Treetops-Smith Signature

For some reason in the last few years, Treetops has become the most under-appreciated collection of golf courses in the state of Michigan. The Jones and Fazio courses used to be mainstays on Golf Digest lists of the top 25 courses in the state an for years, the Fazio course was on Golf Magazine’s top 100 public courses in the country. But I don’t know if they’ve been skimping on their advertising budget or failing to bribe the right people at the magazines because none of the courses have been appearing on the major lists in recent years. And that’s a shame because while I’m not sure than any belongs on a list of top 100 public courses anymore with all of the great new ones in the past few years, at least a few of them should still easily make the top 25 in Michigan.

And that includes part-owner Rick Smith’s Signature Course, which was the first of two full length courses that he designed at Treetops and which I’ll refer to as Smith I because I hate the pretentious names that they’ve given their courses (the Jones ‘Masterpiece;’ the Fazio ‘Premier’). Smith I still rightfully shows up on Golfweek’s top 20 public courses in the state, although near the bottom of the list. I’d have it in the top 10. It’s an excellent course.

The drawback here, as with the other Treetops courses (except for Smith II) is that it’s unwalkable. That’s fine in practice because no one goes on vacation to a northern Michigan resort course with the intention of walking (except maybe me and about 4 other people). But it’d be nice if the routing fit together a bit better so that there weren’t 250 yard cart rides between several of the holes. I don’t know what the available property looked like and I don’t know how feasible it would have been to create a walkable course here (the land around the first and eighteenth hole suggests not very), but I’m sure that they could have tightened the routing up a bit if they’d had some reason to do so. But they didn’t, so it’s a golf carting adventure deep into the dark northern Michigan woods.

The first hole is a typical northern Michigan starting hole; down a hill to a saddle-shaped fairway with deep woods on both sides. In fact, it’s very similar to the first hole on the neighboring Fazio course, just on the other side of the driving range. This one is a bit too narrow for my liking, but this won’t be a general problem for the rest of the course. The big green with a ridge separating it into front and back sections is typical for the rest of the course. There’s another at the downhill par 3 second and if I have one criticism of the design (other than the routing), it’s that there are too many green separated by ridges into sections and not enough wavy interior contours.

A very Treetops drive on the first hole on Smith I.

The downhill approach to a big green. It slopes up to the bisecting ridge in the middle, then away to the back.

A similarly shaped green with a similar concept on the par 3 second; left-to-right bisecting ridge with the front half sloping back to front...although the back is flatter this time.

But as we can see with the beautiful long downhill par 4 third, the bunkers are very attractive and make you think your way around the course. We have lots of fairway to the left but we can see that the green is to the right, so a drive that skirts these fairway bunkers will shorten the approach. The second shot is to a very attractive, very deep green. A high ridge in the middle bisects the green into lower right and back segments (like at the first) and short grass chipping areas will collect most errant shots. This hole exemplifies the beautiful green sites and bunkering that are common throughout the course.

A beautiful drive on the third. Wide open, but the approach gets very long if you're near the left fairway bunkers.

A very attractive lay of the land green site at the third. Very large green with...another bisecting ridge.

Including at the par 3 fourth. Over ferns and with bunkers on three sides, I’ve always thought that this was one of the most attractive par 3s in the state. But while it doesn’t appear so, the green is large. The fifth is a tough uphill par 4 with trees encroaching on the left and right. It shouldn’t be too difficult if you hit the fairway, but it’s probably more uphill than it appears and it’s easy to come up short on the approach.

The par 3 fourth, which I've always thought was one of the most attractive in the state.

The sixth is the first of only 3 par 5s, but they’re all very good. This is another wide-open fairway, but there’s a bunker in the middle about 300 yards out…right where you’d (correctly) suspect that you should drive the ball. After this, the hole turns left and narrows in the lay-up zone, but then opens up just in front of the green. Still, you’ll want to keep your lay-up to the right because a shot from the left will be over a bunker to a green sloping away from you.

Go at the bunker in the middle of the fairway and if you can't drive it 300 yards, you'll be fine (like me).

While there's room to do so if you carry this fairway bunker, you don't want to be on the left side approaching the sixth green because you'll be playing to the shallow aspect of the green, over a small bunker in its front left corner.

After a nice looking dogleg left medium length par 4 to a green nicely sited in a gradual upward slope, we have a medium length par 3 over a huge fronting bunker. This one is tough, especially to a back left pin because the green is shallow (over is dead). You can use a ridge running from back-to-front in the middle of the green to feed the ball to these pins. It’s best not to be too aggressive with the line, but a miss in the front right to a back left pin will likely result in a 4. 

