Hidden River Golf and Casting Club
Pristine Northwoods Golf
By Brian Weis
From the moment you drive up to Hidden River Golf and Casting Club you realize you have encountered a special place. The accolades hanging on the wall confirm the feeling. Opened in 1998, the W. Bruce Matthews designed course has been awarded a 4 /12 star rating by Golf Digest, along with a Top 100 ranking in the United States. In addition, the course is touted as one of the top manicured courses in the Midwest.
The starter warned us that the first three holes trick you into thinking that Hidden River is a lazy woodland course. Then suddenly the layout shifts from majestic northern pines to a long links style course with mounding and natural dunes. It was not the scenery change that had me in awe, it was the length. The three middle par 4's (4, 6, 8) averaged 460 yards from the tips. The signature 7th is a three shot par 5 with water lining both sides from the dog leg to the green. For the record, no one has hit the 636 yard hole in two. W. Bruce Matthews recommends hitting driver, middle iron then short iron and keep your fairway woods in the bag.
The back nine returns you to Northwoods golf, featuring significant elevated changes thru mature forest and wetlands. While the remaining stanza is 300 yards shorter, but shot making is at a premium. One of the biggest challenges is long par three 15th. A five or three wood is not out of the question when trying to tackle the 243 yard hole into the prevailing wind.
The Skinny
5 Tees: 4,787 to 7,101 yards
Slope/Rating: 140/74.3
Designer: W. Bruce Matthews
18 Hole Rate: $89 weekend in season
Restaurant
Your experience is not complete without dining at the award winning Rainbow Room Restaurant. The menu features an abundance of Fresh Great Lakes fish, prime cut aged steaks, creative pasta dishes, unbelievable salads, and the best ribs in Northern Michigan. Dine on the patio forviews of the Maple River and the ninth green. PGA Travel named the Rainbow Room a "Top 4 Golf Course Restaurant in the Midwest."
Awards
Golf Digest - Best Places to Play 2007
"Top 4 Golf Course Restaurants in the Midwest" PGA Travel 2008
Best of the North West - Best golf Course 2008
Getting There
By Car:
From I-75, take Indian River exit 310, west on M-68 to Alanson and north 4 miles on US-31;
From US-31, 13 miles north of Petoskey on US-31.
By Air:
Located within 5 miles of Pellston Regional Airport. Daily flights by Delta Airlink. (231) 539-8423
Hidden River Golf and Casting Club
7688 Maple River Road
Brutus. MI 49716
800 325-GOLF (4653)
www.hiddenriver.com
For more information about great Michigan golf, visit Michigan.org.
Article Tags: Hidden River Golf and Casting Club
Revised: 01/13/2011 - Article Viewed 29,827 Times
About: Brian Weis
Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.
As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.
Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.
In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.
On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.
Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.
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262-255-7600
