Chestnut Hills Golf Course Photos
Golf Up North has been a sign sponsor on Hole 15 at Chestnut Hills Golf Course for a while.
There was just one little problem.
I’d never actually golfed there.
My son and daughter in law had played Chestnut Hills and said they had a blast, so at least we didn’t sponsor a sign completely blind.
Still, I figured it was probably time I went to see our sign.
And play the golf course while I was there.
Chestnut Hills is about 45 minutes from my house, and even the drive turned out to be enjoyable. The course is tucked away in Manistee County, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
Depending on who you ask, you’ll hear Chestnut Hills described as being in Bear Lake or Arcadia.
They’re right next door to each other.
Either one gets you close enough.
One of the things I love about Northern Michigan golf courses is how many of them started on old farmland. You’ll pull into a golf course and find that the old farmhouse has become the clubhouse or pro shop.
Chestnut Hills has that kind of feel.
When I arrived, I parked downhill from the clubhouse and looked up at where I needed to go.
With my golf bag.
Well, I’m here to golf. I suppose I can make the climb.
I started hauling my stuff uphill when another golfer came along in his cart, had me hop in, and drove me most of the way.
That was awfully nice of him.
I later discovered that you’re allowed to take the golf carts down to your vehicle to load and unload your clubs.
There’s a little piece of information that would have been handy about five minutes earlier.
Consider this your public service announcement.
Take the cart to your car.
I checked in, and the woman working was very friendly. When she learned it was my first time at Chestnut Hills, she explained the layout and told me the course was well marked.
Hole 1 was a short cart ride downhill from the clubhouse, while the back nine started across the road.
Off I went.
And this course was a very nice surprise.
Considering how tucked away it is, I wasn’t expecting the level of maintenance I found or, frankly, how much fun I was going to have.
The course was in great shape.
The routing was interesting.
And just as promised, signs did a really good job of pointing me toward the next tee.
Until they didn’t.
Somewhere Between Holes 8 and 9…
I finished Hole 8 and went looking for Hole 9.
And looking.
And looking.
The scorecard had directions, and I tried following them.
No luck.
I could tell I needed to somehow get behind Hole 7, but by that point I had myself completely turned around.
Eventually, after what had become a lovely 15 minute sightseeing tour of Chestnut Hills, I somehow emerged onto the seventh fairway.
Thankfully, the course wasn’t busy.
I spotted a couple of gentlemen and did what any golfer who has completely lost the next hole eventually has to do.
I asked for directions.
They got me pointed toward Hole 9.
At the turn, I stopped at the clubhouse for another pop. The man behind the counter asked how my round was going.
Great!
Except I couldn’t find Hole 9.
He laughed and said he’d been meaning to put a sign out there.
Apparently most people have the opposite problem. From the seventh green, golfers can see Hole 9 and sometimes accidentally skip Hole 8.
Not me.
I’d already spotted the turn for Hole 8 before reaching the seventh green, and I use the scorecard to make sure I’m playing the holes in the right order.
So naturally I found Hole 8 just fine and then couldn’t find Hole 9.
Leave it to me to get lost differently than everyone else.
Eventually, I made it to the back nine.
A Little Mind Game on Hole 14
The back nine had a few fun surprises of its own.
Hole 14 definitely got into my head.
The white tees are elevated, and from there you have to hit over a pretty intimidating stretch of scrub.
I play from the red tees, so I looked at that and thought, “Glad I don’t have to do that.”
Then I drove to my tee box.
Oh.
Apparently I still had to do that.
The red tees weren’t as elevated and there wasn’t quite as much scrub directly in front of me, but I still had to get my ball over all that stuff and into the fairway.
This is where golf becomes a mental game.
Put a bunch of junk between me and the fairway and suddenly I’m thinking about the junk instead of the fairway.
But I hit it.
Right over the scrub and nicely into the fairway.
Take that, Hole 14.
I still bogeyed the hole.
But that’s not the point.
And Yes, I Found Our Sign
The next hole was Hole 15, home of the Golf Up North sign.
After sponsoring the hole without ever playing the course, I finally got to see it during an actual round.
I have to admit, that was pretty cool.
By the time I finished, I completely understood why my son and daughter in law had enjoyed Chestnut Hills so much.
It’s friendly, relaxed, well cared for, and just plain fun to play.
Guy has never played it either, so that’s going to change.
I’ll be dragging him back with me.
Hopefully I can remember how to find Hole 9.
There was only one little problem at the end of my day.
It had started drizzling, and when I finished around 3:30, the clubhouse was already locked up.
Of course, that was precisely when I realized I needed to use the restroom.
I’m old.
These things matter.
I had a 45 minute drive home ahead of me.
Somehow, I made it.
No mishaps.
Frankly, after finding Hole 9 and making it all the way home without an emergency stop, I’m counting the entire day as a success. ⛳
Read about our round and the fun we had and the challenges we faced in a future issue of Golf Up North Newsletter. Make sure you don’t miss an issue by clicking on Golf Up North Newsletter and subscribing to our monthly newsletter.
Chestnut Hills Golf Course – Bear Lake, Michigan
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