Stoatin Brae in SW Michigan

openlinksgolf

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I played Stoatin Brae last week and was impressed with the design and overall value ($60 greens fee). The course is located about 15 minutes from Kalamazoo, and was designed by Tom Doak's team at Renaissance Golf Design a few years back. I was told by a local that Mr. Doak made numerous site visits himself. It's set across an open plain on the top of a ridge so the views of the course (and the surrounding are) are pretty spectacular. There were some great short-par 4's and the set of par-3's were really diverse (some shorties and a few longer, more stout holes). The greens were some of the best that I've seen on a public course, too, with a ton of undulations and levels that made the holes really interesting and would make each hole play much differently depending on where they cut the pins that day. Many of the holes reminded me of the front nine at The Kingsley Club. My only wish is for the course to play more firm, but the slowness may have simply been a product of all the rain in the Midwest this spring.

Also, the halfway house is one of the cooler ones I've seen - it's dug into the side of a hill and is called "The Bunker" - and the restaurant at the course has great views of the surrounding area.

Overall, I'd recommend this course if you're in the area. One of the better publics I've played in not only Michigan, but the Midwest, especially at the <$75 price point.
 
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