lakewood shores resort - blackshire golf course

I thought the grass around the greens was too long. Great shots to the green just sat in the tall grass. It was a very hot day and no beverage cart in sight.

We returned to this resort for 3 rounds of golf and 2 nights stay. We (group of 24 guys) did this in 2007 and were pleased with everything except the weather. We do this twice a year and go all over the state. This time we did not find it pleasing at all. It started as soon as we arrived to check in and drop our clubs. There is no help with getting your clubs from the car to the cart. This would have been appreciated since you have to walk them down a set of stairs just to get to the staging area. The guys that were staging the carts were not like the kids at most places. They were older and you would have thought they would be a bit more helpful. They didn't help with anything and we were left to fend for ourselves. We were scheduled to play the Serradella course first and they said there was a 1.5 hour delay due to frost. We later heard it may have been because an earlier group had not arrived on time. I hope that was not the case. When we did get the carts they were covered in mud and very unpresentable. We found this to be true at the Blackshire course as well. The second day at the Blackshire we arrive on time and there were no carts so we had to wait for groups coming off the course in order for us to tee off. After that both carts in our group died and had to be replaced. Fortunately ours happened at #9 so we went in and switched. The other cart died on #12 and they had to bring us a replacement. The beer carts in both locales were a joke. They had 3 large coolers strapped to a standard cart to carry supplies instead of the normal beer cart. This was certainly a first for me to see this and I am 64. When we finished the round the second day some of the guys were complaining about what they saw inside the coolers. I was almost made sick listening and glad I did not actually become sick as a result. We had rain most of the second night and into the final morning so we all opted for rain checks. I think most were happy to leave.The rooms there were marginal and most felt overpriced for what the quality and conditions. It was nice to have a free par 3 course outside our back door. Most everyone took advantage of this as a tune up since our second tee time was not until 12:50. Oh, by the way, if you would like some ice for your room it was available for $2 per bag. Tacky, tacky!! We had breakfast there after the first night. They only offered a buffet which was eggs, bacon, sausage, bread and pastry, oh and Tater Tots! Not really worth the $11.95 fee. I doubt anyone will be returning for an outing based on the overall impressions I have heard.

My wife and I have golfed and stayed together at almost all of the well known golf resorts in Michigan. Lakewood Shores offers three full courses to choose from plus a chipping and putting course to practice and kill time behind the hotel. The golf was fantastic. Flat compared to our northern Michigan courses but very well kept with nice but not ridiculously difficult greens. We booked this at the West Michigan Golf Show. Our booking included four nights with four rounds. We played Blackshire twice as that was our favorite but all three are very nice and varied to meet anyone's preferences. The accommodations were acceptable, spartan compared to places like Garland or Crystal Mountain but clean and comfortable. We did not eat at the main facility and can not comment about that. There was not a lot to do other than the golf, but sometimes that is nice. Perhaps we are spoiled by Boyne and all of the extracurricular activities that they offer. The starters and the rangers were very nice and friendly but there was something missing in the form of customer service and the pro seemed aloof or perhaps just distracted. The main draw is very good golf and what we found to be very affordable prices. The drawbacks are a long, indirect trip across the state for us westies and not much of anything to do other than the golf. Luckily for us, we like each other a lot and the time was nice. (wink) We will return but probably not on a yearly basis.

We played this course on the second day of our three day golf outing in early June. Since the weather had been damp during the previous weeks we used quite a bit of bug repellant because we were in the Northern Michigan woods. However, the mosquitoes didn't deter us from enjoying the scenery, the golf and the friendship. The breakfast buffets and dinner specials were filling but we still found room each day to enjoy some great flavours of ice cream at a small store on East Dwight Avenue.

All three courses at Lakewood Shores were good. Some of our group fount the Blackshire to be difficult, I was not one of them. Fairways were quite wide and the difficulty was the bunkering at the greens. Greens were undulated, but not too extreme.

A nice track. This North Carolina style course is lined with tall pines and large waste areas. The course was in good condition with large, fast, undulating greens. Every fairway ends 10 yards short of the green (so no run ups) and the greens are ringed by large deep bunkers and long rough.

All service personell I encountered over a Memorial weekend outing were outstanding. Smiles abound. Made for a great weekend. Greens conditions of The Gailes did not meet expectations and standing water at Blackshire needed to be navigated on a few holes. But overall; a great experience.

We stayed one night at the resort, played Blackshire the day we got there, and got rained out on Gailes the next day. Blackshire is not a visually appealing course. It looks like it needs some TLC or attention. The standing water was ubiquitous, and nobody was working on dealing with that. We had to tee off from the red tees on the first hole because the others were back beyond the water. Most sandtraps (and there are a lot of them) had water in them. According to the map on the scorecard, there is no water on the 14th hole. The reality is that the lake in front of the green was so large that they had to put up temporary signs to show you how to get to the green after you'd hit over the water, and then how to get back to the 15th tee. The resort was not well designed or run. The clerks who checked us in didn't bother to tell us that Blackshire is a couple of miles away from the place we checked in, so we unloaded our clubs at the pro shop there, carried them down a flight of stairs (with nobody to help us do that), and then when we went in the pro shop we found out we were at the wrong course and had to reload everything and drive to Blackshire. We were told that breakfast at the dining room would be either $7 (cold) or $13 (hot). It was $3. Our room was 3/4 mile away from the main building where we checked in, so we had to drive over there. There is no WiFi at the rooms; it's only back at the main building. Our room was just a regular motel room, with nothing nice or special about it. At least it seemed to be clean. The heater/AC unit is very noisy and it woke me up several times during the night. The "safety and security" sign on the inside of our door was full of spelling and grammar mistakes, which is just another indication of how far from excellence this place is. There are many nicer courses and resorts in Michigan. Garland and Forrest Dunes sure don't have to worry about competition from this place.

