My favorite hole at Huntmore Golf Club in Livingston County has a diabolical green
A tee shot that makes you think about strategy? Check.
An approach over hazards demanding sharp execution? Check.
A diabolical green requiring superb touch? Check.
Most good golf holes have one of those things.
The seventh hole at Huntmore Golf Club has all three.
This is what makes it my favorite at the course off Old U.S. 23 in Brighton Township.
A short par-4, dogleg left — one of many doglegs on this layout — that plays just over 300 yards from the championship tees, about 290 from the forward tees and 260 from the red tees, the first question is which club to pull from your bag.
It's one of the few sloping fairways on a course that meanders through wetlands and woods, and kicks balls hard forward and to the left towards a large pond.
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The farther down you want to push your tee shot, the more the water creeps into play from the left side, but an accurate tee shot should get you inside 140 yards. The handsome fairway narrows inside the 150 pole.
Two fairway bunkers linger just off the right of the fairway to catch pushes and slices from right-handed golfers — miss there and now you have one of the scarier shots in golf, if you choose to go for the green. A large tree and hill guard the left side in front of the pond, blocking your view of the green from the deeper tee. Miss wide either way and you're in the woods.
Flush a long iron or hybrid club, and you might bring the golf gods into play if you're out on a hot summer day and get a big hop or two. There is some rough that protects the inside right corner of the rectangular pond, and if you're feeling it, you can whack your ball down the left side to give yourself a shorter approach inside 125 yards.
Longer, accurate drivers — depending on the tee position — do sometimes opt to try for the front of the green, which requires at least a 270-yard carry, depending on how close you want to take your ball to the porch.
Once off the tee, the task becomes far tougher.
From the fairway, you might face a lie with the ball above your feet, especially down the right side of the fairway, with the water in front of you.
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The green, shaped like a thick hump that spans at least 40 yards wide, is tilted back to front. Though it may look more subtle than severe, the surface is slicker than black ice. You must be below the hole to cash in on a birdie chance, especially when the weather dries out the green.
The front right pin is particularly distressing, with little space to land the ball below the hole: A bunker covers the top right like a hat, and a bunker short middle catches balls without enough carry.
If you're in the wrong area code on this generous surface, no matter pin position, you'll face a daunting task. There's always more turn than you think, especially from above the hole, because of how cautious you need to hit your putt.
Three putts might be as common — even when the flag is on the green's left side — and putting off the green towards the front right hole location is in play. The green repels balls with even the slightest poor pace racing past the flag.
In the rough or right bunker? Well, good luck stopping the ball close to the cup. Accept your bogey and be thankful it wasn't worse.
Huntmore, which opened in 2000 and quickly earned a reputation as one of the toughest courses around, has become far more playable in recent years and remains well-conditioned and challenging.
The course was designed by Pat Grelak — who also set up Stonegate Golf Club near Muskegon — on 300 acres before the rest of the surrounding neighborhood filled in. It features a welcoming practice area right outside the clubhouse with a grass range, expanded chipping area and putting green.
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General rates through early October (GPS carts included, no walking) are $58 Monday-Thursday, $62 Friday and $68 on the weekend. The prices drop a bit for tee times after noon, and seniors (50-plus) get nearly $20 off regular rates.
Huntmore also has a burgeoning junior golf program.
Have you played the course? Let us know in the comments what you think of No. 7 and the rest of the layout.
Check back next week for the second entry of "My favorite hole."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Huntmore Golf Club in Brighton: My favorite hole has diabolical green
