Paint Creek has a picturesque layout that wanders up and down along a rolling landscape of knolls and hillsides shaded by stands of oak, ash and maple. The course began its life as a nine-hole, public facility back in the 1960's. It was expanded to 18 holes in the early 1990's in a remodeling supervised by local architect, Don Childs. Since then, many other improvements have taken place at the club, including the renovation and expansion of our clubhouse.
Our gently sloping bent grass fairways offer a variety of playing adventures. You'll be crossing creeks and wetlands, playing to island and peninsula greens and taking on doglegs. Some holes, like the 6th, will give you panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.
"The thing I love about this course," says Steve Vickery, PGA Golf Professional at Paint Creek, "is that it never plays the same. It's not overly long, but you always walk away with the feeling that you could have done better and you want to go out there and try again."
Every time you play it, the stunning par-4 No. 3, with its shimmering island green, gets more exciting. That hole is rated as the No. 1 handicap hole and measures almost 400 yards from the back tees (359 yards from the front). Many players feel they're doing well to bogey here, but for members there's always the next time you get to play No. 3.
Trees border many fairways on the front nine, but rarely come into play. On the back nine, players have to find their way through lanes of trees on several holes.
Vickery's favorite on the back is the 13th (353 yards from the back and 283 from the front). "It's a short par 4 dogleg right," he says. "You have to hit about 210 to get in position for your second shot which takes you over a wetlands area and then onto the green. That's where the fun begins."
That's because the greens at Paint Creek are known for their complexity. There's no easy read here; the many pin placements can keep you guessing.
Another dogleg right, the par-4 14th (351 yards from the back and 300 from the front), has trees both left and right. You can hit a driver off of the tee or a fairway wood. From the middle tees, you need about a 220-yard shot, to deal with that tricky corner.
The par-3 finishing hole (102 yards from the front and 192 from the back) has a peninsula green fronted by water, making for some final excitement as well. From the back tees, players need to make a solid shot to reach the green from the tee.
Our three sets of tees at Paint Creek accommodate various levels of players. These are the distances, slopes and ratings: 6,476 yards from the blue (rating/slope 71.8/139); 5,838 yards from the white (rating/slope 68.3/126); 4,954 yards from the red (rating/slope 68.8/128).
The driving range is located in front of our unique 12-acre Lake Araho. The Paint Creek range is one of only three Aqua Ranges in Michigan, where golfers actually hit floating balls into the lake. These are not limited flight golf balls, but actual surlyn covered golf balls. You'll have no trouble following the flight of your ball until splashdown on our Aqua Range.
