The Black Forest at Wilderness Valley Golf Resort

This was the first Tom Doak designed course that I played. It was designed to be an extremely difficult resort course and contrast the Wilderness Valley course at the Owner's direction. The greens were absolutely wild and some of the bunkering even wilder. I only played it one time, but what a treat it was.

https://www.petoskeynews.com/gaylord/featured-ght/black-forest-wilderness-valley-auctioned-off-by-irs/article_f0d75ad2-8504-5fc4-9c73-405e969b55d2.html

played last year and course was bad. got offered 4 rounds at $10 each probably to attract back business as they said course would be back in shape by end of May.
Went and played in late June and course was worse. Too bad as they have a nice layout and if maintained would be good course but never going back.

I’ve played this course several times in years past and loved it. It’s been over 6 years ago and now it is in total ruin. It was like teeing off in some kind of horror movie of where zombies may be the grounds keepers because everything was unkept and dead. Damaged everything. Sure hope someone can bring this course back to life.

Extremely poor course; tee boxes were horrible; fairways were covered with dandelions and scorched from lack of water. The greens were just as bad. Some had been mowed, but to the wrong length, and made putting an adventure. Nothing appeared to have been watered? No water, no facilities on the course (you play the entire 18 holes before getting back to the clubhouse). We gave it a second chance, and won't be going back. The price is fair from a bargain! For what we encountered, $20.00 would be too much!

An open letter to Mr. Tom Doak -

"Played" the Forest for the first time since September of 2015. Since you live in Traverse City please strongly consider buying it and bring it back to it's former glory. The genius of your routing and design always had me coming back for more. Your oldest masterpiece is almost gone to the point where it can't be saved and it should be. Thank you for your consideration - all golfers would flock back to it.

I was the only golfer on the course on a perfect Thursday afternoon. The pictures I've posted tell the true story. Nil improvements despite the owners comments....it's far worse than I could have imagined. I can't return nor could I encourage others to do so.

I still have 5 prepaid round cards I bought years ago. If anyone is interested and wants to send me a couple of bucks for postage put your e-mail addy in the comments section below and I'll contact you send you a couple of them or all of them (as long as they are open....they may not make it through this year). The tee shots and approach shots are still there but Black Forest is essentially 18 holes in the ground. The other course Wilderness Valley is the same shape as well. Fond memories of the glory days when the conditions were wonderful....it was just too much for me to take. Enough said.

This course is in Gaylord, Michigan, a mecca for golf in this State. The overall condotion of the course was poor at best. Tee boxes were weedy. Championship tees seemed abandoned as grass hadn't been cut recently and tee markers were absent. Fairways were mostly weedy and had lots of bare areas. Greens were suffering from what looked like a fungus. Many had bare spots. On the plus side, this course was perhaps the best we ever played with regard to placement of the forward tees to give a fair balance to less skilled golfers.

Played Wilderness Valley last year and it was in terrible not the current ratescondition, so this weekend thought we would try Black Forest as it is supposed to be the better of the two courses, bad decision as it was in as bad or worse condition. Sand traps don't look like they have been raked in years, more gravel than sand. More weeds than grass almost on the greens. I will say the layout is very nice but I would not spend the money here. Great potential but needs a lot of work for the money they charge. $25 maybe, paid $40 each with GolfNow and that was way too much, feel sorry if anyone paid full price

We had a large group arrive at 830 AM on a Saturday in August with sunny weather and temperatures in the 70's and this place was literally empty; that should have told us what we needed to know! There was one(!!) kid running the entire complex (pro shop, bar, carts, etc. when we arrived, which delayed our tee off.

Once we did tee off, the course looked like something out of a post-apocalypse movie. Over grown fairways, weeds in the bunkers, bare spots on the greens, etc. it was awful. I have seen some of the course feedback on some poor reviews on this and other web sites; they claim they are making up for some bad weather two years ago. This is blatantly untrue; I golfed this course in 2015, the first season following all of the supposed weather damage that they blame the course condition on; and the course was in indisputably better condition at that time.

This course in the right hands should be a bucket list type of play due to the wonderful terrain it is built on, however whether it be due to a lack of money or effort from management, it is a far cry from that at this point.

