Greenbush Clubhouse
Every so often you happen to chance upon a a little jewel of a golf course and for whatever reasons, great hot dogs, a friendly face greeting you, the owners dog welcomes everyone with a wagging tail or a real fun little track to play you come back to it repeatedly.
Such was the case on our recent trip to Michigan.Myra had done the research on golf courses around where we were staying and she kept mentioning and insisting that we play this 9 holer close by, Greenbush. The word “championship” much overused in the description of a plethora of golf courses globally would never be used here and thank goodness for that. There is no better way for a golf course to posture itself higher than it deserves and inflate its green fees by injecting “championship” into its marketing literature and campaign. One single word that could be used in their marketing campaign would be the word “delightful”. There are more than 35 synonyms for this word and at least half of them are perfectly suited to the experience at Greenbush Golf Course. I had phoned the golf course previous to our arrival not sure of how busy they would be and were told to just “come on over” by a friendly, cheery voice. We pulled into the parking area and there up by the first tee was the face that went with the cheery voice, Janine. She was weeding the flower bed next to the tee box and after we said our hellos and shared some pleasantries we were off. It was a sunny afternoon and we were in golf heaven, this family owned little nugget was just what we needed. It was fun from the first shot. The second hole is an absolute rib tickler, a short 90 yard Par 3 with an island green.In the 5 rounds we played it I got excited every time as even at 90 yards there was little margin for error.
#2 The Par 3 Island Hole
The course was a modest 2500 yards and contained a number of good par 4 holes, numbers 4, 7 and 9 in particular, all in the 360 – 380 yard range. The fairways were nice and plentiful and the greens not cut too short as to allow for the less experienced players to feel that they weren’t putting on polished glass, which is even more daunting for newbies and recreational players at best. A very distinct and rewarding aspect to Greenbush is the abundance of magnificent oak, maple, aspen and pine trees that on numerous holes provided a wonderful backdrop and were scattered throughout the layout en masse.
4th Hole approach view
We played Greenbush 9 holes at a time, 5 times in 6 days, often unimpeded and usually in just short of 90 minutes, The fee was $9 for 9 holes, pretty simple math, a buck a hole and for a mere 5 dollars more you could go a second nine. The Kingsbury family with son Kameron as the head greenskeeper, the assistant greenskeeper, and the assistant to the assistant greenskeeper was basically a one man mowing army when we were there. His mom Janine collecting the fees, weeding, cleaning, painting and on weekends the patriarch of the family, dad Kevin would come and work on the operation as well in every capacity.
9th green
After each round we would have a chat with Janine, give the dog a scratch and let them know to keep at it, offering a few suggestions on how to make it even a little better. Our return to this beautiful area of the US will always include a few rounds at Greenbush, a true Michigan delight run by an equally engaging family. www.greenbushgc.com
