the farther back you play the ball, the more marsh you must navigate.. The fourth plays between 243 to 417 yards and if the marsh is not something you must shoot over, the small lake/pond will take all of the errant shots you will give it. Most golfers will want to go right side and if you fade the ball or hook it left to right, you will stay out of the H2O. A mid-range iron can be put on the ample green. It does narrow up with two bunkers ready to swallow up approach shots and the water to the left is certainly not your best friend. Once again, birdies are great but par is realistic for most players.
Then again, there is the fifth. A stunning hole visually with a pond to the left of five staggered tee boxes. The hole is not long for a par five (312 to 481) yards. It demands a solid tee shot that should be placed to the center to right center of the fairway to take both the pond and cluster of trees left side out of play. Don't let the beauty of this hole make you daydream over your second shot. Longer hitters can get on in two and with a green 38 feet deep, you have some room to navigate your way into scoring range. Birdie is very possible for those playing well. Par is still a great score and bogey means you probably snapped more than a few pictures.
Skipping to the tenth, this hole eclipsed the beauty of the fourth and fifth holes and also serves as a great golf hole. It acts like an elongated dog leg right with tall pines cut all along the fairway both right and left sides and behind the green. This par four is not long (354 yards from the back) but bombing the ball is not really a smart option. The wide fairways will most likely leave you with a good look at the green but the fairway dips into a valley and a fairway bunker and a second one guarding the front side of the green await errant shots. The real sticking point to the tenth is the rolloff 360 degrees around the finish. You have bottle capped style greens where anything on the edge will roll down a pristine embankment and will leave you pitching 12-15' with an almost blind shot of where to hit your pitch. I think Arthur Hills channeled Donald Ross who is very slippery at leaving golfers surprises instead of shots at birdie.
The 13th hole is the signature golf hole on this course. With about a 3 minute drive up a series of cart paths from the 12th, you tee off on a mountain and see a wide fairway for what seems like a couple of hundred feet below you. The view is truly spectacular. Most golfers will play this par five believing they can outhit the bluffs and tee boxes below and those hitting from the back tees (577 yards) will find out they didn't make it to the beginning of the fairway which is 215 yards from the back. It is true that your tee shot is traveling like a meteor down the slope of the hill and many golfers will make it but you will be surprised at how much golf is left for you. With out-of-bounds all they way down both sides of the hole, you will not find much rough. The fairway is ample and this three shot hole will leave you dodging green side bunkers, a tough green and a well-earned 5 on your scorecard. A birdie and you might just have yourself a skin.
The very next hole played as a fun par 3. After the 13th, playing an iron probably never felt so good. With tee boxes ranging from 136 to 186, and a valley between the tees and green, this large green is inviting and with two sand bunkers to keep you honest left side. take your par and move on.
The 15th hole reminds me a little of the very first hole on the course. With a long sand bunker draping the right side of the hole, players must decide whether to go over the entire length of the sand or just put it out there leaving yourself with a fairway wood or less into the green. The hole plays from 328 to 440 yards and only the back tee boxes really need to negotiate the large trap. Long hitters making it will have wedge for a second shot. Missing it basically means you are playing for bogey or worse. Those that play it safe will have a mid to long iron or hybrid into a green. This is a good par hole for most players.
This course has a very strong finishing hole. The 18th is one of my favorites at the course. Playing as an elongated dog leg left, it doesn't turn that way until there is less than 100 yards to go. This hole setup can be seen from the tee box and the large lake running the left side of the green only comes into play for golfers looking to cut the corner on their second shot. With fairway bunkers dotting the right side looking to catch strong tee shots about 225-250 yards out, golfers might want to go left-center if possible. Many long players will choose to go over the lake and if you have a strong game and stomach, do it. You could get on in two on this 403-577 yard par five. My advice is to set yourself up for a short pitch 50-75 yards in and avoid a series of bunkers that guard the right side of the fairway approaching the green. This green is tricky but depending on the flag placement, birdies are possible and par is a great way to finish your round.
The Skinny-
The course- Magnificent
The conditions- The same
The service- Truly Boyne!
The experience- You have to come back.
Check out the video of Mike Chumbler talking about this Arthur Hills design.
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