It was hard to believe they even charge to play this course! Their usual rate is $65.00 but we reserved ahead of time for $37.50 to play on Black Forest. I only wish I could post the photos I took. The sand traps were full of weeds...you could not hit your ball out due to of the growth of all the weeds and stone. The greens were bumpy and had died out. IT WAS A MESS! There are too many courses that are beautiful to play in this.area. Frankly, they should have paid us to play there.

I guess you will have to decide if this is the course you want to play, but remember you have been warned!

Hit them long and straight!

This has to be the worst maintain golf course in all of Michigan the grass on the Teebox was not cut the weeds were up to your knees in the middle of Fairway and the Teebox the greens were dead what wasn't dead wasn't even grass was weeds that were mow down

This course design is excellent, but the upkeep was poor. The green are dying, the bunkers are full of stones and weeds, and the tee boxes are sparse at best.

All I can say is, I am surprised a course in that shape is open to the public

Purchased a $59 Unlimited pass because David Smith, course owner, claimed the course was getting back to its original beauty. I was surely fooled on this one.

The #1 Fairway on BF had numerous bare spots with live traps to rid them of a skunk problem. Multiple fairways were brown and cracking, while most of the greens had bare spots, brown, weeds, etc. Un-puttable. The rough hasn't even been mowed what looks like since the season started. Some areas its 8-12" tall. What a joke.

I used to love this course 10 years ago, and it's sad to see the point it has reached now. David Smith told me upon arriving that it was better than it was back in '15 when I thought it couldnt get any worse. I was wrong again. I will NEVER return to this course and not spend another dime there. I almost feel bad taking the time to write a junk review.

The only glimmer of hope is if this course closes to the public while the original gem is restored. But thats a long shot.

Course was not well kept. Bare spots on fairways. Directional sign and cart path were nonexistent or confusing . No halfway house or facilities.

This course is obviously under no management or maintenance. The "fairways" are almost non-existent. Weeds are everywhere and the rough isn't being touched. There were live traps on one fairway! They are currently charging spring rates but after complaining about the conditions, we asked for 1/2 of our money back. The employee did so.

The gentleman in the club was pleasant and we suspect we are not the first to note the conditions of the course to him.

This course really should be closed. I've seen municipal courses in much better condition that charge far less.

I have played Black Forest about 20 times over the years and always enjoyed the course.
To say I was shocked at the condition of this course would be a gross understatement. It appears there has not been a mower on this course in weeks if not months. The greens were loaded with ant hills that had been undesturbed for so long that there was no longer grass growing under them. The fairways had patches of grass that were over a foot tall and going to seed. The tee boxes and roughs had tall weeds growing on them.
It is obvious that the facility must be facing major financial challenges but to continue to charge greens fees for this is misrepresenting what the facility actually is.
Golf Now should drop Black Forest from their offerings to prevent their customers from facing similar dissapointment. We had a twosome play through that had booked their round on Golf Now and they were shocked at the condition of the course.

I was extremely disappointed in the condition of the course. Greens were patchy, diseased, and covered with ant hills. Fairways looked like they hadn't been mowed in weeks. "Rough" was just unkempt weeds and long grass. Four sets of tees listed but only two sets actually set up. Scorecard claims "Top 10 course in michigan" which is either a blatant lie or an extremely outdated claim. For your $45 greens fee you're better served playing literally any other course in Michigan and maybe the country for that matter. Don't waste a day here.

Assuming the course finally shut its own doors, bankrupt, etc??? Just curious because the website is no longer in service. Any feedback would be helpful

This past weekend my friend and I redeemed our unlimited golf package with a BBQ lunch that we purchased at the midland golf show at Northwood University. We were tremendously disappointed with the condition of the two courses. We travelled 2 and half hours to experience your courses with high hopes. Not only were the courses very poorly maintained (tee boxes messy and uncut, greens diseased and uncut, bunkers not touched since last season), and there was no BBQ lunch whatsoever. Your staff was clearly not ready to honor our "golf show specials" that we purchased, nor wer your courses. I wished you had been forthright with the conditions of your courses and given us the option to redeem our coupons at a later date. Although I feel you are in jeopardy of losing your courses for good, given their current conditions, I would have appreciated the heads up and at least given you a chance to improve their conditions. Very disappointing.