Central Michigan: Where to play near Big Rapids and Clare?

I'll be taking a vacation this season in Michigan, a bit north and west of the center of the state, in-between Big Rapids and Clare.  Any recommendations on nearby golf courses?  A Google search pulled up some of the following courses that are nearby:

- The Pines at Lake Isabella (Weidman, MI)

-  Birch Valley Golf Course (Sears, MI)

- Spring Valley Golf Course (Hersey, MI)

- Meceola Country Club (Big Rapids, MI)

- Eagle Glen (Farwell, MI) - looks like a links course from the satellite image - is that right?

- Falcon Head Golf Course (Big Rapids)

- Katke Golf Club @ Ferris State Univ. (Big Rapids)

- Firefly Golf Links (Clare, MI)

- Snow Snake Ski & Golf (Harrison, MI)

Anyone have any recommendations out of that list?  I don't want to go too far afield, so I'm not looking to play one of the better known northern resort courses.  Looks like Katke might be pretty interesting - they offer free golf to kids if I bring my daughter to play their scaled-down course from the family tees.

Thanks

A thread that I love...As a CMU grad I can gladly help you!

The Pines at Lake Isabells is a great course. It's inexpensive and well laid out. This is a fun course regardless of your handicap

If you want to golf at a high end course I would highly recommend Tulleymore at St. Ives, or the St. Ives course. Both courses are well worth the price. If you don't play them this summer you should check them out at some point, you won't regret it.

To get back to your list though, Spring Valley and Eagle Glen are nice courses. I've played Eagle Glen a couple times (long drive from Mt. Pleasant), from what I remember it is set up more like a links style course. I can't remember if it's Eagle Glen or Spring Valley but one is designed by the same person who designed The Pines.

I would avoid Firefly and Snow Snake & Ski Golf courses, I've played Firefly twice and Snow Snake once. Firefly was a nice course the first time I played but the last time I played there (2008ish) it was very run down and on the decline. Snow Snake was just blah, not worth playing again. The rest of the courses on your list I am not familiar with. Hope this helps

Thanks Motown, I really appreciate the advice.

Tullymore and St. Ives look gorgeous.  Out of my usual price range, but if I can get away for an afternoon, I can probably swing their twilight rate.

Katke is a good course to play, Challenging yet not stupid hard if your can hit the ball in the fairway...     i think the weekend rate for 18/cart is 40$

FalconHead is another course right down the road from Katke... and I think 18/Cart is 32$$ ???  it's not a bad course at all... but is a bit easier than Katke..

Tullymore and St Ive's are on my wish list for playing... probably do it next year in the offseason...

Wisguy - look at golfnow.com for Tullymore & St. Ives, they have great deals there on occasion - today there was a $33 greens fee at St. Ives.

From Big Rapids you can get to Cadillac as quick as you can to Clare, so add Eldorado and McGuires to your list of possibilities

Also this thread would be missing important information if it wasn't pointed out that you are < 2 hours from Arcadia Bluffs from Big Rapids (and twilight is "only" $110, play after 6:30 and it is only $50)

Arcadia i think is on most peoples wish list for everyone who knows about that course...

And yes i forgot about Eldorado in cadillac..

OK, so I load the whole family's clubs into the roof rack and am excited to play a round with my wife and daughter from the family tees from Katke, then a round by myself at The Pines at Lake Isabella.  But a couple of partial days of rain last week sort of set back other plans and the early week golf round got pushed back to mid week and then late week.  Then I take a peek at some rates on Golfnow.com and find that I can get a 9:48 tee time at Tullymore for $37 on Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, my daughter really wanted to go canoeing and fishing on our last full day of vacation, so I passed on the golf.  Turns out it was the right move - my daughter caught her first fish with a lure, a little 9" largemouth, I caught the fish that won the family fishing tournament (an 11.5" bass, largest of the 20 or so we caught that all were in the 8.5"-11" range) and we had a great time out on the lake.  So the clubs stayed put in the roof rack the whole trip.  If we end up going back next year, I'm definitely playing some golf, though.  It looks like there really are a lot of great courses in Michigan.

damn that is tough passing up on Tullymore for 37$$     but family does come first......