First I would like to tell you about my own experience. Courses were in excellent shape, Blackshire one of the toughest I have played.. Staff was very accommodating at the main club house. food was very sufficient. We will be going back again this year.Now for the people who posted negatively. Yes their are mosquitos of all of the courses ( lets be realistic you are in the middle of a forest with a river and ponds... its a no brainer that bugs are going to be present deal with it or rent a cottage and stay inside) as far as no microwave in the rooms most do have one, and if you purchased the golf package it comes with dinner off the menu and breakfast is an upcharge of $2.00 a day I don't think your wives can make meals for less than that. As for the condos. are you there to sit inside and relax on the couch (if so stay home) you are there to play golf, so don't expect a 5 star resort

I have been organizing a golf trip for anywhere from 24-32 golfers every May in Michigan. The group comes from all over Ontario. We have been to several areas in Michigan and were never quite happy with the courses or the staff, or the facilities, etc. I found the Lakewood Shores 3 years ago. Craig, the employee who i was dealing with couldn't have been more courteous and sincerely wanted our business. There are a 3 golf courses on the resort and they are always in great shape. If you want to punish yourself, the Gailes will make or break you. The Blackshire (Bugshire) as its known is "in my opinion" the nicest of the 3 courses. The accomodations are 2 bedroom condos with a kitchen area with a full size fridge, a dining room table, and a living room area with a couch and chairs. There are also balconies overlooking a very well kept 9 hole "chip and putt' that is available at no charge. The only negative feature of the accomodations are the single beds, but for the amount of time you spend in them, its no big deal.Great courses, and the staff are incredible and will do anything for you."as i type this, i feel that i am shooting myself in the foot. The place is busy enough now, and this review may increase the golfers" Long drive but well worth it!

This course is a lot of fun to play. Challenging, beautiful course in the woods. It doesn't have a club house but serves some snacks. Bring the bug spray!!

As you may know, the Gailes is a Scottish links style course and is challenging, if a bit overplayed/unkempt. Blackshire is a traditional "up north" course that was less "chewed up" than the Gailes and warrants a play while you're there. Great stay and play (and eat if you like) packages!

Like everyone's review, golf was good. Blackshire was infested with mosquitos, even with bug sray, got eaten alive. Course was in good condition with great greens. Gale was also very challenging although it was very crowded. However, the Lodging accomodation and service was terrible. We received the call at 9pm stating the front desk will be closed. They told us the room number and the room will be "unlocked" and if it is locked call the maid service. When we finally found the rooms 11:00pm (took us 15minutes), the rooms were locked and nobody answered. We were able to finally "jimmyed" the locks with credit cards and open the doors. Rooms were clean but noticed no towers in the bathrooms but had envelope with "tip" on it. When we complained next morning to the front desk, all they said was "sorry". That was it. Nothing.

The courses were ok except for the mosquitos (ever thought of spraying)but that was it.The rooms were musty with small beds.......I can live with that.What I really object to is getting my things gone thru and items turnd up missing.When reported,the guy at the front desk did not seem to care whatsoever.STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE

Golf courses were in great shape although some of the Serradella greens had a mold/fungus problem. The Gailes is probably the most challenging course I have ever played. We were there in mid June and the mosquitos on Blackshire were the worst I have ever seen in my life. The locals call it Bugshire. Nice course but the bugs ruined the experience. Walk anywhere near the trees and you literally have 100 mosquitos on you. Our problem is the resort itself. Two of the guys had their luggage rifled through while we were golfing and $300 worth of items were stolen. We reported this to the front desk and their response was “Wow. That’s too bad” They didn’t even bother to write up any type of report on it. We were in the room between rounds one day and hear a knock on the door. “Maintenance” a guy yells. It took me 20 seconds to answer the door and as I am opening the door he already has a key in the door and is opening it. He was very startled to see me and stutters something about “Oh, I was just going to go blow your deck off” and then turns and walks away. It didn’t hit me until the next day when they stole the items but: 1. Why does he have to cut through our room to blow off the deck on a ground floor room? 2. It is June and there is nothing on the deck to blow off. 3. He didn’t have a blower !!!I reported this to the desk and got the same apathetic response. I gave a good description of the guy. They took no action at all.The rooms themselves were OK. The biggest complaint is they had no microwave and the fridge is one of those little mini ones. We have 8 guys that go up north every year and the wives always make us a bunch of food to warm up and not having a microwave was a major inconvenience. You can buy one for $40 – why wouldn’t a resort that advertises a full kitchen have one?Also for you techies, cell service is spotty and there is no Wi-Fi.I am glad that I golfed the courses but every person in our group said we are never going back there again.