Travis Pointe Country Club - Beware of the Turtle in the 13th Green

Travis Pointe Country Club – Beware of the Turtle in the 13^th Green

I recently drove an hour away from my home in Grosse Pointe to attend a media event at Travis Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor Michigan, the site for LPGA Tour Volvik Championship.

I drove down I-94 for about an hour until I came to my exit to get to the course. As I turned down the street for the course, I noticed how wide open the course seemed to be. I noticed a beautiful club house along with an outstanding staff that was helpful right away.

Travis Pointe Country Club seems to have many amenities that many private golf clubs throughout Michigan have to offer (beautiful clubhouse, pool, pro shop, driving range, putting green and short range areas).The practice putting green is great for members and guests to get used to possible putts and green speed that they may face on the golf course.

The course has much to offer a pro and the average golfer just looking to enjoy a beautiful day of golf in Michigan. The course has seven different tees that offer different test throughout the round. I just so happened to tee off from the silver tees so that I could enjoy the course with those I played with.

What I observed throughout my round was that the course was direct and that you didn’t have to guess where you had to be.

The greens and rough seem to be where the challenge truly are on this course but what could you expect from a course that is the host of the inaugural LPGA Volvik Championship? I must’ve three putted a few of these greens especially the 13^th green.

I remember walking into the clubhouse after nine looking for a hot dog and beverage and a member asked us what we thought of the course and if we had played the back nine yet. My group politely said “No.” The member then warned us to “Beware of the 13.” We just looked at each other thinking this was just a member’s way of trying to get in our heads. We then played the 10, 11, and 12 and headed over to the 13^th hole. We didn’t see anything difficult other than water on the right and left and you had to keep your tee shot pretty straight.

We approached the 13^th green and there it was like the course architect buried a turtle into it. It was undulating and quite difficult to figure out where the ball was going to funnel to.

Moving to the par 5 18^th, it has this daunting look to it. You can’t miss right or you’ll be OB or in the water. It’s a true risk or reward hole. I consider myself paring the hole by playing the whole for bogey and not trying to do something stupid.

My overall opinion of this course is that it is a very wide open and challenging course but it was also an honest course. It tests you with difficult greens but if you play true to your game you can do really well on this course. I understand that this is a private course but if you ever have a chance to play it, you really should.