Seven...a nice looking dogleg left.

Don't go at this pin on 8. But if you go more than about 20 feet right, you'll miss the ridge right and three-putt. Oh well.

The next few holes give us a change of scenery and are all very good. The downhill par 4 ninth plays to a green that angles front right to back left behind a bunker and runs downhill in this direction, except for a bank at the back left. You can run the ball onto the front right of the green and use the contours to feed it to the back left. It’s a very interesting green, although I’d like it even more if the bunker in front were smaller or more to the left, creating more room to run the ball on the green here.

The approach to the ninth green from the wrong (left) side of the fairway.

From the back left of the ninth green. You can use the contour of the green to feed the ball to back left hole locations.

Ten is another excellent par 5, out into a meadow then back into the woods. The landing area is generous but it tightens the screws with the lay-up, which has bunkers encroaching on the left, right online with the opening to the green.

Drive into a different landscape on ten.

If you skirt or carry this left fairway bunker about 50 yards short of the green, a long shot will roll onto the green.

The par 3 eleventh is a bit claustrophobic, but at only about 140 yards, you should be able to get over that. It’s another interesting setting, surrounded by pointy balsam firs and arborvitae. The variety of landscapes is one of the standout features on the course. We might think of this as a drawback because it suggests that the course will lack visual cohesion but the different landscapes blend into each other here. And it creates a sense of adventure, which we might as well have if we're in golf carts. Nine came out of the trees toward a field, ten played through that field back into a forest at its end, then we turned left into a lower area, which in this part of the state means a natural change of landscape from hardwoods to conifers.

Into the northern Michigan bog, featuring some very nice Christmas trees.

And the medium length par 4 twelfth plays back across the other side of the meadow to the edge of the forest whence we came. Although the fairway bunkers are on the right, you want to keep your tee ball left to open up the best angle down the green. Thirteen takes us back through the deep woods and is a very difficult uphill par 4. While there’s a bit more room that there appears off the tee, the green is elevated with several fronting bunkers and is very difficult to hit off anything less than an excellent drive.

From the twelfth fairway. The further left you are, the better angle you have to the green, around the front right green side bunker.

The very difficult, uphill approach on the long par 4 thirteenth.

The next three holes consist of a par of similar medium length par 4s doglegging gently left around bunkers sandwiching an uphill par 5 with a deep, skinny green in a saddle. The fairway on fourteen runs out on the right and the sixteenth has a gentle reverse camber so you have to be very careful that you don’t run through them into the woods. The par 5 fifteenth has a more inviting tee shot but you need to be very careful that you place a lay-up in line with the green or don’t spray your ball if going for the green because both sides of the green are hills covered with bunkers and junk.

An inviting drive on the short, dogleg left par 5 fifteenth.

The green is in a very narrow saddle. It's probably 50 yards deep, but 9 yards wide. So you'd better be approaching from head on (both hills are covered with rough).

Don't get your ball starting too far to the right off the sixteenth tee.

After a long ride up a hill through the woods that was almost as hard on our golf cart as it would be walking for the average person who plays this course, we come to the medium-length, downhill par 3 seventeenth. The green is big and you should be able to hit it but if you don’t, unless you’re short, you’re in trouble.

We almost needed a chairlift to reach the tee, but the seventeenth is a nice, downhill par 3 to a green on a large plateau.

The last hole is a very dramatic short par 4, downhill then uphill to a green shelved to the left into the side of a huge hill. While you might be tempted to cut it close to the line of the green past the standalone maple tree, there’s no good reason to do this. Just play it out to the right, short of the eye candy bunkers through the fairway. Try to play to a yardage about 10-15 short of what you like for the approach because that’s how much this shot plays uphill. Not my favorite hole, but an attractive finish to the round.

Eighteen features a lovely downhill drive that tempts you to go more left than there's any reason to do.

Despite my issues with the routing, Smith I is a very good course, and cracks my top 10 public courses in the state (at least if Black Forest doesn’t open back up). Most holes are very strategic, but give the weaker players who seem to comprise the vast majority of the resort’s clientele enough room to play. Although I have issues with the sameness and severity of the greens, they are interesting and big enough to hold shots. Finally, the variety of landscapes really adds to the experience of playing the course. So get in your golf cart, check the breaks (don’t even think about shifting it into neutral), and you’re off for one of northern Michigan’s best forest golf adventures.